external HDD and use of ipad mini for traveling?

[aaggee]

So the only apple products i have owned are iPods and currently using the Touch 4th gen.

In short:
>I'll be backpacking Europe from 6+ months.
>I'm a huge photo geek so there will be a lot of photos being taken with my dslr
>looking to purchase a tablet (deciding on ipad mini or nexus 7) to be used for:
-keeping in touch back home
-entertaining myself while on the move
-storing all the photo's i take.
-possibly for navigation around the cities

I've done some research and found that:
>only cellular has GPS capabilities and i have been recommended an app that will allow me to navigate with positioning while offline.
>transferring photos from an SD card to the device seems very smooth and easy.

my questions i have are:
>can an unpowered external HDD be connected to the ipad mini to stream movies?
>can the same external HDD be used to store photos from the device? and is the process to do so equally as easy as transferring from the SD card?
>also as anyone traveled with an ipad mini? could you give me your thoughts on your experience with it?

 

[Raz0rEdge]

Welcome to Mac-Forums..

You cannot connect an external HD to any iOS device. One way around this is to get a HD like Seagates GoFlex external HDDs that will work as a streaming server for you.

Were you also planning on taking a computer along with you? If not, where does the SD transfer come into play here since a iPad Mini can't talk to a SD card either?

 

[aaggee]

You can buy accessories to be able to connect an ad card to the device? And I think I'm gonna go with a laptop now. though it might be heavier, it's still easier to use. I might sell my current one to my brother since he'll be at uni mext year and buy myself an ultrabook for my final year. Besides I'm in the gym every day so it should be less of a hassle for me then most people.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

From what I know and have seen there are no accessories to connect an SD card to any iOS device. From your use case, a notebook is probably going to serve you better..

The iOS devices are great as an _additional_ device for specific uses as opposed to the primary device..

 

[vansmith]

>only cellular has GPS capabilities and i have been recommended an app that will allow me to navigate with positioning while offline.

I can't speak for the Mini but the Nexus 7 certainly has GPS and there are a few offline navigation apps for Android. You might want to test them out first - some of the navigation suggestions in some of the free apps are questionable.

my questions i have are:
>can an unpowered external HDD be connected to the ipad mini to stream movies?
>can the same external HDD be used to store photos from the device? and is the process to do so equally as easy as transferring from the SD card?
>also as anyone traveled with an ipad mini? could you give me your thoughts on your experience with it?

Again, can't speak for the Mini but word on the street is that the Nexus 7 can be used with an external if it's powered (which likely going to be a problem for you) and connected to the N7 with an OTG cable (you'd also need to install an app and it looks like it might possibly have to be rooted). Not having tested that though, I can't verify if that actually works.