Cheap Fire HD Tablets

[Redrum]

For those in the US (and maybe elsewhere?), Woot! (Amazon closeout "deal" arm) is selling refurbished Fire HD Tablets 7th generation (2017) for $USD20.00 for the 8" and $USD40.00 for the 10". Offer valid until 5/25 or gone. $5/$10 upcharge respectively to double the memory

https://www.woot.com/plus/amazon-kindle-and-fire-tablets-12?ref=w_cnt_gw_dly_snb

I have a few of these laying around as LMS/Material UI's with the benefit of a quick browser. I have also bought and set them up for friends. I actually prefer the 8" (ease of handling, use in portrait), so for $20...

What I do is run XDA Developers "Fire Toolbox" which removes the Amazon aspect of the tablet, adds google play, Nova Launcher, basically creating a "stock android like" experience. I then add F-Droid and Material apk. I also add a few simple widgets (like weather, sports scores) and a browser. I then basically have them laying around in listening areas.

A couple notes, they come with a charger, but this gen is Pre USB-C. I have a USB-C -> micro adaptor handy at my charging locations. Also, the ones I have gotten in the past were "condition - very good. These are "good" so maybe (?) they will have some marks? Finally, they seem to be a little laggy at times, but only by today's standards.

But for $20, you don't even need a case, as it would probably cost you more!

Jim

<edit - how this turned out, what I learned> - I know I might be walking the line regarding this being a sb forum and me posting about tablets, but its in the vein of using the tablets as UI/Kiosks running material. I wanted to post back to let you know what I learned, with a warning (see red).

I received two $20 refurbished Fire HD8 Tablets (2017) for $20 each and they were in perfect shape. Turns out that they were an old Fire OS 5.x.x.x which is loosely, android 5. This is actually a good thing. Turns out my pervious fire tablets, an HD8 and HD10 were Fire OS 7.3.2.1, Also a good thing.

The fire toolbox (XDA developers) can do so many cool things, but the main ones are - remove ad lockscreen, allow launcher change (I use Nova), Prevent over the air updates (which can revert your tablet to original Fire function), and allow the google play store to be added. This makes them "look like" stock android.

Here's where the problem comes in (at least right now), and XDA has work arounds, but nothing solid - be warned - With Fire OS 7.3.2.2, Fire OS has thwarted the ability of all of the above (except google play store). Also, you can still hijack the launcher, but it will revert on reboot. See this thread: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/w...#post-86826937. The worst being the OTA updates, you can customized but when fire pushed an update, your tablet is reverted (unless you confine the tablet to wifi, but not the internet).

So, with my two 7.3.2.1 tablets, I blocked OTA updates in time, same with my refurbed 5.x.x.x. But for those that might buy new, the path to happiness might not without challenges or even possible.

One other thing that I should report, with my 7.3.2.1 tablets, I sub'ed the nova launcher just fine. Works as a "look like" stock android. With my 5.x.x.x the launcher can only be "hijacked" (same with 7.3.2.2 - but doesn't survive reboot). This is the experience of a hijack - you press home and the Fire Launcher appears, but will revert to nova either with a icon press, or after 5 seconds.

[agbagb]

That's a great deal! Though I'm not seeing it here in France..... I love my little Fire pads, especially de-Amazoned as you mention. But, for me, that old USB connection issue is a No, even at that price - I'm fed up of finding adaptors for people who keep losing them!

BTW, that Fire Toolbox looks very useful - not come across it before. I've always hacked my Fires the long way round, but this looks far more convenient. Occasionally a Fire update will defeat my hacks, meaning I have to do the whole thing again - Fire Toolbox looks a quiker way of achieving this.

[Redrum]

That's a great deal! Though I'm not seeing it here in France..... I love my little Fire pads, especially de-Amazoned as you mention. But, for me, that old USB connection issue is a No, even at that price - I'm fed up of finding adaptors for people who keep losing them!

BTW, that Fire Toolbox looks very useful - not come across it before. I've always hacked my Fires the long way round, but this looks far more convenient. Occasionally a Fire update will defeat my hacks, meaning I have to do the whole thing again - Fire Toolbox looks a quiker way of achieving this.

Maybe we need to glue the adaptors into the fire tablets? I know what you mean, but even the newer fire tablets with usb-c are reasonable (especially the 8") because amazon is selling you "ad machines". I have bought the little C->micro adaptors with a tether so they are hanging from the charge chords.

My plan for the cheap ones. I have non technical friends that I have deployed picore server/sb player systems to, and unfortunately (for me) they are apple/mac people. So my phone support is difficult, even in person is challenging. So my intent for a few of these cheapies I bought is to set them up with all of the picore, lms UI, lms settings urls bookmarked, a few apps (wifi analyzer, weather, etc) and the material apk installed, and say "here, you owe me $25" (or dinner). Not only will they have the wonderful material ui to use, my tech support is in android and my life is easier

Jim

PS - there is a setting in fire toolbox that inhibits auto amazon updates, and it's these updates that will undo the "customization". The nice thing about toolbox is the developers are all over it (just like here) and any new wrinkle is addressed in a new version.

[agbagb]

I wonder if I can overlay Fire Toolbox on top of the individual APKs, Launcher, Nova etc etc that I've installed? Or would I have to do a clear / reset, and start again?

[Redrum]

I wonder if I can overlay Fire Toolbox on top of the individual APKs, Launcher, Nova etc etc that I've installed? Or would I have to do a clear / reset, and start again?

good question, one that might be answered over on the xda forum?

Since it is not returning the tablet to stock android, just removing some things, and unlocking others (add play store, etc), perhaps it "might" work?

Maybe you could backup your current state, give it a try, and restore if it goes bad? Or, just ask over there

Jim

[coyrls]

Would there be any negative consequences to having a Fire device permanently plugged in, i.e. on constant charge?

[Redrum]

Would there be any negative consequences to having a Fire device permanently plugged in, i.e. on constant charge?

none that I can think of. Of course we have all charged a device for days until next time we have used it, right?

I have thought of building a pi player and using the tablet as a display instead of, say a pi touchscreen. But I haven't thought it through. I know that you can go (tablet) settings->developer options and enable "stay awake" if you wanted a continuous display. But, it would be nice if it could stay awake, but go into a screensaver when not playing. Again, I have not thought it through...

Jim

[coyrls]

Yes, I've been thinking on the same lines. It should only be a button press to turn the screen on and off and you could leave Material Skin constantly on the display with no screen time out.

[slartibartfast]

none that I can think of. Of course we have all charged a device for days until next time we have used it, right?

I have thought of building a pi player and using the tablet as a display instead of, say a pi touchscreen. But I haven't thought it through. I know that you can go (tablet) settings->developer options and enable "stay awake" if you wanted a continuous display. But, it would be nice if it could stay awake, but go into a screensaver when not playing. Again, I have not thought it through...

Jim

Material skin has a screensaver in settings.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

[Redrum]

Material skin has a screensaver in settings.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

of course! Craig and the community have thought of everything... I should have known...

Jim

[d6jg]

Would there be any negative consequences to having a Fire device permanently plugged in, i.e. on constant charge?

none that I can think of. Of course we have all charged a device for days until next time we have used it, right?

I have thought of building a pi player and using the tablet as a display instead of, say a pi touchscreen. But I haven't thought it through. I know that you can go (tablet) settings->developer options and enable "stay awake" if you wanted a continuous display. But, it would be nice if it could stay awake, but go into a screensaver when not playing. Again, I have not thought it through...

Jim

On the contrary keeping anything that contains this sort of battery constantly plugged in will over time reduce the capacity of the battery until it is nil.
I have had to replace the battery in numerous customer’s laptops for exactly this reason,

[Redrum]

On the contrary keeping anything that contains this sort of battery constantly plugged in will over time reduce the capacity of the battery until it is nil.
I have had to replace the battery in numerous customer’s laptops for exactly this reason,

good point, of course you are right. the old laptop with docking station syndrome, when the laptop is left in the dock indefinitely. I imagine good charging management would help lessen the damage, but...

but the use case being discussed is to us a cheap tablet as a display, so my assumption is that once deployed for that purpose, the loss of battery capacity is secondary (don't need the battery). As long as it doesn't rupture, etc.

Which brings up an interesting thought, finding a way to run a tablet strictly on a supply (disengage the battery)

But, we digress, I started the thread as a heads up for cheap throwaway tablets!

Jim

[Redrum]

On the contrary keeping anything that contains this sort of battery constantly plugged in will over time reduce the capacity of the battery until it is nil.
I have had to replace the battery in numerous customer’s laptops for exactly this reason,

Of course when I said "none that I can think of" I should have said "I really am not knowledgeable in this area". Thanks Jim for setting things straight.

For completeness, a quick search yielded allot of discussion on how to use a tablet as, basically a kiosk. I read a few threads, not enough to get specifics, but the idea is to run a smart plug (or similar home automation) to turn on the charger at say 20%, off at 80%. As I said, I didn't dive into the details (what device, how to get the tablet to report battery level), its not even close to the top of my "I'd like to do" list. But it seems it's doable.

Jim

[RobbH]

....Which brings up an interesting thought, finding a way to run a tablet strictly on a supply (disengage the battery)....

I think many devices won't start unless the battery has some very minimal charge. Would it be theoretically possible to replace the battery with a capacitor?

[RobbH]

Of course when I said "none that I can think of" I should have said "I really am not knowledgeable in this area". Thanks Jim for setting things straight.

For completeness, a quick search yielded allot of discussion on how to use a tablet as, basically a kiosk. I read a few threads, not enough to get specifics, but the idea is to run a smart plug (or similar home automation) to turn on the charger at say 20%, off at 80%. As I said, I didn't dive into the details (what device, how to get the tablet to report battery level), its not even close to the top of my "I'd like to do" list. But it seems it's doable.

Jim

If your tablet has Google's play store installed, Tasker is a scripting engine for Android that can trigger actions based on charge level. Tasker turns on my phone's charger overnight if the level drops to 20% (otherwise, it turns on at 4:30) and turns it off when battery level reaches 80%. In my case, it does this by using ssh to run a command on a Pi, which controls a relay. I assume it could also be done with a smart plug.

There is also a free, open source scripting engine for Android, called Easer. It's available from F-Droid, and could probably do the same thing, but I'm not certain about that.

I use old phones in several locations around the house, essentially as non-interactive kiosks, displaying the current outside temperature and LMS Now Playing info. These are not protected the same way, so they stay plugged in all the time and the batteries fail after a year or two. I don't like treating them as disposables, but that's what they have become.

Curiously, two old Fire tablets have lasted several years this way. The batteries are still good for several hours on the rare occasions when they are disconnected from power. I do not understand how they have lasted as long as they have, but I am certain they can't last much longer.