I Turned a Dead Tablet Into My Favourite Device

It all started yesterday.

I was bored, and had a few bits of old hardware lying around. I was sifting through old laptops and broken iPads when I found the perfect device to play around with:

The Mi Pad 3.

However, it was old, slow, and not usable for anything more than watching a YouTube video.

But that’s when I had an idea.

My M3 iPad Air is overkill for most things. And when I use my phone, I end up on Instagram.

I didn’t need a powerful device. I needed a simple one.

So I wiped the Mi Pad, chucked Niagara Launcher on it, and downloaded:

• Mini Metro
• Apple Music
• Jellyfin
• NewPipe
• Pinterest

And nothing else.

No Slack notifications, no distractions, and no social media.

At first, it was interesting. I wasn’t sure how or if I would use it, but it all clicked when I sat down in my beanbag, put on my bootleg Regional at Best CD, and played Mini Metro.

There was no lag, no friction, and no urge to open Instagram and doomscroll till 1am.

I even gave it a place. It sits between my CDs and my CD player (yes, I like my physical music).

Suddenly it didn’t feel like an old tablet anymore. It felt like a tool.

A tool to entertain.

And somehow, it’s better than my newer tech.

Because it doesn’t try to do everything.
It just does a few things really well.

Old hardware isn’t bad. We just use it wrong.

Catch ya next time,
josh [at] slitro [dot] studio