Recommended tablet with LTE and GPS?

[impulse]

Title kind of says it...  Can anyone recommend a nice tablet that's available in Thailand with cellular capability and GPS?   Preferably a known brand like Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, Apple, etc.

 

I've got this wild hair idea to use it in a car (in place of a tiny screen) for running Google maps, etc.  But it seems that most tablets don't have GPS.  (And some of them that claim to, don't really have GPS, they use other methods to estimate location.)  I was hoping someone has bought one that they like, or one that they recommend staying away from.  I've been doing a lot of seaching and the results are confusing and certainly not Thai specific.

 

The most promising one that I've seen so far is the Redmi Pad Pro 5G, but that's just online (Lazada).  I haven't seen them in any shops.  And most Redmi Pad Pro listings don't have LTE, nor GPS.  (apparently, they added GPS to the model that has 5G LTE?).  And some vendors are touting 5G, but that's 5G WIFI.

 

Any recommendations?

 

Full disclosure, I just ordered a cheap tablet from Amazon that claims to have LTE and GPS, but I'm expecting to be disappointed.  It was cheap, and they ship international...  It may arrive in China before my next flight to Bangkok in 10 days...

 

[scubascuba3]

I used a phone in my car for sat nav, better size than a tablet. Xiaomi always a winner for phone or tablet, you can compare specs using Deep seek and Gemini, nicely presented usually

[BritManToo]

Not Huawei, no play store, no Google.

 

But you could buy any of the others (no sim required) and run them from your mobile phone hotspot.

I have a Xiaomi 11" (RedMi Pad SE) no SIM, cheap as chips 5kbht, works perfectly for google maps, Max, Plex, etc.

[impulse]

6 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I have a Xiaomi 11" (RedMi Pad SE) no SIM, cheap as chips 5kbht, works perfectly for google maps, Max, Plex, etc.

 

I bought that one for the GF, with SIM.  It's a great pad.  But does it have GPS?  I haven't dared to touch it since I gave it to her and she programmed it in CH.

 

That's why I'm focusing on their Pad Pro 5G.  Strangely, I can't find one in the MI shops in China.  Just the Pad Pro without SIM.

 

[impulse]

13 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Deep seek and Gemini, nicely presented usually

 

Thanks!  I'll look into those sites.  My concern is that most sites (like GSMArena) don't seem to fully address the differences between the same model number in different countries.  The CPUs may be different, the features are different, etc.  I fear that one country's models may get GPS while another country's models may not- even with the same model number.  You have to specify the Part Number.

 

For example, I first read about the Redmi Pad Pro 5G in an India centric site.  I can't find it on Amazon in the USA.

 

[BritManToo]

21 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

I bought that one for the GF, with SIM.  It's a great pad.  But does it have GPS?  I haven't dared to touch it since I gave it to her and she programmed it in CH.

 

That's why I'm focusing on their Pad Pro 5G.  Strangely, I can't find one in the MI shops in China.  Just the Pad Pro without SIM.

 

You're right Pad se has no satellite location services.

 

But I also have an Alldocube Kpad 10" that is cheap and has sat location, battery ain't good though, you'd need to plug it into the car charger.

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

With respect to Apple iPads, I think the chips for the GPS are part of the cellular chipset, so only the iPads with wifi+cellular are fully GPS capable.

 

I have had iPads for many years and have used them with Google Maps for navigation, but all of them have been wifi+cellular.

[scubascuba3]

19 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

Thanks!  I'll look into those sites.  My concern is that most sites (like GSMArena) don't seem to fully address the differences between the same model number in different countries.  The CPUs may be different, the features are different, etc.  I fear that one country's models may get GPS while another country's models may not- even with the same model number.  You have to specify the Part Number.

 

For example, I first read about the Redmi Pad Pro 5G in an India centric site.  I can't find it on Amazon in the USA.

 

With Deepseek and Gemini AI apps you'll be able to specify whatever you want then raise further questions, i use both and compare

[impulse]

11 minutes ago, Etaoin Shrdlu said:

With respect to Apple iPads, I think the chips for the GPS are part of the cellular chipset, so only the iPads with wifi+cellular are fully GPS capable.

 

I have had iPads for many years and have used them with Google Maps for navigation, but all of them have been wifi+cellular.

 

Good info.  I suspect it's the same reason that the Pad Pro (wifi) doesn't have GPS and the Pad Pro 5G (LTE) does.  And they list GPS as a communications feature, as opposed to a location feature.  Which led me to believe it's part of the LTE chipset.  But it's not clear on their website.  Especially when it's translated to English.

 

[impulse]

1 hour ago, scubascuba3 said:

I used a phone in my car for sat nav, better size than a tablet.

 

That's what I do, too.  But after riding around in Chinese E-Taxis that have 12-15" (and bigger) screens, I want one of those.  Or as close as I can get without selling a kidney to pay for it.

 

Next project is to shoehorn it in.

 

 

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

37 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

Good info.  I suspect it's the same reason that the Pad Pro (wifi) doesn't have GPS and the Pad Pro 5G (LTE) does.  And they list GPS as a communications feature, as opposed to a location feature.  Which led me to believe it's part of the LTE chipset.  But it's not clear on their website.  Especially when it's translated to English.

 

 

I think that the wifi-only iPads are able to provide some location info based upon public wifi networks' IP addresses.  Perhaps this is what is meant as a communications feature. I don't think this would be very suitable for navigation purposes, however.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Johnlkuk]

49 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

That's what I do, too.  But after riding around in Chinese E-Taxis that have 12-15" (and bigger) screens, I want one of those.  Or as close as I can get without selling a kidney to pay for it.

 

Next project is to shoehorn it in.

 

 

 

[Johnlkuk]

50 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

That's what I do, too.  But after riding around in Chinese E-Taxis that have 12-15" (and bigger) screens, I want one of those.  Or as close as I can get without selling a kidney to pay for it.

 

Next project is to shoehorn it in.

 

 

 

I use my phone too.

 

How about buying a monitor that you could use as a screen for your phone?

Probably cheaper than a new tablet and a new simcard/data plan (unless you plan to switch out your simcard every time). 

 

Another option is to use another navigation app.

The one I use for example does not need to be online. 

You download the maps when at home on WiFi, then navigate offline. 

Great for when you're travelling where roaming charges are expensive, or where the phone signal is hit and miss.