Cheap tablet for outdoor use
Discussion
Thinking of getting a cheap 10-inch tablet (one of those £60-£70 Chinese ones off eBay) to use outdoors so i can have some tunes and watch TV on the patio.
Anyone used one? I'm sure they aren't up to iPad standards, but i just need to be able to run iPlayer, Amazon Prime video, and Google Music which I would think are fairly easy-going on processor power.
I also need to improve the Wi-Fi to the outside. Currently i've got Fibre giving me around 50-60Mbps download sped in the house, but outside i get barely anything. Any advice on the best way of doing this? Some sort of repeater?
Anyone used one? I'm sure they aren't up to iPad standards, but i just need to be able to run iPlayer, Amazon Prime video, and Google Music which I would think are fairly easy-going on processor power.
I also need to improve the Wi-Fi to the outside. Currently i've got Fibre giving me around 50-60Mbps download sped in the house, but outside i get barely anything. Any advice on the best way of doing this? Some sort of repeater?
I had a "yuntab h8" 8" phablet in that kind of price range to keep in the van for sat nav, emails etc... TBH it felt cheap right down to the raspy motor that did the tactile feedback, but did the job it was bought for - until developing a weird, unresolvable battery management issue at 8 or 9 months old. (A £300 doogee tough phone did exactly the same) both ended up sent back and personally now I'd be a little wary of cheap, non big branded stuff.
Amazon Fire HD 10 will do easily that aside from google music, although you can load Google apps with a workaround.
You should be able to get a 2017 model on eBay for under £100 as I bought mine for around that a year or so ago and there has since been a new model released.
The non-branded models won't be able to play Amazon Prime Video or Netflix etc. in high quality if that's important to you. They might not be signed for iPlayer either.
You should be able to get a 2017 model on eBay for under £100 as I bought mine for around that a year or so ago and there has since been a new model released.
The non-branded models won't be able to play Amazon Prime Video or Netflix etc. in high quality if that's important to you. They might not be signed for iPlayer either.
I picked up a Samsung Galaxy Tab A 2016 (T585/cellular model) second hand about a year ago for £80 in mint condition - it's the 3gb model and still does everything you're looking to do absolutely no bother at all. Screen is very bright indeed and the resolution is good at 1920 x 1200, expandable storage, and the battery life is superb. The non-cellular T580 model seems to go for £70ish on eBay but most of them are the 2gb model so performance might be a bit reduced, it'll be absolutely fine once you've connected to whatever streaming service you're using, but if you can find a 3gb version I'd go for that.
nmd87 said:
The Amazon HD 10 (new version) is now on offer for £110 at Amazon if for any reason you decide against the Samsung.
Just be aware Amazon Fire Tab's don't come with the Google Play Store installed.I'm pretty tech savvy and got it side loaded in about 20 mins but might pose a challenge for others. Why do you need Google Play Store i hear you shout, well it was for my kids and Youtube (kids) isn't available on the Amazon App Store.For the record I have a Samsung Galaxt Tab S 8.4 (about 5 years old) and it's a brilliant thing and often when on holiday will sit out on a balcony and watch TV. Battery life is great and they did a 10 inch version which might be worth investigating on ebay.
tribalsurfer said:
Just be aware Amazon Fire Tab's don't come with the Google Play Store installed.I'm pretty tech savvy and got it side loaded in about 20 mins but might pose a challenge for others. Why do you need Google Play Store i hear you shout, well it was for my kids and Youtube (kids) isn't available on the Amazon App Store.
For the record I have a Samsung Galaxt Tab S 8.4 (about 5 years old) and it's a brilliant thing and often when on holiday will sit out on a balcony and watch TV. Battery life is great and they did a 10 inch version which might be worth investigating on ebay.
Yes, good advice. I've just had to reset my Fire tablet as Netflix stopped working, I think due to some conflict with the Google apps I'd installed.For the record I have a Samsung Galaxt Tab S 8.4 (about 5 years old) and it's a brilliant thing and often when on holiday will sit out on a balcony and watch TV. Battery life is great and they did a 10 inch version which might be worth investigating on ebay.
I had a Samsung Tab Pro 8.4 of about the same age and it was great, but the battery wore out and the replacement battery (non-branded) wasn't much cop. Shame as it was otherwise an excellent tablet. There's nothing else on the market like it now it seems.
tribalsurfer said:
Just be aware Amazon Fire Tab's don't come with the Google Play Store installed.I'm pretty tech savvy and got it side loaded in about 20 mins but might pose a challenge for others. Why do you need Google Play Store i hear you shout, well it was for my kids and Youtube (kids) isn't available on the Amazon App Store.
For the record I have a Samsung Galaxt Tab S 8.4 (about 5 years old) and it's a brilliant thing and often when on holiday will sit out on a balcony and watch TV. Battery life is great and they did a 10 inch version which might be worth investigating on ebay.
You might also have to downgrade FireOS first to sideload GPS. For the record I have a Samsung Galaxt Tab S 8.4 (about 5 years old) and it's a brilliant thing and often when on holiday will sit out on a balcony and watch TV. Battery life is great and they did a 10 inch version which might be worth investigating on ebay.
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