I’m looking for a tablet to last me at least 4-5 years doing -

  • Reading via Linkding, Audiobookshelf and Kavita
  • Note taking via Notesnook
  • Light media streaming via Jellyfin

I’ve been looking forward to the Google Pixel Tablet 2 to put “The OS that must not be named” on it and have a highly privacy respecting device. The current Pixel tablet just has a lot of drawbacks - support timeline is limited, speakers aren’t good, display is mehh etc. But of course Google didn’t announce the new tablet, most likely putting it off until next year.

I’ve considered a few options -

  • iPad Air - don’t have an Apple account, and frankly don’t want to get into their ecosystem in general.
  • Surface Go - Unavailable in the UK and the kernel required has some missing features as well.
  • Generic Android tablets from Samsung, Lenovo etc - Don’t want a device where I can’t fully control what the OS is doing, and I’ve used LineageOS, and didn’t really like it.
  • Generic Windows tablets from Dell, Lenovo etc - Is Linux really ready for a tablet use case? I’m not really sure about this. Will I have proper driver and hardware support here?
  • Linux tablets such as Pinetab, Starlite etc - These seem to be woefully underpowered and underspec.

So is my only real option to wait until May of 2025 for a Google Pixel Tablet 2? I’d love some input for this dilemma. Thanks!

What screen size are you looking for? How do you feel about foldy phones? I’d wait for the Pixel Fold 2 that’s supposed to be dropping in the Fall and all but confirmed to be hitting 8 inchs unfolded if you don’t mind that size of tablet

For me the biggest problem with tablets is it’s never around when I want to do tablet things, having the Pixel Fold 1 that’s been entirely solved

And then it should fill your other requirements as Pixel phones are good about allowing bootloader unlocks (If you’re buying from a carrier and your carrier is Verizon, don’t bother they’re assholes about BL unlocks)

@bluegandalf@lemmy.ml
creator
link
fedilink
35M

I’m pretty happy with my Pixel 6 for now, and carrying around that bulky phone doesn’t make sense for me personally.

Fair enough, the PF1 is a hefty SOB with the case I have on it. The PF2 is supposed to be “thinner and lighter” but I doubt it’s going to be close to the Pixel 6

I was skeptical myself about it, but once I got it going in my daily life I don’t think I can ever go back lmao

How is your mobile coverage, mine is pretty shitty.

@bluegandalf@lemmy.ml
creator
link
fedilink
15M

I’m in the UK - pretty good. Haven’t had any major issues, using Lebara and EE

Create a post

A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.

Some Rules

  • Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn’t great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
  • Don’t promote proprietary software
  • Try to keep things on topic
  • If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
  • Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
  • Be nice :)

Related communities

Chat rooms

much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)

  • 0 users online
  • 57 users / day
  • 383 users / week
  • 1.5K users / month
  • 5.7K users / 6 months
  • 1 subscriber
  • 2.97K Posts
  • 74.6K Comments
  • Modlog