Ditched paper blueprints for a tablet on site

I spent two years hauling rolled up prints to jobs and dealing with them getting wet or torn. Finally switched to a ruggedized Samsung tablet with Procore for my last commercial fence install. The zoom feature alone saved me from misreading a property line by 3 feet on a 200 foot run. Honestly, the battery life took some getting used to, I keep a portable charger in my vest now. Has anyone else made the jump and found a good way to keep the screen clean when it's dusty?

3 comments

3 Comments

diana_west271d ago

That bit about the zoom feature saving you from a 3 foot misreading really stuck with me. Because honestly, nobody talks about what happens when you get a smudge right over a property marker line on a bright day. I learned that the hard way on a fence job last summer. The glare off the screen made a tiny scratch look like a property stake line and I almost set a post two feet into the neighbor's yard. What worked for me was just keeping a microfiber cloth tucked into my hard hat's sweatband. I wipe the screen sideways every time I look up from the tablet, kind of a habit now. The dust and sunscreen grease from my fingers really mess up the clarity after about an hour. Also, a matte screen protector helps a ton with reflections but it does eat the battery a little faster.

smith.anna1d ago

Oh come on, that matte protector eating battery thing is not really a thing. I ran the same matte film for two seasons on my Galaxy Tab Active3 and my battery life never changed. The screen brightness might need to be cranked up a notch or two to cut through the glare if you're outside, and that's what actually drains the battery, not the protector itself. So if your tablet is dying at 2 PM, it's probably because you're running it at 80% brightness in direct sun, not because of a piece of plastic on the glass. As for micro scratches, I've honestly had worse scratches on bare glass from dust wiping than on the matte films I've used. The matte finish hides the small marks way better. Just get a decent quality tempered glass matte one and swap it every few months if you're worried.

vera5141d ago

Hold up, does the matte screen protector actually drain the battery noticeably, or is it one of those things you just get used to? I've been thinking about trying one but I'm already fighting with my tablet dying around 2 PM on long summer days. Also, do you find the micro scratches from wiping dust off the matte finish end up worse than the bare glass glare issues?