Making limited use of a Fire HD 8 (8th Generation)

Decluttering, I found an old HD 8 (mine’s actually an 8th generation, one year newer than that SKU, but they’re both obsolete and discontinued, so whatever) that I’d apparently never even setup (or if I did, I’d factory reset it). It’s like 7 years old but the screen is immaculate and it seems to have a working battery, albeit not the strongest - as you’d expect. Anyway.

It’s running Fire OS 7.3.2.9 with a build date of Decemer 5, 2023, 1:59 p.m., so I guess I did have it online at some point, long enough to update the system software. I’m told this software is a fork of Android Pie (a/k/a Android 9.0), which is getting fairly long in the tooth, but I have apps that will work on the much older Android 5 (Lollipop) (from my Nexus 7 restoration project), so ... 

The hardware isn’t anything to write home about either: 8-inch IPS LCD (1280x800); quad-core MediaTek MT8163B CPU; 1.5 GB RAM; 16GB internal storage (~12GB usable after factory reset); VGA front camera, 2MP rear camera; WiFI and Bluetooth 4.0 and a MicroUSB B jack; claimed battery life of 10.5 hours (I’ve been listening to Winamp on it using Bluetooth headphones (but with the screen mostly off) for ~2 hours and the battery is down 15% from fully charged, so, yeah, that’s plausible).

I decided to set it up, but I really didn’t want to connect it to the Internet, so I picked a WiFi network with no connection to the ’net and I was then able to skip that step.

I hooked it up to my computer using a MicroUSB B to USB A cable, used Settings / Connected Devices / USB to open USB Preferences and toggled USB Controlled By (•) This Device, and Use USB For (•) file transfer, and voila, the device was seen by OpenMTP. I copied the following APKs to the Download folder, all of which seem to work:

• md.obsidian_1.4.16-114_minAPI21(arm64-v8a,armeabi-v7a,x86,x86_64)(nodpi)_apkmirror.com.apk
• com.aldiko.android.apk (version 3.0.25)
• com.nullsoft.winamp.apk

Opening each of these in the Files app on the main Fire screen installed the apps. That done, I copied over some MP3s and some ePubs and it’s up and running. Easy. Connected it to my Bose QC35 II headphones[1] and Ajazz K620T[2] and I have a decent low distraction writing setup, while I wait (interminably, though they’re supposed to ship in the next couple of weeks) for my BYOK...

With no Internet connection, a decent writing app, a few ePubs (including a dictionary/thesaurus), this little thing should be kinda useful, until the battery gives out or whatever, at which point it’s recyclable e-Waste. 

Fire HD 8 Paired with the K620T keyboard running Obsidian

 

Fire HD 8 running Aldiko showing an ePub

[1] Holy ... $130 for renewed?! That’s a steal; I paid $299 ~7 years ago (equivalent to $385 today) ... I’m sure they’re no longer the latest and greatest, but they still work incredibly well. I’ve replaced the ear cushions once, and the original battery still lasts forever, whether turned off (and maintaining 100%) or in use (I’ve never come close to running out of juice with them).

[2] Which, holy hell, that thing’s a dirt magnet. I’ve barely used it and it’s been in a box in storage and yet it is grungy. I remember scrubbing all the keys clean when I had them popped off when I replaced (desolder/resolder) all the OEM switches with Kailh Box Silent Brown Switches, now I see how it could have been so dirty... Yikes!