Ask HN: Best cheap tablet for home dashboard
3 josefresco 4 6/10/2025, 7:20:23 PM
I built a little web application for my home showing today's calendar, weather etc.
I was using an old iPad for display but noticed today the battery swelling.
Any recommendations for a cheap Android tablet (10 inch) that's only purpose will be to show a very simple PWA?
I've found a few in the $40-$60 range but they're all generic brands.
If it shows the same thing constantly, I wouldn't want OLED.
An iPad (basic) 8th gen or newer is still supported by the next OS release and likely will last longer than a generic device.
It would likely be worth buying a tablet from a large brand with good battery controls & settings like battery life longevity management. I'd recommend using a smart outlet to cycle the tablet on and off of battery regularly in addition to using the 80% battery rules.
I think this was about 3 years ago now; batteries from any device manufactured more recently than that likely has the tape layer issue resolved and no longer will balloon up again.
Be sure you do something like an outlet timer to let the battery discharge to at least 40% once a week, even keeping a device at 80% constantly is not great.