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Alder posted:Is there a <$200 tablet in the 8" size that's not a Kindle Fire? I used to be able to sideload the play store but now that's a pipe dream due to reasons (I've tried all the solutions). I never realized how much I missed it until I couldn't install more than half my apps due to lack of support. Currently the only way I can sideload apps on my Kindle Fire is via adb. It requires enabling developer options on the Kindle, and installing the Android development kit. To be fair, I haven't tried since the latest FireOS update, but it was still working as of the previous update.
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Dec 1, 2018 05:38
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Alder posted:Is there a <$200 tablet in the 8" size that's not a Kindle Fire? I used to be able to sideload the play store but now that's a pipe dream due to reasons (I've tried all the solutions). I never realized how much I missed it until I couldn't install more than half my apps due to lack of support. The Huawei Mediapad M5 is like $300 and is the first actually good reasonably priced 8" Android tablet in ages and ages. Easily the first time it's worth buying a non-iPad tablet in years. It has a quick 8-core Kirin 960, 2560x1600 quality LCD, a huge battery, and USB-C fast charging. It feels shockingly good in your hand too, unlike a cheap plastic garbage Kindle Fire. No headphone jack, but it doesn't kill the thing.
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Dec 1, 2018 12:43
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Cough Drop The Beat posted:The Huawei Mediapad M5 is like $300 and is the first actually good reasonably priced 8" Android tablet in ages and ages. Easily the first time it's worth buying a non-iPad tablet in years. It has a quick 8-core Kirin 960, 2560x1600 quality LCD, a huge battery, and USB-C fast charging. It feels shockingly good in your hand too, unlike a cheap plastic garbage Kindle Fire. No headphone jack, but it doesn't kill the thing. Yeah, that's a good tablet. I've been using a Nexus 7 (2013) since… 2014 or 2015? It needs replacing, but there was never anything at least as good in the same size and price range. Until this came out. I was going to buy one, but Amazon says they're out of stock, and they have no idea when or if they'll get more. I did put it on my Christmas list, so maybe I'll get it that way.
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Dec 1, 2018 15:53
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bull3964 posted:The best you can do hardware wise for that money though is probably by a used Galaxy Tab S2. It has a better processor and a higher resolution AMOLED screen. They come across as fragile on the surface, but they're loving tanks, too. Got my wife one when they were new for Christmas. Middle kid dropped it face down on the garage floor and murdered the screen 3 weeks into January. Popped a new screen on it and the abuse it's taken, including a full dunking in the bathtub would make any device cry for mercy, but it's still chugging along like a champ.
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Dec 1, 2018 16:01
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It's the last (higher end) Samsung Tab to have a plastic back to, so it pops off pretty easily for battery replacement. I have a MediaPad M5 now (Newegg appears to still have them in stock), but I kinda wish I never returned the Tab S2 I had. I returned it because, at the time I was able to get a decent deal on the Tab S3. But I've never been happy with the S3. I like the M5, but I feel it could be a touch lighter and smaller. I also wish Hulu worked properly on it. Other than that, I don't have any real complaints. It lasts long on battery (does really good in idle drain), changes fast, and performs well (outside of Hulu.) In still would love a SD710 7" or 8" 16:9 ChromeOS tablet though with a 1440 screen. I would snap that up in a second.
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Dec 1, 2018 16:23
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Alder posted:Is there a <$200 tablet in the 8" size that's not a Kindle Fire? I used to be able to sideload the play store but now that's a pipe dream due to reasons (I've tried all the solutions). I never realized how much I missed it until I couldn't install more than half my apps due to lack of support. Wait how do you get locked out of installing Play Store? Is Amazon killing it with OTA updates or something?
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Dec 1, 2018 16:53
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Tab s2 also has pie via lineageos
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Dec 1, 2018 16:56
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The Samsung S2 Tab is a fine tablet, I'm sure, but the Kirin 960 in the Huawei Mediapad M5 has like more than double the performance of the 2 year old Snapdragon 652 in the S2 Tab, so there's not much point unless $300 breaks the bank for ya.
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Dec 1, 2018 17:47
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Yeah I upgraded from a tab s2 to the media pad m5 (10.8 inch model though) and my main complaints are that it's heavier than I expected and it hates to play anything higher than 1080 (YouTube, Netflix, Hulu,.twitch) which is a bit ridiculous in 2018
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Dec 1, 2018 20:26
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Don Lapre posted:Tab s2 also has pie via lineageos My Tab S 8.4 is still useable because of LineageOS. Also doesn't the MediaPad still have issues when using WiFi and BT at the same time? Quite the kick in the dick without a headphone jack.
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Dec 2, 2018 02:55
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Moey posted:My Tab S 8.4 is still useable because of LineageOS. I have no use for BT or headphones on my tablet, so that's a non-issue for me.
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Dec 2, 2018 03:47
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I bought a Fire HD 10 on a spur of the moment due to a black friday discount. The amazon app store is even worse than I expected. I found four apps I wanted; Instagram, BBC Iplayer, Netflix and Adobe Acrobat Reader (normally I wouldn't touch that, but as far as I can tell, the default kindle pdf reader won't be 'fit to screen' only 'fix to width'...) I haven't yet had the courage to download the play store from apkmirror, so I've taken to using adb to copy the apks I want off my phone and sideloading those. So far that seems to have worked without issue...
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Dec 2, 2018 10:54
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Pablo Bluth posted:I haven't yet had the courage to download the play store from apkmirror, so I've taken to using adb to copy the apks I want off my phone and sideloading those. So far that seems to have worked without issue...
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Dec 2, 2018 16:44
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minusX posted:Can you not grab the app store apk from your phone the same way? You've got to add more than just the play store's apk to get it working. It's not difficult, but there's more to it than that. Of course, if he's got adb working, there isn't much more that needs done.
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Dec 2, 2018 16:51
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You need four APKs for Play Store on the Kindle. You need: -Google Account Manager -Google Services Framework -Google Play Services -Google Play Store app If you enable developer settings, put these APKs on your Kindle, AND install them in that exact, specific order, you can get the Play Store without even touching adb. I have successfully done this for friends and family across a wide range of Kindle tablets. The only jank is that Google Play will mistakenly try to auto-update your Kindle apps to ones designed for non-Kindle devices. It isn't dangerous, the update will fail, but it takes a long rear end time for the "install" to get to that point. Best practice is just to set updates to manual or blacklist the Amazon Apps from being updated. You can still update them from the Amazon App Store just fine as OTA ones come out
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Dec 2, 2018 17:03
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The issue is versions. My phone is on Android 8 and I understand it to be running recent version of the services that aren't backwards compatible with the Android 5 variant that is the Fire OS 5.
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Dec 2, 2018 17:47
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Yea most Amazon devices are stuck on Fire OS 5 revisions, which have equivalent compatibility to Android 5.1.1, which is from early 2015. The very latest devices are receiving Fire OS 6 which is based on Android 7.1 from late 2016. 5.x is now old enough that a ton of things are willing to drop support, and the marketshare is otherwise shrinking quick so new apps don't bother.
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Dec 2, 2018 18:04
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fishmech posted:Yea most Amazon devices are stuck on Fire OS 5 revisions, which have equivalent compatibility to Android 5.1.1, which is from early 2015. The very latest devices are receiving Fire OS 6 which is based on Android 7.1 from late 2016. 5.x is now old enough that a ton of things are willing to drop support, and the marketshare is otherwise shrinking quick so new apps don't bother. That's...depressing Is Amazon doing this on purpose to force you onto the Amazon apps? Here's the rate at which FireOS is being updated: FireOS 1 (Gingerbread) - November 2011 (skipped: Honeycomb) FireOS 2 (Ice Cream Sandwich) - September 2012 FireOS 3 (Jelly Bean) - September 2013 FireOS 4 (KitKat) - September 2014 FireOS 5 (Lollipop) - September 2015 (skipped: Marshmallow) FireOS 6 (Nougat) - September 2017
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Dec 3, 2018 00:37
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Nah, there just hasn't been as pressing a reason to come off Lollipop as there were the previous versions. Early Android was more janky.
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Dec 3, 2018 00:43
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I did some digging and apparently the Fire 7 and last-gen Fire HD 8 don't have hardware support for 64-bit apps, so they can't get upgraded to FireOS 6 (Nougat) since that runs 64-bit apps Hopefully new Fire 7's launch next fall with upgraded hardware
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Dec 3, 2018 05:38
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Anyone try out the Xiaomi Mi Pad 4? Specs look impressive for the price, but I don't think it was released in the US. Doesn't look too hard to get one in from China though.
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Dec 3, 2018 16:55
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EugeneJ posted:Wait how do you get locked out of installing Play Store? Is Amazon killing it with OTA updates or something? I'm not sure but none of the guides worked on my kindle fire 5th gen and it's stuck on checking info page. I heard google is blocking non-andriod tablets from the play store. Thanks for all the suggestions.
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Dec 3, 2018 23:22
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Two questions about my Nexus 7 (2013): 1) Is there any way to get rid of the ugly blob emjoi that doesn't require root/a custom ROM? 2) Is there any way to get the Google Weather Widget on a tablet that doesn't require root/a custom ROM?
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Dec 6, 2018 05:08
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Kheldarn posted:1) Is there any way to get rid of the ugly blob emjoi that doesn't require root/a custom ROM? Reported for ban. And no.
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Dec 6, 2018 06:14
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I'm guessing the answer is going to be "no", but are there any Android tablets with the kickstand and snap on keyboard similar to the MS Surface devices?
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Dec 11, 2018 21:11
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Tab S3/S4 with the keyboard cover?
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Dec 11, 2018 21:17
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Nullsmack posted:I'm guessing the answer is going to be "no", but are there any Android tablets with the kickstand and snap on keyboard similar to the MS Surface devices? The Galaxy Tab S4 is similar.
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Dec 11, 2018 21:17
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For the S3/S4, the prop is part of the cover though. Sounds like the ask is for the tablet to have a kickstand of its own so it can stand without the keyboard attached. I don't know of any such device.
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Dec 11, 2018 21:19
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Nullsmack posted:I'm guessing the answer is going to be "no", but are there any Android tablets with the kickstand and snap on keyboard similar to the MS Surface devices? Pixel Slate?
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Dec 12, 2018 01:13
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A used Pixel C is also an option. Out of updates but still a beautiful well-built tablet with fantastic performance.
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Dec 12, 2018 17:58
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Does anyone have an opinion on the hp chromebook x2? I'm looking for a large-ish tablet for RPG pdfs and while the ipad pro 12.9 is the perfect size for what I want but I really don't want to drop over a grand for something to just read PDFs at the table and on the couch.
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Dec 20, 2018 13:53
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arisu posted:Anyone try out the Xiaomi Mi Pad 4? Specs look impressive for the price, but I don't think it was released in the US. Doesn't look too hard to get one in from China though. I'm curious about this too. I want a new android tablet (currently using a model 1 ipad mini that can't even load heavy websites anymore) to play games and read stuff. This thing was supposed to be great but it's not mentioned in any of the recommended tablet lists I've just read so I'm a little wary.
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Dec 26, 2018 02:15
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Amazon has the Huawei MediaPad M5 8.4" on sale for $279.99. I just ordered mine. Any recommended cases for this?
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Dec 29, 2018 00:17
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My MediaPad arrived today. Man, it is so fast. Things look and sound great, too! Finally, a worth successor to my Nexus 7 (2013).
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Jan 1, 2019 00:07
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Kheldarn posted:My MediaPad arrived today. Man, it is so fast. Things look and sound great, too! How's the OS on there? I need to find something to replace my Galaxy Tab S 8.4. LineageOS gave it some new life but I think it's time for an upgrade.
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Jan 1, 2019 08:32
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The only thing I don't like about my Mediapad M5 is that Hulu can't maintain framerate in app. Streaming in the browser works fine though.
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Jan 1, 2019 09:40
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Well, my replacement SHIELD tablet is giving up- the battery decided to get fat for its new year resolution. What's the new hotness?
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Jan 1, 2019 12:46
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Moey posted:How's the OS on there? I need to find something to replace my Galaxy Tab S 8.4. It's Huawei's EMUI version of Android 8. It's my first time using any version of Android beyond 6.0.1, so it seems fine to me. I like that instead of a static wallpaper for the lock screen, it has something called Magazine Unlock. It comes with 20 pictures in both portrait and landscape mode, and every time you power on the screen, it shows a different one. It's not random, though. And you can add your own images into the rotation, though if they're not made for landscape, they don't rotate well. The sound is great, as are graphics. I don't consume media like YouTube/Netflix/Hulu on anything other than my desktop, but the games I play look and sound better than they did on my N7. Huawei's QuickCharge works fine for me, though it's been reported that if you have a QC wall plug with multiple USB slots, when you plug in the tablet, it ups everything 19 watts (9.15v 2 amp), so that can harm non-QC devices plugged into the other slot(s). At launch, you could unlock the bootloader, but Huawei decided to remove that option. The only info I've found for rooting on XDA requires you to actually purchase the only program that can root it. Also, for some reason, Huawei decided to not allow you to move apps to the SD card. Overall, I'm still happy with it. I charged it to 100% last night, unplugged it at midnight, and when I got up at 9 AM this morning, it's still sitting at 100%. My N7, by comparison, would have been at ~50%-60%.
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Jan 1, 2019 15:29
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8one6 posted:Does anyone have an opinion on the hp chromebook x2? I'm looking for a large-ish tablet for RPG pdfs and while the ipad pro 12.9 is the perfect size for what I want but I really don't want to drop over a grand for something to just read PDFs at the table and on the couch. I know this was posted a couple weeks ago, so my response might not help, but I bought an HP Chromebook X2 in early December and am a pretty big fan so far. It's a little large for me when in tablet mode, but I'm really only using it that way on the couch. I've taken it on a few flights and it's a great size for media/movie consumption that way. I mostly read comics on it and watch youtube or videos, but the keyboard is almost full size and it is easy to type on. Because of android apps, I can write/update web code and VPN into my work stuff so I don't really need to bring my work laptop on trips. The only thing I really didn't like was how bright white/silver the back of the tablet was. I bought a black skin for a 15 inch laptop on amazon and used an x-acto knife and fixed that problem up really quickly. Now it looks like any other tiny black laptop/tablet.
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Jan 1, 2019 21:44
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Kheldarn posted:My MediaPad arrived today. Man, it is so fast. Things look and sound great, too! So which one did you get? the 8" or the 10"? (or even the 10 pro). I am also considering a replacement for my TabS 8.4 which while it still runs needs a factory default before being "promoted" to being the kids tablet.
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Jan 1, 2019 22:11
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