Is this a good tablet, or should I look for something else?

[Helpful Tech Witch]

I've been passively looking for a cheep Android tablet for awhile now, something to replace the $50 2013 fire 7 that died a few months ago.

It lasted me pretty long, so I was looking for something that could last another 5+ years.

So far, the best option I could find is this, 8c @2ghz, 2gb of ram, 32gb storage(plus Microsd), 8in HD. A fire for 10$ more gets me a 4c 2ghz, 2gb ram, 32storage, 8in hd, plus lockscreen ads.

 

Is there something better than bother of these I can get? Should I buy now, or wait a week for prime day to see if there's a good deal on one of the higher end fires? I'm really looking at a sub 90$ price point.

[jaslion]

What are you wanting to do on it?

 

Just generic basic use that tablet should be pretty ok. That octa core whatevers is probably some ancient low end thingy so nothing special. The 2gb of ram is what is going to hurt the most but totally usable still.

 

For under 100 there isnt anything really good just decent and I think that cheap walmart one is going to be ok.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

Just now, jaslion said:

What are you wanting to do on it?

 

Just generic basic use that tablet should be pretty ok. That octa core whatevers is probably some ancient low end thingy so nothing special. The 2gb of ram is what is going to hurt the most but totally usable still.

 

For under 100 there isnt anything really good just decent and I think that cheap walmart one is going to be ok.

Basic media consumption, some mobile games (clash of clans, MC, other like that, my 2013 fire running on a watch cpu did fine for all but mc, yt was slow), the likes

like i said my 2013 fire was pretty fine, if you could download stuff, but streaming was slow. And that was a 512mb, 4gb config

Really, it also comes down to how much of a pain it will be to run play on it, and how many uissues I will have, if i can get a fire for the same price, with a similar config imo. The fire will have the amazon store, which is missing a lot of apps, so ill have to sideload google play, which will be a pain, and it will probably take another day of troubleshooting issues like it did with the 7in.

[jaslion]

20 minutes ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

Basic media consumption, some mobile games (clash of clans, MC, other like that, my 2013 fire running on a watch cpu did fine for all but mc, yt was slow), the likes

like i said my 2013 fire was pretty fine, if you could download stuff, but streaming was slow. And that was a 512mb, 4gb config

Really, it also comes down to how much of a pain it will be to run play on it, and how many uissues I will have, if i can get a fire for the same price, with a similar config imo. The fire will have the amazon store, which is missing a lot of apps, so ill have to sideload google play, which will be a pain, and it will probably take another day of troubleshooting issues like it did with the 7in.

Should do that no probs.

[SupaKomputa]

Problem is the memory, 2gb is getting slim for newer games.

Android 10 support is ok, meaning that it has a decent SOC.

For another 5 years i suggest 3gb minimum.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

4 minutes ago, SupaKomputa said:

Problem is the memory, 2gb is getting slim for newer games.

Android 10 support is ok, meaning that it has a decent SOC.

For another 5 years i suggest 3gb minimum.

The issue is price. The cheepest option for 3gb I've seen is a $110 fire 8+.

I think 2 gb and a good socket would be fine, gmaes may start running slow in a few years *crossed fingers* but I hope more basic will run. The biggest thing is media.

Like I said, I was using a Android 7 512mb tablet for 7 years. That "ran" 1.16 mc (20ush fps)

[SupaKomputa]

Another thing to note from those cheap tablet is the screen.

The screen usually are bottom of the barrel quality.

I suggest getting a cheap used tablet like Samsung A series.

Used tablet are very cheap nobody wants them. Change the battery, good as new.

Im amazed your 512mb ram can still work, most of my 1gb android gadgets barely do anything smoothly.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

4 minutes ago, SupaKomputa said:

Another thing to note from those cheap tablet is the screen.

The screen usually are bottom of the barrel quality.

I suggest getting a cheap used tablet like Samsung A series.

Used tablet are very cheap nobody wants them. Change the battery, good as new.

Im amazed your 512mb ram can still work, most of my 1gb android gadgets barely do anything smoothly.

It did a few months ago, the screen finally concked out on me after some issues in December.

There's not many used tablets in my area, only ipads really, most of which are in the 150-200$ range.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

19 hours ago, jaslion said:

 

Just generic basic use that tablet should be pretty ok. That octa core whatevers is probably some ancient low end thingy so nothing special. The 2gb of ram is what is going to hurt the most but totally usable still.

did some more looking at the specs, found teh soc, its a MediaTek MT8768. Its pretty new, 12nm finfet, released feb 2020. So less old than I thought it would be. though the gpu is a pretty old one. its a PowerVR GE8320, 20nm, but made for midrange socs, anounced in 2014. So te h gaming performance isnt the best, but has a average score of 11507 in ice storn unlimited score. (about 3.5% of the wr score for it)

 

but it lacks a oliphobic coating, ill have to grab a kit to add that, but i can do that.

[jaslion]

32 minutes ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

did some more looking at the specs, found teh soc, its a MediaTek MT8768. Its pretty new, 12nm finfet, released feb 2020. So less old than I thought it would be. though the gpu is a pretty old one. its a PowerVR GE8320, 20nm, but made for midrange socs, anounced in 2014. So te h gaming performance isnt the best, but has a average score of 11507 in ice storn unlimited score. (about 3.5% of the wr score for it)

 

but it lacks a oliphobic coating, ill have to grab a kit to add that, but i can do that.

Factor in the cost for that and maybe you can actually get a bit better tablet?

[Helpful Tech Witch]

 

Just now, jaslion said:

Factor in the cost for that and maybe you can actually get a bit better tablet?

Maybe? It's a 15$ kit, still much less than a fire 8+ or 10. (110$ or 150$ respectively)

 

[jaslion]

Just now, HelpfulTechWizard said:

 

Maybe? It's a 15$ kit, still much less than a fire 8+ or 10. (110$ or 150$ respectively)

 

Yeah it's hard to find a good tablet in that range.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

4 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Yeah it's hard to find a good tablet in that range.

Yeah. This is still looking like the best option. The second best is a Lenovo m8 with the same gpu and a 4c CPU, for more. Plus it's Android 9, so the os is a version older.

[jaslion]

6 minutes ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

Yeah. This is still looking like the best option. The second best is a Lenovo m8 with the same gpu and a 4c CPU, for more. Plus it's Android 9, so the os is a version older.

Let alone probably abandoned too.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

3 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Let alone probably abandoned too.

Yeah. Though both should have a lineage os version, or some other custom ROM, I'd do that if I start losing too much support.

[jaslion]

1 minute ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

Yeah. Though both should have a lineage os version, or some other custom ROM, I'd do that if I start losing too much support.

I'd look into that now before buying it to see what the future holds for the device.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

Just now, jaslion said:

I'd look into that now before buying it to see what the future holds for the device.

Yeah, I'm looking into XDA, I can unlock the bootloader it seems, so even if there's not a rom now there probably will be by the time I'd need it.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

1 hour ago, jaslion said:

I'd look into that now before buying it to see what the future holds for the device.

Actually, there's a referb 10.1in, 3gb model for 85$(5$ more). And I can get that within the week.

The only worry I can think of is the battery, referbs usually have worsened battery life.

But the 3gb of memory would be nice, probably would increase longevity.

[jaslion]

13 hours ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

Actually, there's a referb 10.1in, 3gb model for 85$(5$ more). And I can get that within the week.

The only worry I can think of is the battery, referbs usually have worsened battery life.

But the 3gb of memory would be nice, probably would increase longevity.

As long as the battery holds up yes.