Uses for (old, cheap) tablet?

[kalel]

I have an old Chinese 7 inch tablet that is and always was relatively difficult to use as a tablet.
Using a special player, it can play 720p videos, and that's about it.
It comes with a resistive touch screen, and Android 2.3.

Are there any potential projects that could make it a useful thing to have?
It does come with an external dongle that allows USB connectivity (2-4 USB, 1 LAN). I'm not sure how simple it is to solder in something directly, although with a larger case the Dongle without the plastic possibly could be integrated.

I thought about turning it into a game emulator system (a handheld), but creating a custom case would be an issue. Even as a beginner to electronics, I still think that would be the most difficult or pricey part. And still a new Pi would outperform it, while having easier connectivity.

I assume it's actually difficult to turn it into something interesting or useful to work with (maybe for more advanced electronics people), but I am open to any ideas, if anyone has some.

[kripton2035]

if you have a mill, you can transform it into a DRO.
http://www.yuriystoys.com/p/android-dro.html

[Halcyon]

I use mine to look up recipes. I don't care if my tablet gets dirty while cooking, I do care if my cookbooks do.

[kalel]

Android 2.3 is pre-2012 thing, and most modern APKs won't run on it.
Unless you can find a way to run native programs on it as well as get it rooted so you can have

It might be rooted already, but I'm not sure without checking. Yes, a lot of the new apps don't run on 2.3, but probably wouldn't run on it anyway as that's a single core unit.

I use mine to look up recipes. I don't care if my tablet gets dirty while cooking, I do care if my cookbooks do.

That does sound useful. Maybe for keeping track of some schematics while soldering, although usually a larger screen computer monitor is better for the latter.

[bd139]

I usually just let my anger out on old no brand android tablets. They are near useless otherwise.

[plazma]

if you have a mill, you can transform it into a DRO.
http://www.yuriystoys.com/p/android-dro.html

Nice. I have to add this to my mill.

[Muttley Snickers]

Other than my daily medication the only tablet I ever owned was an Acer Iconia A500 which back in its day was reputed to be a reasonably good tablet up until Acer dropped all support for it, I got done like a dinner on that deal, I still have it but don't use it much nowadays.   

Anyway, I only purchased it to store and view product service manuals and other relevant information in PDF format instead of carting boxes of paper manuals all around the country side, some of the product manuals and reference material we needed back then were as big as phone books so it was certainly a huge load off.   

[tszaboo]

I have a Nexus 7 2012. It is a very good paper weight. Slow as hell.
"Ah, you want to type something. Then I need .... what do I need... something to type on... How is it called... ah, a keyboard... let me pull it up... this is sooo hard... there you go"
"Never mind tablet, my PC is booted." I never buy Android stuff again.

[Kjelt]

I also have two outdated tablets, one iOS , one Android.
It would have been so nice if they could be opened easily and the touchscreen displays would have been standardized in connector and protocol such as that you could give it a second life as a display for the raspberry pi or beaglebone *deep sigh*

[kalel]

I also have two outdated tablets, one iOS , one Android.
It would have been so nice if they could be opened easily and the touchscreen displays would have been standardized in connector and protocol such as that you could give it a second life as a display for the raspberry pi or beaglebone *deep sigh*

It would make an awesome display. But yes...

[julianhigginson]

I have a Nexus 7 2012. It is a very good paper weight. Slow as hell.
"Ah, you want to type something. Then I need .... what do I need... something to type on... How is it called... ah, a keyboard... let me pull it up... this is sooo hard... there you go"
"Never mind tablet, my PC is booted." I never buy Android stuff again.

nexus 7 2012 is 5 years old!! google stopped focussing on it as they rolled the releases out, and the last release for poor old nexus 7 2012 really screwed the system up (But then again, see how well a 5 year old i-device is supported)

Also, because AOSP is open source, there's a community managed version of android for the nexus 7 2012 that actually works really well... I took a completely useless non responsive tablet that we were trying to use to play spotify for our kids at night and it'd mostly crash or just blank-screen instead of loading spotify, or not be able to go on the network, and  a reboot - I went into the bootloader, connected it to my PC, put on the OS release that was built by people who cared, and put some MP3s on it instead of spotify (which I *hate* because their player pretty much sucks on everything, not just old tablets)  and it's now a really useful media player. Responsive, and quick, and just works.

[plazma]

I also have two outdated tablets, one iOS , one Android.
It would have been so nice if they could be opened easily and the touchscreen displays would have been standardized in connector and protocol such as that you could give it a second life as a display for the raspberry pi or beaglebone *deep sigh*

You can reuse the displays of many different tablets. I bought an adapter for an iPad 1 display.
Google display driver with panel code.

[Brumby]

How about a Jukebox?

There's an app: "Jukebox 2012"  It has a "Free Edition" that runs on Android 2.3 and up, as well as a paid version.  Looks just like the card index of an old jukebox.

Load up some songs, plug the audio into an amplifier and off you go.

I have a cheap tablet which I've put this on - plus an old mid sized Jukebox which I literally found on the side of the road ... somewhat trashed, but I fixed it up and made a place for the tablet.  Good fun.

[schmitt trigger]

I also had an old Acer tablet.

I gave it to my technician, an extremely hardworking single mother, who gave it to her daughter.

The child's expression when she received the gift was priceless.

[retiredcaps]

Other than my daily medication the only tablet I ever owned was an Acer Iconia A500 which back in its day was reputed to be a reasonably good tablet up until Acer dropped all support for it, I got done like a dinner on that deal, I still have it but don't use it much nowadays.   

I had one of these tablets and was able to load these custom ROMs onto it.

https://forum.tegraowners.com/viewforum.php?f=9

[retiredcaps]

Also, because AOSP is open source, there's a community managed version of android for the nexus 7 2012 that actually works really well.

Yes, there are lots of custom roms available for the Nexux 7 2012 version that you can try to get better performance.

[eugenenine]

You can get one of these cheap cameras https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XCHR771/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
and use it with the tablet for a cheap PCB microscope.

[ez24]

You can get one of these cheap cameras https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XCHR771/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
and use it with the tablet for a cheap PCB microscope.

Thanks - it is in my Cart

[kalel]

You can get one of these cheap cameras https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XCHR771/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
and use it with the tablet for a cheap PCB microscope.

Good idea. I have a little $16 USB Microscope for the PC and don't necessarily need a similar thing, but might be helpful to others, especially due to the small size, it could maybe go inside of cases of some broken equipment, although I can't yet imagine a really useful scenario for that (there must be, just doesn't come to mind).

Note if buying such a microscope (the cheap types with stand), the stand is plastic and might crack. If that happens, superglue (the cheapest kind) seems to help a lot and even make it stronger than originally (or reduce further cracking). No bicarb needed either as the plastic seems to "melt together" (might not be right scientifically) with the glue and hold together well.

[Brumby]

You can get one of these cheap cameras https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XCHR771/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
and use it with the tablet for a cheap PCB microscope.

Good idea.

Don't get too excited.

I wanted to run a USB camera through my cheapie ... but the Android version did not have the required functionality to support it.  It runs 4.2.2

On Android 2.3, you might have the same problem.

[kalel]

You can get one of these cheap cameras https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XCHR771/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
and use it with the tablet for a cheap PCB microscope.

Good idea.

Don't get too excited.

I wanted to run a USB camera through my cheapie ... but the Android version did not have the required functionality to support it.  It runs 4.2.2

On Android 2.3, you might have the same problem.

Thanks, that's quite possible and having the cheap USB Microscope I don't really need another similar thing (a better one sure), but it might be a good idea for someone else with an old (but not as old) tablet. Or even a new tablet.

What would be really nice to get is a cheapie with decent working distance (for soldering work). But then you need more resolution, and things get complicated. I'm sure it's still not possible at the ~15 price point. For DIY makers, there are USB webcam modules with Sony sensors and 1080p for ~50 (maybe less, just out of the top of my head), but getting the right zoom (lens) and stand would still be expensive and/or difficult (with the right materials and tools, I'm sure one can create a stand). So I doubt even with a lot of DIY work that the price can soon approach that mark.

[Ampera]

I had the idea to root my old kindle fire, stick stock android on it, and use it as a sort of smart wall clock that I could put things like a calendar and etc on. If you do this I suggest removing the battery as batteries don't tend to like being under constant charge, especially cheap Chinese ones.

[Neganur]

Wall clock
Real time bus plan for the bus stop I take to work

[cdev]

If it has a web browser it can be used with an old obsolete access point to enable its use as a controller for almost anything using web applications as its control surfaces.

 "Its cheaper and more colorful than switches"

Don't put it on the real network, though. just use the wireless as a means of making the switches wireless.

[aqarwaen]

you could root it..or you could use old tablet  as a security  camera and sending data to hdd what have wireless  acess option.
btw i use my old 64g ipad 2 as torrent downloader/seeder mainly.