What I've been up to- literally half a fucking year

It's been a while since I've posted on here, right? Well here's what I've been up to:
- I have not traveled much
- I now take public transit (fuck that shit, man).

Amazon Fire 1 year later- how has it held up?

Last year I purchased an Amazon Fire 8 8GB, so how well has it held up? For one, quite well. For two, with some modification.
One- what's gone wrong? Nothing. All is well on my sofa
Two- what modifications or changes? Well, I broke down and switched the 4GB Micro SD card in it out for a 16GB.

My storage screens. Really not much to play with after installing a few apps.

I also finally installed Google Play Services in order to get an actual YouTube and Google Hangouts app, however that also finally allowed me to download TextNow as well.

How to use an old Android phone as a Wifi only burner or tablet

Aight, so earlier this month I finally replaced (and regretfully so) my fabled LG Phoenix 3 with a Blu Vivo 5 Mini. I still use my LG Phoenix 3 religiously and thus have turned it into a Wifi only burner or tablet, so here is how to do that.
Step 1: Get an old phone.
It doesn't have to be high end (hence the entrylevel LG), then remove the SIM if one is still in it.
Step 2: Download TextNow
This will allow you to send texts and calls over Wifi with a real number (this is the burner part)
Step 3 (only for if using as a tablet): Install apps you would normally put onto a tablet
I installed Hulu and Pluto TV. The 2 apps I use on my Fire.
The Result:
I've used this setup for about 2 weeks now, and it is fine (in comparison to using my phone). My only issue is the lack of proper cell service, however I can always just pop my AT&T GoPhone SIM back in.

LG Phoenix 3- The Tank of a Smartphone (Cheap Reliable Tech Pt. 1)

For those that don't know, my cellphone is a AT&T GoPhone LG Phoenix 3, yes it might not be extravagant, but it works well, and is indestructible.
This particular Phoenix 3 was purchased in November 2017 (on the day before Thanksgiving) as my iPhone 5s just had a total battery failure. I genuinely liked that 5s, but its time had come, it was scuffed, got about 30 min. on a charge, and was SLOW. In comparison, the Phoenix 3 was a breath of fresh air, sleek, and modern (kind of like an iPhone 6).
I really liked the Phoenix 3 because it was faster, and I could get a week on a single charge, plus it has FM radio (no more using high speed data for music!) And, it was built like a tank, in 0 degree New Year's Eve it worked (even with a drop in the snow without a case), or just last week in 97 degree weather (and a drop onto concrete with a dollar store quality case on it) it held up quite well.
I even dropped it in the parking lot of Arby's without a case and it held up (no cracks, just scratches, to this date!)
First of all: the Phoenix 3 does run Android 7.0 (updated from 6.0)
Second of all: I have a 64 GB SD Card in it for photos and videos, but I have a proper 21 MP Sony Cybershot for that. The cameras are good, but not as good as my 2015 iPod Touch.
Third of all: 16 GB of storage is not that bad (unlike on my iPhone or iPod) especially since I port photos and videos over to my SD Card (see point 2), and I don't play games on it, that's what my Moto G3 is for.
And, Fourth of all: The battery lasts FOREVER, even now I go 2-3 days without a charge, even with 1 hour of YouTube or Hulu thrown in.
The Phoenix 3 retails for about $50-80. If you wait until the pre-Black Friday sales, a Phoenix 3 with a 16 GB SD Card and case can be had for about $65. Do not buy an 'unlocked' unit though, one of my friends that uses T-Mobile did so a few weeks after I bought mine, and no codes worked, plus unlocked units are about $70. At this price point,  for abroad users, this might be good to use as an iPod Touch, or even in America just a burner phone (nobody's stolen mine yet, and I go to some pretty bad parts of town). For calls, its perfect.
Overall, the Phoenix 3 is a good all-round smartphone for AT&T users.

iPad 1- too reliable for an Apple product?

I purchased my used iPad 1 16GB WiFi model in 2016 mainly as a item that would be a spare tablet, but its served me so well, that it deserves its own write up on ownership.
2 years later-

The iPad 1's backside, with all of the dents its endured.

The front of the iPad 1, turned off.

The iPad 1 turned on to its lock screen (yes that is the iOS 8 wallpaper)!

Being a workhorse iPad, it has been tattered and run to dead battery, but it rebounds, getting me through a full day with video streaming, and reading. This thing has been dropped, but the case ended up getting wrecked (uncommon for an Apple product) it also has endured a car wreck, drop down a couple of stories onto carpet, and even a drop onto cement, that took out my iPad 2. In addition to surviving drops, it also has got better battery life than my iPod Touch 6th gen which I got last year, new. Also, it will happily chug through upwards of 10 hours of music, on full volume, the only downside here is the lack of any base boost. However, I bought at the right time, I bought it for $60, the current value is now $80, the same as a used 16 GB iPad 2. It also has Google Maps built in, which with my portable hot spot makes my bare-bones car a brand new car effectively, with music streaming and all! It even will play light games, such as Angry Birds, which is about as old as the tablet itself. It will even browse the internet, but I recommend Google Chrome for that bit. The only real downside is the weight, and the fact that people will ask me whenever I pull it out at somewhere like the mall whether or not I am aware it is 2018.

 It is actually a bit too reliable, in fact some of my friends who have these want them to die already, but they just won't.

The iPad 1 home screen, fully updated to iOS 5.1.1.

The budget tablet rant.

Back in December I received a $80 RCA Viking II tablet. At the time I had an aging iPad 2. It is fine for my needs. I currently still have it. Many people say that you need to put down $500 or more for a tablet. I don't, even if it is a second-hand iPad around $100, it is easily worth it.
For the most part, I can get by with a cheap Android tablet, even if they break every few months or have bad battery life or inaccurate readouts on the temperature or time remaining until flat, but they can also be slow at tasks like powering through videos or webpages (don't get me started on games like Angry Birds or Minecraft)

However, don't expect killer performance from a budget tablet, because the standard is 1 GB of RAM (512 MB on an Android 4.4 tablet) And generally a cheap MediaTek processor or similar, and some lack components you would expect to come standard, like a micro USB cable for syncing to a PC or a back camera (a decent amount of RCA and other Chinese tablets lack rear-facing cameras.) But then there is the question of "what about the Amazon Fire" overall the new model is the best in its category, just buy the 16 GB model without offers (offers are lock screen ads that you can pay to get rid of, but aren't really worth it in the end.) However, if you are wanting a higher quality tablet (to replace your laptop for travel) you can look into a used Apple iPad (stick to the iPad 4 or newer for application compatibility) or a Chromebook which runs Google's Chrome OS and is just now getting Android app support out of the box, and some Chromebooks are 2in1 laptops where you can use the screen as a touch screen. However, stay away from the cheap Windows tablets, even if they seem compelling, just buy a second hand netbook (like a Toshiba NB305 or HP Mini) for about $50 and you will get anywhere from 32 GB of storage to 256 GB of storage, and then a new battery runs about $5-$40 and another GB of RAM runs about $20.

Amazon Fire 7 (2017) Review

The Amazon Fire 7 released earlier this year is leading the way in budget tablets (under $200) with many features not common yet like apps to SD card support.

The Fire OS is inherently basic, running on a launcher that you can't change even after side loading Nova Launcher onto the device, also the included Amazon App Store is lackluster with its selection, lacking apps like YouTube (however you can download a link to the device that pulls up a stripped down instance of the Silk Browser that can only view YouTube, same goes for Google Drive and Google Plus.) Also, there is no official 3rd party browser in the app store, but you can load Opera Mini or Firefox on in .APK file formats, Google Chrome won't work without Google Play Services installed to my knowledge. As far as storage goes the base-model 8GB is only good for playing Youtube, checking Twitter and web browsing, so you will need an SD card for games/pictures, I'd recommend a 4GB or larger for photos and light games (like Angry Birds or The Sims Freeplay) 2GB should be big enough for photos. And that segways me on to the cameras, with a 2MP on the back of the device and a VGA Skype camera, so this won't replace a better spec digital camera or smartphone as your main camera.

And battery life is what you'd expect for $50, just don't buy a used one as the battery will not get the advertised "up to 8 hours" in my testing (playing Youtube then reading my local CBS affiliate articles) I get about 5-7 hours on a charge, but there is power saver, but that does nothing when playing Youtube or tweeting. And the performance is excellent, only stuttering when looking at intense webpages or playing games, thus making it a perfect 'throwaround' device to keep in a bag for when your laptop dies on you or when you need a bigger screen that that on your phone (not an issue for my considering that my iPod is 4 inches and my LG Phoenix 3 is 5.5 inches, putting it between an iPhone 6 and 6 plus.) And due to the small storage even at 16 GB, if you want a device to play videos on while traveling, consider a portable DVD player and disc case/sleeve, however if you want a Fire for that task then go with an 8 inch which is 16 and 32 GB models, or a 10 inch model which is more expensive (around $150) which has a 64GB option, or if you just want a video playing tablet go for an older iPad (around the $60 mark, but no modern apps or fast web browsing.)

As far as cases go, you can buy a universal case for $10 or go for Amazon's official case, the Amazon children's case (also available in a bundle) or a other type of case, like a keyboard case or anti-slip case. Overall though, the Amazon Fire 7 released earlier this year is still a great device in its category, while it won't replace an iPad, it will still be adequate for the person who just watches videos, a child getting their first tablet, or someone who needs a spare tablet, and the Fire is built like a tank, so it is a perfect tablet for travel.