god I wish we had a modern Nexus 7, there's like no good 7-8" android tablets
this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2025
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No one should buy either of them IMO. These super cheap mobile devices are more or less e-waste from day one...
Can they be flashed with Linux?
Please, just don't. At least unless there's a reasonably not shady ROM on XDA that you feel comfortable flashing.
I'm reading this on my 8" Onn right now .. (I normally use a fold but my screen finally failed, and I like having a large screen for reading, be it books, manga/manhwa, or Lemmy). I used to be into flashing a while back but I haven't bothered recently. I agree it's a good idea, but it's low on my current list of stuff I need to get done. (Like moving from Windows to Linux on my main pc).
Edit I do have the Amazon one also, but explaining why I bought the Onn when I already have a Fire HD 8 is just going to make me look worse...
I recently bought cheap refurbished 10" Amazon Fire specifically for web browsing. The author is spot on when he says it's "obnoxious to the point of hostility."
Amazon places a huge "Register now" nag across the launcher that can't be removed without registering, and even the calculator won't work until you do. Wigets aren't supported by Amazon's launcher and it is impossible to load an alternative. There are a host of other deliberate annoyances Amazon has created to make sure the tablet is used for their purpose rather than your own.
It was only $35, but it's not worth even that much. Amazon has truly made enshittification an art form.
Are there dirt cheap versions on amazon (but not made by Amazon) i can use?
Battle of who do you want to give all your usage data to so they spam you with ads?
There's a reason why they're cheap, never used Walmart ones but the Amazon tablets required extra fees just to not be a permanent billboard on the lock screen.
And it’s a piece of shit. The only thing the Amazon fire tablets ever did well was shop Amazon. And I stopped shopping on Amazon years ago. These are a waste of money at any price
Eh, they're pretty good for kids IMO. Put some restrictions on them so they can only use them for a certain amount of time, and they feel happy that they have their own device without monopolizing/breaking your nicer ones.
Is it possible to remove the amazon OS, install Linux/Android and get rid of the bloatware or is it OS locked like iPads etc.?
We don’t have Amazon in my country so I’ve never seen those tablets.
I don’t know, I doubt it. It’s actually an older android os that has been modified by Amazon, so I don’t think you can get around it. You used to be able to jailbreak them and use google play store, but I don’t think that’s possible anymore
Sometime around 2019-ish they locked them down hard and it's not possible to jailbreak them and put custom firmware on it, however I'm pretty sure you can still put the play store on it, I've side loaded it on my 2021 model but it's still awful because of Amazon.
Old Amazon Kindle was amazing, I read tons of books on it. New Kindle was so clunky to get books on it, set up different accounts, constantly suspicious you were up to something. A totally non-intuitive piece of shit. Amazon design has all the charm of their warehouses.