Quote:
Originally Posted by rcentros
So, I guess I should say, for my limited Android needs the Nook Tablet would probably be useful for five or six years.
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On media-consumption tablets in general, the hardware remains useful much longer than the OS support. No moving parts, no heavy duty applications; they *should* last as long as LCD displays and TVs, which routinely last a decade or more. The likeliest point of failure on mobile devices are the battery and the power connector.
As long as the content providers themselves keep on supporting the old versions of the apps the device will remain useful. (Not a certainty, though. Quite a few services update their apps regularly.)
A problem of some concern is malware.
The internet is a dangerous place so an old browser exposes the device to viruses and hacking. Old android devices constitute one of the bigger targets of botnet operators and the Play store is not immune from infiltration with trojans. There are more risks in outdated software than in the hardware.