(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.

--- Luxferre ---