Small tablets for paraniods...

[Ralph Sir Edward]

Are there any tablets (7" range) out today that allow the following...

1. SD chip (standard or micro, doesn't matter).

2. Allow data to be accessed from the SD chip by programs on the tablet without cross loading to the tablet's main storage.

3. Allow the side loading of apps without them having to "phone home"?

4. The ablilty to "spike off" the communication (phone or WiFi) port.

Extra bonus - A user-replaceable battery.

I don't think anything like this exists, but...I thought I'd Delphi the MR readership...

[HarryT]

What do you mean by "spike off"? It's an expression I haven't heard before.

[Billi]

If you don't mind buying a discontinued and dated (Android 2.2) device the Entourage Pocket Edge should meet most of your points.

[Asawi]

I admit to not knowing much about the things you mention, but a Nook Tablet can be run from sd-card, the whole OS on the card. Apps can be side-loaded, and as long as the app doesn't need connection to the outside word I suppose you can completely disconnect the WiFi chip if that is what you want to do. Of course WiFi can be turned off the normal way as well.

[Ralph Sir Edward]

Originally Posted by HarryT

What do you mean by "spike off"? It's an expression I haven't heard before.

Sorry, American Military slang for disconnecting something and rendering it non-workable. It comes from the concept of spiking old style cannons. (Spiking a cannon was to ram a rod into the touch hole to fire the cannon. You couldn't fire it afterwards until you hammered out the spike.)

[HarryT]

What's the point of rendering it inoperable? All tablets have a switch for disabling WiFi. And - forgive me for pointing out the obvious - most people use a tablet at least partially for internet access. A tablet without internet access is like a car without wheels.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

3. Allow the side loading of apps without them having to "phone home"?

Whether an app 'phones home' or not has nothing to do with a specific device. It has to do with the app's requirements which AFAIK all of the various app stores list for all to see before installing. It's up to the user what to install based on this.

[Ralph Sir Edward]

Originally Posted by HarryT

What's the point of rendering it inoperable? All tablets have a switch for disabling WiFi. And - forgive me for pointing out the obvious - most people use a tablet at least partially for internet access. A tablet without internet access is like a car without wheels.

Ummmm...Harry, I did title the thread "for paranoids"...

Some people might want a PMP using external storage for music/video/games/ebooks, ect...

[Ralph Sir Edward]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Whether an app 'phones home' or not has nothing to do with a specific device. It has to do with the app's requirements which AFAIK all of the various app stores list for all to see before installing. It's up to the user what to install based on this.

I bought a Toshiba Thrive as an evaluation unit. Not one of the pre-installed app would run without "phoning home" with my e-mail address.

It now sits in a closet...

[ilovejedd]

You could turn off wifi on pretty much any wifi-enabled device. Heck, if you're uber paranoid, you don't even need to associate a Google account to your tablet. Most Android devices will function perfectly well without it. You can just have the wifi off permanently and side load apps you need. If all you want the tablet for is DRM-free ebooks, music and videos on microSD card, you don't even need to connect the tablet to the internet ever.

I recently bought a Chinese Android tablet (mostly because those are the only ones I can find with both 7" 1280*800 and microSD) and use it with wifi disabled most of the time for better battery life. Primary usage is for videos and comics so side loaded Perfect Viewer and MX Player apk is pretty much all I need.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

You could turn off wifi on pretty much any wifi-enabled device.

Every one. They all have to have a "flight mode" setting in order to get EU/FCC certification.

[Dopedangel]

Best option I think would be for you to install a droidwall or similar firewall app. That way you can control the data that goes out of your tablet.

[Freeshadow]

And use F-droid appshop for FOSS.
Many apps which are ad-pested on Google can be found clean there.

Re spiking: useful on locks too

[Ralph Sir Edward]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

You could turn off wifi on pretty much any wifi-enabled device. Heck, if you're uber paranoid, you don't even need to associate a Google account to your tablet. Most Android devices will function perfectly well without it. You can just have the wifi off permanently and side load apps you need. If all you want the tablet for is DRM-free ebooks, music and videos on microSD card, you don't even need to connect the tablet to the internet ever.

I recently bought a Chinese Android tablet (mostly because those are the only ones I can find with both 7" 1280*800 and microSD) and use it with wifi disabled most of the time for better battery life. Primary usage is for videos and comics so side loaded Perfect Viewer and MX Player apk is pretty much all I need.

Could you provide more details than "Chinese Android"? (And I'm assuming you can have the reading program in the tablet storage, and read the e-book located on the micro SD chip without having to copy it to the tablet storage.)

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

Could you provide more details than "Chinese Android"?

Lol, right now, I seem to have amassed a bit of a collection:

• Ainol Novo7 Venus (ATM7025 Cortex A5 1.1GHz quad-core, 1GB RAM, 7" 1280*800 IPS, 16GB, microSD, Mini-HDMI)
• PiPo U1 Pro (RK3066 Cortex A9 1.6GHz dual-core, 1GB RAM, 7" 1280*800 IPS, 16GB, microSD, Mini-HDMI)
• Cube U9GT V (RK3066 Cortex A9 1.6GHz dual-core, 1GB RAM, 9.7" 2048*1536 IPS, 16GB, microSD, Mini-HDMI)
• Nextway F9X (A31 Cortex A7 1.0GHz quad-core, 2GB RAM, 9.7" 2048*1536 IPS, 16GB, microSD, Mini-HDMI)

Quite content with the ones I have but that's because my performance requirements are quite low. These are nowhere near as good as the Nexus 7 or iPad. Among the ones listed, the Cube U9GT V is the worst of the bunch. Before you even consider buying an off-brand Chinese Android tablet, though, I highly suggest reading this post first which lists a bunch of things that can (and probably will) go wrong: Off-brand Phones and Tablets: Worth the Low Cost?

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

And I'm assuming you can have the reading program in the tablet storage, and read the e-book located on the micro SD chip without having to copy it to the tablet storage.

This part is not an issue with most generic Android devices (e.g. not Kindle or Nook) that have microSD card slots. Android, unlike iOS, gives apps access to the underlying file system and most of the 3rd party ebook reader apps have no problem reading ebooks from external storage. I use Mantano Reader and I have no problem importing and reading ebooks stored on microSD. On Perfect Viewer, I can even read manga/comics directly from network shares.