Study Tablet-What NOT to buy!

[Qapla]

 

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[jwhess]

We wish you success, but keep us informed no matter the end result.  It will assist others.

[Peanuts]

So far so good. It hasnt crashed or frozen  and is loading pages at the same rate or faster than my phone.

 

The screen is nice and clear. Its the perfect size for me. (i got the 7"). Im really pleased with it .

 

The thing i dont like is everytime  i take it out of sleep mode i get ads...today i got one for "saucy romance novels"...just what i want flashing up on ministry when i go to show a video . If i want to unsubscribe from these i have to pay £10. When i bought it at £39.99 it said it was with special offers, i just thought it meant it had money off, it wasnt clear it was ads - sneaky!!

[Qapla]

Well, even at 49.99 (the 39.99 + 10) it still sound like a good deal.

[Peanuts]

31 minutes ago, Qapla said:

Well, even at 49.99 (the 39.99 + 10) it still sound like a good deal.

 

Yes still very cheap. I think i will probably pay the £10 to lose the ads. It just annoys me when companies are sneaky like that.

 

I was hoping to download an app for ministry for recording return visits, but one doesnt seem to exist for the kindle. 

 

[Peanuts]

Update:

Well unless I'm being dense (highly plausible) I have discovered a downside to the kindle fire. I just went to listen to the bible reading, and there is no option to do so  there is no 'play' button amongst the icons.

 

The battery life is also not particularly impressive, I used 25% at the meeting Sunday. Doesnt fill me with confidence for a full day at a convention 

 

That said, you get what you pay for, and its still great for the price! 

[GrumpysWife]

Anna just get an auxiliary battery for it. They work really good and you can get them pretty cheap. They also work good to keep your cell charged. 

[Peanuts]

10 hours ago, GrumpysWife said:

Anna just get an auxiliary battery for it. They work really good and you can get them pretty cheap. They also work good to keep your cell charged. 

 

Yes, i think thats the best solution. The battery life on my phone is really bad these days, so it would be handy to have!

[Myew]

I ordered a Fire HD 8 (7th Generation, 2017 model) for my mom earlier this year on Prime Day when it was on sale for $50, expect similar around Black Friday.
Including the ads. :< I have not really noticed any issues with it thus far, seems quite good all around as a general media device. As much as I use Amazon however, I prefer close-to-stock Android to an Amazon locked device/operating system, so I may have sideloaded JW Library onto it.

I have no idea how those chinese tablets can afford a Windows 10 license on top of the hardware, but they seem decent hardware wise. I am all the more wary of chinese devices lately with the news about them phoning home a lot of your info... however, regardless of what kind of online account or device you use anymore, you're basically signing a waiver saying they own all of your rights. What a world we live in. https://www.pcmag.com/news/355320/amazon-pulls-blu-smartphones-over-spyware-concerns

I have an Nvidia Shield K1 Tablet ($200, 8", gaming/video oriented so it's got some power under the cover) from a couple years ago that's still running fairly snappy. The K1 chip is also in the Google Nexus 9, the little brother of Google's Pixel C or a Nintendo Switch running a Tegra X1 SoC. If only the Switch supported Android... it has USB C and everything. I've not regretted buying the K1 since I also have an Nvidia GPU in my computer, they support their products quite well and it lets me easier access/stream my PC to my tablet when the need arises. It's still on several tablet review lists as the best bang for your buck value/budget pick, but there'll probably be newer products soon to replace it's niche. Nvidia has supported it from Android 4 all the way up through 7, and they also support unlocking the device for custom software/operating system use, but they aren't going to update it to Android 8 for some reason... It's had some occasional slowdowns lately, but I need to do a wipe and reformat and update the OS since it's been rooted. It has a large battery, but eats through it relatively fast due to Nvidia's processors and screen. I can leave it running on Youtube for a good 5~6? hours without having to plug it in when full. I have somehow managed to not break it yet, unlike my phone. ._. Not having a practical smartphone with access to JW Library for the past few months has been rough, I can't just look up a scripture anytime I need to. 'How did I ever manage without tech?' 

I enjoy technology too much and ended up rambling. :T

Edited November 10, 2017 by Myew

[Tortuga]

My wife wants a large tablet and she is currently interested in the Samsung Tab A 10.1. It's on sale for less than $200.

[Myew]

You can't really go wrong with Samsung in general, they've always had innovative software and top of the line hardware. Aside from that whole Note-7-that-would-not-stop-exploding fiasco... I recommend comparing on a site like https://www.phonearena.com/phones/compare/Nvidia-SHIELD,Samsung-Galaxy-Tab-A-10.1-2016/phones/8812,10047

[Cool Cat]

On 11/8/2017 at 8:41 PM, Peanuts said:

Update:

Well unless I'm being dense (highly plausible) I have discovered a downside to the kindle fire. I just went to listen to the bible reading, and there is no option to do so  there is no 'play' button amongst the icons.

 

The battery life is also not particularly impressive, I used 25% at the meeting Sunday. Doesnt fill me with confidence for a full day at a convention 

 

That said, you get what you pay for, and its still great for the price! 

How do you feel now it’s a year down the line? I am thinking about getting my wife a kindle fire 7” or a Kindle Fire 8” (2017/2018) She does not use tablets that much so will just be using it for ministry, surfing and studying. Just would like to get your opinion now it’s a year later. Thanks!

[Peanuts]

3 hours ago, MentalProject said:

How do you feel now it’s a year down the line? I am thinking about getting my wife a kindle fire 7” or a Kindle Fire 8” (2017/2018) She does not use tablets that much so will just be using it for ministry, surfing and studying. Just would like to get your opinion now it’s a year later. Thanks!

Firstly, I'd say wait until Black Friday, last year it was crazy cheap.

 

I am actually quite pleased with it. I use it solely for ministry/meetings. It's a nice size for my ministry bag. Plus the problem I mentioned in my old post about not being able to listen to the Bible has been resolved in an update.

 

The battery life is poor, I may have a duff one? I have to make sure I switch it off after use otherwise it runs down really quickly when idle (well compared to our iPad it does)

 

I don't really use it much for internet surfing but when I do it's fine, no slower than my phone.

 

Overall, I do think its value for money.

[Myew]

My mom's 2017 Fire HD 8 is about 1 1/2 years old now. I can't speak for battery life, I don't use it often enough, but it still seems to run just fine.

Edit: Oh yeah, I just recently finally bought a power bank for the assembly. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GGH7MWF/ It managed to easily recharge my tablet and phone through the assembly yesterday with plenty to spare, so I didn't have to worry about bringing and lugging around my stupid heavy laptop. There are 3? cheaper 10k mAh power banks that include USB Type C with Power Delivery and Quick Charging 3.0 which means fast charging for most devices. I wanted to make sure that I future-proofed in case I ever actually buy any USB Type C devices. Here are some guides: https://switchchargers.com/power-banks/ https://switchchargers.com/power-bank-buying-guide/

Edited November 11, 2018 by Myew

[GrumpysWife]

I use a Kindle fire that I got for $56.00 on eBay. It was new, other, which I assumed meant it was purchased and returned. I charge it up after I finish studying on Saturday night, and on Sunday I use it for looking up scriptures  during the talk and then for the Watchtower Study. I keep the internet turned on and when the meeting is over I still have 80% charge. I think it will work for my assembly but just in case I have a portable charger and a really good cable to attach it with. I think it is as good as my Samsung tablet, just a little heaver. Mine has an 8 in screen.

[Qapla]

I have a Lenovo I got after Black Friday at Walmart for less than it was on sale for - they had a number left over

 

Anyway, we just had our CA (BR) and it lasted all day even using the FM it has built in to listen to the program

[Myew]

I'm thinking nowadays I'd prefer to find an all-in-one convertible device tablet/laptop in the 10-11" range  (chromebook?) which is more compact with a dockable keyboard for note-taking vs a separate bluetooth keyboard with a stand or cover... but most of the cheaper variety are low spec or poor longevity. 😕

[jwhess]

55 minutes ago, Myew said:

I'm thinking nowadays I'd prefer to find an all-in-one convertible device tablet/laptop in the 10-11" range  (chromebook?) which is more compact with a dockable keyboard for note-taking vs a separate bluetooth keyboard with a stand or cover... but most of the cheaper variety are low spec or poor longevity. 😕

Br. Alex, I have a PRO12 convertible tablet with magnetic keyboard.  RCA bought the original company and produced their version as well.  The original unit had 64 GB hard drive and 2 GB ram memory with a 12" HD screen at 1920x1200 pixels.  It is a very nice Android tablet / Notebook..  The are on Ebay for less than $150 and the battery lasts 7-8 hours.

 

When RCA started making them they reduced the hard drive to 32 GB and the ram to 1 GB but all of the other specs stayed the same.  I bought a factory re-furbished unit for about $120.  I don't use it much now that I have a newer 12" Ipad Pro 4.

[ChocoBro]

Ugh I hate this subject. After much, much consideration we decided to spend about 350 USD on two Huawei T3 "mediapad" (what a joke) tablets on Black Friday. First, the retailer decided to chicken out on the sale and pretended that one got lost on the way and only sent one. After we complained, we supposedly are going to get a refund on the second one. Now we're noticing the 8" Huawei screen is as dim as night and the speakers bland and with zero base, even my wife's phone is better. Hardly suitable for service, especially on a sunny day.

 

I knew why I didn't even want to bother with this hassle.

[Skyler]

On 10/22/2017 at 1:24 PM, Qapla said:

Hmmmmm .... I have a couple of daughters and my wife that all have Fire tablets and they not had any problems with the their tablets working with the JWL app

I use a Fire tablet I got during a sale for around $40. I've never had issues using JW Library or Language, it's been a good buy for the meetings.

[dilip kumar]

I use a Kindle fire that I got for $56.00 on eBay. It was new, other, which I assumed meant it was purchased and returned. I charge it up after I finish studying on Saturday night, and on Sunday I use it for looking up scriptures  during the talk and then for the Watchtower Study. I keep the internet turned on and when the meeting is over I still have 80% charge. I think it will work for my assembly but just in case I have a portable charger and a really good cable to attach it with. I think it is as good as my Samsung tablet, just a little heaver. Mine has an 8 in screen.

Does the kindle support jw library app?

Sent from my Infinix X572 using Tapatalk

[Tyrrha]

On 11/8/2017 at 3:41 PM, Peanuts said:

Update:

Well unless I'm being dense (highly plausible) I have discovered a downside to the kindle fire. I just went to listen to the bible reading, and there is no option to do so  there is no 'play' button amongst the icons.

 

The battery life is also not particularly impressive, I used 25% at the meeting Sunday. Doesnt fill me with confidence for a full day at a convention 

 

That said, you get what you pay for, and its still great for the price! 

 

Not being able to listen to the Bible reading might have to do with your wifi settings. You can't stream if you are not connected to the internet.

 

Also, if you are using the newest nwt, not all books are available in audio yet. Try downloading the reference nwt bible for audio use, until the rest are available.

 

I can only afford the Kindle. So It is a blessing to me.

The only problem I've had is the lack of memory expansion.

 

So, every couple years I have to buy a new one with enough memory to handle the latest JW Lib version!

 

Plus, i cannot let it get loaded down with a lot of videos in the JW Lib app, or lots of games and media on the tablet. But, i only use it for the meetings and assemblies and conventions anyway. I love it. Battery lasts all day in airplane mode!

 

But I use my "old" tablet for field service, with plenty of videos and ministry tools downloaded.

 

It's so inexpensive, though, that you could afford another one, just for games, i guess, if you wanted! 😀