Older Android Tablets

JHZR2

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Found a Samsung Galaxy Tab A SM-T350, NIB, for free.

I think it’s from around 2015.

It seems like it is upgradable to Android OS 7 Nougat.

I can’t tell much more. I know my Apple stuff is good for years. Will this tablet be functional and useful?

Intent would be kids apps, so some games, some educational stuff, maybe FB kids messenger. No random web browsing, no financial stuff, nothing sensitive.

Is it usable with the latest apps, or will we run into issues because of age? Crazy to think that 2015 was 6 years ago.
 
First, is it 1.5GB RAM or 2GB? If you don't know check under Settings -> About

Android is like Microsoft, it is not optimized for certain hardware like Apple iOS, so you need higher spec hardware to update the OS.

https://forum.xda-developers.com/f/samsung-galaxy-tab-a-series-roms-kernels-recover.5868/ If you check this section, there are updated ROMs available (Lineage OS 18.1 is the latest but will lag on 1.5GB RAM unit) but you will have to root it first and then flash the newer ROM. Galaxy stuff is relatively easy to root and flash. You should be able to find write-up to root and flash, even some videos on YouTube. I don't understand anything in rooting and flashing but I have been able to root and update ROMs/OS of all my devices using various YouTube videos. Its a risk but thats the only way you will be able to update OS.

I have older hardware than this tablet with only 1 GB RAM. I stopped updating them after android 7.0. App compatibility is not a problem, like iOS but I don't want the tablet to lag. I use those tablets for reading ebooks or DS learning basic coding.
 
1.5GB Ram. It’s NIB, unopened. Never turned on.

I browsed around on that link, but these OSes seem to be pretty disfunctional. For example, looked at a kernel that would be good for this tablet. Seems like there is always something wrong with the flashable OSes. Either something like the camera won’t work, apps won’t load, etc.

I’m fairly tech savvy, but I don’t have the time to fiddle with an old tablet of marginal value. I do appreciate the info!
 
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I still use the Samsung SM-T230NU it runs well, has 8GB of internal storage (system alone (4.4.2) uses 3.28GB)) and has an external memory slot. The external memory on all android tablets/phones is not utilized very well at all, and is useless for much more than picture or music storage.
I use it for news and a few simple games, but no, most games kids want to use today won't run on it.
Spotify, Pandora, Sirius XM and YouTube do just fine with it as well as most Google stuff.
 
I have an older Galaxy Tab S2 from 2015 as well, running Android 7. It's somewhat slow by today's standards, but runs pretty much anything. Granted, it has better specs (double the RAM, and octa-core CPU) than your Tab A, so I'm not sure how that would translate to performance. My guess is for basic kid stuff it should be usable.
 
i have an old one, I keep it in the garage to stream to a bluetooth speaker.

Its also useful to use a bluetooth obd2 scanner.

Other than that its not fast enough to use as a main device.
 
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