Some thoughts on low-cost Android devices (incl. H96 Max) and teaching computer usage on them to children from poor rural communities in India

Last updated on 15th Oct. 2022
Minor update on 26 Jun. 2024

Readers may want to see: List of my posts related to H96Max (H96 Max) Android TV box, https://ravisiyermisc.blogspot.com/2024/06/list-of-my-posts-related-to-h96max-h96.html , 26 Jun. 2024

This is a longish post with the following sections:

*) What happened to Aakash, the 7 inch tablet at Rs.3000 promoted by Indian government that got global attention in 2011-12?

*) What's the picture today about 7 inch Android tablets and their use for teaching computer usage to school children

*) Some info. and thoughts about Android devices and their awesome penetration in poor working class communities in rural India

*) Trying out H96 Max Android TV box along with 15 inch. non touch screen monitor and USB mouse & keyboard, as Android mini computer

-----

What happened to Aakash, the 7 inch tablet at Rs.3000 promoted by Indian government that got global attention in 2011-12?

First some background on my interest in Android based tablets/mini PCs for education of rural poor. Over ten years ago, I had put up this post: The Brains Behind Aakash, the Rs. 3000 (aka $35) Tablet, https://eklavyasai.blogspot.com/2011/10/brains-behind-akaash-rs-3000-tablet.html , October 16, 2011.

The coverage of this Aakash tablet plan promoted by Govt. of India, was global! I was fascinated by the plan. At that time, I did not have much exposure to Android, perhaps no exposure at all as I was using a Nokia E-52 Symbian phone then and not an Android one, and I did not own an Android tablet or Android box of any sort.

The project ran into some trouble within a year or two, if I recall correctly. And then I did not come across any news about it at all!

I did some browsing now (in 2022) for what happened to Aakash tablet. This 2012 article updated in 2014 gives some idea about why the dream project fizzled out: What Went Wrong With the Aakash Tablet, https://www.forbesindia.com/article/real-issue/what-went-wrong-with-the-aakash-tablet/33218/1 .

Its Wiki page also has some info. but most of it seems to be dated 2011 and 2012. Some extracts from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aakash_(tablet) are given below:

The Aakash was a low-cost tablet computer with a 7-inch touch screen, ARM 11 processor, and 256 MB RAM[7] running under the Android 2.2 operating system.

...

As of February 2012, DataWind had over 1,400,000 booking orders, but had only shipped 10,000 units which were 0.7% of booking orders.[26] As of November 2012, many customers who booked their orders still had not received their computers and were offered refunds.[27]

...

As released on 5 October 2011, the Aakash features an overall size of 190.5 x 118.5 x 15.7 mm with a 180 millimetres (7.1 in) resistive touchscreen,[28] a weight of 350 grams (12 oz), and using the Android 2.2 operating system with access to the proprietary marketplace Getjar (not the Android Market), developed by DataWind.

The processor runs at 366 MHz; there is a graphics accelerator and high definition(HD) video coprocessor. The tablet has 256 MB RAM, a micro SD slot with a 2 GB Micro SD card (expandable up to 32 GB), two USB ports, a 3.5 mm audio output and input jack, a 2100 mAh battery, Wi-Fi capability, a browser developed by DataWind, and an internal cellular and Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) modem. Power consumption is 2 watts, and there is a solar charging option.

...

Reception

Problems such as low memory, frequent system freezes, poor sound quality, absence of support for all formats, and inability to install free software available online were also cited by users.[41] Technical commentator Prasanto Roy criticized issues such as a low battery life, an insufficient 7" screen, and absence of training and support infrastructure, especially in rural areas.[42]

In the November 2012 issue of PCQuest, some letters described Datawind to be a fraud company, and the users wanted to sue the company in consumer court.[why?]

According to allegations made in the Hindustan Times, the Tuli brothers "may have" procured these devices off-the-shelf from manufacturers in China and sold them to the Indian government at the purchase price.[33]Suneet Singh Tuli, CEO of DataWind, however, insisted that only the manufacture of the motherboards were subcontracted to Chinese manufacturers, following which the components were placed in DIY kits which DataWind assembled and sold to the Indian government HRD.[33][55] Chinese manufacturers allege that they sold "ready-to-use" tablets to Datawind, and that they manufactured the touch screens as well. Tuli, however, insists that the touch screens were manufactured by DataWind in Canada.

[References:]

7. Aakash tablet will end 'digital divide'". Montreal Gazette, Jason Magder, 6 October 2011. Archived from the original on 8 November 2011. Retrieved 3 November 2011.

26. Aakash lurches toward another crisis as India loses patience with DataWind Engadget, Retrieved on 1 March 2013.

27. Datawind to clear all paid orders for Aakash in 6 weeks The Hindu Business Line, Retrieved on 1 March 2013.

28. Hands On: India's $35 Aakash Android tablet lands in America (exclusive)". VentureBeat. Retrieved 31 July 2012.

33. Conned: Aakash 2 made in China? Archived 27 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine

42. "Why India's Cheap Tablet May Not Work Out". 31 October 2011. Archived from the original on 2 November 2011. The cheapest mobile handset doesn't compromise on the basics: calls, SMS, battery life. Nor does the Tata Nano. The Aakash does

55. Govt paid for specs, not Chinese parts in Aakash 2: Datawind. Firstpost. Retrieved on 9 December 2013.

--- end wiki extracts ---

Proprietary marketplace Getjar! Hmm. That seems to have been a bad mistake, I think. Also it is very sad to see the allegations that Chinese manufactures made that they sold "ready-to-use" tablets to Datawind, even if Datawind says that the touch screens were manufactured in Canada.

What's the picture today about 7 inch Android tablets and their use for teaching computer usage to school children

OK, that Aakash project promoted by Govt. of India was a dismal failure. Where are we now when it comes to 7 inch Android tablet availability and price in India? Let's look at amazon India as that will give us some idea of the price for a consumer who buys one or limited number of such devices. 

The lowest price 7 inch tablet on Amazon India today seems to be: I KALL N7 WiFi Tablet (7 Inch Display, 2GB, 16GB) | Black, https://www.amazon.in/KALL-N7-Tablet-Display-Black/dp/B0B4K9G3TK/ for Rs.3699. So that's quite close to the Aakash Rs.3000 figure ten years ago (I am not factoring in inflation but I am quite sure that Rs.3699 today will be less than inflation-adjusted Rs.3000 in 2011/2012). Of course, IKALL specs. are superior to Aakash as it is ten years later.

And surprise, surprise, Ikall seems to be an Indian company (started in 2015): https://ikall.in/about-us/ . Hmm. So what Datawind (Canada based, if I recall correctly) could not deliver in 2011/2012 seems to now be made available by an Indian company. But the review comments on the above amazon page are not good. So I really don't know how popular such low-cost tablets from IKALL are in India. I mean, I don't think it is a well known brand in India but I could be wrong as I lead a rather reclusive life in rural India and so am quite out-of-touch with current market stuff.

The lowest priced 7 inch tablet from a company whose brand is well-known (IMHO) for relatively low-cost Laptops and desktop PCs in India, is from Lenovo: Lenovo Tab E7, Tb-7104I Tablet, (7 inch, 8GB + WI-FI + 3G + Voice Calling)- Slate Black, https://www.amazon.in/Lenovo-Tb-7104I-Tablet-WI-FI-Calling/dp/B07TXT739W/ , Rs. 5490. The RAM is not mentioned in the main specs but a comment mentioned that it is 1GB RAM (above IKALL product is 2GB RAM). The review comments for this model are moderate - not great but not bad either.

Price-wise, the next well known brand product in India is from Samsung which is slightly bigger than 7 inch: Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite 22.05 cm (8.7 inch), Slim Metal Body, Dolby Atmos Sound, RAM 3 GB, ROM 32 GB Expandable, Wi-Fi-only Tablet, Gray, https://www.amazon.in/Samsung-Galaxy-Expandable-Wi-Fi-only-Tablet/dp/B096SD9818/ , Rs.10,999. Review comments for this are generally good.

I think the above gives us a decent idea of the low and medium cost 7 inch or slightly higher size tablet market for consumers in India today.

I think that such 7 inch or slightly higher size Android tablets surely would be very helpful for education of poor in rural India. I think the bad reviews for the IKALL tab. on above amazon page make it a product to avoid. So I think the best budget choice would be the Lenovo tab. at around Rs.5,500.

But I would prefer to have a larger size display if I were to teach computer stuff to school children in India. As a teacher, at least for the demonstration computer, I would prefer at least 10 inch display. I mean, if I wanted to teach about a medium complexity spreadsheet, I would feel hampered by a 7 inch display even if that is projected to a bigger area on some screen.  But the students who have the money power to purchase a tablet for themselves could use a tab. like the 7 inch Lenovo tab. mentioned above. 

An interesting choice for the 10 inch tablet is: Lenovo Tab M10 HD 2nd Gen (25.65 cm (10.1 inch), 2 GB, 32 GB, Wi-Fi) with Metallic Body and Octa core Processor, https://www.amazon.in/Lenovo-10-1-Wi-Fi-Metallic-Processor/dp/B08ZYT3MGD/ , Rs.10,887. The review comments are generally good. 

But can one teach basic computer usage including email, Internet browsing, using Office applications like word processor and spreadsheet, simple image editing etc., using Android OS? 

I googled for 'India teaching spreadsheet usage using Android tablet'. I got video results like this one: Excel for Android tablet: Getting started, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajSA4H25zbg , 2 min. 14 secs., published by Microsoft 365 on 29th Jan. 2015.

I also got this Google link within top ten results: How to use Google Sheets, https://support.google.com/docs/answer/6000292?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid .

But I did not get links of regular classes to teach spreadsheet usage using Android tablet. I wonder how many such computer classes in India use a Windows or Linux Laptop/desktop PC and how many use an Android tablet or even Android phone. I suspect that only a small percentage, as of now, use Android tablets/phone for this purpose.

Given the great penetration of low-cost Android smartphones in rural India I think many school children and youngsters in general, in rural India may now be somewhat familiar with basic operations in Android. 

Therefore I think that teaching them how to use email, Internet browser, word processing, spreadsheet, image editing etc. on Android tablets may be a very interesting approach. Instead of buying a 7 inch tablet they could use slightly smaller size Android smartphone (displays) that they have access to, in their home, family and friends environment. So they could try out what is taught in class on these Android phones they access to.

Some info. and thoughts about Android devices and their awesome penetration in poor working class communities in rural India

I think it is appropriate to share some info. from Android OS wiki page, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(operating_system) :

Android is a mobile operating system based on a modified version of the Linux kernel and other open source software, designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Android is developed by a consortium of developers known as the Open Handset Alliance and commercially sponsored by Google. It was unveiled in November 2007, with the first commercial Android device, the HTC Dream, being launched in September 2008.

...

Android has been the best-selling OS worldwide on smartphones since 2011 and on tablets since 2013. As of May 2021, it has over three billion monthly active users, the largest installed base of any operating system,[9] and as of January 2021, the Google Play Store features over 3 million apps.[10] Android 12, released on October 4, 2021, is the latest version.[11]

[References:]

9. Cranz, Alex (May 18, 2021). "There are over 3 billion active Android devices". The Verge. Retrieved March 24, 2022.

10. "Number of Android applications on the Google Play store". AppBrain. Retrieved August 12, 2020.

11. "Android 12 has been released to the Android Open Source Project", https://www.engadget.com/android-12-android-open-source-project-173339442.html .

--- end wiki extracts ---

The points to note are that Android is designed primarily for touch devices (like smartphones & tablets), and that, as of May 2021, Android has the largest installed base of any operating system with three billion monthly active users. Google Play Store having over 3 million apps is another very important point.

An important game-changer for rural India, in this context, was low-cost mobile Internet service provided by Reliance Jio from around mid 2016. Here are some of my old posts on it:

*) Planning to have Jio 4G mobile Internet 399 pkg + Lower cost BSNL 470ULD Landline broadband, https://ravisiyer.wordpress.com/2017/07/30/planning-to-have-jio-4g-mobile-internet-399-pkg-lower-cost-bsnl-470uld-landline-broadband/ , July 30, 2017

*) Changed BSNL BB plan to 470ULD; using Jio 4G mobile Internet as primary and BSNL BB as secondary, https://ravisiyer.wordpress.com/2017/08/06/changed-bsnl-bb-plan-to-470uld-using-jio-4g-mobile-internet-as-primary-and-bsnl-bb-as-secondary/ , August 6, 2017

*) Extraordinary low cost 4G smartphone (sub Rs 3000) and low cost 4G Internet access portends very bright outlook on this front for India, and perhaps the world, https://ravisiyer.wordpress.com/2017/10/16/extraordinary-low-cost-4g-smartphone-sub-rs-3000-and-low-cost-4g-internet-access-portends-very-bright-outlook-on-this-front-for-india-and-perhaps-the-world/ , October 16, 2017 

An extract from this post: "These past few months seem to be raining bonanzas for Indian customers of low-cost 4G Internet services as well as 4G Internet devices. I am pleasantly shocked to see how they seem to have already revolutionized Internet usage by lower middle class and poor Indians across the country, I guess, with more low-cost gizmos on offer! I think these offerings will have long-term and large-scale impact of vastly improved delivery of Internet based services of various kinds including education related, to lower middle class and poor Indians across the country. That is a source of great joy and happiness to me."

*) LYF C459 low-priced 4G Android smartphone and its setup, https://ravisiyer.wordpress.com/2018/02/04/lyf-c459-low-priced-4g-android-smartphone-and-its-setup/ , February 4, 2018.

Some extracts from above post:

"I ordered a (Jio owned) LYF C459 4G smartphone for Rs. 3899 from Jio Website on 28th Jan. 2018.

Key specs of the LYF C459 device are: 4.5 inch touchscreen display, Quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 210 processor, Dual SIM (4G + 2G), 1 GB RAM, 8 GB Internal storage expandable via micro SD Card to 128 GB, 5 MP and 2 MP cameras, Android 6.0.1 and 2000 mAH Li-Ion battery.

I received the phone by courier on 31st Jan. 2018 morning."

...

"Overall the phone meets my limited needs for it – primarily as an Internet access device and usage of MyJio app related freebies/cashback vouchers. I also may use its free phone calls facility but the health issue that I have given below may hold me back from using that. So far I have not tested the phone call facility of this LYF C459 device. I use an old Nokia E-52 3G phone as my primary phone device."

==========

So I started Jio mobile Internet from around August 2017 (with a dongle, if I recall correctly) and started using an Android smartphone (a low-cost one) from February 2018. Perhaps some of the poor working classes in Puttaparthi like auto drivers started using low-cost Android smartphones from around 2018 or 2019. The COVID pandemic and associated lockdown in India from end March 2020 resulted in a boost for online schooling in Puttaparthi with low-cost Android smartphones being perhaps the main device used by local schoolchildren as well as college students (including children of some locals I know) for online schooling. I mean, laptops seem to be generally too expensive for many of the poor working class families in Puttaparthi. But they can somehow gather the money to purchase low-cost Android smartphones. Today I checked with my maid about her school going son (9th standard, if I recall correctly) having a smartphone. She said her son insisted on buying a smartphone during the lockdown days when online schooling was the norm. She paid Rs.10,000 for her son's smartphone. I think it is only in recent past (after Jun 2022) that her son's school has restarted classroom teaching. In the meantime, her schoolkid son seems to have learned about Android smartphones and apps including Whatsapp which is a popular messaging (and audio/video calls) app. in India. That's an astonishing positive from COVID lockdown days which I am quite sure would be true for many rural poor working class families in India.

In my own case, a few months after COVID lockdown started, I decided to buy a medium level Android phone instead of my low-end LYF phone, as smartphone became a more important device for life during lockdown. In early June 2020, I bought a Samsung M21 Android smartphone (6 GB RAM/128 GB Storage, 6.4 inch display, Android 10.0 operating system with 2.3GHz Exynos 9611-Octa Core processor, 6000 mAh model priced at Rs.15,499, https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B098NGDNMT/?th=1 (shows only 4 GB model now) ) and have been using it since then as my primary phone. This medium level smartphone enabled me to try out a lot more Android features and apps than my low-end LYF smartphone. But I still prefer working on desktop (which happens to be Windows OS but I would be quite OK with Linux as well for stuff like composing blog posts) with 22 inch monitor which is what I am doing now as I am composing this blog post. While I have blogger app installed on my Samsung M21 phone, I use it for only making small modifications to my blog posts, and find the prospect of composing a post like this one on it, to be quite unattractive.

To summarize, it has been like a mini tech revolution in the past few years in Puttaparthi, a town in rural India where I live. I think, most of the poor working class locals (including maids) in Puttaparthi who had only seen others using laptops and computers, now have access to low-cost Android smartphones (referred to as 'touch phones', I gather) either directly by owning one or indirectly by a close relative owning one (like a maid having a keypad phone (non smartphone) but her son/husband having an Android smartphone). App has become a familiar word to many of them (including some maids). There are apps supporting Telugu language text. Whatsapp and Facebook are well known such apps. Municipal taxes can be paid using an Android app (probably supported or created by state government (of Andhra Pradesh) ). It seems to me that Android smartphones have brought the online world through apps to most of the poor working class locals in Puttaparthi thereby succeeding in this penetration which could not be done earlier by laptops and desktop computers as they were more expensive to purchase. As an old (and obsolete from software development perspective) techie, I am amazed by this empowerment of poor working class people in rural India by Android low-cost smartphones and low-cost mobile Internet service providers, and consider it to be one of the great achievements of technology empowerment of the poor in rural India. Note that this seems to be an international (USA and China being the prominent foreign countries in this tech. area) and Indian private sector driven achievement with Govt. of India providing some infrastructure support and a secure environment with rule of law. I congratulate all the persons and organizations involved in this great achievement.

Trying out H96 Max Android TV box along with 15 inch. non touch screen monitor and USB mouse & keyboard, as Android mini computer

At the outset itself I would like to say that H96 Max is not designed to be used as an Android mini PC even if amazon India pages for it, claim that it (and similar products) is a mini PC. H96 Max is a media player device streaming content from Internet but also playing media from local storage. I mainly use it as a media player (videos mainly) and I find it to be good at this task.

Readers may want to view my December 2021 post: Short review of H96 Max Android TV box: rooted Android (and so less safe), RK3318 Quad-core Cortex-A53, 4 GB RAM, 32 GB Storage, Android V11 and EU plug, costing around Rs.3000, https://ravisiyermisc.blogspot.com/2021/12/short-review-of-h96max-android-tv-box.html .

But since I have this H96 Max box, I was wondering if it, and similar Android TV box products, can be used for teaching Android computer usage to children in poor schools/environments in rural India, and as a mini PC in general. It is the low price of the Android TV box that makes it interesting for this purpose. We can get an Android TV box from amazon India for Rs.3000 or less, which has an HDMI port to connect to a TV or monitor, two USB ports (through which one can connect mouse and keyboard), network port, WiFi and Bluetooth. That's an amazing deal for around Rs.3000. Add 15 inch HDMI monitor at Rs.3500, and USB keyboard & mouse at Rs.600, then all that is needed to have a PC is Internet facility through LAN cable or WiFi, and a UPS at Rs.2400. So the basic device + UPS cost comes to around Rs.9500 i.e. in the Rs.10000 range.

We have 5 inches more display than in a 10 inch tablet in the same price range of Rs.10000. But crucially the tablet has a touch screen with Android apps. typically expecting a touch screen display whereas the low-cost 15 inch monitors mentioned above are not touch screen.

Note that such Android TV boxes come with a remote that can be used to operate the basic media player functionality of the box. But typing text using the remote and an onscreen keyboard is very cumbersome.

I invested some time in exploring using H96 Max to run Android apps for email, Internet browsing, word processing, spreadsheet, simple image editing etc. tasks which is what one would need to teach school children about. This section captures most of this exploratory work I did.

Some background info ...

What is Android TV? It is an OS based on Android meant for TVs, set-top boxes etc. Some but not all apps from Google Play Store, are supported on Android TV. For more see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_TV .

We have Android TVs and Android TV boxes. The Android TV has built-in Android OS support and processing power to handle streaming media from Internet. The Android TV box (like H96 Max) converts an ordinary TV (with HDMI port) or a monitor (with HDMI port) into an Android TV.

Most TVs are not touch screen and Android TV OS seems to be designed for operation of the Android TV box or Android TV with a remote.

----

Overview of Observations

Now about my observations (mostly issues) about using the H96 Max Android TV box for such purposes. An overview of my observations are given below:

1) The tablet is a touch screen device and most Android apps use touch gestures that can be done in a straight forward way on the tablet. The 15 in. monitor for Rs.3500 is not a touch screen device. With the USB mouse, most but not all touch gestures can be done on H96 Max + non-touch monitor. In particular, pinch gesture is a problem with Zoom In and Zoom Out in Google Sheets being a problem.

2) H96 Max is a rooted device which makes it a non-secure Android environment. But perhaps for teaching school kids basic computer usage on Android OS, security may not be an issue.

3) H96 Max does not have proper service and support in India (whereas the Lenovo tablet at Rs.10000 would have that). I think this applies to most Android TV boxes on sale in amazon India.

4) H96 Max seems to have both Google Play Store and APKPure,  https://apkpure.com/p/com.apkpure.aegon (both being pre-installed if I recall correctly). APKPure web page states, "With APKPure, you can instantly download locked (unavailable) games in your country, pre-register games and install many other apps on Android devices." If I recall correctly, the pre-installed Chrome browser in it can be updated only via APKPure and not Google Play Store. Chrome browser does not seem to be officially available for Android TV though there are workarounds to installing it on Android TV (for details, see https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/install-chrome-android-tv/ ).

Very interestingly, most of the apps I tried from Google Play Store got installed on H96 Max and operated quite well. This was an important positive of H96 Max. I mean, one can install and run almost all, if not all, the standard Android apps one would need to teach basic computer usage (email, browser, office apps, image editing etc.) on this Rs.3000 box! That's great!

5) [15th Oct. 2022 Update: I realized that the problem explained in this point happens when H96 Max starts up while modem is not ready and so H96 Max does not have access to Internet. end-Update.] I run into some strange issues with H96 Max at times like it losing current date & time and having October 2021 as its date which trips up Internet access (due to SSL certificates issue I think) from YouTube and Chrome apps. I need to uncheck use network time and check it again after which H96 Max gets the current date & time, and Internet access works from YouTube and Chrome apps.

6) The On Screen keyboard popping up now and then, makes USB keyboard usage tedious for some apps like Google Sheets and Excel. But workaround using No Keyboard app provides a decent fix to the problem.

Concluding remarks (Overview)

What above trial shows is the potential for an Android box like H96 Max at roughly the same price, which is NOT rooted (and hence secure) and uses Android OS (instead of Android TV OS) as a low-cost Android computer box which needs only a low-cost non-touch-screen HDMI monitor and USB keyboard & mouse to become an Android computer without touch-screen but still largely functional with keyboard & mouse input. Perhaps one can even replace current OS in H96 Max with Android OS and set it up to be without root access. But that will need significant level OS installation experimentation which I am not in a position to do now.

The bottom line is that low-cost Android (regular Android and not Android TV) boxes at around Rs.3000 with 4GB RAM, 32 GB Flash storage, Quad-core ARM processor, HDMI, USB, Bluetooth, WiFi, LAN, micro SD card slot etc. seem to be in the do-able range for manufacturers today, at least Chinese manufacturers. That's quite a fascinating possibility. 

Details of Observations

1)  Using No Keyboard app. provided a great solution to making Android On Screen Keyboard (AOSK) going away. It was quite an irritation earlier as the AOSK would pop-up whenever I would type in data into app. windows/dialogs using the (physical) USB keyboard. In some cases, it would disappear on mouse right-click and then enable me to type into the app. freely without AOSK re-appearing.

I also noticed that cut/copy-paste even of a space character in the main window (like Gmail compose window) results in AOSK going away! But as soon as one uses the mouse, say to position the cursor, the On Screen keyboard is back! So one has to then use single mouse right click to make AOSK go away

Installing No Keyboard app. by Vishnu N.K., https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.github.visnkmr.nokeyboard , and following the setup instructions in it, did the trick well.

I had earlier come across this article (via Google Search): Hide Android On-Screen Keyboard When Using External Keyboard, https://www.guidingtech.com/19202/hide-on-screen-keyboard-android-external/ . It suggested using a Null Keyboard app but I could not find that in Google Play (on H96 Max). Next suggestion was to use ANYSOFTKEYBOARD app but when I tried that, even after following instructions, it did not work for me. It was then I decided to check out the No Keyboard app which I had seen being listed when I was searching for Null Keyboard app.

2) Using a Spreadsheet app.

I tried out Google Sheets and Collabra spreadsheet which is based on LibreOffice.

I struggled initially in Google Sheets as I did not know how to bring up context menu, which comes up on desktop PC with mouse right-click. Note that right-click of mouse on H96 Max results in Back action.

The cell size was tiny when Google Sheets first came up and so was the text size even though Arial 9 or 10, if I recall correctly, was the font size. I think the app could not figure out something on H96 Max which resulted in that tiny size. Later it got corrected by itself (after a restart I think). But in a later invocation, the tiny size issue cropped up again.

Later I learned how to increase row size in Google Sheets, l. Increased font size of cells to 24 (Arial) to make text easily visible! I thought 12 should be good enough but it was still tiny to read with 12.

Also learned how to increase column size. The key thing to do is to long left mouse click-press after selecting cells which acts like right-click on PC desktop, and brings up a pop-up menu with resize among the commands. 

[On PC desktop, to open pic in larger resolution (if available), right-click on pic followed by open link (NOT image) in new tab/window. In new tab/window you may have to click on pic to zoom in.]

Above pic: Google Sheets on H96 Max with tiny sized cells & text, followed by rows that I manually increased size of, and used bigger font text


Above pic: Google Sheets on H96 Max in an invocation where it showed normal size of cells & text


Above pic: Google Sheets on H96 Max in a later invocation where it reverted to tiny cell size for normal cells

As Google Sheets cell size on H96 Max seems to randomly be tiny or normal size, using bigger size cells & font is not a good workaround solution.

On my Samsung M21 phone, this issue does not happen. Further, pinch gesture acts as Zoom and so setting zoom size of Google Sheets is easy. I tried out various suggested (on Internet sites) mouse operations (including shift + mouse wheel, and mouse left single-click followed quickly by left mouse button drag, if I recall correctly) that may result in Zoom of  Android apps in general. But that did not work on Google Sheets on H96 Max.

Tried out simple calculations on the Google Sheet which gave results as expected:
Number1 Number2 Operand Result
10 20 + 30
10 20 * 200

Later I tried out Collabora spreadsheet too.

Google Sheets typing response is fast as compared to Collabora spreadsheet. Google Sheets selection of cells to copy and then paste is easy once one uses the long press (long left mouse click-press)

Even with this small trial I think it is clear that Google Sheets is superior in performance and ease-of-use to Collabora spreadsheets.

It took some time for me to figure out how to do some common things in Google Sheets that one does in Excel but searching on the Internet gave good results.

That's the benefit of going with a well known app like Google Sheets.

Later I installed Microsoft Office on H96 Max creating a new Microsoft account for that purpose (that account creation tripped up on 'not robot' captcha - repeatedly came up - but using audio instead of image captcha solved that issue). Excel on H96 Max was great. Zoom operations was not a problem (through menu choice as well as Shift + mouse wheel if I recall correctly). Surprisingly Microsoft Excel on H96 Max seemed to be easier to operate than Google Sheets! The pics below show the same spreadsheet I used for my Google Sheets trial, saved (exported) as .xls and then opened in Microsoft Excel on H96 Max.


Above pic: Microsoft Excel on H96 Max with .xls version of test file I created on Google Sheets, opened.


Above pic: Microsoft Excel on H96 Max with .xls version of test file I created on Google Sheets, opened.


Above pic: Microsoft Excel on H96 Max showing zoom percentage (75%) in centre of screen, as I was using mouse wheel to zoom in & out. Also note that Zoom In and Zoom Out toolbar buttons for View menu are shown which can be easily clicked with mouse.

3) Nice Notepad app: Text Editor by Byte Mobile, https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.byteexperts.texteditor , seems to be a great text editor app. I tried it out as I faced a problem with copy paste of text content from Google Sheet to a Google doc on H96 Max. It was getting pasted as a table! I was not getting a paste special option to paste it as text.

Pasting into Text Editor pasted the Sheets cells’ content as text! Great! Then I copy-pasted the text from Text Editor into the Google doc.

4) Deleting files from Google Doc, Google Drive etc.

I struggled to find out how to delete files from Google Doc and Google Drive. The problem was that the menu coming up on pressing vertical … button next to file entry, did not scroll all the choices when I used the mouse wheel. It showed some more choices than was shown initially when I mouse wheel-scrolled down but not all the choices. Remove was lower down in the menu which got shown when I dragged up the menu to middle/top of screen!  

5) Button Mapper and Swiftly Switch apps on H96 Max

Button Mapper,  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=flar2.homebutton , is a nice Android app. that allows one to set up keyboard shortcuts on H96 Max to actions like launching an app. Swiftly Switch app. lets one easily switch across running apps. using the mouse.

Side bar screen Swiftly Switch (free & limited version of what seems to be paid app. Swiftly Switch),  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.de_studio.recentappswitcher.trial , as used by me is shown in H96 Max screenshot below where I have used the mouse to pull right edge (middle slightly protruding part) of screen resulting in current apps being listed and allowing me to switch easily to any current app.


Button Mapper mappings along with some default mappings that I have set up/use (on 10th Aug.
2022) on Microsoft Comfort Curve keyboard are as follows:

[If an entry does not mention whether it is single tap/click, double tap/click or long press, it
should be assumed it is single tap/click.]

Back arrow key: Back
Forward arrow key: Default action which seems to do nothing
Multimedia keys are mapped to default action
Home: Default action of going to home screen
Mail: Default action of opening GMail app

F2: Settings
F3: Docs (Google Docs)
F4: Drive (Google Drive)

F5: Default action of listing all apps
F6: Default action of YouTube
F7: Default action of NetFlix
F8: Default action of Google Play Store

F9: Chrome
F10: A+ Gallery
F11: Files
F12: Button Mapper

PrtScn: Default action of Print Screen
Calculator, Single tap/click: Sleep device (H96 Max)
Calculator, Long press: Power key showing options to Power Off and Restart
-----------------
Note 1: Mouse single right click to make On Screen keyboard go away.
Note 2 : Some actions like 'Recent Apps' and 'Last App' set in Button Mapper don't seem to
work for H96 Max.
===============

[I thank Wikipedia and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above extract(s) from their website on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]

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