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Longevity of android tablet?
Lyceum
Posts: 3,399 Forum Member
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After a bit of advice.
I have to admit. I'm a massive fan of Apple products (not so much Apple themselves if that makes sense?). I've had iPhones since the 3G. An iPod and iPads. First the original iPad and currently the iPad 3.
I bought the iPad 3 on release day in 2012. So it's now over four years old. It still (touch wood!) works perfectly. I suffer from insomnia and use this to stream whilst in bed. I use kodi and movie box which means I'm reliant on being able to jailbreak.
I'd like to upgrade. The new 9.7" iPad pro would be the obvious choice for an apple fan but I think Apple have taken the piss with the £100 price bump over previous new iPad releases. So that's out of the question. Which means it would be the iPad Air 2 I'd buy. Which is almost two years old now.
It got me thinking its a bit daft to buy a tablet when for me to use it for the purpose I'm buying it for, I need to jailbreak it. So if for any reason there's no JB available or I need to reset it when there's no JB available then it becomes useless for its intended purpose.
Which brought me to look at android tablets. Now I admit being an apple fan I know next to nothing about android tablets and which ones are worth a look?
My main question is the longevity of them. My iPad 3 is over four years old. Yes it's slowed a little but it still works as it should and I use it for several hours a day. The battery still holds charge for around 8-9 hours and it still gets updated whenever other iOS devices get updates (it's still on iOS 8 actually as I was too lazy to update to iOS 9 and now can't because there's no JB available)
Will an android tablet last me this long?
If anyone had any suggestions about which tablets are worth looking at is be greatly appreciative.
Thanks.
I have to admit. I'm a massive fan of Apple products (not so much Apple themselves if that makes sense?). I've had iPhones since the 3G. An iPod and iPads. First the original iPad and currently the iPad 3.
I bought the iPad 3 on release day in 2012. So it's now over four years old. It still (touch wood!) works perfectly. I suffer from insomnia and use this to stream whilst in bed. I use kodi and movie box which means I'm reliant on being able to jailbreak.
I'd like to upgrade. The new 9.7" iPad pro would be the obvious choice for an apple fan but I think Apple have taken the piss with the £100 price bump over previous new iPad releases. So that's out of the question. Which means it would be the iPad Air 2 I'd buy. Which is almost two years old now.
It got me thinking its a bit daft to buy a tablet when for me to use it for the purpose I'm buying it for, I need to jailbreak it. So if for any reason there's no JB available or I need to reset it when there's no JB available then it becomes useless for its intended purpose.
Which brought me to look at android tablets. Now I admit being an apple fan I know next to nothing about android tablets and which ones are worth a look?
My main question is the longevity of them. My iPad 3 is over four years old. Yes it's slowed a little but it still works as it should and I use it for several hours a day. The battery still holds charge for around 8-9 hours and it still gets updated whenever other iOS devices get updates (it's still on iOS 8 actually as I was too lazy to update to iOS 9 and now can't because there's no JB available)
Will an android tablet last me this long?
If anyone had any suggestions about which tablets are worth looking at is be greatly appreciative.
Thanks.
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All come down to how much you pay.
If you buy a cheap import at £50, you may only get a couple of years.
If you pay £100's for a quality build say a Samsung, you should get several years.
If you even pay half as much as for an iPAD, then it should last.
Still a random element though - its like buying cars - Audis are great quality but even Audis fail now and then.
I have Kodi installed and run Exodus and no need to jailbreak/root the tablet. Kodi installed straight from the Play store and runs with no problem at all. I've also got Mobdro installed too. The only thing I've done is tick a box that allows apps to be installed from outside the Play store - which I've done on all Android devices since my first HTC phone donkey's years ago!
Thanks.
I don't expect a £100 tablet to last as long as a £300 tablet. I just have no idea how they are for updates etc. I don't want to spend £350 on a Samsung then find it gets no updates on two years time. Because then you find apps won't work because you've not got the latest OS etc.
Thanks
I've used android. Installed kodi on a few friends tablets and know how easy it is which is why I was thinking of switching because I don't need to depend on JB or root. If anything goes wrong I can happily reset and reinstall.
Do the tablets both still receive updates? Specifically the older one? I'd be looking for it to still be getting OS updates for the next 3-4 years.
Does anyone have any suggestions of what 10" tablets I should be looking at? I don't like Windows so must be android.
Samsung for me are quite poor when it comes to updating older devices to the latest Android operating system. Power wise you could by a tablet which will last for plenty of time but no guarantee of updates once a new tablet is released.
This is what is putting me off.
I know if I buy an iPad in 3-4 years time I will still be getting updates and will have no issues with apps not working due to lack of updates.
But as I said, given what I use it for it seems stupid to buy an iPad and be dependant on a Jailbreak especially when they can be few and far between.
I'm torn. An android tablet is better for my needs but I don't want to be having to buy another in two years time because the manufacturer can't be bothered to offer updates.
As a complete departure, get a Raspberry Pi for £30 and use it a Kodi device - very cheap and easy to do. I've just built a web server on one!
Thanks. Will check them out.
I don't have a TV in my bedroom so to use a pi I'd have to get a tv first!
Edit. Just googled and apparently the nexus 10 was released in 2012. Has there not been a release since?
That does kind of prove my point though, the nexus 10 was released the same year as the iPad 3 and that's been abandoned by Google. Updates come via third party sites.
This doesn't fill me with confidence.
Same thing with me. I've got an Asus Transformer which is over 5 years old and still works perfectly - screen image is great, no shadowing, no missing pixels, battery still good, touch screen still perfectly responsive. Keyboard not so great after being dropped many times. But they gave up on system updates on it about three years ago, so it's fine for what it does, but just won't run more recent apps.
The other thing to worry about is built-in RAM. Friend of mine has an 8Gb Motorola phone which still gets system updates...but simply has not room to install them, even with the ability to juggle some apps onto an SD card. That's also an issue with my older I-Pad, 16Gb is just about enough to run the system, but no room at all for data. At least with Android you do have some possibility to expand storage - I have got a 200Gb SD chip in my phone!
I have the 16gb iPad 3 and have about 6gb free which is fine. I only have kodi, movie box and Simpsons tapped out installed so room to put a few films on or tv episodes should I want to watch offline but I stream everything with the above two apps so never have issue with running out of space.
So many devices run kit-kat version 4.4 and cannot be upgraded, app manufacturers basically have to make apps handle that or later, so odds of needing a new tablet in two years are very low.
Marshmallow (version 6) is very slow at taking off, and lollipop (version 5) will be supported for at least five years. Kit-kat may become more of an issue as time moves on.
So very unlikely you would need to replace tablet unless it physically breaks in next few years.
At that price if it keels over in 3 or 4 years due to battery life, I'll just get another .... at that price it is also not a great tragedy if it gets dropped/damaged.
I also have a 7" Trimeo tablet which I have been using daily for the past three years. It is still going strong (including battery strength) and cost well under £40.
Obviously if I spent £60 on a tablet is not expect it to lasts years. I was thinking of getting the Samsung tab s2. At £350 I would expect it to last 3-4 years.
Maybe I should just buy cheap and replace as an when.
Thanks.
As above I was thinking of buying a Tab s2 but given its use I may as well just buy a chepo one for under £100 and replace as and when. I doubt I'd end up spending more in the long run.
Can you tell me a bit about 8player?
I use fusion on Kodi to install whatever addons I want. I mostly use 1channel, Genesis and exodus.
What they don't cover movie box covers.
Anything I download myself I use VLC to play.
How do you stream with 8player? Can you install addons?
I have a nexus 7 2013 which is still receiving updates each month. Currently running the latest version of Marshmallow.
Thanks but there doesn't seem to be a 10" nexus tablet available. Except the 4 year old nexus 10.
The S2 is future proof though. That packs enough power that you wont need to replace it for years.
You know you don't need to jailbreak to get Kodi on the Ipad. I used Ipawind to get Kodi on mine.
However, I'd question why you need the latest Android version for the proposed usage as very few apps demand even recent versions as a minimum and if not used for browsing etc security patches aren't too much of a risk.
The other consideration is that many tablets now favour the 4:3 aspect ration and not 16:9 - some video consumers prefer the latter (I do).
Back to the TV option - there are small form-factor TVs/monitors that add the advantage of a bigger HD display at a relatively low price (£100-£150) - search Amazon for portable TVs for examples - if you only use Kodi and a NAS that set up would work if you bought a Pi and installed the Kodi stuff on it. I suspect some of the small TVs will also include web services if you want to go down the smart TV route albeit on a small scale!
I use my Hudl2 to watch Sky Go, iPlayer, YouTube, BT Sport etc and it's perfect for me - decent 1080p screen & good speakers - it's a shame Tesc have moved out of the tablet market as for the price (£129 at the time but £75 once my Clubcard points were doubled and taken off) it was a superb inexpensive tablet option.
Another able tablet on a budget is the Nvidia Shield K1 @ £150.
I spotted that too but you need a Mac to side load things don't you? Or can it be done on Windows?
Simply to be somewhat future proof.
The thing is, as I said, I love apple products. So if I paid £350 for a tablet and in two years time it stopped getting updates I'd be annoyed because I'd know I could have got an iPad and still be receiving updates. Obviously not so much if I paid £100 for it, I wouldn't expect it to last years on end at that price.
I do browse on it, do banking etc and reading and some gaming they're just not its main use. It's main use is streaming.
I have a PC in my room with a 27" monitor. I don't want a TV. I could just use that for streaming but I don't want to. I prefer having a tablet which I can use to either stream, read, browse or play games on whilst sitting in bed.
My Aunty has a hudl 2 and I think it's great. But a bit small, as I've said I want a 10" tablet. That and as you've said, Tesco have given up on their tablet range.
Ipadwind has its own app store so you just download apps straight from there using the Ipad. No Mac or windows needed.
And you don't need to be jailbroken to install that?