Android One tablet?

My Android One phone is great. Android One is a way to get vanilla Android with the latest security and OS updates, without vendor bloatware.

I really dislike Samsung bloatware, and their back button is on the wrong side.

Has anyone heard rumors of an Android One tablet? Can't find one now.

Samsung makes a 10" tablet. I have one from 2012 and don't like it. Furthermore it has started to delaminate. Other tablets are lower quality, if Amazon reviews can be trusted. The Kindle Fire 10" might be the best bargain but is certainly not vanilla Android.

Possibly a Chrome OS mini laptop that runs Android apps?

CAcreeks wrote:

Possibly a Chrome OS mini laptop that runs Android apps?

all recent chromebooks run android apps. if you're looking for a tablet form factor, there's pixel slate, or the smaller lenovo duet

Robert Zanatta wrote:

Not heard of them producing a tablet. Amazon tablets are kinda tied to their ecosystem. Huawei makes an inexpensive tablet.

Yes, poor selection. Highest rated seems to be the Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 64 GB for $290. Only Android 9 though; not sure it can be upgraded to 10.

Going to the Chromebook store below, and selecting Type=convertible, Medium screen, and Google Play Store enabled, I get many options ranging from $359 to $1200. So it appears that it's not really necessary to buy a tablet after all.

https://www.google.com/chromebook/shop/

I have the first Galaxy Tab S. It only went to Android 6, and it's really sluggish. The newer S series are faster, but are also very expensive. There is the A series, but the display is really downgraded (as are the other specs) compared to the S series.

Yes, I might have a slightly older model. It has a pen and WQXGA screen, and does not seem overly sluggish, but only Android 5.1.1.

CAcreeks wrote:

Going to the Chromebook store below, and selecting Type=convertible, Medium screen, and Google Play Store enabled, I get many options ranging from $359 to $1200.

duet starts at 290 https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/lenovo/student-chromebooks/Lenovo-CT-X636/p/ZZICZCTCT1X

vv50 wrote:

Possibly a Chrome OS mini laptop that runs Android apps?

all recent chromebooks run android apps. if you're looking for a tablet form factor, there's pixel slate, or the smaller lenovo duet

Thanks for the recommendations. It's nice to have high resolution to make text more legible (Pixel Slate is 3000x2000) however the Lenovo Duet stands up on its own, like MS Surface. Useful for Netflix.

My Lenovo 8" tablet (not a current model) has been bullet-proof, and is the go to Android screen around the house, but given the retreat from powerful tablets by Android OEMs if I needed a real 10" workhorse I'd likely be looking at either a Windows-based (including Lenovo, but also Microsoft, etc.) or even an Apple product.  The Chromebook cloud-focus has had its advantages but also limitations - the Android support is fairly new, so I'd be careful about how well locally stored apps really work on the platform.

I2K4 wrote:

My Lenovo 8" tablet (not a current model) has been bullet-proof, and is the go to Android screen around the house, but given the retreat from powerful tablets by Android OEMs if I needed a real 10" workhorse I'd likely be looking at either a Windows-based (including Lenovo, but also Microsoft, etc.) or even an Apple product. The Chromebook cloud-focus has had its advantages but also limitations - the Android support is fairly new, so I'd be careful about how well locally stored apps really work on the platform.

I'm sick of Windows, and hope to stop using it for the rest of my life, after I retire. Moreover the selection of apps is poor compared to Android and iOS.

But thanks for the warning about Chromebooks. There are other reasons to avoid them, such as expiration of upgrade support.

Also thanks for the praise of Lenovo. The Chromebook Duet looks excellent.

CAcreeks wrote:

But thanks for the warning about Chromebooks. There are other reasons to avoid them, such as expiration of upgrade support.

how is this different from other platforms? if your hardware is too old, even windows doesn't support it anymore. same with macOS.

vv50 wrote:

CAcreeks wrote:

But thanks for the warning about Chromebooks. There are other reasons to avoid them, such as expiration of upgrade support.

how is this different from other platforms? if your hardware is too old, even windows doesn't support it anymore. same with macOS.

Windows and especially Linux support old hardware virtually forever.

My Samsung tablet is worst. Only 6 years old and can't be upgraded past Android 5.1.1.

Got curious about Chromebook lifespan and googled up this . One would assume (not stated) that its native Android compatibility would remain current. My experience with Android versions is that app updates and compatibility start drying up around 5 years. My old ZTE phone - kept in the car for offline sat/nav - with Android 5.1 is still getting current app updates. That phone's specs wouldn't be up to Android 9+.

I2K4 wrote:

Got curious about Chromebook lifespan and googled up this . One would assume (not stated) that its native Android compatibility would remain current. My experience with Android versions is that app updates and compatibility start drying up around 5 years. My old ZTE phone - kept in the car for offline sat/nav - with Android 5.1 is still getting current app updates. That phone's specs wouldn't be up to Android 9+.

Thanks for the link, I2K4. Eight years, yay! Even after 8 many things might still work.

With a Chromebook, you can usually root it and install Linux, if a distro is available for that particular hardware. I did that for some old family netbooks that are similarly underpowered. XP to Mint Xfce. Though everything worked, the ensemble was too slow for me to use except when traveling with theft a risk.

One drawback of Android tablets is that they are worthless for running anything else. My son got a Kindle Paperwhite, and based on his recommendation, I feel my tablet days are over. Netflix is relatively unappealing on a small screen, and that is really my only tablet activity that Kindle can't replace.

But first I will glue the second side that is delaminating! Samsung quality meh.

CAcreeks wrote:

vv50 wrote:

how is this different from other platforms? if your hardware is too old, even windows doesn't support it anymore. same with macOS.

Windows and especially Linux support old hardware virtually forever.

not true with windows, there are old PCs have hardware that rely on 32-bit drivers which no longer run with the latest windows, and if you stick on older versions of windows you no longer receive the "virtually forever" update support.

My Samsung tablet is worst. Only 6 years old and can't be upgraded past Android 5.1.1.

chromebooks don't run android, they run chromeos, and like android, it doesn't mean they will stop running, it just means that the device will not receive automatic updates.

CAcreeks wrote:

...

One drawback of Android tablets is that they are worthless for running anything else. My son got a Kindle Paperwhite, and based on his recommendation, I feel my tablet days are over. Netflix is relatively unappealing on a small screen, and that is really my only tablet activity that Kindle can't replace.

My Android tablets are the only thing that will support a substantial Amazon Kindle ebooks collection via app and Toronto Public LIbrary services like OverDrive, etc.. I'd really like an e-ink reader for weight, battery life and outdoors readability, even without a decent browser or apps, but am caught between stools: Kobo supports the library but not Kindle books, and Amazon won't support public libraries in Canada, so never got either.

(Completely agree about booting Linux - for a Chromebook would want some comfort I could dual boot or at least use a live Linux Mint thumb drive, probably immediately.)

I2K4 wrote:

My Android tablets are the only thing that will support a substantial Amazon Kindle ebooks collection via app and Toronto Public LIbrary services like OverDrive, etc.. I'd really like an e-ink reader for weight, battery life and outdoors readability, even without a decent browser or apps, but am caught between stools: Kobo supports the library but not Kindle books, and Amazon won't support public libraries in Canada, so never got either.

Good point, I have OverDrive on the tablet and have borrowed exactly one book from the Santa Clara county public library. Usually if I want to read something, they don't have it.

Is the Amazon imposed limitation Canada only? I'll check into that...

US Libraries only, the FAQ says.

CAcreeks wrote:

I2K4 wrote:

My Android tablets are the only thing that will support a substantial Amazon Kindle ebooks collection via app and Toronto Public LIbrary services like OverDrive, etc.. I'd really like an e-ink reader for weight, battery life and outdoors readability, even without a decent browser or apps, but am caught between stools: Kobo supports the library but not Kindle books, and Amazon won't support public libraries in Canada, so never got either.

Good point, I have OverDrive on the tablet and have borrowed exactly one book from the Santa Clara county public library. Usually if I want to read something, they don't have it.

Is the Amazon imposed limitation Canada only? I'll check into that...

US Libraries only, the FAQ says.

My impression is the Kindle e-ink readers support OverDrive across the US, but you should confirm with your local library - Amazon's failure to deliver in Canada (after some initial indications it would) was disappointing.

Most of the OverDrive ebooks and audiobooks I want show up after a few weeks on hold. Audiobooks in particular don't ever expire if they're transferred via the PC app to an external device like a phone or MP3 player instead of under the DRM controlled OverDrive Android app. The Toronto library is a gold mine of media, including some photography magazines (RBDigital) and instructional videos (Lynda-com).. I think the better US public libraries have similar resources - all paid for by our municipal taxes.

I ordered a Kindle Paperwhite (7th not 10th generation, for longer battery life) to take over reading tasks from my "old" Samsung 10" tablet.

But to answer my original question, it seems if you want vanilla Android One instead of Samsung bloatware, one option is to jailbreak Kindle Fire 10. It sounds about as complicated as installing Linux on a Windows PC. I haven't tried but could probably do it. Future Amazon updates mess it up however.

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/root-kindle-fire-access-google-play/

BTW, my wife says the worst thing about her Samsung Note 9 is the Bixby button. She whupped it into shape, including Back button on the left, but sometimes she hits the Bixby button by mistake.

I envy you the e-ink reader, just can't find one fully functional for my purposes in this country. The Lenovo tablet had a lot of preinstalled stuff, but I credit it with letting users completely remove most of it - I always spend a few days making a new device like the old one it replaces, rather than fart around with somebody's idea of an "experience". (Like Samsung which really has tried to create a "Bixosystem" of its own, only irritates me. The one thing that interests me about that is the DeX hook into PC peripherals, at least as a concept. With the processing power in handsets, and apps maybe moving to large screens via Chromebooks and Microsoft's support, it has desktop appeal.)

I2K4 wrote:

I envy you the e-ink reader, just can't find one fully functional for my purposes in this country. The Lenovo tablet had a lot of preinstalled stuff, but I credit it with letting users completely remove most of it - I always spend a few days making a new device like the old one it replaces, rather than fart around with somebody's idea of an "experience". (Like Samsung which really has tried to create a "Bixosystem" of its own, only irritates me...)

Which Lenovo tablet do you have? Earlier posts in this thread mentioned Chromebook Duet, but Lenovo also makes a 10" tablet that looks good, however several reviews on Amazon say it is very slow. That seems odd because it  uses the same Octacore processor as Kindle Fire 10.

I've always gotten 8" tablets, kept in cloud sync and replacing my phone at home for most things. This Lenovo is Tab4 8, went for about U$140 including import and shipping on sale (Canadian price was about 30pc higher). It was generally compared with the 8" Kindle Fire. Don't need a 10" tablet or high performance, and it's more than done the job with a good screen and battery life, supports microSD, still on Oreo Android 8.1 (which is a lot smaller than 9 and up). I do a fair amount of tweaking to reduce resource and battery drain, so it usually runs well - other people's problems may or may not be relevant. If I was doing much media editing, or needed 4k, would be different, but it's a fine ereader, viewer and video is good enough. My next will have 11ac wifi, the only thing I miss.

Stumbled on this "My Next Tablet " site I'd give a once-over if shopping.