Looking for a decent, but cheap-ass tablet
Okay -- I am looking for a decent but dirt cheap tablet, manly for recipes, spotify, youtube/VLC, maybe some simple puzzle games. I want the largest tablet I can get for the fewest dollars spent
Not a lot. I was looking at the Lenovo Tab M11 or something around there.
Also, ideally something that can take a crap-free Android ROM.
quick edit: I gave up on this for a few days because I got into the 'this one is better... but this one is better...' and before I knew it I was hitting a grand for something I'll barely use. I just ordered a Lenovo P11. I don't expect it to be amazing, but it'll be fine for the very basic tasks I'll be using it for.
Its surprising how much old stuff is for sale on Amazon. iPads from 2018, for instance. Doesn't seem right.
double edit: I returned the under-powered P11 and got a Lenovo Tab K11 LTE w/ 8gb and 128gb eMMC. Not a big fan of eMMC, but it'll be fine for my uses.
I have an Android phone, but I'd recommend getting a used ipad. You can find them for <$100 and they really are that much better.
I agree a used or refurb iPad would be a better bet in terms of quality of experience, speed, etc.
I've worked with some low end (<$300-400) Android tablets, and even the ones from major manufacturers tend to be miserable, using SoCs that are equivalent in power to stuff that's the better part of a decade old and being unable to even render UI animations without constant hitches and frame drops. You can get away with some of the cheaper Android phones because the floor for power is still reasonably high on those, but for some reason with Android tablets manufacturers go straight to the bottom of the barrel with component choices.
I have a Samsung tablet that I have never done much more with than watch YouTube and read on. Didn't realize just how slow the thing was until it started to get serious slowdowns playing Pokerogue.... A 2d browser game that my phone runs perfectly.
It's crazy that nobody is making something competitive to the iPad.
The situation improves on the higher end. There are decent options there, especially once you get up into iPad Pro pricing.
It's the low end where Android manufacturers aren't bothering with trying to compete. The only thing I can figure is that the target audience for these products need little more than a YouTube box to hand to their kids or something.
Out of curiosity are you buying from places like backmarket or just going off of a local craigslist/facebook marketplace?
I've had good luck purchasing used Apple devices off Reddit surprisingly. I think the subreddit is r/appleswap. It requires the usual common sense when purchasing from the internet but the people I've talked to rarely seem to be in the business of scamming.
I disagree, ipads tend to retain their resale value a lot better than android tablets. In this case, that means it's a lot better value to get a used android tablet than a used ipad. The (older) Samsung flagship tablets in particular are quite cheap now used and are great for the described use case.
Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 10.4" tablets are in the same price range, better quality hardware, and on the Lineage OS device list.
Definitely these. I have a Google Pixel Tablet now, but these <$200 Samsungs are far better than any cheap Chinese no-names you can get, plus LineageOS support.
Can confirm. I use one at work and have another at home. They aren't flashy or powerful, and a bit slow to get going, but they get basic jobs done well.
9 years ago I got an Amazon Fire tablet which I jailbroke pretty easily to remove their bloat and install Google Play store. I used YouTube, VLC for watching shows, and a Bluetooth keyboard for some writing. I used it on my lunch breaks at work and it was fantastic.
I don't know if that's still feasible but it might be worth looking into cause they were super cheap
I have an old fire tab from back then. Is yours also the one that doesn't have square pixels?
Oh that I don't remember, I haven't used in years at this point, but it was very useful the few years I used it.
if you find it, load up an image of a circle and see. its a weird choice on their part.
I think I might still have it buried in my closet somewhere, I can't remember if i kept it when I moved a few years ago or not.
I bought a Redmi Pad SE for my mother and it's working wonders. It's really big.
It has some bloat (way less than phones), but you can remove easily using adb.
Don't get a Samsung. Their bloatware chews through battery life and bogs down performance. 8 years ago I would have said Samsung, but they've gone off into the deep end. (Also they treat their employees like crap.)
I say work backwards from a list rootable, open-source supported tablets. The more functional and accessible a tablet is, the more likely it is that there will be demand for it to be supported by an alternative OS like Ubuntu Touch, Graphene OS, /e/ os.
samsung is a terrible company. No matter what I get, it'll have the ROM replaced, like you said. Nothing against a branded calculator...
I'm sort of in the same boat, although I'm also interested in retro game emulation, so perhaps need a bit more oomph. I was originally going to buy an iPad, but I really wouldn't want to spend so much. So, I've done some research that might be of value to you. Or not.
Take all of the following with many grains of salt: not only will it make it a tastier read, but I also haven't tried any of these devices, just read about them and watched reviews, so I have no first hand experience to share.
Where I am, Lenovo Tab M11 is in the same price range as Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+, and based on reviews, I'd get that one over the Lenovo. Unless you need a stylus, the Tab A9+ seems like a really good deal for what it gives, and an all around better tablet than the M11.
However, Xiaomi Pad 6 is only slightly more expensive and has a much better screen, processor and speakers. However however, I would be happier with Samsung's OS and longterm support than Xiaomi's, and I have read about there having been issues with Netflix and other streaming services as the Xiaomi periodically loses its cryptographic key or some such. If anyone here has the Pad 6, I'd be very interested in hearing your experiences.
Yet, if I actually really want a Samsung over the Xiaomi Pad 6, I probably should spend a bit extra and get the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE. In terms of hardware, it's perhaps slightly worse than the Xiaomi, but the software is snappier and I expect Samsung to support the device longer than Xiaomi.
But if I am ready to spend the money for the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE, I might just as well throw in a little extra and get a new iPad. In the past decade and some, I have had three Android tablets and one iPad. The reason I have had three Androids is that they have all been terrible, and each has broken down very soon after the warranty expired. Meanwhile, I have had only one iPad because my 11-year-old iPad Mini 2 still works. It just stopped getting updates a couple of years ago, is a bit slow now, and I'd need a bigger screen.
So, I keep telling myself that I should really just buy an iPad, but I don't want to spend so much, and so I go back into looking at the Samsung Galaxy A9+. But why wouldn't I spend a bit extra on the Xiaomi Pad 6? But then, I should really get the Tab S9 FE. At which point I should go for the iPad. And so on and so on. I've been in this loop for days now. Maybe some tilderino in this thread will be able to break the curse and set me free.
haha this is almost identical to the same path I went down, which lead to this thread. It started with spending $150 then $200 then $300... before long I was at $900 :)
Let me know if you end up making a decision! I'm leaning towards ordering the Xiaomi Pad 6 and testing it for a few days before deciding whether to return it. Or well, today I am. Yesterday I was leaning towards the Samsung S9 FE. Let's see what tomorrow brings.
BeardyHat has me thinking about a Surface Pro but running Ubuntu.. this will never end.
Ha! Your comment in turn made me look into installing Linux on my old iPad, but alas, that doesn't seem feasible. And I also need to remind myself: I'd just like something that just works, not something that I need to tinker with.
I almost always end up with some hacked / modded device that I have to wrestle with on a regular basis... and for what? its stupid... but so fun.
Sounds familiar. I compare two devices and realise that if I mod the one that costs X, I can almost get the features of a device that costs 2X. So, what do I do? Naturally, I buy the one that costs 2X because that way I can mod it to get the features of one that would cost 4X!
And then I wonder why I never have extra money or time.
as someone else said in the thread, used iPad seems like the way to go
Unfortunately, where I live a used market doesn't really exist. Or it does but the prices aren't particularly attractive.
Not Android and can be pretty slow at times, but I've been very happy with the two Surface Go tablets I've had and they can be found for pretty cheap on eBay. I paid like $75 for my first model, which was the same as this one, except with 4Gb of RAM. They also accept SD cards, so you can expand storage as needed.
I use mine regularly during these summer months when I don't want a hot laptop on me. Works great for browsing, watching and playing older games or indies on it; I've even emulated GameCube on it, which worked ok. I didn't test anything else, but I'd be shocked if it couldn't do Dreamcast, N64 and anything earlier very well. Mine is an m3 model though, so you're mileage may vary.
that's amazing. This has really piqued my interest. One guy put Ubuntu on his and it seems to work alright with touch.
Yup, I've seen the exact video you've mentioned.
I'm fairly happy with Windows 11 on mine, but I like that Linux is an option if absolutely necessary.
It's a really nice little machine. 10" in size, something like 1.7lbs with the type cover; it's pretty great and the size makes it very easy to just take it with me wherever. Plus I love the option to play stuff out of my Steam library if I feel so inclined; recently I've been playing fHeroes2 on it in portrait mode, it works great with just touch.
impressive that W11 will run well on it. I hate the idea of dealing with the bullshit that often comes with Android.