What devices should I purchase for the games I run at events? Eventprofs share their experiences.

One of the most common questions we get is that what kind of devices should event company purchase to run games. 

Considering operation system version it is simple- iOS or Android.

Features to consider are:

• the device should have GPS,
• decent battery life even in colder weather,
• big enough screen so players in teams can be engaged with the content,
• mobile data connection,
• screen visibility in sunlight,
• availability of weatherproof shells/bags,
• bluetooth and other specs that are needed for your setups.

It is recommended to use screen covers (the transparent sticker to protect the screen from scratches). Our experience shows matte covers work better than glossy. Matte does not reflect in sunlight and does not stick to protective bags if you use them.

Considering brand we don’t recommend a specific brand and a model.

We asked couple of event organizers what they use currently and how they feel about the tech specs and got the following comments:

“We use only iPads which we bought in 2014 or 2013. Anyway, its 3rd generation of iPads. The battery is excellent, device runs around 6h in 3G operational mode. They seem to be reliable and trustworthy. We have used different other devices like Samsung galaxy, Huawei and also the cheap Prestigio tablet. All of them seem to be less or more class below in terms of screen responsiveness, GPS readability and also battery endurance.

They cost us 350€ each when we got them brand new. So far we have been satisfied with the iPads. The only problem is that they become slower by age and the camera is out of date (poor quality). So is the screen resolution which is ok, but no so much on a bright sunny day.

All in all they seem to be easy to operate with, reliable and smart. Less hustle to work with in comparison to other tested devices. I would recommend iPads if you look in a long term usage and reliability.”

“I Have been using Ulefone Power (5.5inch smartphones) and Leagoo Shark (6inch smartphones/phablets) (technically identical to the Ulefone power, except for the screen size and specs which are better). Both have 6050mah battery, phones always have 60 to 80% of battery power left after 3 hrs of gaming. Cost: approx € 150. Location Accuracy: GPS, A-GPS, Glonass, E-compass (very accurate!) Pro’s: fast & create good photo’s, great for photo-mission games. Cons. both have  small screens and Laegoo has it own interface which cannot be removed. Soon I will try out Samsung Galaxy Tab A. around €226 ”

“We are using Lenovo TAB 2 A10-70 which we got for 185 euros.Location accuracy  seems to be good and overall responsiveness is OK. Screen Readability is good in dark and daylight, maybe little problematic in very sunny days.Battery life is more than enough for our ordinary activities. We had a lot of problems in the beginning though with devices not finding GPS. After making several firmware updates the devices seems to be working ok now but we are still not completely confident.The price is the best advantage in our opinion. We been using one iPad and iPhone also to try and not had any problem at all with these”

As you can see from the replies- event managers experiment with different options and get satisfying results most of the time : )
One good tip on the way: first buy one device and play around with it in different conditions and settings to test specific model’s limits and then purchase the full fleet.