Does UB Touch still work with Nexus 7 tablet?

KiwiNZWN · 23 Nov 2023, 05:18

My daughter is done with her Nexus 7 tablet after many years and it still works so I thought i might put UB Touch on it.

Can anyone confirm if it still works? Looking at the UBT site there is no mention I could find of it still being supported?

Many thanks.

MrT10001 · 23 Nov 2023, 06:15

@KiwiNZWN Yes, it does, but it is Xenial which is 16.04. Thetablet must be the later 2013 version (2nd edition), i.e no silver sides. There are two types, deb which has the SIM slot and flo which is wifi only.

I have quite a few that I have put UT on and it works well. Bear in mind 16.04 is end of life though and it won't be ported unless someone takes it on to Focal.

KiwiNZWN · 23 Nov 2023, 19:49

@KiwiNZWN Thank you very much. Mine has no silver sides so I'd assume its the newer edition. Are you saying its end of life for UB touch and the Nexus 7? If so something to think through.

MrT10001 · 23 Nov 2023, 20:26

@KiwiNZWN It still works fine on the latest Xenial and does what it does. The apps all still work. It just won't get updated unless the port is moved to Focal.

If you want something more Android, look at LineageOS or /e/OS.

KiwiNZWN · 24 Nov 2023, 06:21

@MrT10001 Ah I see. Yes have looked at Lineage too but UB touch looks easier to install.

Cheers.

MrT10001 · 24 Nov 2023, 08:03

@KiwiNZWN it is and it isn't! Experiences may vary. UT is for me the better platform, any Android based platforms give a more polished feel.

TrickyRicky · 27 Nov 2023, 23:06

Hello, I too am using UBT 16.04 on my Nexus 7 flo. Although its eol, its still great for web browsing and minor development. In my case, it was easy installing UBT on my Nexus 7 but harder installing UBT 20.04 on my Pixel 3a. Installation definetely varies as the Nexus 7 stops at Android 7ish and my pixel came with Android 12. I had to downgrade to Android 9 to make it compatible with UBT and then I had to flash UBT like 3 times before it was a successful install.

FWIW IMHO the Nexus 7 2013 models are good devices BUT with the lack of maintainers it makes it really hard to hang out on, considering the device support % score; you may want to move to a device that is not only UBT compatible but one that doesn't ship with anything past Android 9 because the downgrade process is tricky and risky if not careful.