Tablet Life Expectancy.

[gcal]

My Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 gets heavy use. It is getting glitchy. Sometimes it acts like it is possessed. Sometimes it will not play videos on the available wifi, but my Samsung phone will. It seems to be losing minor comment and rating functions. The screen will not always read the touch where it has been touched, but reads it somewhere else. The keyboard is acting up (especially on Youtube and this forum). It has begun to cut the edges off videos and only show the center.  The salesman/repair rep, who wanted very much to sell me an expensive new tablet, told me that even keeping updates current, both the software and the hardware cannot keep up with new programming for long. He also blamed internal corrosion from battery offgasing. He said every 2 to 3 years, they need replacing. Mine is around 2 1/2 years old, I think.

I had not thought in terms of a life expectancy for a tablet. It never occurred to me. Am I getting straight info or a sales ptch?

 

[BradKW]

I had not thought in terms of a life expectancy for a tablet. It never occurred to me. Am I getting straight info or a sales ptch?

Well, yes and no. He is correct in saying that people replace their tablets on average around 3 years, with some manufacturers being more reliable than others. Samsung and Nexus are considered good on android side, and as much as I hate to say it, iPads are probably top in longevity. However, his reasoning leaves something to be desired. People generally replace tablets because either a) battery gets weak and they wanted a new one anyway, or b) it develops glitches.

Touch screen glitches can be caused by scratches/damage to screen that you could see if look closely, but there's other possibilities too. The first thing to look at when tablets get buggy is check available RAM and make more available. I did this on my mom's Nexus last year and it cleared up a lot of the problems.

Also, make a habit of Restarting the device on a regular basis. Most people are long in the habit of just letting the tablet go to sleep via time out, case cover, or button tap. Compare it to the venerable Windows 98 which needed a full reboot on a regular basis just to keep the pipes cleared of accumulated junk. To actually power off device, press and hold power button until it offers "Power Off" as an option.

Calibrating your tablet display can resolve many touchscreen detection issues. On Android, it depends on the version of the OS and the device. Typically, you would find a calibration option in Settings > Display but if none is apparent, there are several apps you might try.

Rooting your device and manually realigning the screen are two options that you only go into if you're A) technically adventurous, and B) ready to accept possibility of a dead device as a consequence...

 

[VanCamper]

I use an iPad mini exclusively, and have used it for 3 yrs. with NO problems. I could see scratches on the touch screen may cause issues. You can recalibrate the touch screen as mentioned by BradKW. I'm sure salesmen will try to sell you a new tablet every couple years, but I won't replace mine until the battery won't hold a charge.

 

[gcal]

Ran the Avast Cleanup. Deleted old downloads. Deleted history and cookies. Also got rid of old, spongy feeling plastic screen guard. Did Restart. Speeded up a bit, but touch screen still touchy, and cursor still wants to jump up into the comment to which i am replying on this forum. I have to keep putting it back in my Reply section of my post. I think I will try another repair guy before I buy another tablet. Spellcheck is screwed up in a way that is hard to explain. It seems to be picking up extra words or letters that are not there.

 

[WheelEstate USA]

I was having issues something like that on my Motocell. I was using Firefox, but switched to Chrome and cleared up my problems.

 

[NeedAnEscape]

Try running a factory reset. You will lose everything on the tablet but it may fix some of your issues.

 

[gcal]

Try running a factory reset. You will lose everything on the tablet but it may fix some of your issues.

As a last resort, I will do this. A techie acquaintance I emailed said that even tablets can pick up "clutter" that slows them down and affects their functions. She did not think much of the internal corrosion hypothesis for my Samsung. I will have to make a list of the apps that I have added so I can reload when I am done.

AND I think I am going to have to make a manual paper list of all the stuff in my Memos - birthdays, to-do lists, my calorie log. Why do I keep putting things on electronic devices? I have lost them before!

 

[Goshawk]

I always use a cloud synchronize routine for anything I put on computer or tablet. Many will say the security risk is high doing that. But it's not data taut needs to be that secure.

 

[Rustyvan]

I've had my Toshiba 10.0 for 8 yrs only done factory reset once but all the updates are turned off never been updated an runs fine