Revitalizing an Android 4.4 Tablet

Hello, hive mind. Help me out!

I was given an ASUS tablet. Good battery, good display, wifi works, camera works, touchscreen works. Thin and light too. Perfect for travelling -- because it's disposable.

Worth refurbishing! But the browsers available after factory reset (some ASUS browser and an ancient version of Chrome) are so outdated that they're barely usable.

There are two browsers that should work with Android 4.4 (Opera Mini and Lightning). But the version of Google Play Store installed is so ancient it doesn't work. I tried Play Store in both browsers, but they crash during installation.

So I'm stuck. No SD card reader to attempt a sideload.

But there's gotta be a way! Any wisdom for me?

Douglas,

My whizz-kid daughter gave me an option, but it involves installing Python (a free programming language) on your computer to access the tablet.

Interested?  I can dig further and see what instructions I can dig up.

Eric

Absolutely interested! All options are on the table. This is perfectly good hardware, made "old" by through planned obsolescence. This is a hill to die on.

I'm also looking at custom ROMs. Any advice/experience with these would be appreciated.

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:So I'm stuck. No SD card reader to attempt a sideload.

But there's gotta be a way! Any wisdom for me?

I like to install x-plore file manager. Then I can put the apk file I want to install into my free dropbox account. (With another device.) With x-plore, I can both access it and install it.

I also like to install f-droid app store. (You can probably use the method above.) It gives you some more choices besides what's on the play store.

I find this combination works on most android device.

Hey Douglas!

My general idea to get apps on your tablet was to use a computer hosting a website that stays in your house that you already have to get a more modern browser onto your tablet.

I have a hacked together script to automate a lot of this for you with instructions here: https://github.com/TotallyMonica/SimpleWebServer, but it pretty much follows these steps:

1. Download and install Python 3 from the official website, python.org.
2. Pick a web browser to use, it looks like Opera Mini version 60.0.2254.63611 is supported for Android 4.4.4 last updated in October 2021. I'm reasonably confident that would be modern enough for today's internet. That version can be found on apkmirror.com.
3. Open a command prompt window by clicking the start button and typing in cmd.
4. You'll want to get to the directory that your downloads are in, which will usually be in the Downloads folder. To get there, type in cd Downloads.
5. In that window, type in "hostname" (without quotes) and press enter. For me, it gives MonicaFramework but Windows installs typically follow the pattern of DESKTOP-XXXXXXX. You'll want to take note of that.
6. In that same command prompt window, type in "py -m http.server" without quotes. This is case sensitive, so make sure it's typed in correctly! Once typed in correctly, press enter and it'll tell you something along the lines of "Serving HTTP on :: port 8000 (http://[::]:8000/) ...".
7. On the tablet, you'll want to type in that host name you got earlier followed by .local:8000. For instance, since my hostname was MonicaFramework, I would type in MonicaFramework.local:8000.
8. Find the file name of the file you downloaded from step 2. Tap on that and it should start downloading.
9. Once downloaded, you should be able to swipe down to get your notification center, tap on the downloaded file, and install your web browser.

I completely understand that those steps may seem overwhelming, so feel free to loop me in on if you get stuck anywhere.

Monica

Very cool solution, Monica. Much appreciated!

I did a reset on the tablet and was able to get Opera Mini and Lightning installed using the antique web browsers. Alas, it seems the antique OS is the limiting factor for many sites. Still, I'm going to keep experimenting!

And I'll keep your solution in my back pocket -- it's great to have options!

Will Linux OS work on Android devices? My understanding is that it requires far less processing capacity and memory than even stripped down microsoft products.

@Douglas, you might want to have a look at Dolphin browser, I've not used for some time as I switched to Kiwi to run extensions but Dolphin used to be decent.

@Nancy, theoretically yes. In practice, not really. Most websites describing how to do this are actually just getting you to run linux on top of android, which can be really slow. I seem to remember someone creating the roms for certain very popular models but haven't attempted it.

@Monica, thank you for a great first post! I hope you settle in well here at permies.    

Nancy, to reiterate what James said, it is theoretically possible to install Linux on a tablet. There is Ubuntu Touch that advertises itself as an alternative to Android and iOS, but in practice isn't realistic, as it requires an unlocked bootloader, of which instructions out there vary based off of a number of factors, such as popularity of the device, how old the device is, and how much thought the manufacturer put into locking it down.

Douglas, if you happen to know the model number for the tablet, that might be a potential avenue to go down.

James, thanks for the welcome! I'll likely be dipping in and out but I'm always able to be looped in for technical related questions.

Monica

Have you checked if there is an opensource android build (like Lineage OS) available for it?

I looked at Ubuntu Trust and LineageOS. I don't think either are directly compatible, so I'll bash along with A.4.4.

The machine is too good to brick. It can't do everything, but as an information retrieval device / e-reader it has a place in my toolbox. Such as -- I'm travelling with my official corporate laptop and want to look up unofficial stuff (not porn, haha, but an unconventional search into the crunchy parts of the web where knowledge abounds but dangerous code will jump on you like ticks and fleas).

I wouldn't trust this old version of Android to log in to any high impact sites like banking or work. But then I wouldn't trust a new version either.

Sadly, I can't log on to Permies forums with either the Opera Mini or Lightning browsers. But I can read it just fine. I'll have to save my witty responses (pfft!) for when I get home.

Edit: Both the Opera Mini and Lightning browsers have ad blockers (of some sort) built in, which is a massive help with old hardware. However, when I put Opera Mini on my phone it demanded all sorts of creepy permissions -- nope, deleted, so long, goodbye.

Hi Douglas,

check if you can upgrade your tablet at least to Android 5.0, vendors usually support firmware upgrades to at least the next os version. That should give you more software options.
LineageOS is also a good and tried option and could give you even higher android version. You have to find the right ROM file for your exact tablet model.

And if you feel adventurous and want to try linux, check out the PostmarketOS project (https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Devices), maybe your device is supported. Although I have to admit that the installation is not the easiest one...

good luck,
Ondrej

Wow, I just got in under the wire. Google is dropping support for Android 4.4 at the end of July. No log in to Google accounts and no software downloads from Play Store.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/07/google-drops-play-services-support-for-android-4-4-kitkat-after-10-years/

I have a couple of other Android tablets kicking around. I'd better check them ASAP.

EDIT: The other big tablet has 4.4.2 and I installed Lightning and Opera Mini browsers some time ago. I've already been down this road! LOL!

Now where did I stash that little tablet!!?? Great pocket sized e-reader.

Hey! I figured out how to log in to Permies! It was some autocorrect weirdness that kept "fixing" my username. Woo!