Admin Group
Joined: 31/12/2012
Location: New ZealandPosts: 9995
| Posted: 07:24am 29 Dec 2022 |
Doing my Christmas clean-up, and came across an old tablet I had totally forgotten I even had. It is a 9" model, Android 4.2.2, kernel 3.0.8+.
No idea of CPU and RAM specs, as there is no label on it, and settings from Android back then don't seem to give that to me, unless someone here knows how to find that out? Based on age, I would expect a dual-core ARM of some kind.
Has Angry Birds on it, and it DOES connect fine to my WiFi, but every website you try to visit, it moans that it cannot be reached. I suspect this is cos of the circa 2013 browser app. Yes, system time is correct, so I suspect the sites at the other end are simply rejecting the request due to the age of the browser trying to connect.
I am on the verge of throwing it in the skip, cos although it works OK, it is so old that it probably won't accept any kind of Android upgrade, won't load any websites due to app age, and is probably slower then even the cheapest new tablets these days....
If anyone in NZ wants it, PM me.
Tablet and PSU free, but I would want you to pay for the courier bag.
Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops!
Guru
Joined: 18/11/2011
Location: United KingdomPosts: 4352
| Posted: 08:59am 29 Dec 2022 |
It would likely work fine as HMI to MMBasic (like Craig / Tinine does).
There will be several ways to figure out what it is, such as:
1. open it and look at CPU etc
2. root it - can it still download apps?
3. I suspect under Developer Options
e.g. enable USB debugging and connect to PC then use ADB
4. er, others, not sure what
I'd guess CPU will be A13 / A33 / A10 / ... (all Allwinner CPUs)
John
Edited 2022-12-29 19:00 by JohnS
Guru
Joined: 28/05/2012
Location: GermanyPosts: 1143
| Posted: 09:31am 29 Dec 2022 |
Hi Grogster,
I would be interested, but I fear that it would be a total financial loss to send the part to Germany...
Frank
Senior Member
Joined: 09/12/2022
Location: United KingdomPosts: 152
| Posted: 09:42am 29 Dec 2022 |
Details here for anyone interested
https://specdevice.com/showspec.php?id=5ed4-279e-ffd4-db280033c587
Guru
Joined: 18/11/2011
Location: United KingdomPosts: 4352
| Posted: 10:23am 29 Dec 2022 |
How did you find it?
John
Guru
Joined: 07/09/2016
Location: United KingdomPosts: 2171
| Posted: 10:53am 29 Dec 2022 |
+1
re-purpose it. Write your snazzy human interface app and send stuff via bluetooth to your uC of choice (+HC-06)
Edited 2022-12-29 21:16 by CaptainBoing
Guru
Joined: 05/03/2018
Location: NetherlandsPosts: 5994
| Posted: 12:42pm 29 Dec 2022 |
Nope... No BT
Volhout
Guru
Joined: 05/10/2019
Location: United KingdomPosts: 8964
| Posted: 01:26pm 29 Dec 2022 |
If it's the one that Ian found then that spec includes BT.
Senior Member
Joined: 09/12/2022
Location: United KingdomPosts: 152
| Posted: 01:31pm 29 Dec 2022 |
The name of the tablet is in the first pictures... SoftWinner.. They only seem to have one tablet to their name.
Guru
Joined: 18/11/2011
Location: United KingdomPosts: 4352
| Posted: 02:52pm 29 Dec 2022 |
D'oh!
John
Guru
Joined: 07/09/2016
Location: United KingdomPosts: 2171
| Posted: 04:48pm 29 Dec 2022 |
bugger.
sadly then, I fear there is no future for such a device... unless you wanna play angry birds
Edited 2022-12-30 02:49 by CaptainBoing
Guru
Joined: 05/10/2019
Location: United KingdomPosts: 8964
| Posted: 05:17pm 29 Dec 2022 |
Angry Birds got onto it so it has wi-fi connectivity. Must be useful for something!
Admin Group
Joined: 31/12/2012
Location: New ZealandPosts: 9995
| Posted: 12:03am 30 Dec 2022 |
Angry Birds got on it back in 2013 or so, when the tablet was new, and website would allow it to talk to them and download apps etc. Now, it just outright refuses any internet website access saying the SSL certificate is invalid - and it probably is, if it is using 2013 as a reference.
Both the built-in browser AND Chrome say the same thing, so I think it is probably just skip material - especially as there is no BT in this thing either. 2013 was before the days of BT popularity, I think.
The major issue being that no websites will agree to talk to it, which make upgrading the browser or Android(if even possible), rather difficult!
I'll keep it here for a few more days, but if a donor cannot be found in NZ, I'll throw it in the skip.
Guru
Joined: 11/02/2018
Location: AustraliaPosts: 3321
| Posted: 12:27am 30 Dec 2022 |
Does Android's update app have the ability to work:-
a) directly to google without a browser?
or
b) through your home network and it's browser?
Guru
Joined: 31/12/2012
Location: New ZealandPosts: 2541
| Posted: 01:18am 30 Dec 2022 |
it could make a nice music player, especially if it has an SD slot on the side; an entire music collection should easily fit on a $15 64gb SD card. better still if you can convince the tablet to always jump straight into the "music" app on startup.
if available, you should also be able to side-load apps from an SD card if so inclined.
cheers,
rob :-)
Guru
Joined: 11/04/2012
Location: AustraliaPosts: 1050
| Posted: 01:57am 30 Dec 2022 |
If the specs that Ian has linked to are right, the unit does not have SD card slot but it does suggest it has Bluetooth and USB.
Communications
Phone None
WiFi mma7660
USB Host Yes
Bluetooth Yes
GPS No
OA47
Senior Member
Joined: 09/12/2022
Location: United KingdomPosts: 152
| Posted: 09:11am 30 Dec 2022 |
On a "firmware update site" , Google softwinner tablet firmware.
You can get the latest firmware 2.1 , also linked somewhere, a version of firefox 55.02 that runs on android 4..
https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/mozilla/firefox/firefox-51-0-4-release/firefox-51-0-4-android-apk-download/
Even an APK..
Guru
Joined: 05/10/2019
Location: United KingdomPosts: 8964
| Posted: 09:27am 30 Dec 2022 |
On the other hand, the battery might come in useful for something. :)
Guru
Joined: 18/11/2011
Location: United KingdomPosts: 4352
| Posted: 09:35am 30 Dec 2022 |
May be able to install a more recent / user-built Android (side load etc).
It's worrying if an old Android can't connect to download an update!!
edit: oh, beaten to it - maybe it can update
John
Edited 2022-12-30 19:36 by JohnS
Guru
Joined: 07/09/2016
Location: United KingdomPosts: 2171
| Posted: 09:38am 30 Dec 2022 |
+1
and if you are junking it and ripping it to bits, look for a flash chip (winbond etc) on the board you can re-use. Such things use something like that for the firmware. Peanuts to buy but it seems a waste for the sake of 60 seconds with the hot air