What to do with an aging android tablet.

[Fyrtwuck]

Hope you got the warranty replacement from Apple. They had to finally admit they put substandard batteries in the iphone 6 models and offered to replace them at reduced cost at authorized repair centers.

I didn’t have any extended warranties and this is the first I’ve heard of it.

 

[Mad Professor]

I didn’t have any extended warranties and this is the first I’ve heard of it.

For a while, (about a year I believe) Apple would replace iPhone batteries for $29. Starting today it is $49.

 

[D. Hargrove]

I think the picture frame concept is pretty cool. I also really like the bedside home security monitor idea.

 

[Shadowrider]

So how does one plug it in if it's in a picture frame? Run a wire down? Deep frame and mount the frame over an electrical socket?

I have an ancient early 2012 iPad to do something with. The odd thing is that they battery is still holding. Have no idea how many times it's been charged but I do run it down low before charging.

 

[NightShade]

Basically use the same charger and type of cord you would normally use to charge it up. As long as the charger puts out enough power it will stay running. Mounting it next to a socket is best but not 100% needed as you can easily run a cord about 10 feet with minimal issue to power after that though it starts to really drop off. I am just using the cases I had the tablets in and hanging them like a picture with a little creative ingenuity but you could easily make a wood frame deep enough to hold the tablet, just make sure that the charge port is accessible or the cord is built in to the frame in such a way that it can never come undone.

Some batteries were better than others though. As they stretch the tech to try and shrink it down but keep the same power there have been issues. Like the galaxy note batteries catching fire for example. There were a ton of ipad's that you would find in the store displays at one point where the batteries had poofed up and popped the screen away from the back as they would overcharge too easily also. Some people say that you should never take a battery below 25% and never charge above 80% to extend the life. I know that leaving them on a charger constantly can cause problems with the battery if you have the screen brightness all the way up and are doing a lot with it as this heats the battery up a lot. As far as stopping the charge at a certain point I charge at night and having something that wakes me up so that I can unplug the phone will just make it so I can't sleep and then would have to carry a spare battery all the time.

 

[Shadowrider]

Basically use the same charger and type of cord you would normally use to charge it up. As long as the charger puts out enough power it will stay running. Mounting it next to a socket is best but not 100% needed as you can easily run a cord about 10 feet with minimal issue to power after that though it starts to really drop off. I am just using the cases I had the tablets in and hanging them like a picture with a little creative ingenuity but you could easily make a wood frame deep enough to hold the tablet, just make sure that the charge port is accessible or the cord is built in to the frame in such a way that it can never come undone.

Some people say that you should never take a battery below 25% and never charge above 80% to extend the life.

Yes with making a custom frame, putting the tablet into it wouldn't be an issue. I was trying to keep the cord from running down the wall, but it's pretty common these days with wall mounted TVs and such. Another way would be to make a standup desktop frame I guess. That's probably what I'll do. I want to rig it up for a security camera or Ring doorbell and I could move it to other rooms that way. Can't think of anything else to really do with it. It will stream movies on Amazon and Airplay to a TV just fine but that's about it. Too slow for much else and it makes me want to throw it across the room. Hate to just pitch it, the screen display is still awesome.

1st I've heard about the batteries. I've always heard to go close to full cycling them even though lithium batteries SUPPOSEDLY don't take a memory set.

 

[NightShade]

There are a bunch of theories about the batteries and while they shouldn't have a memory the software does and there can be bugs induced. My old tablet would do ok with the screen all the way down and doing next to nothing on battery for a while. Once you turn the brightness up a little and then start up an app that is active it would drop the battery level like a rock. I did one of the 30 dollar batteries and charged it all the way up then started a discharge cycle. Was going to start charging again at 20 % and then continue from there. Never made it to 20 % got to about 35 and died. Figured it was just the software so charged it up again, second cycle and it died around 50%. Third it was closer to 80% when it died and after that it was downhill fast. Contacted the seller and they shipped out another one. Basically the same thing as the first one they sent out. Put the original battery back in and said I was not going to throw more money at it. Learned exactly how slow it was when I got a replacement. Apps that would sit there and take forever were instant and web pages didn't render like I was using dialup. Was able to use the VPN to the house without the tablet dying after five minutes either.

About the only thing I really used it for at the end was an e-reader and even then things were very slow and required the charger to stay plugged in. Now I have a frame and I can set it up with Alfred and check on the house when I am away.

 

[Shadowrider]

Now that I think about it, I bought this for one my wife. She used it for awhile but wanted one of the iPad Minis because this one was too heavy. Most of that is battery, so maybe the software doesn't throttle it too much because of all that battery.

 

[NightShade]

It's possible. It could also be a strong battery and then apple did their protect you from yourself so we slow the device shuffle.

I have always done android stuff and once the manufacturer no longer supports it I tend to go the community built ROM route. My old tablet was last upgraded to android 5 though it is running 7.1 AOSP ROM. I may have to break down and pick up an iPad at some point but only due to wanting something like foreflight https://foreflight.com/ when I get to that point. I will not buy brand new though, refurbished and smallest storage will be just fine. The walled garden is fine if you want to stay locked in the compound, I would rather do things outside the box. https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.adaway/ is one of the things even google will not allow in their app store. And https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.schabi.newpipe/ is great when you want to do things on youtube but not be bothered by ads or comment sections.

 

[Shadowrider]

Well FWIW, I'm done with iPads and I'm a Apple homer. They are just too expensive for what I do with them. I'm not an Android fan, but they do what I need now days. Back when I bought these I was more about Airplay and sharing music, etc. across devices and Apple does it seamlessly. Android is better at all that now.