I need a simple tablet

I need to buy a simple tablet, a hand held computer which is a touch screen only.

These are my desired features for it:

• I will be using it primarily for watching lectures. I download lectures from Youtube using yt-dlp and then I transfer these lectures onto the tablet for viewing.
• It should have a usb port so that I can connect it to my computer, and transfer mp4 files onto it.
• It should have a player for playing mp4 files locally stored in the file system, or support such a third party app.
• It should have a way to turn off all wireless connections, such as wifi or bluetooth. The idea is that this tablet should not be connected to the internet under normal operation. I would just throw mp4 videos onto it via usb cable, and then watch those videos without any wifi connection.
• It needs to have a removable battery just like a cell phone, so that I can be sure that it is turned off, without any running daemons.
• Reasonable price, maybe I can get one used?

The removable battery is going to be the issue. Very few, if any devices these days have a removable battery. Other than that any Android tablet should work for you.

The removable battery is going to be the issue. Very few, if any devices these days have a removable battery. Other than that any Android tablet should work for you.

And which devices are those?

I don't know of any modern devices that have a removable battery. Those with a swappable battery I found were all rugged models with price tags of $499 and higher. Lots of tablets have user replaceable batteries, but that's not what you want.

Edited by Kilroy, 10 May 2023 - 01:56 PM.

I don't know of any modern devices that have a removable battery. Those with a swappable battery I found were all rugged models with price tags of $499 and higher. Lots of tablets have user replaceable batteries, but that's not what you want.

Thank you Kilroy for your answer. Why do I want a removable battery anyway? I don't want the tablet to be on all the time, even when it's supposed to be turned off. I could for see even if the main OS or apps turned off, if the battery is still in it, if it still gives power to the device, a background process could be running, and recording the microphone. I am concerned about privacy issues. I want to have total control over my device.

If there are no such tablets with a removable battery, then I would want a tablet that can have Linux installed. I want to know what kind of software is running on my tablet, I do not want it to be spying on me. I feel like I can have more control over my hardware with Linux installed. And also that gets rid of the big corporation and their secret government sponsors, and who knows what kinds of softwares are built into the proprietary OS?

Now I have discovered that there are tablets with/for Linux OS installation. The manufacturer is Pinetab. Are you familiar with them?

https://pine64.com/product-category/tablets/

I am a student of Computer Science, finishing my Junior year. I know quite a bit about Linux, I am comfortable working in the command line and commonly used commands. I also have a rudimentary knowledge of C programming and how to compile applications using Makefile.

The only reason for why I am seeking to buy a tablet is watching lectures on the go. I download mp4 files of lectures on my PC, copy them over to a USB drive, then copy them from the USB drive onto my tablet's file system. Then I would navigate to where these mp4 files have been copied to, and open them in a video player software, maximize to full screen, and simply watch the video. I want to transfer files via USB drive, or a USB cable connected directly to the computer, no any wireless file transfers or cloud storage. That is the only functionality that I am looking for. I do not want any bells or whistles. In fact, that is undesirable for me.

Please help me make a decision. There are two tablets with a reasonable price here.

First tablet is the ARM one.

https://pine64.com/product/pinetab2-10-1-4gb-64gb-linux-tablet-with-detached-backlit-keyboard/

I see that it has DanctNix Arch Linux installed. I have used Ubuntu Linux before, so using a Linux OS is familiar for me. There is one sentence here that I don't understand.

"The preinstalled OS is still in beta –  most core functionality works but some features (e.g. cameras) remain a work-in-progress."

If this preinstalled OS is still in beta, I wonder what do they mean by "most core functionality"? If the drivers for the cameras or microphone aren't implemented yet, that's a good thing for me, because I have privacy considerations. I don't want the tablet spying on me, I want a very minimalist device.

The only functionality that should be working is the ability to open a video file, and play it in some video player software for me, using the speaker/earphones. Since I will be watching lectures on the bus, I need the earphones driver to work. And obviously I need the touch screen driver to work, otherwise it wouldn't be operational.

I am also questioning, are there any video players softwares available for an OS like this? I am a bit of a nerd myself, but I am not a "super nerd". If I have to download a free open source code from Github, and compile the software, that's fine. If some dependencies or packages need to be installed, that's also fine. But if I need to recompile the entire damn kernel just to add a new driver in, that's where I bail out.

Second tablet is the RISC-V one.

https://pine64.com/product/pinetab-v-10-1-4gb-64gb-risc-v-based-linux-tablet-with-detached-backlit-keyboard/

"The PineTab-V is an experimental device and lacks dedicated working software – it should therefore only be purchased by people interested in helping with the bring-up process of Linux and BSDs on the RISC-V architecture. Do _NOT_ buy unless you intend to use it for development purposes."

"The PineTab-V comes without an OS installed."

This maybe a bit too difficult for me. If it comes with out an OS installed, then I need to install an OS by myself. And what options do I have for that? Can I just install Ubuntu or something like that? I am familiar with the process of installing Ubuntu on a PC, but I don't know if installing it on a tablet would be much different or not. When I install Ubuntu on a PC, the PC already has some software on it such as the BIOS, that helps with the installation process. If this tablet has no software at all, like no drivers nothing, then would it still be feasible to proceed installing Ubuntu onto it, the same way how I do it with a PC? If I need to do anything more hard core technical, that's were I bail out. It's written that this tablet is for development purposes. The hardest software that I can develop is reversing a linked list.

Please answer my questions to the best of your ability. Thank you for your time?

Edited by BlueGalaxy, 14 May 2023 - 12:12 AM.

I'm using a PineTab2 that I received a few days ago and am getting to like the installed Arch Danctnix. I'm more a user than a techy and just wanted a Linux tablet that wasn't talking to google/MSoft/Apple etc. I had tried to install Linux to a Chromebook and a 32 bit Android tablet but without any success, hence the PineTab2.

I tried to install Mobian, but without success and thought I had 'bricked' the tablet, but it did boot from a SDCard using Pine64's strange little booting dongle (supplied) so I was able to reinstall Danctnix.

I writing because the main shortcoming, that I can see, is that it comes without WiFi or BlueTooth drivers, and I've no idea how to implement such a thing. As a result, I use a WiFi dongle, on a cable, which is OK but others have not been successful with different makes of dongle. The dongle works fine but it is a bit irritating having this dangling off the side.

 

I need to buy a simple tablet, a hand held computer which is a touch screen only.

 

Just to update my previous post, I am very impressed with my PineTab2, with the exception of the lack of Bluetooth and WiFi drivers. 

It has a nice responsive screen and the keyboard/case is a bonus, good battery life plus Arch Danctnix works almost like a standard Linux distro with all the programmes that I use on my laptop.

No, I don't think it will be easy to remove the battery but I am convinced that it turns off fully. The battery doesn't go down, when switched off and my WiFi dongle doesn't flash nor run with its usual warmth.

It has 2 USB C ports so you might need a simple dock. I bought a cheap ebay one that works well, which has the added bonus of an HDMI output.