Tablet for Go Free

[Dockhead]

I am at my wit's end with my Sony Xperia Z2 tablet. It fell, unfortunately, on its screen in a seaway last summer when I failed to properly secure it, and cracked the screen.

I bought a new screen for it, successfully go the old one off, but couldn't get the ribbon cable plugged in right and broke the microscopic thin plastic clamp which holds the ribbon cable into the screen.

Oh, great. So I bought a second screen, got the ribbon cable in, stuck it into the body, hit the power button, and --- nothing. Apparently didn't get the cable in right after all. AND -- cracked the screen getting it back off.

This is obviously not within my limited set of talents

Do I buy a third screen (!)? Do I try to get the plastic clip off the cracked one, onto the previous one?

Or do it toss the whole thing and start over again?

What's funny is I have a hand-me-down Ur-IPad which must be 10 years old, and on board almost its whole life, and it has never missed a beat. But the Ur-Ipad won't run GoFree.

I liked the Sony because it's waterproof, and in general I like Sony gear (I use Sony smart phones). But the Xperia tablets are apparently not being made any more, and the last model is the Z4. And this one is bloody expensive.

So what else, for this purpose? Waterproof (at least splash-proof) is good, the brightest possible display, and a good screen, would be the main criteria, I think.

Any recommendations?

I like Android, dislike the Fruity kind, but what about Surface? A Windows tablet will run different and probably more apps -- possibly an advantage.

[hellosailor]

Every town has cell phone repair places, that are familiar with replacing screens and those nasty cable fittings. They'll probably charge you all of $25-50 plus the new screen (which you could probably supply if you wanted to) to do the job.

Some are better than others, but these guys are used to doing that specific job literally every day.

I've taken to using a jeweler's binocular glasses when I need to do something like that. Invisible cable connectors are the work of the devil.

[gjorgensen]

Beware: The latest GoFree app for Android does not work (at least not reliably) on Android 7 and higher. I learned this hard way, spending an inordinate amount of time trying to get an ASUS tablet running Android 7 to work with my (new) B&G setup. I was assured it worked fine. After a lot of frustration assuming it had to be the nav/instrument/WiFi setup I borrowed an iPad and proved it worked. I finally received a message from Navico support stating it's a known problem and will be fixed in a future release (with no ETA). I ended up selling the tablet and buying a refurbished iPad Air 2, which works fine.