Question

[Flutra Salihu]

Hi everyone, 
I am new to this forum and I'd appreciate your help  

I am an land surveying engineer and all the time I need to be in contact with my client as well as with other sister offices for daily meeting, what I am looking is a video conferencing device that would help me achieve my goals without using my laptop or my phone 
So far I only found expensive ones and I would love something affordable please
Thanks in advance

[LogicalDrm]

You shouldn't look for any special device. Tablets with rugged design would serve best. If you need even more toughness, Phillips Toughbook series is the thing. There are benefits to using business grade rugged devices. Most likely software you are using already works on those, you can use camera to show actual work site and maybe even screen share current plans. Plus you can receive files in real time. Ofc you would need mobile data connection, but that would be required on most special solutions too. If you need to use satellite connection, you should go for actual specialists. Asking these kinds of specialized questions on forums with main audience from personal conputers, administration and such can't give such opinions.

 

Like i only know kind of hardware my current and previous employers (a mining company and Geological Survey of Finland) are using for field observation.

[paddy-stone]

I don't know as I am not in that field, but I would say that a phone would be a better solution than a tablet because:-

1. Built in communications.
2. Better cameras generally than tablets, with flash when needed.
3. Better screens, less reflective than most tablets.
4. Again a generality, but should have better battery life than tablets... also if you got/have a QC 3.0 or above they can be charged fairly quickly from a supporting battery bank which also has QC capabilities.
5. No need to carry extra devices with you.

I am fast becoming less enamoured of tablets, they generally don't quite have the same build quality and features of some less expensive phones even. The only "better" thing is the screen size usually, and that's fast becoming less necessary or less of a gap between them, as a LOT of phones now have screen sizes above 5.5 inches and 1080p or better screens.

If you don't want to use a phone, then I apologize but I just wanted to give you my thoughts on this as I see it. I have a fairly good tablet myself (Nvidia Shield K1), but find myself using my phone more instead now since I upgraded... and the phone isn't even high end, but very good quality IMO and plenty powerful and capable (Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 global 3GB RAM).

The above is just MY opinion.

[Flutra Salihu]

Thank you @LoGiCalDrm and @paddy-stone

 

What I am looking is something more like Logitech for videoconferencing but more affordable as every morning  using an iPad or phone it is not really professional plus if I would have day off somebody else would have to go through all the process and use their phones (iPads) long story .......

[LogicalDrm]

4 hours ago, Flutra Salihu said:

Thank you @LoGiCalDrm and @paddy-stone

 

What I am looking is something more like Logitech for videoconferencing but more affordable as every morning  using an iPad or phone it is not really professional plus if I would have day off somebody else would have to go through all the process and use their phones (iPads) long story .......

Ok, now I'm confused about what you are actually looking for...? Video conference systems are for conference rooms. You can do same setup with good microphone and webcam. Logitech and such have just extra bit of automation, like camera turning towards speaker or 360-deg microphone for picking all speakers in a room. From your original post I thought you are looking more portable solution to take on the field with you. Which is why I recommended tablet as solution. You could do same with laptop, webcam and external microphone too, but as you are limited by internet connection to provide quality, you can't achieve same level as with wifi or ethernet connection.

 

I also don't understand why you think using tablet would cause issues with multiple users. You could have it as loan-style device, a part of equipment kit just like other tools. Having corporate account for Skype or other software or just logging in to other account when device is taken. I don't think using iPad or other tablets is unprofessional. At least in here its becoming more common to use consumer or business grade tech vs full professional for cost and availability reasons.

[Flutra Salihu]

20 hours ago, LoGiCalDrm said:

Ok, now I'm confused about what you are actually looking for...? Video conference systems are for conference rooms. You can do same setup with good microphone and webcam. Logitech and such have just extra bit of automation, like camera turning towards speaker or 360-deg microphone for picking all speakers in a room. From your original post I thought you are looking more portable solution to take on the field with you. Which is why I recommended tablet as solution. You could do same with laptop, webcam and external microphone too, but as you are limited by internet connection to provide quality, you can't achieve same level as with wifi or ethernet connection.

 

I also don't understand why you think using tablet would cause issues with multiple users. You could have it as loan-style device, a part of equipment kit just like other tools. Having corporate account for Skype or other software or just logging in to other account when device is taken. I don't think using iPad or other tablets is unprofessional. At least in here its becoming more common to use consumer or business grade tech vs full professional for cost and availability reasons.

Sorry If I was unclear, what I meant was video conference to use it in the office but without the need of asking clients to have a specific account or specific app. Say need to have 5 min briefing with the client but in our office 5 ppl and in the clients end 5 or more ppl. Phone, tablet, laptop, tried all of them but gets weird once everybody is around the laptop (I hope you get my point). 

Thanks again for taking the time to help me  

[LogicalDrm]

2 hours ago, Flutra Salihu said:

Sorry If I was unclear, what I meant was video conference to use it in the office but without the need of asking clients to have a specific account or specific app. Say need to have 5 min briefing with the client but in our office 5 ppl and in the clients end 5 or more ppl. Phone, tablet, laptop, tried all of them but gets weird once everybody is around the laptop (I hope you get my point). 

Thanks again for taking the time to help me  

Projector, external Webcam and good mic. And software capable of having invite-based meetings. The software part is tricky. Most of the stuff I've used are those expensive ones or Hangouts.

[Flutra Salihu]

On ‎3‎/‎22‎/‎2018 at 3:25 PM, LoGiCalDrm said:

Projector, external Webcam and good mic. And software capable of having invite-based meetings. The software part is tricky. Most of the stuff I've used are those expensive ones or Hangouts.

Hi, according to your answer and my researches I've passed by some good solutions. As per hardware and software combination I found Solaborate-Hello cross-platform device, it looks good. And in the other side is Highfive - awesome, but expensive. Have you ever used any of them, do you have any suggestion?

[LogicalDrm]

2 hours ago, Flutra Salihu said:

Hi, according to your answer and my researches I've passed by some good solutions. As per hardware and software combination I found Solaborate-Hello cross-platform device, it looks good. And in the other side is Highfive - awesome, but expensive. Have you ever used any of them, do you have any suggestion?

Both are new to me. I haven't worked with setting up conference sytems, and barely used them.

[Flutra Salihu]

On ‎3‎/‎26‎/‎2018 at 1:10 PM, LoGiCalDrm said:

Both are new to me. I haven't worked with setting up conference sytems, and barely used them.

Hi, I definitely decided to go with the HELLO device by Solaborate, if you ever need a conference setup I recommend it to you, easy set-up, great customer service and no bugs and its affordable.