3 ms·

Not to be cynical, but doesn't matter how awesome and cheap these devices get as long as they are locked down and designed for consumption.

cherioo 11y ago
Not sure what you mean by locked down. The amazon app store has a fair number of apps in it and it has always been possible to sideload apps from external sources, even sideloading google app services and play store (at least in the fire phone and previous gen fire tablet, not certain about the new one). I don't think it's any more locked down than Google Android or iOS.
- linuxkerneldev 11y ago
  > locked down. It this context, I presume it would mean can't reflash firmware or modify aspects of the firmware. For example, on some devices you have full control so you can modify and replace everything from the bootloader to application level software. For example, maybe you would rather run debian on this device rather than android-fire.
mcintyre1994 11y ago
It looks like you can install custom android roms (eg cyanogenmod) on Amazon tablets (eg https://download.cyanogenmod.org/?device=otterx https://download.cyanogenmod.org/?device=otterx - see other Amazon devices in the sidebar too)
- swiley 11y ago
  Any android ROM is still primarily built for consumption at the end of the day.
  - msh 11y ago
    Why? Just because android is not optimal for coding you can't say it's primarily for cumpsomption. Android is just as much for communications and learning. Quite decent for writing also with a bt keyboard.
- plonh 11y ago
  They have had trouble getting support for new tablets/OS versions, and it is a huge pain to reset an Amazon device. No developer switch like on Nexus
vidarh 11y ago
True. But you can pick up pretty much identical tablets (my guess is down to the PCB level, as it does not look like Amazon has done much custom design here) at AliExpress cheaper than that, and if you look around a bit or ask, finding ones that either come pre-rooted or where the vendor is happy to do it for you or point you in the right direction is easy. This is where these cheap tablets really shine - they come from distributors that generally really don't care. On the other hand this is also the downside: They also really don't care about updates etc.. The biggest downside, I think, is the state of open drivers for the GPU's on these ARM devices.
rjsw 11y ago
The Allwinner based ones should be easy enough to reflash with an alternative operating system.

cherioo 11y ago

Not sure what you mean by locked down. The amazon app store has a fair number of apps in it and it has always been possible to sideload apps from external sources, even sideloading google app services and play store (at least in the fire phone and previous gen fire tablet, not certain about the new one). I don't think it's any more locked down than Google Android or iOS.

linuxkerneldev 11y ago
> locked down. It this context, I presume it would mean can't reflash firmware or modify aspects of the firmware. For example, on some devices you have full control so you can modify and replace everything from the bootloader to application level software. For example, maybe you would rather run debian on this device rather than android-fire.

mcintyre1994 11y ago

It looks like you can install custom android roms (eg cyanogenmod) on Amazon tablets (eg https://download.cyanogenmod.org/?device=otterx https://download.cyanogenmod.org/?device=otterx - see other Amazon devices in the sidebar too)

swiley 11y ago
Any android ROM is still primarily built for consumption at the end of the day.
- msh 11y ago
  Why? Just because android is not optimal for coding you can't say it's primarily for cumpsomption. Android is just as much for communications and learning. Quite decent for writing also with a bt keyboard.
plonh 11y ago
They have had trouble getting support for new tablets/OS versions, and it is a huge pain to reset an Amazon device. No developer switch like on Nexus

vidarh 11y ago

True. But you can pick up pretty much identical tablets (my guess is down to the PCB level, as it does not look like Amazon has done much custom design here) at AliExpress cheaper than that, and if you look around a bit or ask, finding ones that either come pre-rooted or where the vendor is happy to do it for you or point you in the right direction is easy. This is where these cheap tablets really shine - they come from distributors that generally really don't care. On the other hand this is also the downside: They also really don't care about updates etc.. The biggest downside, I think, is the state of open drivers for the GPU's on these ARM devices.

rjsw 11y ago

The Allwinner based ones should be easy enough to reflash with an alternative operating system.