Seriously thoughtful The $50 Android tablet

[DMcCunney]

I posted an earlier thread here a while back about a $20 Android tablet. Retailer MicroCenter had opened an outlet in Brooklyn, NYC, which was convenient to me by subway, and a card appeared in my mailbox offering a 7" Android tablet for $20 as part of a grand opening celebration. I bit, and documented the results here.

Me and MicroCenter are like cats and string. If I go there, I find something that makes me pounce. In this case, it was a $50 Android tablet. My SO was visiting our friend Naomi, and called and said "Meet us at MicroCenter. Naomi needs a new tablet." It seems her previous Android tablet came out of its case and hit the ground, so a new one was needed. I got there first, was looking at their most recent flyer while I waited, and saw this.

The device is an HP Slate Plus 4200us 7" Android tablet. It has a 1.3ghz nVidia Tegra processor, a 1280x800 screen, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of flash with about 5.5GB available for application storage, and a slot to install a microSD card for additional storage. It's an SDXC slot capable of handling a 64GB card or larger. It has Wifi and Bluetooth, though Bluetooth is disabled by default, likely to save battery. It has a rear facing 5MP camera and a front facing .3MP camera. It runs Android 4.3 Jellybean.

The device was apparently intended as a gaming and video machine. I do neither, but it was still a good base to start from, with the rear facing camera a selling point. My old digital camera went walkabout a while back and I'd been after a replacement. This was a decent digital camera for my usage that also happened to be a full featured Android tablet. The hi-res 1280x800 screen was an additional major plus.

The tablet came with an assortment of bundled software, including the Google Chrome browser, the Google Play Books, Magazines, Movies and TV and Music apps, and Kingsoft Office as the office suite. As is typical in such cases, the bundled apps are installed as System apps, and can't be removed via standard uninstall. Making them go away requires a rooted device, and rooting is the first thing I do on a new Android device.

Rooting the HP Slate Plus was trivial. Kingo Root, run from Windows and connected via USB cable recognized the Slate, pushed the exploit that gets root, and pushed the Superuser app that serves as a root request broker and provides access to apps that request root. (There is a Kingo apk that can be installed and run on device to get root, but I didn't test it on this device.) When an app wants root access, Superuser pops up a dialog asking permission, and if you Allow it, the app gets root access. You can disable root access by an app later in Superuser if you decide it's not required.

Running Kingo requires that USB debugging is enabled on the device. I got that by going into Settings, choosing About Tablet, and tapping on Build number several times. After about five presses, it says "You are now a developer", and a Developer options menu appears in Setting where you can enable USB debugging. Once it's set Kingo can communicate with the tablet.

There was an annoyance or two. In addition to rooting the device, and pushing the Superuser app, Kingo pushed an AliExpress shopping app and a Superbattery app. I wanted neither, and they were uninstalled. The Superuser app has also been getting expanded capabilities, and wants to try to optimize apps for fast loading. It popped up a dialog box after every app install offering to do so. I don't want that, but going into Preferences for the Superuser app and turning off Toast notifications made it shut up.

With 5.5GB of app storage, there has been no pressing hurry to remove unwanted System apps. I have Disabled the ones I don't need as they won't get used.

Thus far, things are coming along nicely, and the hi-res screen is a wonder. The main limitation is 4.3 Jellybean. 4.4 KitKat and 5.1 Lollipop are common (and I have devices with each), 6.0 Marshmallow is current, and 7.0 Nougat is being rolled out to selected devices. Whether a device gets Android upgrades depends on the manufacturer. HP is not rolling out upgrades to this model, so Jellybean is what it's stuck with. That's not a deal breaker, as I think I have two apps elsewhere that need KitKat or better, and both are things I can live without.

In terms of what I install, preference goes to open source applications, and a variety of worthy stuff is available. I'll detail what all I have on the device in another post in the thread.

Meanwhile, I'm quite pleased.
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Dennis

[badgoodDeb]

Ooo, you're tempting me! I got a $10 Android phone last Christmas, to use for audible books -- but have never really used it yet. A tablet sized device might be more play-worthy. I'll have to think about this. I really should learn the basics of Android usage.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

Ooo, you're tempting me! I got a $10 Android phone last Christmas, to use for audible books -- but have never really used it yet. A tablet sized device might be more play-worthy. I'll have to think about this. I really should learn the basics of Android usage.

The defining issue for me is form factor.

My phone is the smallest, cheapest feature phone Samsung makes, used with a pre-paid plan. All it does is calls and SMS, and that's all I want it to do. Everything else is something else's job. My issue is that the "everything else" generally really needs a bigger screen than a practical phone can have. The 7" screen on my tablets is at the low end of what I find usable.

The use case for my first Android tablet was eBook viewer. At $20, if that was all it did it would be more than worth the price. As it happened, there was a lot more it could do.

The use case for this one was "digital camera that was also an Android tablet", and I'm in the process of exploring its use as a camera.

Android is a Linux OS, with a Linux kernel under the hood. If you know something about Linux, what you know will be broadly applicable. Android does set things up differently from things like Ubuntu, so the file system won't have the same layout. Android also assumes you will access device functions through a touch screen GUI, and the GUI will be optimized for what the device is intended to do.

For instance, the Amazon Kindle Fire and the B&N Nook tablet devices use Android, but they are intended as eBook viewers, with a vendor UI designed for acquiring and reading books. They can be rooted and become general purpose Android tablets, but most users have no need to do that. (My SO got a used Nook tablet to DL and read eBooks from the NYPL. I could root it, but it did what she wanted out of the box and I didn't bother.)

Rooting here was intended to provide more control over the device and let me remove stuff installed as system apps that I didn't want. Many potential buyers might be happy with the device as delivered. (And a major plus was that 5.5GB of the internal flash is available as application storage. Even after installing a boatload of stuff, I still have 2.5GB free. There is no pressing need to remove things to reclaim space, and I haven't yet. I've just disabled what I don't expect to use.)

If you do succumb to temptation, let me know and I can assist.
______
Dennis

[DMcCunney]

I said I would provide a list of what all was installed. The device came with an assortment of bundled apps. The ones I might actually use and am keeping are bold faced. Stuff italicized is likely to go away. Stuff in plain text isn't used but won't get removed. All of these were installed as System apps, meaning that they can't be uninstalled, and root is needed to remove them. The device is rooted, some some of these will go away.

Box https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...om.box.android
A client for the Box cloud storage service. I haven't used this, but might.

Browser https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ndroid.browser
The stock AOSP tabbed browser. It's quick and does a decent job of rendering, but lacks add-ons or desktop synchronization

Calculator https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...id.calculator2
The stock AOSP four function calculator

Calendar https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...droid.calendar
The stock AOSP calendar app. This one updates from the Play Store as Google Calendar

Chrome https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...android.chrome
The stock Chrome browser for Android. It has addons and syncs to the desktop automatically if you run Chrome there, so you see the same things in both places.

Clock https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...roid.deskclock
The stock AOSP clock app. This one updates as Google Clock from the Play Store

Downloads https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...s.downloads.ui
The stock AOSP Downloads manager

Drive https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...roid.apps.docs
Google's client for accessing their Google Drive cloud storage service. I make extensive use of Drive.

Email https://play.google.com/store/apps/d....android.email
The stock AOSP Email app

Gallery https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...roid.gallery3d
The stock AOSP image gallery app.

Gmail https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...gle.android.gm
Google's client for their web based email application. I use Gmail as my promary email account.

Google Account Manager https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...roid.gsf.login

Google App https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...quicksearchbox
Google's Search app.

Google Keyboard https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...utmethod.latin
The stock AOSP virtual keyboard.

Google Play Books https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...oid.apps.books
Google Play Movies & TV https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...android.videos
Google Play Music https://play.google.com/store/apps/d....android.music
Google Play Newsstand https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...apps.magazines
Google's apps for online access to various content. I use none of these. They are disabled, and likely to go away.

Google Play services https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...le.android.gms
Background infrastructure for Google services, required for other stuff to work

Google Play Store https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ndroid.vending
Google's online store for apps and content

Google Text-to-speech Engine https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...le.android.tts

Google+ https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...roid.apps.plus
Google's client for its Google+ social media platform. I'm somewhat active on Google+

Hangouts https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...e.android.talk
Google's client for its online video conferencing service

HP Connected Photo https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...om.hp.moonrise
HP's app for photo sharing, since replaced by Snapchat

HP ePrint https://play.google.com/store/apps/d....android.print
HP's app for printing photos taken with the device camera

HP File Manager https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...r.HPF130219_01
HP's default file manager for the Slate

I don't expect to use any of the bundled HP offerings, and they are subject to removal.

HTML Viewer https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...oid.htmlviewer

Kingsoft Office https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...s.moffice_i18n
An office suite app for handling MS Office files on Android. I use Kingsoft's WPS Office + PDF elsewhere as the best of the free office suite products, and this is an earlier version of that.

Launcher https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...droid.launcher
The stock Google launcher that provides the default UI for the tablet

Maps https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...roid.apps.maps
Google's client for their online Maps service

Movie Studio https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...id.videoeditor
HP's bundled app for video creation using the onboard camera

News & Weather https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ie.geniewidget
Google's stock News and Weather client

Settings https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...droid.settings
The stock device Settings manager

Skype https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...m.skype.raider
Skype's Android client for their video calling service

Sound Recorder [url]https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.android.soundrecorder[/quote]
The stock AOSP client for sound recording on device

TalkBack https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...arvin.talkback

TegraZone https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...idia.tegrazone
nVidia's client for access to their gaming forums and services. I don't expect to use this either.

Update https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...hi.app.updated
HP's app for online access to device upgrades. (Th4ere aren't any.)

YouTube https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ndroid.youtube
Google's client for access to their YouTube service

I'll detail what I've added in another post.
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Dennis

[DMcCunney]

I prefer open source applications, with freeware if there isn't a good open source application for the purpose. Freeware tends to be ad supported, with payware versions that remove the ads. In a few instance, I bought them.

Names in bold require a rooted device to work at all. Names in italic can use root for some functions, but don't require it to work for non-root activities.

Note that while there are Google Play URLs given below, most open source offerings actually came from the F-Droid repository at http://f-droid.org using the F-Droid client below, and the Google Play URL may not be a valid link. (And some things are available from both services, but have different digital signatures, so you can't update an app from Google Play with a newer version from F-Droid or vice versa. The update must come from the same source as the original.)

Questions and comments are welcome, but this is a work in progress and I may not know the answers for some things listed here.

Launcher
Nova Launcher https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...oilsw.launcher
Nova Launcher Prime https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...launcher.prime

The launcher is what you see when you power on your device. Android has a default launcher app, but vendors tend to offer custom launchers bundled with their products, and there are a variety of third-party launcher intended as replacements for what came with the device.

My choice is Nova Launcher, which mains the stock AOSP launcher look and feel, but adds more power and configurability. The free version is full featured and quite usable. The Prime payware addon unlocks additional gesture support not in the free offering.

Applications
920 Text Editor https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...lyin.editor.v2
Open source syntax highlighting text editor. (This one is v2 from Google Play. v1 is no longer on Google Play, but is still listed in F-Droid, which will not get v2 for licensing reasons.)

A Photo Manager https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ndroFotoFinder
Open source images manager, similar to Gallery

AndrOpen Office https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...andropenoffice
Font Pack for AndrOpen Office https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...tensions.fonts
Android port of the Open Office productivity suite, and an add-on font pack for it.

AOO is a work in progress, not fully optimized for smaller touch screens. It's big, requiring 300MB of app storage, and requires tweaking for effective display on smaller screens. (I turned off the various iconified toolbars leaving only a menu interface.) It also really needs an external hardware keyboard and possibly a mouse.)

Barcode Scanner https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...client.android
Open source barcode scanner using device camera

Effects Pro https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...appsroid.fxpro
Open source image effects editor, useful for post-processing images from the camera.

FBReader Premium https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...d=com.fbreader
Open source viewer for eBooks in ePub, FB2, Mobi and other formats (no DRM) native, and other formats via plugins.

The premium payware version I use build in a PDF viewer plugin and bookshelf support. Those are separate plugins in the free version. There are also plugins for viewing DjVu and CBR/CBZ files from FBReader

Focal https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...fr.xplod.focal
Open source camera app, and alternative to the bundled Camera app on device

MuPDF https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ifex.mupdfdemo
Open source PDF viewer, and alternative to the official Adobe PDF view app.

New York Maps https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ewyorky.metroy
NYC Subway maps usable offline. Likely not useful if you don't live in NYC and take the subway.

Photos https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...id.apps.photos
The Google Photos app. The one bundled on device was part of an older Google+ offering and is no longer available. This on is stand alone.

Open Camera https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...rge.opencamera
Open source camera app, and alternative to the bundled Camera app on device

VLC https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...g.videolan.vlc
Android port of the open source, cross platform media player. I run VLC under Windows and Linux on the desktop-, and was happy to get it for Android.

WPS Office + PDF https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ps.moffice_eng
The best of the freeware Android office suites, capable of viewing, editing and creating Word and Excel files and viewing PDFs. It can also connect with online services like Dropbox and Google Drive where such files might be stored, and download local copies for offline work. The bundled Kingsoft Office of on the tablet is an earlier version.

ZooBorns https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...eanie.zooborns
Client to display new pictures from the Zooborns baby zoo animals site

Games
Android's Fortune https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ndroidsfortune
Android version of Unix fortune

Checkers https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...droid.checkers
Open source Checkers game

DroidFish https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...tero.droidfish
Open source Chess game using Stockfish engine

Magic DosBox Free https://play.google.com/store/apps/d....magicbox.free
Android port of open source, cross platform DOSBox app, for running MSDOS games on other platforms. (I use it to run character mode DOS apps, not games.)

Mahjongg Builder https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...droid.mahjongg
Open source Mahjongg game with select-able layouts

n-Puzzle https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...puzzle.android
Open source 15 puzzle game

NetHack https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...=com.nethackff
NetHack Tiles Pack https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ff_tiles_pack1
Android port of classic open source Unix Nethack game, with tiles pack

Reversi https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ndroid.reversi
Open source Reversi game

robotfindskitten https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...botfindskitten
Android port of open source, cross platform Robot Finds Kitten Game.

Roguelike Classics https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...droid.classics
Android versions of various "rogue-like" Unix games, including Larn, Rogue, and Moria

Solitaire https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...agic.solitaire
Open source Solitare game, with Solitaere, Forty Thieves, Freecell, and Spider versions

Utilities
Amaze https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ze.filemanager
Open source file manager with Material design

AndSys ~ Apps https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ceforge.andsys
Open source Android applications lister

App Dragon 2.0 https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...nkey.appdragon

App Drawer https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...soft.appdrawer
AppDrawer https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...edUp.AppDrawer
Two different alternate applications drawers for viewing installed apps and adding them to screens on device.

[b]Autostarts[/i] https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...oid.autostarts
Open source control for what is started automatically on Android

Bash X https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...bash.installer
Open source Android port of Gnu bash shell

BatteryBot Pro https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ryIndicatorPro
Open source battery monitoring app with history of usage by app

Bodha Converter https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ties.converter
Open source binary/hexadecimal/octal/decimal unit converter.

BRexx https://play.google.com/store/apps/d....marmita.brexx
Android port of Rexx script language. Requires Android Scripting Layer

build.prop Editor https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ld.prop.editor
Android build.prop file editor

BusyBox https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...meefik.busybox
Full Android version of Busybox Linux commands collectio

CatLog https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...nlawson.logcat
Open source Android log file viewer

Clip Stack https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ipboardmanager
Open source Android clipboard manager

DNS Hostname Changer https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...id.dns.changer
Change the name reported by your device to networks

DroidEdit https://play.google.com/store/apps/d....droidedit.pro
Freeware syntax highlighting text editor with payware no-ads version I use.

DroidGrep https://play.google.com/store/apps/d....aor.droidgrep
Freeware GUI version of Unix grep utility from DroidEdit author

F-Droid https://play.google.com/store/apps/d....fdroid.fdroid
Open source client for accessing F-Droid open source Android app repository

Hacker's Keyboard https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ion.pckeyboard
Open source replacement for standard Google keyboard with additional features

Hangar https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...imic.apphangar
Open source app listing most recently used apps as icons in notification bar

Hosts Editor https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...em.hostseditor
Open source editor the device Hosts file

Inbox https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...oid.apps.inbox
Google Inbox add-on for Gmail

Keep https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...e.android.keep
Google note taker

Kingo Link https://play.google.com/store/apps/d....kingoapp.link
Kingo app providing connectivity with desktop

[b]Link2SD[/i] https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...m.buak.Link2SD
Link2SD Plus (New) https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ak.link2sdplus
Freeware app to allow storage of applications on external card. (The card must be partitioned with part set up with a Linux file system. Link2SD can move apps from device memory to that part of the card, and set up a symlink to them in the root filesystem. Setting up the symlink in the root file system requires a rooted device.)

Manpages https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...hmod0.manpages
Freeware collection of Linux man pages with GUI Android viewer. Man pages can be downloaded to local storage.

My App List https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...myapplist.open
Another open source application lister. This one can save the list to the clipboard or a file, and is how I generated this list.

OI About https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...nintents.about
Open source Open Intents project add-on for displaying information about cooperating apps.

Omnidroid https://play.google.com/store/apps/d....omnidroid.app
Open source Android automation app to set up automated responses to various events.

Open Manager https://play.google.com/store/apps/d....nexes.manager
Open source device viewer and file lister.

Organized Drawer https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...enbrain.drawer
Open source app drawer viewer which lets you assign apps to categories for viewing

OS Monitor https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...wral.osmonitor
Open source process lister similar to Linux top command

Paragon NTFS & HFS+ https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...aragon.mounter
Driver adding support for NTFS and HFS+ file systems
(Used here occasionally to support an external USB backup drive formatted as NTFS)

PerApp https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...entauri.PerApp
Open source app to specify starting orientation of app by application
(I always want certain things to open in landscape mode. This does that.)

Preferences Manager https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...erencesmanager

QuickEdit Pro https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...msoft.edit.pro

SL4A https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...roid_scripting
Open source Android scripting layer

Solid Explorer https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...solidexplorer2
Solid Explorer Unlocker https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...lorer.unlocker
Dual pane file manager with Material design, and payware unlocker to remove ads

Storage & USB https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...co.filemanager
Open source widget to provide direct access to Storage and USB section of Settings

SuperSU https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...infire.supersu
Kingo Root root request broker

System App Safe Remover https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ager.systemapp
Utility for removing system apps on rooted devices.

Terminal Emulator https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...al.androidterm
Android console terminal emulator, similar to Xterm, to open a command line on device

Text Utilities https://play.google.com/store/apps/d....textutilities
TextTools https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...afia.TextTools
Two freeware utilities providing an assortment of text manipulation functions, like changing case of lines.

Timber https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...naman14.timber
Open source music player for local content with Material design

Turbo Client https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...d=turbo.client
Open source FTP client for Android by TurboEditor author

Turbo Editor https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...kyn.fileeditor
Open source multi-file syntax highlighting editor

Unix Time https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...softs.unixtime
Display current Unix epoch (sine January 1st, 1970) time

VimTouch https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...o.app.vimtouch
VimTouch Full Runtime https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ch.fullruntime
Android port of open source Vim editor optimized for touch screen use, and full runtime for use of Vim in a console.

VX ConnectBot https://play.google.com/store/apps/d....vx.connectbot
Open source SSH client for Android

Wifi Analyzer https://play.google.com/store/apps/d....wifi.analyzer
Wifi network analyzer displaying nearby networks and signal strengths

Wifi Widget https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ang.wifiwidget
Widget to toggle Wifi on/off
______
Dennis