Someone told us recently that the new iPad Mini 4 includes an excellent screen, much more sunlight readable than any previous iPad. We haven't got one in the office yet though.

Seems I am in a minority on this subject. I used to love iPads - now I find them irritating. Flimsy, screens keep breaking, rubbish outside, overheating, crashing. And that's just my iPads - don't get me on to the subject of my kids and iPads. Thinking about banishing them from the house. They have cost me a fortune and are the devil.

I wish apple would release a tough version with a decent screen. SD is peerless for VFR and if truth be told IFR (not that I would ever admit to having done that) so it would be terrific to see it on a proper aviation device. I'd install an EFIS if it had SD on it. Now that would be the buisness. Plan routes, file flight plans from the iPad, and upload to EFIS.

iOS and Android are by far the most popular operating systems for mobile devices. Windows represents a tiny fraction by comparison. It would be folly for us to divert significant development effort to making our Windows product better for navigation. Sure, it technically has most of the features of our iOS and Android versions but their presentation is much more evolved on the latter platforms.

Rjddillan, I absolutely respect your personal opinion on the deficiencies of iPads. It's just that the vast majority of our users appear to disagree.

Rjddillan,

I can not confirm what you're saying. I've flown with my iPad (iPad1 and iPad Air now since a year) and neither had any problems reading the screen nor had any overheating problems, although my aircraft is a Roland Z602, which features a glass canopy all round and above.

Regards
Eric

I meant to say - does not just concentrate on iOS devices

Must have a different cockpit from mine. Any light on the iPad and it and it is useless. They do overheat and switch off - you have been lucky. It will get you one day. I was referring to a polarised screen for the device which is a feature of sunlight readable display screens, not sunglasses. SD is by far the best VFR software and I have flown with iPads for 600 hours and tried every mounting option before concluding there are better options if I'm to carry on with SD. I just hope the development concentrates on iOS devices because until and unless the devices are improved it is a culdisac.

I think the far majority of the people use SD with an iPad. The readability is fine as long as you don't wear polarized sunglasses. The combination of polarized sunglasses and iPad in portrait mode blacks out the screen because the iPad IS polarizes. But hey you should not wear polarized glasses in the cockpit anyway. I use an iPad air2 and had flights up to 2 hours and no problem with overheating at all.

Regards, Tom

I agree. iPads are poor in the cockpit. I have used all types including minis and retina. Hopeless. Reflective screens that perform poorly in any daylight, leave alone in direct sun. Added to which they shut down when hot. This happened to me at a very inconvenient moment when I really needed Skydemon.

I won't be using iPads in the cockpit in future. They are a poor option, until Apple releases a sunlight readable, polarised screen version that does not overheat.

Tim, I hope you continue to develop the windows version in the meantime. When I looked at the comparison table, there didn't seem to be any deficiencies in the comparison of windows and iOS versions. My new device, which runs on windows, whilst early days is infinitely better than than an iPad in the cockpit.

You should use Centrafuse localizer. It simulates the com port you want. I don't understand that Skydemon was not adapted to the Windows devices for navigating. I use a lenovo tablet, now i buyed a iPad ro use Skydemon. Its a horrible device. Now i try with Android, it's better, but  i hope really thei adapt the programm for Win devices soon.

SkyDemon for PC only has quite rudimentary navigation capabilities and currently requires a GPS attached to a standard COM port. Newer tablets may not have such a GPS, so may require a piece of additional software to emulate that. I believe such software has been recommended before on this forum but I can't remember personally what it was.

Really SkyDemon for iOS and Android are our full mobile navigation software.