If there's one thing about me, it's that I always try to buy only durable things. Many may think that expensive equals reliable but this isn't always the case. I didn't think I was going to talk about the time I went for "less durable" this soon, but here goes:
One of the things I promised to get myself before fully immersing myself in an educational journey was a tablet. This tablet was to serve as both a motivator and guide. My needs were pretty simple, “a tablet for reading and browsing”. So, if the tablet had good storage and internet connection, I was sold.
I browsed online and what my eyes saw, my mind couldn't get a hang of. After some serious scrolling, I finally found one that fit my criteria and was within my budget.
Red flag #1: the tablet I found wasn't available in my country and had to be imported. I didn't give this much thought because it didn't seem like a big deal. Little did I know..
I consulted a tech-savvy friend who practically laughed when I showed him pictures of the tablet I wanted to get. He explicitly told me that durable tablets cost way more and that this particular tablet was going to be a waste of time, money and resources even when it checked all my boxes. Did I listen? No, because I can be very adamant sometimes.
I wired the cash to him and waited. After a whole month of daydreaming about my shiny new tablet, it finally arrived and I happily unboxed it.
Red flag #2: the tablet was half the size that was shown in the pictures and just a few inches bigger than a regular mobile device. Again, I didn't think too much of this.
The first month with this tablet was bliss. The internet was slow but usable, storage was decent and I was able to read with minimal distractions. My point of consolation was “for the price I got it, the tablet is decent” even when there were glaring red flags.
Eventually, my usage of the tablet reduced due to some reasons. Life happened. The tablet was relegated to the “occasional glance” zone and a few weeks after, I stopped using it. One could say the euphoria was gone but the main reason was the fact this tablet was stressing me out.
Three months after I got it, the tablet went black. I tried turning it on, nothing. I thought it was the power cable so I bought a new one that worked for a few days and then I was back to square one. The frustration was so intense. It got to a point where I always had to say a word of prayer before even touching this tablet.
The battery was another issue on its own. They said it had a “5000mah battery” but the battery could barely last for four hours. You know those types of batteries that drain even when the phone is turned off? Yes! That was it.
I bought all the accessories I could think of to revive this tablet but the tablet, which seemed to have a mind of its own, was playing tic tac toe with me.
Finally, I took it to a gadgets repairs store to get it checked out and after hearing “the parts of this tablets are not available in this country, we'd have to import them”, I gently collected the tablet, walked back to my house and placed it on a shelf because I singlehandedly emptied my savings to cause this particular problem for myself and I wasn't about to let it triumph over me.
If the tablet can't function like a proper device, it may as well function as a piece of furniture.
Images belong to me.