Optimal Fire Tablet for HSTouch client?

[TC1]

With the Black Friday sales in full swing, thinking about picking up one or more Fire Tablets to use as eventual HSTouch Android clients. Based on your personal experience, what's the baseline model that provides a sufficient HSTouch experience? I'd like to spend as little as possible in order to buy a greater quantity of tablets, but not to sacrifice usability/responsiveness.

I'm also drawn to the Plus models that have built-in wireless charging capabilities, that way I can buy the wireless charging stand and simply set the tablet on the kitchen counter for household use. In some locations I might try a magnetic mount via an in-wall mounting box.

For reference, here's the current prices for Black Friday 2022:



Thoughts?

[jgreenberg01]

I have a bunch, all 10s and one 8. Generations are from 7-11.

More memory seems to be more better. The project that is running on them has 40+ screens with lots of layering of elements and some animated GIFs as well. HSTouch crashes slightly more often on the 32gb version vs. the 64gb model.

I use Tasker to relaunch HSTouch if it stops running.

FWIW, the best performing one I have is a refurbished Gen 11 HD 10 Plus. I only went refurbished because I needed one and it was between Amazon's sales at that time.

This particular one is on my BR nightstand on a wireless charging dock. Most of the others are wall-mounted and stay powered via USB adapter.

[TC1]

jgreenberg01 very much appreciate the feedback. The memory part I find interesting... have you actually noted the amount of memory that your HSTouch projects consume on the tablets? I just find it hard to believe that an Android client and all its associated data (even if 40+ HD graphics) would exceed 32GB (well less than that minus the OS and other apps)?? Since these tablets would never be used for personal media usage, I can't see spending extra on the 64GB models unless necessary.

Again, appreciate all the insights.

[jgreenberg01]

That's a good question. No, I have never took a close look at memory usage.

The truth is that I don't intend to go with a 64gb version again because... money. I'm a cheap guy that wants to spend my hard-earned $$$ on other toys (and necessities too I suppose).

The memory may not even be a factor in the crashes, and it could just be a coincidence that the 64gb tablet is more stable.

Once I figured out that Tasker can relaunch the HSTouch app if it crashes, it kind of became a moot point anyway.

One other thing which probably is not an issue in your case: tasker seems to have some issues with the Gen 7 version with regard to app usage permissions. If you do get a refurb, I'd avoid that gen of Fire HDs for this reason.

[TC1]

Given the current BF prices, I'll probably not go the refurb route for now (though refurbs are a great deal because almost all of them are just simple returns and nothing wrong with them).

So that leaves processor and display size.

On display, obviously a higher PPI will make better graphics and readability. Have you experienced any limitations on the 8s vs the 10s?

What about the quad-core vs the octa-core processors? Any noticeable lag on the lesser models?

[jgreenberg01]

Screen size:

The full screen graphics I use typically start life as 1920x1080, but all of my projects except one are 800x480. I often squeeze a lot of information on one screen because I like to see a snapshot of the whole house at one time.

That makes the HD 8 difficult to see for these old eyes. I will never go with less than an HD 10 at this point. Your screens may have less going on, but this one, as an example, has around 150 elements on it:




< 10" is super difficult for me.

Speed:

Boot time is the only appreciable difference with older/slower versions. The app itself seems to run pretty much the same on all of them.

I gotta leave the YMMV disclaimer though

[kenm]

I have several older 8 inch Android tablets (not Fire) and while they are fine as "local" room controllers, I prefer the 10 inch (or bigger) for whole house controllers. I have a Samsung Galaxy View 18 inch I'm going to be using for a new kitchen panel. 32GB has to be plenty for HSTouch. Processor speed might play a role in video streaming but I doubt it would be a big factor with HSTouch. Whatever you do, pay the extra $15 and get rid of the adware.

[TC1]

I have several older 8 inch Android tablets (not Fire) and while they are fine as "local" room controllers, I prefer the 10 inch (or bigger) for whole house controllers. I have a Samsung Galaxy View 18 inch I'm going to be using for a new kitchen panel. 32GB has to be plenty for HSTouch. Processor speed might play a role in video streaming but I doubt it would be a big factor with HSTouch. Whatever you do, pay the extra $15 and get rid of the adware.

Yeah, good advice on screen size, I'm leaning towards the 10" with a wireless charging stand. In terms of the adware, easy enough to do using Fire Toolbox.

[kenm]

At the time I did not know about Fire Toolbox so I paid the fee to remove the ads.

[TC1]

At the time I did not know about Fire Toolbox so I paid the fee to remove the ads.

Understandable, and from what I'm researching, it seems Amazon keeps locking down the firmware further with every new generation, making it harder to remove/disable their "bloat". It also seems you can now remove the ads even after purchase by simply logging into your account that manages the Echo/Fire devices and paying the $15.

I'll probably buy myself an early Xmas present during Black Friday and get and one of the HD 10+ with the wireless charging stand to play with.

[jgreenberg01]

Understandable, and from what I'm researching, it seems Amazon keeps locking down the firmware further with every new generation, making it harder to remove/disable their "bloat". It also seems you can now remove the ads even after purchase by simply logging into your account that manages the Echo/Fire devices and paying the $15.

I'll probably buy myself an early Xmas present during Black Friday and get and one of the HD 10+ with the wireless charging stand to play with.

Not just the new generations - their OTA updates can mess things up too.

That's why after I remove as much bloatware as possible using Fire Toolbox, add Nova Launcher, Google services, and Tasker... I will also block internet access to the Fire HD tablets via the router.

This way Amazon can't "gift" them with any unwanted updates.

[TC1]

Not just the new generations - their OTA updates can mess things up too.

That's why after I remove as much bloatware as possible using Fire Toolbox, add Nova Launcher, Google services, and Tasker... I will also block internet access to the Fire HD tablets via the router.

This way Amazon can't "gift" them with any unwanted updates.

Am thinking about adopting this strategy, the only downside is that then the tablets can't used for voice commands, which I guess is solvable by keeping an Echo nearby (which would also have better music fidelity).

[avpman]

Not just the new generations - their OTA updates can mess things up too.

That's why after I remove as much bloatware as possible using Fire Toolbox, add Nova Launcher, Google services, and Tasker... I will also block internet access to the Fire HD tablets via the router.

This way Amazon can't "gift" them with any unwanted updates.

+1 for Fire tab and Fire Toolbox. I have them working great and now is the time to grab a deal on them.

[jgreenberg01]

Am thinking about adopting this strategy, the only downside is that then the tablets can't used for voice commands, which I guess is solvable by keeping an Echo nearby (which would also have better music fidelity).

Exactly, and those Echo Dots are pretty darn cheap on Black Friday as well!

[kenm]

I've adopted the same blocking as jgreenberg01 per his recommendation in another thread discussing when all of my Nook7 tablets got an update and ran out of memory. I purchased a couple refurbished Fire HD 10's from Woot a while back for $24.99 each. They had the ads and I paid the $15 each to remove. I used the "manage devices" method to remove the ads. BTW, it's $15 + tax. Basically, the same fee you would have paid if you bought it new. I'm looking at 3D printing a custom wall mount but so far nothing has met my wife's quality standards.