Ok I know this is a Linux forum so questions should relate to that but as android is a type and in the community we have a vast level of knowledge experience and involved in different aspects I am going to ask…
My tablet is dieing and looking to replace, thinking 8 inch for portability, 4gb and 64 as a minimum spec plus android 11 or 13 but then look at cost against this
Don’t want to pay a fortune as tablets appear to run for 2 years for me then die, yes use it a lot.
Not going to buy apple as over priced.
Questions
Amazon fire does not have Google store so perhaps limited
Kids version of tablets tend to be cheaper and have drop protection but can they be used by adults
Sub 100 euros exist but are they any good are they up for the job
Samsung galaxy A7 lite is it worth spending another 50 euros on
I don’t watch films or play games it’s mainly email or web surfing so no real demands
We have two 10in Samsung tablets. They have lasted a lot longer than 2 years, so they are older models but still work with everything except our Telco’s app.
We only use them in the house on the wifi modem, they do not have mobile phone … you can get them with a modile phone… I have a friend who uses one for a phone.
We charge them every night , overnight. My wife will flatten hers during the day… she watches lots of youtube stuff.
I would buy another Samsung, because we have had no trouble. That is not to say other brands are not as good.
If you dont want portable, consider a 10 inch… Your eyes are not getting any younger.
Android is probably the most successful linux ever.
It’s Raspbian (Debian) under the hood, so root access is automatic, or via sudo, at the very least.
When that Raspad first launched on Kickstarter maybe 5 years ago, I was tempted - but - one problem - it’s only 720p and the “lofi” nature of 720p would show up on a 10" - IMHO. Before opting for something like this - I’d check out reviews for things like battery life - because a tablet is only as good as its battery - nobody wants to use a tablet that lasts less than 2 hours on a full charge…
But it’s ideal if you want to “bring your own O/S”.
Or check out @Sheila_Flanagan 's threads on running Linux on Lenovo tablets.
You could probably get a 2nd hand Lenovo x86 tablet for a reasonable price, and run Linux on it.
Lenovo also have cheap Android tablets - e.g. here in Au OfficeWorks outlets are advertising two Lenovo Android tablets for under $200 AU (what’s that in Euros? 100 Euros?).
Despite (or in spite of) @nevj’s advocating Samsung - I wouldn’t recommend them. I’ve had two Note series Samsung tablets - a 10.1" I bought new, and a 12.2" which I bought 2nd hand.
Even before I dropped the 10" one and destroyed it (iPads can take a lot more punishment than Galaxy tablets) - it would sometimes go through the infamous Samsung “boot loop”.
The 12.2" one also would go through that “boot loop” constantly. Would happen soon as battery dropped below 60% - one time I couldn’t stop it doing the boot loop on 100% battery charge - ended up having to factory reset it - that got it working, but I lost ALL the data stored on the internal storage! I stopped using it - I didn’t trust it NOT to lose all my data.
Didn’t our esteemed leader Abishek recently publish an Its Foss story on Linux tablets?
Liked the look of the raspberry
But two issues
The customs in France are playing silly with tax for imported goods and blocking at the point of distribution to release you pay a tax
The airline we use to travel on only offer on line boarding passes on either android or Mac tablet phones not on Linux or desktops
Which is stupid, as last flight we took. Downloaded the app, got the boarding passes in a wallet which refused to open, the pdf I also got would not scan at the gate entry, and they printed them out for us anyway dispite saying it was extra 10 euros per ticket per person.
I started with a very cheap tablet but speed was a let down so upgraded to Samsung but that got stuck in the boot loop and no matter what I did could not get out of it. Currently have a Lenovo 10 inch but the screen is ghosted everything appears double (cross eyed). I have a old Samsung but it’s on android 4 and cannot be upgraded will not connect to email so old.
My Nokia phone does everything I need really but as pointed out screen size is difficult with age falling eyesight and lack of dexterity in the keypad for typing.
Not see the tablet article will go and look
Before I got RTSP working on my IP security cameras - I was seriously considering buying a dirt cheap bargain basement Android tablet - minimum 8", but probably 10" - looked at no-name brands on Amazon - but if I do that - I think I’ll go for Lenovo, either new, or pre-owned off e-bay…
But : here’s the caveat : I’ve found that RTSP feed from these shonky cameras a bit substandard - they end up getting like 10 seconds behind the same view on my iPad…
What I’d MUCH rather do, is stick a 2nd hand iPad mini 5 there - but - FFS! They’re still over $400 2nd hand, same goes for mini gen4 - $350+ WTF? This is Apple gear… and there’s probably a good reason for that - most of their stuff can last 10+ years or more! And they provide software support for their tablets and phones WAAAAY longer than Android vendors… I could still run the latest iOS (rebranded iPadOS) on a gen3 iPad mini…
For the tablet experience, give me an iPad ANYDAY over some shonky Android device… I have a gen3 iPad - I think software support for these stopped at iOS 11 - but - it still works! I use 2 iPads - my iPad Pro 12.9" from 2018, and a 2nd hand iPad mini gen5 I got last year off a refurbish reseller (an Au mob called Rebeelo - who do a stirling job of diverting potential landfill to useable devices - but - they’re not cheap).
I use both iPads with my Apple Pencil for pursuing my hobby (drawing and sketching), and the 12.9" is great for reading e-comics, and I use the mini gen5 to read e-books (mostly epub files I upload to my Google Play [yes on Apple ecosystem!] account)…
So - I may sing the praises of iOS on tablets (it craps on what I’ve seen from Android) - I DETEST it on smartphones - and will probably be an Android phone user till I fall off this mortal coil (BTW - I had 2 non-android smartphones before Android, but they were Windows CE and I quite liked it - the “killer app” for me was Microsoft Age of Empires!)…
