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I'm not sure if this is the correct forum to post this under, seeing as I'm new to the XDA Developers community, but here goes nothing:
Has anyone else that has purchased an Kindle Fire been having second thoughts?
I think the main reason that I'm feeling this way is the whole thing feels sluggish, and the entire experience is frustrating. I did not buy the KF for a media consumption device; I bought it with the intention of rooting it, and having a $200 full-featured Android tablet, and having done so, something still feels off. It's extremely frustrating that I spent hours trying to get a custom wallpaper, and while I understand that it's a known-issue (So many threads made everyday...)
I played with my friends G2 today, which by no means is a new phone, and it (felt like), it kicked the KF's ass in speed. I just don't understand this at all. This (afaik) is a single core 800MHz device that feels more fluid than a 1GHz Dual Core. Is there something I'm missing?
Now, I'm new to Android, so I have absolutely no idea if this is a software issue that will get resolved (Honeycomb / Ice Cream Sandwich?), how long a wait that will be. (I understand that no one knows the answer to that.) Or... Is this just the hardware that $200 will buy you? I understand they're selling each KF at a loss, maybe I had higher expectations than I should have.
I noticed in a local Best Buy Black Friday ad, that the Acer Iconia 7" tablet will go on sale for $190, which has spurred thoughts of returning my KF, and purchasing the Iconia. Can anyone think of a good reason not to?
Please excuse my ignorance, I really am trying to learn something here. Will these issues improve with time, once custom ROMs start getting developed for the KF?
Thanks for reading. I appreciate any input, even if it's pointing out something I've missed. (Especially so.)
First off, welcome to the forums! and yeah, general is a pretty decent place for this sort of thing imo.
I think, if you're looking for a full featured android tablet for under $200, and are willing to brave the black friday madness to get it, then by all means, return your kindle and go for the Iconia. It's got better specs, cameras, honeycomb, etc - and lets face it, amazon designed the kindle to be just that, a kindle. Whatever android functionality we get past that should be looked at as a bonus to what was already there imo.
I've owned an asus transformer as my primary android tablet for close to 6months now, and got the kindle intending it to be mostly a device for media, so I was pleasantly surprised how well it did as an android tablet as well. I actually ended up falling in love with the size and ease of one-handed use of the 7" tablet, and am debating ditching the transformer and either going with just the kindle, or picking up a more powerful 7" tablet myself.
Don't get me wrong, I love the kindle and will definitely be hanging onto it - but one of the more main reasons I got it was it's integration to all of amazons media services.
I think you'll notice a considerable increase in speed and smoothness with the tegra 2 and more notably the 1gb of memory, especially if you root the iconia and install a more cut down rom.
The only thing I will say here is having used both the kindle and a 10" honeycomb tablet now... I'm not entirely sure how i'd like the honeycomb interface on a 7" tablet... it might almost feel too cluttered - but thats an ocd person with a very minimalist taste speaking.
Just my 2 cents, hope it helps.
I've seen quite a few complains about sluggish performance but I honestly haven't seen any of that after rooting and switching to go launcher. There was some noticible slow downs changing orientation of the device or just simply scrolling throught the carousel when I was using the stock launcher but that seems to be all gone now. Ive been playing Pandora while surfing on opera with several tabs open haven't seen any lag at all. Maybe im not stressing my tablet enought? Idk what other ppl do on it but coming from an ipad 1 im very satisified with my purchase . ICS is suppose to have similar ram usage to GB so I think the 512 ram should be suffice atleast for my usage.
Sent from my Kindle Fire using xda premium
Really appreciate the thought out reply.
I love the 7" form-factor myself; the only doubt that I'm having right now is battery life. It seems to be 5 hours of casual WiFi browsing, which is ridiculously low compared to the KF. The other features totally make it worth it. Mini-HDMI and Micro-SD would definitely be nice to have, as well as GPS? Jeez.
Edit: If I do return it, should I unroot it, is there a process to return it to factory settings?
Yeah, 5 hours battery life is a bit rough - although again to reference my experiences with the transformer, at least, a cut down Rom will likely help that a decent bit.
Sent from my Kindle Fire using xda premium
If you return any tablet you've rooted by all mean unroot it. It not only helps if you get a clerk who knows what to look for (and refuses your return justifiably as rooting voids warranty) but also it's good form. It avoids "surprises" for whomever gets your tab afterwards.
Having owned the Iconia A100 for about 2 weeks before returning it (battery life, viewing angles, Acer possibly leaving tabs and lack of dev support) I must say it's a fine little tab. Only 8G internal but uSD offsets, 1GB RAM, quality build and reported ICS in January are real pluses. Price ($330) is steep but if you can get it on BF then do so.
Now that root has been achieved on the NT, it's blows the doors off the KF (specs, battery life, etc). Seriously look into it as a replacement for the KF.
BTW I would not count on HC or ICS for the KF. No reason for Amazon to do that as it doesn't add revenue to buying anything from Amazon. B&N only upped the NC to 2.2 Froyo after almost a year on 2.1 then stopped.
skeeterpro said:
Now that root has been achieved on the NT, it's blows the doors off the KF (specs, battery life, etc). Seriously look into it as a replacement for the KF.
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Click to collapse
Do you have a link for NT root? I can't find it and I am holding off on buying one until I see what's possible on it.
I already own the HTC flyer referenced in my .sig and I don't think anything comes close to it speedwise since it has a 1.5 GHz single core processor. And I've played with the Dell streak 7 which is dual core 1 GHz. Since app so few apps can actually use the second core it feels slower by comparison. It has 512 memory like the KF and I think that's much of the reason it seems so much slower. I used the V6 whatever script by Zepp-somebody (as you can see I'm just horrible with names) from here on XDA and it made a big difference. So I'd guess the Fire would also benefit from tweaked minfrees and OOM settings also. Considering some of that 512 is given to video I think almost all lag is actually the Android OS moving things out of memory and killing apps to make room for the new app or the app you're returning to.
Sent from my HTC Flyer P512 using Tapatalk
I have to add that I tried quite a few devices before settling on my 7". I brought home a couple, the Iconia screen was just unacceptable period, the angle you will want to view it the most is the worst, every Iconia I've seen has this problem on both sides of the border. Not to mention not so great battery life although I did find it better than the reviews, and random FCs. I eventually settled on a Flyer and it's miles ahead of the Iconia, what a polished device, it just works, so smooth, has a really nice screen, and is solid built.
I'm here cause I'm looking at the KF myself for my kids, but it sounds like it will be more trouble than it's worth to get them working north of the border. I tried a Vox for a couple of days and it was just so buggy, slow and locked down.
bsoplinger said:
I already own the HTC flyer referenced in my .sig and I don't think anything comes close to it speedwise since it has a 1.5 GHz single core processor. And I've played with the Dell streak 7 which is dual core 1 GHz. Since app so few apps can actually use the second core it feels slower by comparison. It has 512 memory like the KF and I think that's much of the reason it seems so much slower. I used the V6 whatever script by Zepp-somebody (as you can see I'm just horrible with names) from here on XDA and it made a big difference. So I'd guess the Fire would also benefit from tweaked minfrees and OOM settings also. Considering some of that 512 is given to video I think almost all lag is actually the Android OS moving things out of memory and killing apps to make room for the new app or the app you're returning to.
Sent from my HTC Flyer P512 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also considered the Flyer when I bought the A100. The digitizer for note taking attracted me but not paying upwards to $70-80 for the pen. No HC was a turn-off with little hope of upgrade. That plus a couple articles spectulating HTC getting out of the tab business broke the deal for me. But I have read that the Flyer is a serviceable device indeed!
---------- Post added at 09:39 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:36 AM ----------
sgood1971 said:
Do you have a link for NT root? I can't find it and I am holding off on buying one until I see what's possible on it.
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Click to collapse
Sure. You'll need to be familiar with ADB (but then we all should).
Keep in mind the Search function is your friend!
To be completely honest, most of the things that I've noticed have performance issues are the Amazon-specific things -- the bottom buttons, the stock launcher, etc. In fact, everything else, now that I've rooted it, runs just fine even when I limit the processor to 600MHz per core.
I really am pretty sure the biggest performance thing is Amazon's modifications to the Android stuff. So, that *may* be fixed in upcoming updates. Or, heck, we'll just get a good custom rom sometime!
I've noticed intermittant sluggish performance only on Silk Browser. Using Opera Browser instead solves this and is much faster browsing experience.
skeeterpro said:
Sure. You'll need to be familiar with ADB (but then we all should).
Keep in mind the Search function is your friend!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the link. I did indeed use the search, I always do. Unfortunately my search-foo must have been weak indeed today.
Thanks again.
mewshi said:
Or, heck, we'll just get a good custom rom sometime!
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Click to collapse
This. I'm thinking it won't be too long before they start the ROM game...or hoping. I wouldn't keep the fire with its stock interface; I also bought it as a tablet. That said, the thing has been out a WEEK and they've already made leaps and bounds. The thing was rooted in like 12 hours, they've got CWM on it (just can't navigate easily) and I think they'll work out the kinks and start romming. My hope is for CM9, myself.
matt314159 said:
This. I'm thinking it won't be too long before they start the ROM game...or hoping. I wouldn't keep the fire with its stock interface; I also bought it as a tablet. That said, the thing has been out a WEEK and they've already made leaps and bounds. The thing was rooted in like 12 hours, they've got CWM on it (just can't navigate easily) and I think they'll work out the kinks and start romming. My hope is for CM9, myself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True enough but regardless keep your hopes and expectations realistic. Remember that this device was not designed to be an open android tablet. The overlay and mods from Amazon might be tough to completely delete or bypass. Could be wrong but even so it's a $200 device. It will only ever be that. Which is fine but it is what it is.
I own a flyer also and it is a great tablet. I also bought the Fire for what is was advertised for, media content from Amazon. I don't intend on rooting because I think it performs just fine as it is. For your kids, watching movies, games and reading, I think they would enjoy this 7 inch device.
Sent from my GT-P7310 using xda premium
After going to Best Buy, and playing with the Iconia, it's re-affirmed my purchase in the KF. The display on the Iconia certainly leaves something to be desired.
I think I basically want a Galaxy Tab 7.0 at a $200 price point - not gonna happen, heh.
xodlike said:
After going to Best Buy, and playing with the Iconia, it's re-affirmed my purchase in the KF. The display on the Iconia certainly leaves something to be desired.
I think I basically want a Galaxy Tab 7.0 at a $200 price point - not gonna happen, heh.
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Click to collapse
Good to know.. display on that was one thing i never really thought about. heh.
At this point, I have to say the Fire is a keeper for me. What put it over the edge was that I was able to sideload the ereader.com app and read my books in full screen (I have been using this site for ebooks for more than a decade and probably have 200+ books in that library). The ereader app won't let me unlock my books on my Archos Honeycomb tablet and my HTC Flyer on Gingerbread will unlock the books, but the app is the screen size of a phone and I can't figure out how to make it bigger.
The Fire is the only device I can stream Amazon Instant Video without stuttering and allows me to use Netflix and Hulu too.
I've managed to sideload my manga reader apps and some other apps I love.
I can't plug a hard drive in, but I can stream with my Go Flex satellite.
Surfing isn't any better than any other device I own (maybe a little bit slower), but I can live with it for the other benefits.
Still not giving up my other tablets though
Expecting a "full featured" tablet from a $200 tablet is silly. The Kindle wasn't built to be a rooted device, it wasn't built to do all the things that Android tablets can do (GPS, bluetooth, video/voice calling, etc), it was built to be a media consumption device and a reader. It does both of those things well, and anything else it can do is just extra goodness. If you need more storage, GPS, bluetooth, or any of those other features... I'd recommend going with another tablet. You'll be spending more, but you get what you pay for.
I am planning to pick up KF but I am debating if 512MB RAM compare to 1GB (Nook Tablet) will be enough.
KF will be used for browsing internet, light gaming and web streaming (not movies). It will be rooted and replaced with custom ROM (ICS) eventually.
I owned Nook Color running CM7 nightly right now and trying to avoid having two look a like device.
Do you think 512MB will be sufficient for KF to operate smoothly?
It runs fine for me, doing pretty much the same as what you want to use it for.
I hit some lag once in a while, but overall, I do like it - so long as I do NOT keep comparing it to my wifes iPad.
Chris
I bought mine for web browsing, reading magazines and checking Facebook. So far, I am nothing less than pleased. It performs well, even when playing YouTube and Flash videos.
For the price, it's a winner, provided you don't expect it to perform like high-end Android devices or an iPad.
I bought both from Best Buy and used them for a little while before deciding which one to return. The difference in RAM was probably the biggest concern for me and the main reason I considered the Nook Tablet despite it costing $50 more.
In practice, I saw no difference in performance between the two. The only other big thing steering a lot of people toward the Nook is the microSD slot. If that isn't a concern then the Kindle Fire is fine. If you really want lots of local storage then the Nook is the only way to go.
Me, I listen to music through Pandora and I don't watch movies on the tablet, so local storage doesn't concern me. Thus I went with the cheaper Kindle Fire.
If you're wanting to do much outside of what comes with it and you're not too knowledgeable on how to fix things in unorthodox ways and think you'll be posting soon in the unbricking thread, I would find a more forgiving tablet to work with. The time you'll save on not having to fix things will offset any additional cost.
Disclaimer: I own 2 HP touchpads and no Kindle Fire.
Well I don't agree with yareally who has apparently not touched one yet.
I have 2, or more accurately, My wife has one and I have one.
Hers is stock... she loves it. Watches netflix, amazon prime and a number of books. works for her daily with no issues.
I got mine after I got her hers. Really didn't plan on getting one myself, however, I started playing with it and got the bug to see what it could do. $124 was too inexpensive to not.
Mine is rooted though I am still using the stock ROM as I am waiting for a proven recovery before trying something else. I am now using ADW, have the Android market, Google apps including Gmap and can even get GPS if i want to go to the trouble. etc... I use it a bit at work as well, Exchange email via Touchdown, Evernote, and lots of usable webapp browsing.
Like any device or smart phone, if you do dumb things, you get dumb results, but if you are careful and follow instructions well.. should be a fun device to play with.
krelvinaz said:
Well I don't agree with yareally who has apparently not touched one yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I may not have touched one, but I've helped probably 70+ users with one directly to unbrick it and countless others that followed the guide I helped to start
Ironically, neither I or my friend that started the thread with me own a kindle fire, but it hasn't prevented us for knowing more about it than most.
I don't have to touch it to know how it works. I can do that quite well using adb shell remotely. Fancy user interfaces mean nothing. It's what is under the hood that matters.
Quite a few screwed it up installing cm7 as well.
Compared to other tablets, I have seen way more people screw their fire up without a way to get back out of it without spoon feeding directions to (including at times, going on teamviewer with them).
I think it is cool you have helped, especially that many people. Perhaps, the price point makes it too simple for people to dive in without bothering to understand what they are doing or reading the large red text warning them. (hence my comment about doing dumb things).
The lack of having a full recovery yet is perhaps also a stumbling block, but apparently that will be remedied soon.
krelvinaz said:
The lack of having a full recovery yet is perhaps also a stumbling block, but apparently that will be remedied soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I think once that happens, lots of the headaches will be a thing of the past as well.
Yeah, I think people bricking their Fire speaks more toward impatient people than any failings of the Fire. Anyone trying to install a custom rom at this point with anything other than above average skills needs to take a step back IMO.
Sent from my BAMForever Thunderbolt
The 512MB RAM has not been a limitation for anything I've done with it, and that's *with* all the Amazon crap running at the same time, I've not disabled any of the services.
I think the micro SD card on the Nook would be a nice addition, but not sure it's $50 nice, considering how easy it is to stream to the Fire. If you needed to store your movies locally maybe.
animez said:
Yeah, I think people bricking their Fire speaks more toward impatient people than any failings of the Fire. Anyone trying to install a custom rom at this point with anything other than above average skills needs to take a step back IMO.
Sent from my BAMForever Thunderbolt
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm an above average user, and even I'm not crazy enough to mess with it too much right now! There are some amazing things going on in the Dev forum, and I really look forward to CM9 on my Fire.
I have 2 as well, and I'm more than happy with the speed/function even using stock kernel/ROM (albeit with a different launcher). The price point for this device was too hard to ignore. It's not in the same league as an iPad or Galaxy Tab, but I didn't buy it thinking it was.
Yeah with Go Launcher instead of that bookshelf, this is a superb bargain. Remember Amazon is basically selling these at cost to funnel people in to their store.
Thanks for the reply guys.
Only fools compare $199 KF to $499 Ipad.
Storage does not concern me, I just want a device that running smoothly for flash streaming and hackable
I have made up my mind, I am getting KF.
denoxster said:
I am planning to pick up KF but I am debating if 512MB RAM compare to 1GB (Nook Tablet) will be enough.
KF will be used for browsing internet, light gaming and web streaming (not movies). It will be rooted and replaced with custom ROM (ICS) eventually.
I owned Nook Color running CM7 nightly right now and trying to avoid having two look a like device.
Do you think 512MB will be sufficient for KF to operate smoothly?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
512 appears to be just fine.
I'd recommend putting Dolphin HD on for browsing. I haven't had an issue with streaming video from Amazon, Netflix, Crackle or Epic. No problems with games, so far. Currently have over 100 apps installed.
I do use an app to control too many apps starting automatically (Startup Cleaner), as it seems to help performance.
Update:
After owning KF for a couple of month, I can tell you that I am pretty happy with my purchase.
Now my KF running CM9 ICS
Thank you guys.
Sent from my Amazon Kindle Fire using xda premium
Go for it
i bought mine because of the price and i liked the way it looked, so far i have rooted it and it still runs perfectly. So far the only difference i see between this and the ipad is the size and the camera. Its pretty darn fast and when its rooted you can customize almost every aspect about it.
I've been wondering.
Who's still using this Tablet?
The N8000 Samsung Galaxy Note 10" has been released in August 2012, this is 4 Years ago.
Most smartphones have a lifespan of 2 years. There are a lot of people who buy a new one every year. Yet there are some others who keep their phone for 3-4 years or even Longer.
So how about this Tablet?
Do you still use it like on the first day you bought it?
Does it fulfill a different usage now?
Or did you give it away to someone else?
For me I've bought this Tablet when I started studying because I thought the Pen input would be pretty cool.
I've used it for about 3-4 months and then Switched to a Windows 2:1 convertible. After that I've mainly used it at home for media consumption.
Right now I use it with lirokas Marshmallow Build and mostly stream Videos. I still get 6-8h batterylife out of it, and while I fully agree that the processor is getting really slow I don't see no reason at all to upgrade to a new tablet.
So what's your story?
Haldi4803 said:
I've been wondering.
Who's still using this Tablet?
Yes thank you .
Do you still use it like on the first day you bought it?
Yes .
Not used as a phone and only ever bought for mapping and media / tv player .
No notice of cpu slow and until it stops working its a keeper .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gave mine to my laddie when I bought my Note Pro 12 ; he uses it daily (Temasek's cm13). It's still as brilliant as the day I got it.
Hi,
I bought this tablet in November 2013 and I used it daily during about one year, mainly for a video, games and web usage, until I was fed up with the lack of support from Samsung that made this tablet completely outdated.
I completely rediscovered it in last January, when I decided to put it out of the drawer where it stood in order to try to root it and to flash Lirokoa's ROM that I had heard of on this great forum. Since then I use it again daily both at home and for work with a bluetooth keyboard, this awsome ROM just gave this tablet a second life
Sent from my GT-N8013 using XDA-Developers mobile app
My girlfriend has/had one that she used daily. For quite some time. I personally felt it was rediculously unresponsive and slow..but this made some sense given she has the thing JAMMED FULL of free app games and wallpaper apps. Early in its life. I attempted to get her to let me root it to make it run good..no go. Last week however her most.favorite game, Sims FreePlay. Wouldnt load..crashed 90% of the time before you could play it.
So she handed it to me to see if I could fix the issue. I want able to make it happen. In the process if attempting. I Deleted a bunch of undeniably trashable apps l, app data, and/or cache. Both the system and user areas were Extremely full.
After doing that l it was yet oddly slugish..yet faster than when she handed it to me. I gave it back to her..in working condition. and she messages me at work the next day Asking me WTF DID YOU DO TO MY TABLET. It was suck boot loop at samsung logo. (Keep in mind this tab is %100 stock) Recovery wont load, Download mode works but flashing anything and/or everything simply either completes sucessfully per odin..yet doesnt help. or fails(formatting pit stuff).
After spending a whole week scavanging the internet. I determined the emmc is borked. Probably similar to the S3 SDS problem. Tried absolutely everything suggested and still wound up in the "didnt work for me" catagory. I tentetively have determined I basically have a hard bricked tab that probably even Jtag wouldnt fix..aside PERHAPS..from re/-flashing the emmc firmware with a jtag...that I don't own.lol.
replacment motherboards still run over $100, which isnt viable imo because I can buy a fuly funtional used tab for alunder $150..and a few bucks more..could potentially get a tab 10.1 2014 if Iil I was patient.
I feel bad. she believes me NOW for the most part that it didnt directly die due to what I did to it. More it died WHILE i was wokring on it due to a bugged or defective internal Memory chip.
I'm probably going to buy her a replacment tab..because she misses it. Maybe steal the motherboard from the replacment and put it in "hers" l. Then when I feel froggy try to replace the emmc and use the tab for my own purposes.
If you do a lot photo editing,adjusting, alterting. PS Touch with and S-pen @10.1" is fantasticly the best photo editing setup I've ever used...thats my proposed best Use for it
I bought mine a year ago, as a replacement for my ASUS tablet. I used it mostly for gaming and video streaming, which has better performance than at least my previous tablet. Months later I found out how to flash TWRP into it and flash a CyanogenMod ROM into it, which inspired me to learn more about modding android devices.
But that was before I accidentally dropped it on a carpet floor and gave it an LCD color issue and a distortion problem.
So I had to buy another one, which was the 2014 model. Not as proud as I was with my old one though.
I still use it, but I have to use a separate program to remotely see what the heck I am looking at without straining my eyes. The only thing I use it for now is modding and ROM building, which I am learning about.
It was an amazing experience with this one.
I bought it when it came out.
Daily use as a TV viewer propped up on a bookstand in the kitchen and for casting music to the hifi. It's still well overspecced on the hardware front for humble uses like this.
The screen is not as good as a newer Tabs (I have a Tab S2 myself) but for highly compressed 'TV over wifi', and considering I'm watching from quite a few feet away, it makes little difference.
I hardly ever used the stylus bit of it, unlike my Note 4 which still has very frequent stylus use for making jottings at work when walking around a job with a customer. I use MS OneNote for this purpose. Never got on with S-Note.
I've had mine for about 4 years. Recently rediscovered to watch some Netflix.
Now I am trying to figure out how to get it to 4.4 at least. (For PlayStation Vue)
I have a Verizon version stuck at 4.1.2
Seems like I've hit a brick wall in trying to load recovery and then Cyanogenmod.
Got root with KingRoot and that's all I can figure out so far.
I still use mine, bought it Oct 2012! Been on many travels with me and only recently started having problems with the WiFi.
Bought mine off eBay. Rooted and installed gnabo rom , works a treat for everything I need it for; surfing, email, games, video, documents. Hell I can even read my old Spider-Man comics on it. Upgrading to the new models is great if you can afford it or "need" to, but this old tablet does everything I need and barring accidents I can't see the value in upgrading it. I personally don't need the newest things. This tablet, with a little knowhow is upgradeable anyway with ROMs up to marshmallow available on this very site.
i still use this,,,4-core cpu is still powerfull for watching movies and using netflix....
Still using mine. Been operating slow though. Any updated Roms for us to use?
Sent from my GT-N8013 using Tapatalk
Yeah, i still use(d) it, i just finished studying. I got it 3.5 years ago and used it several hours daily. With LectureNotes, i wrote 1500+ pages. I rooted it after one month of usage, i just couldn't stand the Samsung overlay.
Today my girlfriend told me, she wants to have a tablet when she goes to school again - immediately told her, she'll get mine. Now i either install an old ROM i had great experiences with or a new one and hope for the best... I tried to use it for media, but i'm just not the guy for it. I prefer just to use my smartphone instead of grabbing a tablet first. However, in about a month i'll get another tablet (Samsung Galaxy Tab E), as you almost get it for free if you buy an S7, which is what i will do.
It still remains the only android device i NEVER had any problems with, apart from a bit of dust under the screen.
I'm still happy with mine although am dealing with a rapidly draining battery now and am looking for a recommendation for a vendor. Currently dealing with one that has send a second battery and it has issues... am not in the mood to swap it out again.
Yes, I do
I´m also using it every day since beginning.
Having Gnabo latest version running.
No big issues so far.
Battery runs good, depending on usage but sometimes 2 days
Yup, bought mine used, liked it so much, I bought another one for my wife refurbished!
Used to use it exclusively for taking notes in class, but since I've been out of school, it's our kitchen table TV (cut the cord, we do YouTube & SlingTV).
The other one is usually in storage, finds use when we go on trips, we both have tablets for movies, shows, etc.
liroka's CM13 builds are rock solid & he still updates builds! Makes this old sucker lightning fast. I don't foresee buying a new tablet, partially because I don't really have an extensive use for one, but mainly because this one works great!
Yes, I still use it... just updated to cm13
I might have updated to another tablet before now, but it's a great model and does 95% of what I need, so very hard to justify paying another £400+ for something else.
I bought one of these when my Acer Iconia A500 suddenly died one day. I bought mine new in Dec 2013 and use it for whatever I need to do (browsing, email, shopping, reading news, etc.) when I want a larger screen than my smartphone. I rooted it in January 2014 using a thread on Android Forums, and it is still currently in that state, also using TWRP 2.6.3.0. Although it works fine, I happened across your thread because I came here wondering what ROMs might have been made for this tablet, just to try something different for a change. I see mention of "liroka's CM13" in previous posts. If I wanted to try that, could I just install that ROM using the stock firmware and from the stock rooted state it is in now, or would I need to update something first?
Update the TWRP with the one provided in the CM13 Thread.
Yes, I still use it everyday for browsing, reading and mostly music related tools like MobileSheetsPro and iRealPro.
A couple of years ago I removed the Samsung bloat and installed Omni (KitKat 4.4.4). I'm still happy with it, it does everything I want/need, has a good battery life, etc.
One of these days I'm going to give it to my wife, who is disabled and has an iPad. Due to some of her disabilities she cannot work with iPad.
So actually this very moment I'm looking for a good replacement. I like the size and the pen -- suggestions anyone?
Hey Everyone,
I recently purchased a brand new sealed 64GB Pixel C for $275. I have ALWAYS wanted one but never really needed a tablet until recently. My kindle crapped out, and I have been listening to some audiobooks and I wanted a way to combine the 2. I also plan on maybe watching some movies from my Plex server, some Netflix, and that's probably it...oh and some comics as well....
I had some general questions for those of you who have had a Pixel C for some time.
1. I know there are some screen issues, and I believe based on the serial (i'll confirm when it arrives in two days) mine seems to be made in 2016 sometime, and even though I am in the US, it's a EU version.... Do the problems seem to be on all C's or just a specific run of them?
2. If you were me, and only wanted a tablet for ebooks/audio books and of course some media, but no apps that are super intensive, would you just upgrade from the 6.0 to the 8.0 that's official (or 7.0 if it's good?) , or install a custom rom. If the latter, any recommendations from personal experience?
3. Since it's 2020 and this tablet is coming up on almost 5 years....do you feel I overpaid? This is a completely irrelevant question, I just REALLY REALLY wanted one, I hate Samsung and wanted something with as close to a pure google experience like my Pixel phone. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I have seen them selling used in good shape in the upper 100's range, and most are 32GB.....
4. Anything else I should know that I don't see jumping out at me in the forums that you would pass along to a new C owner?
Thanks everyone in advance!
Hank
Hank_Rearden said:
Hey Everyone,
I recently purchased a brand new sealed 64GB Pixel C for $275. I have ALWAYS wanted one but never really needed a tablet until recently. My kindle crapped out, and I have been listening to some audiobooks and I wanted a way to combine the 2. I also plan on maybe watching some movies from my Plex server, some Netflix, and that's probably it...oh and some comics as well....
I had some general questions for those of you who have had a Pixel C for some time.
1. I know there are some screen issues, and I believe based on the serial (i'll confirm when it arrives in two days) mine seems to be made in 2016 sometime, and even though I am in the US, it's a EU version.... Do the problems seem to be on all C's or just a specific run of them?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not aware of better or worse serial numbers. I assume later is better? Mine has image retention / ghosting & a purple shift in white balance but I never got the half screen failure or other issues.
2. If you were me, and only wanted a tablet for ebooks/audio books and of course some media, but no apps that are super intensive, would you just upgrade from the 6.0 to the 8.0 that's official (or 7.0 if it's good?) , or install a custom rom. If the latter, any recommendations from personal experience?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I recommend either Pixel Experience 10 or LineageOS 17 if you are at all comfortable with flashing. ROMs are little more work. But they offer the latest patches, some new features, some specific fixes for our aging hardware, and because you have to install TWRP first you have that safety net for when things go wrong. I also happen to really like Android 10 for what that's worth. You might have to use Magisk Hide to get some apps working, and you probably have to sideload Netflix from APKmirror but it should work just fine.
If you don't mind how it works out of the box, and you don't care for fiddling with it, and you aren't concerned with the screen lock bug, then stock is perfectly fine. Some people say 7 was better than 8 because of some video driver bug that broke a few Unity based games. I have zero idea if this was fixed in any of the ROMs.
3. Since it's 2020 and this tablet is coming up on almost 5 years....do you feel I overpaid? This is a completely irrelevant question, I just REALLY REALLY wanted one, I hate Samsung and wanted something with as close to a pure google experience like my Pixel phone. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I have seen them selling used in good shape in the upper 100's range, and most are 32GB.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am considering selling my Galaxy Tab S6, even though it is nicer in so many ways, because I just disagree with so many Samsung UX decisions. So I continue to use the Pixel C and I hope you like yours. I am a little envious you found a good condition 64GB one! There are countless little touches where the Pixel C does what I expect and my Samsung devices do not. Using an USB audio device? Pixel C can use it for music and also to make VoIP calls. Believe it or not many Samsungs cannot route 'phone' type audio over USB. Music only! Using a mouse? Open Chrome, right-click on a link. Notice that beautiful options menu that pops up? Try the same thing on a Samsung and notice it is just Android back function. Back to the Pixel C, try to middle-click on a link and notice it opens in a new tab in the background. Just like on desktop Chrome! Then, try with a Samsung and notice middle-click is the same as Android home function. Samsung just decided to break mousing and I hate it. Even things like display scaling work well on the Pixel C and badly on Samsung devices. Want everything to be very small? That's easy to do, and basically everything scales (except the nav bar, but there is a fix for that). On my Samsungs some parts of the UI scale and other parts don't. You end with comically unmatched icons and other elements like the notification shade. I really thought DeX could fix these issues for me and it didn't, but that is a different story. I like Samsung features but by golly they suck at the basics IMO.
4. Anything else I should know that I don't see jumping out at me in the forums that you would pass along to a new C owner?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not everything in Google-land is good. The Pixel C was never trouble free and still isn't with even the best ROMs. 3GB of RAM was too little for a 'productivity device' in 2015 and obviously still isn't enough (your use-case should be fine however). The storage speed is slow, it is prone to occassional jank (probably combination slow storage & low RAM), and if the battery isn't perfectly healthy you will experience bad CPU throttling (this is fixed in ROMs and in my case was a night and day difference). You are already aware of the screen problems. The headphone jack quality is not good, and the bluetooth range for headsets is about 5 ft (I am not joking, it's astonishingly bad!). There used to be many WiFi reception complaints but I think it was fixed long ago. Reception is on the weak end however. The touch screen is sensitive to interference and you can get ghost touches when using a low quality charger (YMMV on that one, my hardware might be faulty). Last thing that comes to mind is that occassionally, and seemingly randomly, your lock screen PIN will just... stop working. If you are on stock software with a locked bootloader then all you can do is factory reset!! This alone is a great reason to go with ROMs.
Thanks everyone in advance!
Hank
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good luck and welcome to the community!
locuturus said:
I am not aware of better or worse serial numbers. I assume later is better? Mine has image retention / ghosting & a purple shift in white balance but I never got the half screen failure or other issues.
I recommend either Pixel Experience 10 or LineageOS 17 if you are at all comfortable with flashing. ROMs are little more work. But they offer the latest patches, some new features, some specific fixes for our aging hardware, and because you have to install TWRP first you have that safety net for when things go wrong. I also happen to really like Android 10 for what that's worth. You might have to use Magisk Hide to get some apps working, and you probably have to sideload Netflix from APKmirror but it should work just fine.
If you don't mind how it works out of the box, and you don't care for fiddling with it, and you aren't concerned with the screen lock bug, then stock is perfectly fine. Some people say 7 was better than 8 because of some video driver bug that broke a few Unity based games. I have zero idea if this was fixed in any of the ROMs.
I am considering selling my Galaxy Tab S6, even though it is nicer in so many ways, because I just disagree with so many Samsung UX decisions. So I continue to use the Pixel C and I hope you like yours. I am a little envious you found a good condition 64GB one! There are countless little touches where the Pixel C does what I expect and my Samsung devices do not. Using an USB audio device? Pixel C can use it for music and also to make VoIP calls. Believe it or not many Samsungs cannot route 'phone' type audio over USB. Music only! Using a mouse? Open Chrome, right-click on a link. Notice that beautiful options menu that pops up? Try the same thing on a Samsung and notice it is just Android back function. Back to the Pixel C, try to middle-click on a link and notice it opens in a new tab in the background. Just like on desktop Chrome! Then, try with a Samsung and notice middle-click is the same as Android home function. Samsung just decided to break mousing and I hate it. Even things like display scaling work well on the Pixel C and badly on Samsung devices. Want everything to be very small? That's easy to do, and basically everything scales (except the nav bar, but there is a fix for that). On my Samsungs some parts of the UI scale and other parts don't. You end with comically unmatched icons and other elements like the notification shade. I really thought DeX could fix these issues for me and it didn't, but that is a different story. I like Samsung features but by golly they suck at the basics IMO.
Not everything in Google-land is good. The Pixel C was never trouble free and still isn't with even the best ROMs. 3GB of RAM was too little for a 'productivity device' in 2015 and obviously still isn't enough (your use-case should be fine however). The storage speed is slow, it is prone to occassional jank (probably combination slow storage & low RAM), and if the battery isn't perfectly healthy you will experience bad CPU throttling (this is fixed in ROMs and in my case was a night and day difference). You are already aware of the screen problems. The headphone jack quality is not good, and the bluetooth range for headsets is about 5 ft (I am not joking, it's astonishingly bad!). There used to be many WiFi reception complaints but I think it was fixed long ago. Reception is on the weak end however. The touch screen is sensitive to interference and you can get ghost touches when using a low quality charger (YMMV on that one, my hardware might be faulty). Last thing that comes to mind is that occassionally, and seemingly randomly, your lock screen PIN will just... stop working. If you are on stock software with a locked bootloader then all you can do is factory reset!! This alone is a great reason to go with ROMs.
Good luck and welcome to the community!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you so much for the detailed response. I am glad I am not the only one who feels that way about the Samsung tablets. I ALMOST bought an S4, then I ALMOST bought an S5E, but just don't like the way they do Android. I checked my tracking and the tablet comes today! So I think what I will do is just upgrade to the most recent official, leave the device lock off for now as I don't plan on going anywhere with the C, and see how it goes. I have dabbled in ROMS in the past for a lot of phones I have had through the years, so I assume this is not too far different as far as the process. The Lineage ROM seems to be a little better for the C from reading some of the known issues, but I will take a look at them after I assess the performance of the C. I really don't want to have the unit hit 70% then completely crap the bed on the performance side....
The Bluetooth range is sad to hear considering i JUST ordered the Sony WH-1000XM3 headphones. They will be here either Friday or Saturday. If i need to hear something beyond the range of it sitting close to me I'll just use my phone.
I'll report how things are going once I receive it, and thanks again for the detailed response. It has put me at ease!
Cheers
Hank
It came and was exactly as described. Did the update and now it's charging. Updated some apps and it's moving pretty well. We shall see what happens when I get more stuff loaded on there, but I will say it's better than I expected. Such beautiful hardware.....
1. I know there are some screen issues, and I believe based on the serial (i'll confirm when it arrives in two days) mine seems to be made in 2016 sometime, and even though I am in the US, it's a EU version.... Do the problems seem to be on all C's or just a specific run of them?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bought an used Pixel C with its keyboard and a pouch and its screen seems still fine. A Youtube video pointed the issue for its cable in the middle behind the screen panel being pressed so I thought keyboard&pouch may have prevented it.
2. If you were me, and only wanted a tablet for ebooks/audio books and of course some media, but no apps that are super intensive, would you just upgrade from the 6.0 to the 8.0 that's official (or 7.0 if it's good?) , or install a custom rom. If the latter, any recommendations from personal experience?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine was on stock 8..1 and now is LineageOS 17 based on Android 10. Stock 8.1 seemed to work fine. I preferred some Android 10's swiping features such as swiping from left or right to go back and swiping up to go to homescreen or other running apps to buttons and black bottom bar previous versions. Netflix HD still works.
On the other hand, unlocking bootloader caused additional 30 seconds to boot with caution message and weird beep noise in boot sequence. As you might know, even when locked in setting, in recovery mode, someone could physically connect your device to another and steal files in the device. Some error messages with security warning pops up in notification so the rom might not fully support Android security features. (I have little knowledge on this.)
When its brightness set close to lowest level, screen seemed to be turned off or brightness seems a bit unstable. (Being able to set close to the mininum is still good.) BTW some of gamepad buttons mapped incorrectly (not sure it was due to LineageOS).
3. Since it's 2020 and this tablet is coming up on almost 5 years....do you feel I overpaid? This is a completely irrelevant question, I just REALLY REALLY wanted one, I hate Samsung and wanted something with as close to a pure google experience like my Pixel phone. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I have seen them selling used in good shape in the upper 100's range, and most are 32GB.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's display ratio is better than 16:10 from other android tablets for e-books, pdf files, comics. Someone wrote its ratio fits for two pages side by side. Among Android tablets as far as I know, there are not many with 3:2 or 4:3. Nexus 9's screen could be great but it has only 2GB ram and other flaws. Xiaomi MiPad doesn't support Netflix HD. iPads would match the need but it seems you didn't want one. What I looked for was an Android tablet which is not Samsung or Huawei and supports Netflix HD. Of course, newer APs have advantages in power consumption, better game support, weight etc. Galaxy Tab S6 lite supports S-pen which is good for pdf notetaking. I tried to write in pdf files with Xodo PDF app and Bamboo Tip stylus and it wasn't so successful. Still, I like mine.
4. Anything else I should know that I don't see jumping out at me in the forums that you would pass along to a new C owner?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its PCB is on the left side so it gets hot when running intensive apps or charging. (The bottom of the display turned a bit yellowish. Because of keyboard attached?)
USB PD laptop chargers works but the left side feels hotter compared to charging with 5V 3A chargers.
With its keyboard is good to use on lap or as a stand but it would be pricey to buy a new one.
Here is a [BOUNTY] you will not want to miss out on. First complete set of instructions on how to totally jailbreak the HD8 2020 or HD8 2022 gets a cool $1000 cash once the instructions are completely verified. And another sum of equal or greater value upon full testing.
Here are the details:
The device should have no remnants of the old OS visible to the user. The interface should look as close to stock Android as possible. Setup menu, some file manager application, and a few other applications should be available if necessary. There should be no ability to side load other apps.
I am looking to push one app onto the device, which is being developed. That application is a specialized audio player taking advantage of the very decent audio properties of the HD8 2020 or 2022. The app will take a LOT of the processing power so all radios will be turned off and fixed to be non-functional. USB will work and stay in debug mode for updates and additional data xfers. Graphics will be used at a minimum. Much of the compute power of the device will be tasked with calculations and playing audio. Some of which will be calculated on the fly. Please reply if you have any further questions.
There may be other paid design/programming activities associated with this project.
I hope this is a joke.
Rortiz2 said:
I hope this is a joke.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What part is unclear? This is not a joke.
The purpose of this request is to limit the functionality of the tablet for safety of the individual using my product. Taxing the processor to do other things will take away from all of the work the processor must do maintaining the functionality of the device plugged into the USB C port that I am designing. It is not yet clear that the device needs to be rooted. At least the GUI menu needs to be closer to Android stock. I really presume that current work is fairly close to what I will need except for the following: Turn off radios permanently, replace the menus with something better than currently offered, and prevent loading other software.
Current setup that I have makes some noise, (popping) on the audio output that is not so good.
rhandel said:
What part is unclear? This is not a joke.
The purpose of this request is to limit the functionality of the tablet for safety of the individual using my product. Taxing the processor to do other things will take away from all of the work the processor must do maintaining the functionality of the device plugged into the USB C port that I am designing. It is not yet clear that the device needs to be rooted. At least the GUI menu needs to be closer to Android stock. I really presume that current work is fairly close to what I will need except for the following: Turn off radios permanently, replace the menus with something better than currently offered, and prevent loading other software.
Current setup that I have makes some noise, (popping) on the audio output that is not so good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sorry to be the one to burst your bubble of illusion but I'm afraid that if all you want to do requires root, you can start by buying another device (and make sure it's not from Amazon).
Your idea sounds cool, stock Android and forget about FireOS, the usual dream of Amazon Fire users. However, this is not possible in recent generations since Amazon made sure to close all the backdoors that helped us unlock older generation tablets. This includes patching the LK vulnerability (amonet), disabling bootrom mode (with efuses), always updating security patches (Amazon has always been a stickler for this), and among other very extreme security measures.
In short, the devices you are talking about are not unlockable and I really doubt that in the future they will be. My personal recommendation; try to find one of the early Amazon Fire HD10 2019s, which can be temporarily unlocked and have several ROMs based on AOSP (LineageOS, ArrowOS).
Thank you for the impassioned recommendations. I get that, and now have a better appreciation of the task.
Do you have any recommendations for newer hardware that can fill the bill? This project requires octicore hardware or better because of the need for speed/performance of newer processors to do the heavy lifting. I have had several other Android devices (off brand Chinese attempts at hardware), that are too under powered for the purpose and have too many bugs to be considered.
Here are the basics: I am looking to push one app onto the device, which is being developed. That application is a specialized audio player taking advantage of the very decent audio properties the device. The app will take a LOT of the processing power so all radios will be turned off and fixed to be non-functional. USB will work and stay in debug mode for updates and additional data xfers. Graphics will be used at a minimum. Much of the compute power of the device will be tasked with calculations and playing audio. Some of which will be calculated on the fly.
All of this can be done on an RPi 4 but I am looking to shave costs off of the device. I don't NEED android. It's a means to an end. Development costs are not the issue but ongoing costs adding to product cost are.
Rortiz2 said:
Your idea sounds cool, stock Android and forget about FireOS, the usual dream of Amazon Fire users. However, this is not possible in recent generations since Amazon made sure to close all the backdoors that helped us unlock older generation tablets. This includes patching the LK vulnerability (amonet), disabling bootrom mode (with efuses), always updating security patches (Amazon has always been a stickler for this), and among other very extreme security measures.
In short, the devices you are talking about are not unlockable and I really doubt that in the future they will be. My personal recommendation; try to find one of the early Amazon Fire HD10 2019s, which can be temporarily unlocked and have several ROMs based on AOSP (LineageOS, ArrowOS).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can we put this information somewhere easy to find for people (like me) searching for ways to "free" the newer generations? I have spent quite some time to find information about rooting possibilities for the 12th generation of Fire 8 HD and not been able to find it. But here, in a Thread certainly not meant fo me, i found them
MarvinGS said:
Can we put this information somewhere easy to find for people (like me) searching for ways to "free" the newer generations? I have spent quite some time to find information about rooting possibilities for the 12th generation of Fire 8 HD and not been able to find it. But here, in a Thread certainly not meant fo me, i found them
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MarvinGS,
The bottom line is that the prospects are fewer and fewer because of the tightening down of the Android system. And the very custom hardware used in many new devices. It is NOT as trivial as it used to be. And intentionally so. Amazon has a vested interest in keeping things from people like you and I.
I am looking for cheap hardware to make a larger project and will probably go with dedicated hardware to get the features that I need. I was merely looking for the video and some light computing to be done by Android. The devices still don't have enough power to do what I need them to do.
RAH