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Help Nexus 7 tether to smartphone?

S

saguaro_48

Lurker
Whle driving, I would like to use my Nexus 7 as a GPS due to the larger screen, instead of using my Droid X on Verizon. Can this be done, or do I need a Jetpack or similar device?
Thanks.
 
Most definitely. Jet pack is optional. I do it with my VZW Galaxy Nexus all the time. However, this is going to be more dependent on your Droid X than anything. You will need to find a wireless tethering app. And that app needs to support wireless Infastructure mode (some try to use Ad-hoc, which the Nexus 7 doesn't support).

As for what app....I don't know. I'm rooted, and my Galaxy Nexus has the feature built in.

Might be worth a try to ask them here as well : http://androidforums.com/motorola-droid-x/

If you already found a tethering app, then you should be good to go.
 
Cache the map area where you are going to drive ahead of time and as long as you do not need to navigate with the N7 you do not need it online. It will show you where you are on the map. If you ask it to navigate a route ahead of time it can guide you until you get off course, then it needs to get online to recalculate.
I like it because it gives you more details on the map and you can zoom out a lot more to see what's around you.
 
FoxFi works. I ran FoxFi on my E4GT and walked into a Staples store and tested a Nexus 7 that they had on display. I had no problem at all getting the tablet to wi-fi tether to my phone :-)
 
I do so on a regular basis with my N7 and my galaxy nexus phone. I have a variety of tethering widget. Just search play there are a lot. Read the reviews of those with your phone to make sure they work.

I get pretty good throughput, about 16mbps on the N7 when I'm tethered. But a word of warning. Your phone will drain fast. I lose about 20% of my battery in about 30 minutes. So if you intend to use the N7 as a GPS and drive for an hour or more (which I have done before), get yourself a portable battery pack for your phone.
 
val88 said:
I do so on a regular basis with my N7 and my galaxy nexus phone. I have a variety of tethering widget. Just search play there are a lot. Read the reviews of those with your phone to make sure they work.

I get pretty good throughput, about 16mbps on the N7 when I'm tethered. But a word of warning. Your phone will drain fast. I lose about 20% of my battery in about 30 minutes. So if you intend to use the N7 as a GPS and drive for an hour or more (which I have done before), get yourself a portable battery pack for your phone.
Click to expand...

Why not just get a car phone charger? Seems to make a lot more sense.
 
another word of warning.. if you are in the USA...
if you are tethering without paying the carrier for this function.

they may flag your account.. charge you for all the data and/or terminate your service. dont use too much, so stay under the radar and it should be fine.
 
Tethering works just fine but it helps to have a healthy data allowance. It's just another WiFi hotspot as far as the Nexus is concerned, so if 50MB of automatic application updates come along, the Nexus will happily download them. I enquired on the super friendly Android Applications forum to see if there are any apps that allow you to control what permissions a device has over a given WiFi connection. Apparently, there's nothing out there.
 
Internaut said:
Tethering works just fine but it helps to have a healthy data allowance. It's just another WiFi hotspot as far as the Nexus is concerned, so if 50MB of automatic application updates come along, the Nexus will happily download them. I enquired on the super friendly Android Applications forum to see if there are any apps that allow you to control what permissions a device has over a given WiFi connection. Apparently, there's nothing out there.
Click to expand...


i remember going through the main settings...
there was a setting to turn off background app data access.

and most apps have a setting to turn that off too.
 
Thanks for the replies. I've downloaded FoxFi and will give it a try. I've got a car charger for the phone and Nexus 7 so I should be OK. I have noticed that the charger can barely keep the unit charged when being used for navigation and I'm guessing tethering will also cause a problem but it should be manageable if I shut it off when in a long run on the interstate.
I have an unlimited data plan and intend to replace the phone soon with a 4G LTE model on my own instead of "upgrading" to a new phone and losing that benefit since "V" would charge me $30 more than I am presently paying for unlimited and that would then give me only 2G of data. Boy, I do appreciate it when companies "save" me money. This way, in less than a year, I've broken even money-wise but still have my unlimited plan (until they figure some way to get to that!)
Thanks again for the help.
 
depending on how much you use your gps on your nexus 7 you might want to just get a standalone gps app like Sygic theres a 7 day free trial and after that its different prices depending on where your from. for the USA and Canada map pack its 30 bucks on there website. i bought it and i love it!!! at least give it a try.
 
Demache said:
Why not just get a car phone charger? Seems to make a lot more sense.
Click to expand...

Oh I don't normally use my N7 nor my GN in my car because my car has a much much nicer navigation system. The last time I used them for nav I was guiding my father whose car didn't have navigation nor usb car charger.
 
dan330 said:
another word of warning.. if you are in the USA...
if you are tethering without paying the carrier for this function.

they may flag your account.. charge you for all the data and/or terminate your service. dont use too much, so stay under the radar and it should be fine.
Click to expand...

To clarify a little, there was an FCC settlement with Verizon, which in shorthand speak, means that on the Tiered or Share Everything data plans, you are allowed to use third party tethering apps with no fear of repercussion from Verizon. Your only worry there, would be making sure you don't use up your total data allowance, which would cause an overage.

The only grey area would be the older unlimited data plans. As most articles I've read on it (including this one from CNN: What Verizon's FCC tethering settlement means to you (FAQ) | Mobile - CNET News and one from zdnet: Verizon: No free tethering for unlimited data plan customers | ZDNet ), if you have the unlimited data plan, you would still be required to pay the extra hotspot price to enjoy worry-free tethering.

That said...I'd say that unless you are REALLY cranking through data using the hotspot tether apps on an unlimited data plan, I doubt they'll say much. But if you're using 100GB+ a month on an unlimited phone, and not paying the extra tethering fee (again, the unlimited data plans weren't subject to the FCC agreement that affected it), then they will likely catch on.

For what it's worth, of course. :)
 
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