I am trying to find out how far this has got but – somewhat typically of “hacker” forums – nobody on XDA is answering any questions 
1) Does bluetooth tethering work (disabled totally by Samsung)? (to a Nokia 808 phone – works with Windows laptops OK)
2) Does adhoc wifi work i.e. getting internet access via a Nokia phone running Joikuspot (adhoc wifi was disabled by google)
3) Are there any obvious gotchas for reinstalling apps like K9 email, Firefox browser, etc? I can backup bookmarks etc to the SD card.
4) Are there any major bits which don’t currently work?
I believe the first two are Yes, and 3) is “you lose everything”. For 4) obscure things (like the fingerprint reader) don’t work.
Good afternoon Peter – tethering is a term I’d usually associate with Apple products however, on Android telephones, setting up a Wi-Fi Hotspot works and works well.
I have used a friend’s Android Wi-Fi Hotspot extensively for filing flight plans and obtaining WX when I couldn’t get a connection, both in France and in the UK.
The rest is rather too techno-voodoo for me – sorry can’t help more.
Rex
I have noticed that the latest Iphones present an infrastructure wifi access point (for tethering purposes). So that works with almost any client device. It is negated by the fact that an unhacked Iphone uses a specific different APN when running the wifi AP function, so the cellular network can see you are doing it and they can block the data very easily if they choose to not support tethering on that particular contract. With Joikuspot (Nokia) this is much harder to detect, and with bluetooth tethering (possible in theory with most non-Apple phones) it is much harder still.
Also you are right that an Android phone offers infrastructure wifi so that would work with an Android tablet (which can use only infrastructure wifi – a clever google restrictive practice which tries to make every android tablet user buy an android phone). I just don’t have an android phone and don’t want one
a clever google restrictive practice which tries to make every android tablet user buy an android phone
I can connect (“tether”) my Android tablet to an Android phone, to an iPhone, to a Windows phone, to a Blackberry phone, etc.
I was so very impressed with the wi-fi hotspot arrangement on Android that I have gone down the S5 route (don’t like / need the S6) with a SIM only arrangement and which is for use only with aviation applications (RR / EuroFPL / SD / Garmin Pilot / AeroPlus WX / SkyMet / AeroWx / Autorouter etc.)
It has been in use now for around three weeks and I’ve used it comparatively extensively esp. recently at North Weald (just easier), Deauville (Wi-Fi very slow), E Mids (couldn’t get the password as the ‘boss’ was out!?) and Merville (no Wi-Fi) and on each occasion it worked impeccably.
I also helped a French pilot at Merville and let him use it to file his flightplan at lunchtime.
Each time the user interface was an iPad not an Android tablet so I cannot say if it works more easily with the latter, all I can say is that the iPads worked well.
I’ve got no idea whether this is still relevant but while going trough the menu on my Moto G phone to fix something else I came across an option called Wifi Direct. There is also a seperate submenu for Mobile Hotspot and Tethering. The options are USB Tethering, Mobile Hotspot and Bluetooth Tethering. So it’s clearly not an Android limitation but I coulnd’t find a similar option my Tab Pro 8.4.
Maybe this Android phone will do it all then?
Many thanks for that input… yes it was Samsung who removed all that stuff.
I started going down the Cyanogenmod route but decided to not waste any more of my life on yet another IT project where nobody bothers to answer even the most basic questions, which will trash my existing config and which might trash some important apps. It took me a couple of days to config that tablet to be useful.
There appears to be a solution in a product called BlueVPN which the developer says will work with any bluetooth phone, but it needs O/S v5+ which is due for this tablet fairly soon. It is already out for Switzerland so I might grab that. That (an official O/S update) should not completely trash my config although it will trash the rooting (the jailbreak) which will stop some apps working.
There is a remaining issue that these 8.4" android tablets take up to 50-80 seconds to render a PDF of say a VFR approach chart which contains colours, whereas my Lenovo Windows 8.0 tablet does it in 3 seconds…. and I have tried loads of different PDF readers. So maybe this tablet will never be any good for flying, and one actually needs a lot more CPU power.
So it comes back to staying with what I have already
My next thing will be to sort out wifi on the Thuraya XT satphone I have on loan.
There is a remaining issue that these 8.4" android tablets take up to 50-80 seconds to render a PDF of say a VFR approach chart which contains colours
On my tablet I’ve never seen any pdf take longer than say five seconds to display. The colored Dutch VFR approach plates such as for EHHV usually load very quickly.
Well, after a more thorough search through the settings it turns out Wifi Direct is present after all on the Tab Pro 8.4. (That is with standard Android 4.4.4 with Nova Launcher, no further mods or hacks installed.)
Look for a seperate Wifi Direct button somewhere on the Connection settings page. Wifi Direct isn’t available after hitting the Add Wifi Network button.
Haven’t used Bluetooth tethering for ages, but everything is available in Nexus devices (stock Android by Google). I have a Nexus 5 (phone) and a Nexus 7 pad, I can give it a try.
Edit: Trying right now. Nexus 7 connected to the web via Bluetooth tethering on a Nexus 5. No problem and dead easy to set up. They are running android 5.1.something, but I think this has always been available. I have never used it on these devices, I always use WiFi hotspot.
