(2024-05-06) On tablet PCs
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Throughout my life, I've had five tablet PCs in total. The most recent one is
a Google Pixel Tablet (8/128GB, JP version) bought last month, but I'll get
to that in a bit. While the smartphone topic is still a bit controversial
(not for me but for the general public), tablet PCs are nowadays viewed by
most people as peak consumerism, and that opinion is pretty much unanimous.
In other words, the public says that's a kind of device you never *really*
need. Which is hilarious, because I've lived long enough to remember current
smartphone screen diagonals (6+ inches) to be considered "tablet PC sizes"
as well. Heck, I even remember how 5.5 inch devices were called tablets. And
I did understand back then that it already was all about marketing, and the
only things separating a tablet from a touchscreen-based smartphone were the
physical size and, optionally, lack of a cellular module. Although I do
remember some blonde chicks proudly putting their 7-inch Galaxy Tabs to
their ears and talking like that in public. That's something you never
forget: once you see it, you can't unsee it.
So, back to Pixel Tablet. Technichally, it is a Pixel 7a without a cellular
module and in the tablet form factor. The lack of a cellular module is IMO a
good thing in this case, but still, precautions needed to be taken and I did
install GrapheneOS on it on day one. It comes budled with a magnetic
charging dock stand doubling as a speaker: because of this contraption, all
official and almost all third-party cases have a huge rounded hole in their
backs. And the dock itself is powered by a "universal" AC adapter (although
only suitable for US-type sockets, so I needed to find an adapter for this
adapter) through a rather non-standard plug (whatever happened to the
worldwide USB-C adoption). Luckily, this isn't the only way to charge the
tablet and the device itself is running off USB-C... and that's the only
socket in it. No 3.5mm minijack. And, just like with Pixel smartphones, you
can't use a normal headphone adapter either: it needs to have an active DAC
inside. I happen to have none of those, so, for the time being, I have to
use Bluetooth headsets with this new acquisition.
Why did I switch to it from the Nokia T20 I've been using almost all the time
ever since moving to the village? Well, the first and simplest reason was
that I want to return to retro and indie gaming, at least to the smallest
extent. There are some games where 3GB RAM is simply not enough, especially
if you want to directly livestream the gameplay and still be mobile (in a
sense of not being attached to the desk where the PC is standing). The
second reason was the lack of physical storage space on the T20 (at least
for my purposes) and of the overall control over the OS (although it still
is much cleaner than everywhere else that doesn't come straight from
Google). Yes, I ultimately wanted to switch to Graphene or something similar
on every Android device actively used by me. And the T20 went to the dad
whose Lenovo TB-X606X had been already struggling with some firmware issues
and, of course, no official updates or custom firmware to fix those issues.
Of course, gaming/media station is my primary but not the only use case for
this tablet. Sometimes I also use it as a makeshift laptop replacement when
paired with my wireless trackball and, even more often, a wireless keyboard
(ironically made by Apple) and running Termux there. With Segfault's remote
shells, it's a bliss as you can continue on one device from where you left
on another, although, of course, your own VPS is better for this kind of
stuff. When not using a physical keyboard, by the way, I found Thumb-Key to
be most comfortable and useful there, and it's also fully FOSS and
privacy-friendly. For the record, on touch-only smartphones, I fully
switched to the Unexpected Keyboard, which also is FOSS, privacy-friendly
and extremely customizable out of the box. Moreover, with the lifestyle I'm
currently forced to live, I started viewing my Pixel 6 as a smaller version
of the same tablet rather than considering the tablet a larger companion to
the smartphone. And both devices running the same up-to-date GrapheneOS only
helped this vision.
I might be bad at storytelling but what I'm trying to say is there really are
little boundaries between different device types if you really know what
you're doing. Contrary to the popular belief that only some of them are
suitable for content creation and others are only meant for content
consumption, whether or not you put the PC part into the notion of "tablet
PC" is entirely up to you. Especially if the manufacturer doesn't get in the
way of you owning your own device. Of course, no Android is ideal and pure
Linux distros, like those in Librems or PinePhones, would be much better,
but, for running *some* proprietary shit along with FOSS if you have to and
for the "doing what I can with what I've got" approach, a Pixel +
GrapheneOS/LineageOS (depending on whether or not you want trouble-free
rooting as a bonus) looks like a perfect combination as of now. And I hope
it lasts even longer than the previous one.