My new toy

[DonTom]

I was at the WallyMart in Douglas the other day, and noticed a cheap little 10.5" Tablet with detachable keyboard that was on sale for a little under $300.00. It's a "Asus MT 520 8186 8/128 Stylus Silver" it says on the box. It says it runs Google Chrome version 143.0.7499.150. I am now using 1.54 of the 8 GB available memory. It runs with most of my Android EV Charge Station apps, all except for Tesla and Opconnect EV Charging.

I am now using it for this message.

It runs with all the programs that will not run on my Smartphone (Android v 10) and vice versa, including RV Trip Wizard that I just now looked at for the first time. So I deleted many programs on my Smartphone which was otherwise out of memory and put them on this, except for the two this will not run. This is now my new much smaller computer for my motorcycle rides. I now have it fully configured for everything I need or want, and along with my smartphone, I have it all covered.

-Don- Douglas, AZ

 

[Tom]

Congrats. keep us posted on your experience with the new toy.

 

[Mark_K5LXP]

But can it run FT8?

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

 

[SMR]

How do you like Google Chrome? I need to replace my Android tablet and I'm looking at Chrome OS vs Windows 11 (small laptop that folds over with touch screen).

 

[DonTom]

But can it run FT8?

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

I hope NOT. I would not waste my time with FT8.

Correction, I wouldn't let my rig waste its time with FT8.

73, -Don- AA6GA/7

 

[DonTom]

How do you like Google Chrome? I need to replace my Android tablet and I'm looking at Chrome OS vs Windows 11 (small laptop that folds over with touch screen).

It does take a little getting used to, but it works well for most Android apps. A few little things like not resizing perfectly, no delete key, will run most apps, but not quite everything (as with every Android I have used).

I like the magnetic keyboard. It is a very strong magnet, making it somewhat difficult to take off the keyboard until getting used to. Also, the stand is magnetic.

It's significantly smaller (10.5") than the small laptop I normally use, such as now. It and my Smartphone, along with my Verizon Portable Hotspot, will mainly be for my motorcycle rides, restaurant stops. charging stops, hiking breaks, etc.

BTW, according to the small pamphlet, there is another version that will accept a SIM card.

It is 10.5" tablet. It will run 7.5 hours on a full charge. It has a 128G EMMC SSD. 8G of RAM. On sale at Walmart for $279.00.

I did not even think about buying a new computer while at the Douglas Walmart. I just walked by and noticed it.

I became increasingly interested in it as I checked it out.

-Don- Douglas, AZ

 

[Mark_K5LXP]

I became increasingly interested in it as I checked it out.

You might feel the same way about FT8...



Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

 

[DonTom]

You might feel the same way about FT8...

So far, it has been the opposite; the more I hear about FT-8, the more I want to have nothing to do with it.

I only do CW. I never even bothered to test any of my rigs with a mic--or data, and especially not FT8. And I only ragchew, none of that contest or similar stuff for me.

If you really want to know how I feel about it, read the QRZ thread here.

73, -Don- AA6GA/7 Douglas, AZ

 

[Larry N.]

On FT8 and contesting in general I agree with Don, but not with his other statements, especially about CW. I just can't see any purpose for me in FT8 (or FT4), since it appears that its main use is just to be able to count a LOT of contacts -- contesting isn't much interest, either, though I've done a little through CQWE and a couple of field days. Not worth the effort to me.

But I ragchew almost every morning with the 40-8ers, and there was a time when I inhabited certain VHF/UHF repeaters.

 

[DonTom]

All types of numbers everywhere, but the receipt calls it a "ASUS CM30" and I find that here. And it looks right, even the price I paid.

-Don- Douglas, AZ

 

[DonTom]

It is 10.5" tablet. It will run 7.5 hours on a full charge.

It says "up to 12 hours on the website, but that depends on the screen and other settings. Expect 7.5 hours of true being on with a normal screen. "Up to" is a BS term, of course.

-Don- Douglas, AZ

 

[DonTom]

My new toy is also available here.


-Don- Douglas, AZ

 

[DonTom]

I now have the Tesla app running on my new toy. It was tricky to get running and required me to download the FireFox App and then make it the default before downloading. Or else I get stuck in a verification loop to log in to my Tesla account.

I got the info. from the web on what has worked for others.

The only thing that will not now run is the OpConnect EV charging. So far, this is the only program my new toy will not run.

-Don- Douglas, AZ

 

[DonTom]

My new toy is already giving me serious problems, and I can no longer use it or trust it. It crashed and says "It looks like this account was created or used with multiple other accounts to violate Google's policies.

This account became unavailable on Dec 31, 2025. Starting on Nov 26, 2026, this account will be considered for deletion."

My new toy is now a brick. After all that work of installing all those programs on it.

But it also says my info. will be reviewed in two days or so, whatever that means. I have no choice but to wait it out.

I don't like the idea of returning it with so much of my information still on it.

Could I have caused this problem somehow? What does it mean by "multiple other accounts"?

-Don- Douglas, AZ

 

[DonTom]

I just discovered a way to start from scratch, which I just did, as if the computer were fresh out of the box. That means I need to reinstall everything again.

At least I now have it workign again. And now it really is a new and different Chrome account.

-Don- Douglas, AZ

 

[DonTom]

And I just now received this message:

A new sign-in on Chrome OS

​	[email protected]

We noticed a new sign-in to your Google Account on a Chrome OS device. If this was you, you don’t need to do anything. If not, we’ll help you secure your account.

Seems what works is what they said caused the problem of multiple accounts. Or I just do not understand all the stuff.

-Don- Douglas, AZ

 

[TheBar]

My new toy is now a brick. After all that work of installing all those programs on it.

-Don- Douglas, AZ

And that is why only 8% of iPhone/iPad users considered switching to Android in 2025. Once you buy Apple you never go back.

The head of our cities IT dept switched the entire city government from Android to Apple in 2019. That switch reduced support problems by 75% and hardware problems by about the same amount.

 

[DonTom]

And that is why only 8% of iPhone/iPad users considered switching to Android in 2025. Once you buy Apple you never go back.

The head of our cities IT dept switched the entire city government from Android to Apple in 2019. That switch reduced support problems by 75% and hardware problems by about the same amount.

I have been tempted to try Apple. I have never played around with one. I stick with Android/Windows from habit. I have heard over the years that Apple has a better way of doing things, but I have never looked at one, so I know nothing about Apple. iPhone, etc.

Anyway, just after I got done reinstalling everything on my new toy, I received this email:

"Thank you for contacting us about your disabled Google Account. After review, your request for restored access was approved.

To restore your account, you need to sign in and verify it as soon as possible.

Disabled accounts are eventually deleted. Sign in soon to make sure you save any emails, contacts, photos, and other data saved in this account."

Now, I will just let them delete it. It did not take long for me to reinstall everything, along with a few new apps. All seems to be working well as is, but I have no idea what caused the problem. Hopefully, it does not happen again. But even if it does, I now know I just need to wait a day to get it all back. Or, just log in with the older account to get that stuff back if it's not already deleted.

And perhaps then, I will get an Iphone and see how that works out.

-Don- Douglas, AZ:

 

[8Muddypaws]

For another $20 you could have gotten an iPad A16 with 128GB of flash memory. $299 almost everywhere but Costco also gives you a 3 year warranty. I’m not all that impressed with Apple hardware. They go out of their way to make repairing it difficult. Hence I have dozens of special ‘security screwdriver bits. I’m now on my 6th iPad and 3rd iPhone. The phones are very solid, iPads not so much.

For a cheap ‘Android like’ tablet you can’t beat a Kindle Fire. Very solid build, easy to manage and you can add huge amounts of flash memory. I bought one as a backup when my last iPad needed a new battery. That was 4 years ago. That iPad died, it’s replacement died, and the one after that is now at apple because it died too. The Fire still works fine, holds enough charge for 2 days of my usage and it only cost about $89. It can run most of the stuff in the Google PlayStore and it’s easy to add an insane amount of flash memory. It is not a fast tablet though.

Almost all of the current tablets are very similar because their OSs share a common ancestor. Windows based tablets and convertibles are the exception.

I had a Microsoft Surface once. It didn’t last long and I found great joy in smashing it to little tiny bits. My volunteer employer bought a few thousand of them a few years ago. Lesson learned. Now they mostly stick with HP and Lenovo.

 

[RVinCR]

I was going to say you could factory reset to return it if that was what it came to. It sounds like that is what you ended up doing. The new sign in message is just because of erased cookies. I don't think that will affect your original problem them had. But other cookies might have been their problem. Not sure exactly. Either way, Good luck!