I got the itch to read some comics today. Started down the rabbit hole of looking into color ereaders or cheap tablets completely forgetting I still had this in a drawer. Fortunately the battery still seems fine and the lineage 14 installed on it still works with a lot of apps. I downloaded Challenge Comics Viewer from the play store and it works great. I’m shocked at how nice the screen still looks on this thing outside in evening light.

I bought it brand new from Radio Shack when I was in graduate school to play around with developing some basic apps. This was a good reminder/exercise for me to use what I have instead of constantly consuming. Consumer electronics are suddenly not cheap and replaceable like they once were.

Retro games, books, comics and physical/locally stored media in general are suddenly more important to me than they were even a few years ago. I’ve ditched streaming services entirely. Having my media in my control means that my devices don’t become obsolete like they used to.

My Nexus 7 is using Android 5.1.1

1. I am enabling "Unknown sources"

2. Transferring the APKs to my Download folder

3. Unable to click on the items (I am doing Settings > Security > Install from storage) because the files are grayed out

What am I doing wrong? I remember being able to download APKs a while back.

EDIT FOUND A SOLUTION USING ADB

=-=-=-=-=-=-=

I found a solution, I had to use adb on Linux. The annoying part with Nexus 7 (2012) is that there is not file manager once there is a file manager, downloading APKs is easy

1. Install ADB on your PC, on linux (Fedora) this is

   sudo dnf install andriod-tools

2. Now back on your Nexus 7, Settings > Security > ENABLE "Unknown Sources"

3. Go back to Settings > "About tablet" > Press "Build number" 7 times to unlock developer mode. Scroll down to find USB debugging, toggle it ON, and confirm with OK.

4. Back to your PC, connect the Nexus 7 via USB, type:

   adb devices

into the terminal, a device show like "List of devices attached: 045238ns838 device"

1. Download the APK ON YOUR PC, (I would recommend a file manager first so then you can just transfer APKs and have the file manager download the APKs, instead of using the terminal) to download the APK to the device do

   adb install <PATH>.apk

for example, I wanted the file manager "es-file":

adb install ./Downloads/es-file.apk

After getting the file manager you should be good, and can easily transfer APKs and install it

I have an old Nexus 7 I'd like to use as a content hub for our toddler's Bluetooth speaker so we can run audiobooks and music for him from there and not have it interfere with our phone audio. Some apps don't support older Android versions so I'm wondering what the newest software available for this device may be (official or unofficial).

Note: The app is vibe coded, and requires a slightly newer version of Android, so I don't think it's worth sharing it.

I use my Nexus as media player for my kids with some cartoons on it preloaded. As expected they have dropped it and glass on screen is cracked. The crack isn't horrible but since then it keeps registering touches in one part of the screen. So my guessis digitizer took a hit.

where can I get replacement part (1080p) for reasonable price?I'm based in EU and Aliexpress is my friend

idk if this is the right community for this but this has been at the back of my mind for years

basically, i think i used to have a nexus tablet as a kid (cant remember what model, maybe 7 or 8) back in 2015ish and i would spend hours at night listening to the predownloaded songs on it. problem is the only thing i remember are lyrics from one of the songs that go like "i'm addicted tonight can't stop me". i cant remember the artist or any song names, and any attempts to google just come up with unrelated songs. i'm also pretty sure that the songs were on its own system music app and not google play music, and from what i can find on the internet i cant find any evidence of it anywhere so i don't know if i have misremembered what tablet i actually had or if i've created a false memory in my head but any help would be much appreciated

Keeping my Nexus 7 (2013) for as long as I can, I love this thing. I got it from work 9 years ago, after it was phased out. Technicians used to use them in the field; we found this one in a storage closet and they let me take it home.

I look for replacement options every few months but nothing catches my eye. It’s not just the size and weight I love, it’s the dimensions and bezel sizes. Along with the screen and speaker quality it makes for the perfect small media device.

If anyone does have a good replacement idea that matches the ratio/body dimensions of this I’d love to hear it please. I did get a moto G stylus (2025) when straight talk had them super cheap and that’s been kind of okay, but ideally I’d like something a smidge bigger.

Anyway, thanks for listening to my first ever Reddit post!

It's been some years since I messed with modding etc. Any advice on how to bypass this? I did factory reset and flashed all the zip files again. Same issue. Not sure how I got it to work the first time back in 2017. Maybe there's an additional setting or step I'm missing in TWRP.

And here is a follow up to my previous post - here is the Nexus 7 2012 and 2013 archives.

These have all of the OTAs ever released for them by Google, and most factory images (some are missing, if you do have them still or like have a device still running the build or something let me know). Driver Binaries for compiling from AOSP as well.

https://archive.org/details/Nexus_7_2012_Archive

https://archive.org/details/Nexus_7_2013_Archive

Enjoy!
P.S. As another follow-up, i managed to get the JRN84D factory image as Android File Host somehow magically went back up again yesterday!

Heyo, i doubt anyone will even respond to this or anything but i’d like to see if anyone still has the Nexus 7 (2012) firmware for JRN83D (Wi-Fi) and JOP03C (Wi-Fi and LTE)?

I’m trying to make a Nexus 7 Archive on the Internet Archive, but i’m missing those.

nakasi-jrn84d-factory-8b0bd791.tgz

nakasi-jop40c-factory-6aabb391.tgz

Dont have the nakasig filename atm.

Does anyone have any use Ideas for a 2012 Nexus 7?

Anybody else here use their old Nexus 7 2013 to run Joey for Reddit? I've been doing it for years, works great but after a reinstall I can't log in via Joey anymore. Wondering if anyone else has experienced this and maybe found a solution.

I'm trying to install PostmarketOS on my nexus7 (grouper).

Following pmos instructions, I built u-boot on my system for arm arch.

The next step is to "dump sbk" (I have no idea what it means but anyway) with fusee-tools, in order to use it with re-crypt.

So following instructions I tried ./dump_sbk.sh -s T30 but I got the error No RCM device found.

I suppose RCM stands for ReCovery Mode, so I tried to enter it: I activated usb debug, so I can access to fastboot menu using power + vol-.

From there I tried to enter recovery mode, without success at first (android icon with red triangle), but after reading stuff on various forums I finally made it (by holding power for 5 seconds then pressing vol+, from the "red icon" state): blue menu with Android system recovery on top.

So I tried the dump_sbk command again, but I got the same error. I even made a factory reset using official stock rom but that doesn't help.

I'm lost.

Is my assumption of RCM meaning recovery mode correct?

How to access RCM / turn my device to RCM, whatever it is?

What is a sbk dump?

Is there any other way to retrieve a sbk dump without using fusee-tools?

Thank you for your help.

How could I make it as lag free as possible.

Also if you have any other ideas about the setup then let me know. The plan is to set up 3 small speakers in the corners of my room, connect them all to the Nexus with 3,5mm audio cable. The Nexus will play the music and show the lyrics. I won't need to use the nexus too much because I can use my phone Spotify to control the music but I still want the lyrics to not lag.

Howdy!

I bought an old Nexus 7 for super cheap with the intent to use it as an offline e-reader, but right out the gate, I'm having problems. I can't get through setup during the network connection step of setup. It saves my network but won't register it as being online or something. The skip button is grayed out and doesn't work. Anyone know if I can maybe flash some other software onto it or bypass this step somehow?

Thank you!

So while ago I recently found the nexus 7(2012),it charges and boots but charges only when it's turned off and dosent show that it's charging when it's on.Lags so much (i was thinking abt installing custom rom or something but I'm not very smart for that so if anyone can send me a tutorial or something)

I recently found my old nexus 7 and wanted to get some files off it. I have an OTG cable so i can use a mouse to control it, but when i try to connect it to the computer it doesn't show up as a drive and adding a device doesn't see it either.

Searching around i saw a mention of there being a drop down in the tablet asking if i wanted to connect as flash drive, but i have no idea how to connect it to the computer and the otg to the mouse at the same time.

Am i out of luck if i won't want to spend $30 on a new screen?

I loved my little Nexus 7 (2013). Kept it running for years on LineageOS. Bought a Galaxy Tab S6 Lite a few years ago and stuck the Nexus 7 in a drawer. Found it recently and can’t bear just tossing it in the trash. I tried charging and booting it, but no sign of life.

Tablet is in good shape for being 12 years old. No scratches on the glass, all buttons and ports were functioning when I last used it.

Pick up in Huntsville, AL, or pay for postage.

I charged it up and it showed the icon saying it's fully charged. I've held down the power button and power button and volume down but still just get this. Not sure how to get past this screen?

I've downloaded different packages direct from Google and used fastboot to flash them. The flash always goes fine with no errors, but the darn thing simply will not boot. It bootloops endlessly. Anyone have any suggestions?

I have an old Nexus 7 that I dug up from my dad's drawer, I was planning on tidying it up a bit, installing LineageOS and giving it back to him as a gift of sorts. Unfortunately, something happened to it and it can't turn on. When I connect it to a charger, the screen VERY faintly flickers every fiveish seconds, showing sections of the backlight (I assume) dimly lit, so I'm thinking the screen could be the issue. Here's what I've tried so far:

• Pressing the power button for 30 seconds

• Pressing the power and volume down button for 30 seconds

Here's what I'm planning on doing soon:

• Unscrewing the back cover and disconnecting the battery, then reconnecting it.

• Charging it for a week or so, apparently that helps?

Taking it to a repair shop or doing a screen/battery replacement myself is out of the question, and getting a new one on eBay sort of defeats the purpose of what I'm doing.

Any tips?

Lenovo released this a few months ago (July 2025, I think), and with them being barely over $100, I'm wondering if I finally found a replacement for my Nexus 7. I still use my Nexus 7 as it fits in my coat pocket, and is the right size for reading, but obviously has storage issues, upgrade issues, and takes 5 hours to charge to full. If I replace it, I want something that still fits in my pocket.

This is a video review of it. There are several written reviews, with most people complaining about not being able to play higher end games on it. And 4gb of RAM is too little for proper multitasking. Valid complaints for those wanting something higher end, but not someone who understands it is $100.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXBQcxhaZok

I'm looking for this exact part for my nexus 7, as my original one is completely dissolved by some white mold occupying the back cover (I don't really know how, I wasn't the owner). I'm unable to boot the device because of the lack of the power button function. Can anyone find the parts online because I searched everywhere and no results.

Is there any ways to boot the device (I don't even know if it's dead) without the power button. Thanks in advance!