Monday 13 November 2017

Zpad six and a bit years on

Six and a bit years ago I bought myself a zPad, a no name Chinese android 2.2 tablet skinned to look like an iPad.

It was bought as an experiment at a time when iPads seemed to be taking over the world to see if cheap whitebox Android devices could mount a challenge, and provide an alternative tablet based solution.

Ipads are of course still dominant but Samsung, Lenovo and the others have turned Android into a viable alternative platform for tablet computing. What hasn't happened is that cheap whitebox devices have taken over the world - most Android tablet sales are for brand name devices, most of which are both cheap and offer reasonable performance.

Enough history - back to the zPad.

Amazingly I'm still using it (occasionally) six and a bit years on.

The operating system is hopelessly out of date, upgrades just don't happen anymore but gMail and twitter still work, as does a weather app, and for that reason it continues to live on a shelf in my shed so that I can check the weather and my email with I'm covered in dirt after a serious gardening session.

Surprised (a) that I still use it, and that (b) it's still proving useful ...

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