Comment by mrandish
4 hours ago
I bought 4 of the same tablet (Fire HD 10) on Black Friday 2021 for Home Assistant dashboards and a Fire HD 10 Pro (edit: actually Plus) I use as an E-reader/browser (with KOReader/Firefox). To save money I got the cheaper version with lockscreen ads pre-installed but before ever letting them online I ran Fire Toolbox to remove the ads, debloat, block updating and install Google services. Fire Toolbox is excellent: https://xdaforums.com/t/windows-linux-tool-fire-toolbox-v45-...
I've never had the problems OP describes but my tablets all came with FireOS v7.3.2.1 and I've never let them update. I think Amazon started locking down later firmware versions more but Fire Toolbox can still do quite a bit to tame and decruft later versions. The XDA forum for Fire Toolbox has a lot of posts covering exploits and workarounds for later FireOS versions.
Once the Amazon cruft is tamed, I still haven't found a meaningfully better 10-inch thin/light Android tablet than the 2021 Fire HD 10 Pro. It has wireless charging, weighs 430g and at 247 x 166 x 9.2 mm no one makes a 10" that's much lighter, smaller or thinner. The only slight downside is FireOS 7 is based on Android 9 and new versions of a few apps are starting to require later APIs. I'd gladly pay ~$250 for a 10" Android 16 tablet with wireless charging that was as thin & light but had smaller bezels for overall smaller size.
> Once the Amazon cruft is tamed, I still haven't found a meaningfully better 10-inch thin/light Android tablet than the 2021 Fire HD 10 Pro.
It is shocking that no mainstream tablet manufacturer will let buyers exercise control over their device. At the very least, this means having root and being able to use it to purge unwanted software. Ideally, it also means being able to fully replace the stock OS with third party/open firmware.
The only one that does openly is Google at this point with their Pixel Tablet from 2024 or so, which I think they didn't do a second version of.
I'm running GrapheneOS on mine, same with my Pixel phone.
Doesn't the pixel tablet come with an unlocked bootloader?
But Pixel tablet is fairly old these days no? 3-4 years old these days?
Good point, this seems to be a real alternative, and it even supports GrapheneOS.
I think you mean the "plus" not "pro"
The Plus model has more ram (memory) and wireless charging than the base model
It only comes in Slate dark-grey color and is often resold on Amazon's Woot ("used like new")
I have one, bought a year ago anticipating this would eventually happen, exciting times lol
Now we'll get LineageOS on this with newer Android within another year
* https://computers.woot.com/offers/amazon-fire-hd-10-tablet-2...
> I think you mean the "plus" not "pro"
Yes, you're correct (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08F6FYN6B). Wireless charging and 4gb RAM vs 3gb. I think the 2021 Fire HD 10 Plus may have been the only ~10-inch tablet ever with Qi charging.
For a thin & light e-reader/browser it's really perfect because it sits on the cradle on my nightstand always charged and ready to go. The display size feels like a hardback page. Now that it's been rooted, I'm really hoping for Lineage OS.
btw I've discovered you can turn on the display by tapping a magnet at the upper left corner
it's a pain compared to tap-to-wake but we'll have to wait for that
better than reaching for the power button in the dark, you can put magnet on a string or tape
I think it's meant for cases to turn on the screen when you open their flap
I basically need a 10" tablet as my android "phone" because I'm old/sick and cannot see tiny screens so the FireHD 10 series is perfect
and everything is stupid apps now, even blood pressure meter needs an app
OH I forgot to mention you can run system-user as a pseudo-root too, even before this root method was invented
> Now we'll get LineageOS on this with newer Android within another year
I would very much like that, but do we have a solution to the locked bootloader? My recollection is that on previous fire tablets, the only way to get a custom rom was to do an ugly hack that still uses the stock kernel because that's the only thing that's signed in a way the bootloader will run. Which is still something but it's a big caveat.
They've managed to unlock the bootloader on Fire tablets up until 2019
so just guessing give them a year, lol
what will drive it to happen is Amazon is still selling hundreds of this tablet via Woot for $25-$35, they drop it in batches every few months as they refurb them
Mine looks and works like brand new for $25
Just without LineageOS I cannot do tap-to-wake or dual-mode usb-on-the-go while charging like the pre-2019 tablets