One of the things I'm pretty passionate about is finding the cheapest way to get onto Hive to make money. Now personally I have three computers which are excellent for getting onto Hive. I also have a nice tablet and three cellphones. All of those could easily connect to Hive.
So, why would I bother trying out cheap tablets and other ways to get onto Hive?
Easy : Not everyone has the luxury of having a nice device!
Looking from a developing nation perspective
I've heard from many of my Nigerian friends that times are tough in Nigeria right now. @jjmusa2004 is a doctor there and times are tough. @monica-ene is trying to open her own seamstress business and financing is tough. @rare-gem was saying just how hard it was to get through the month with food on the table. All of them have mentioned that supplementing their income through Hive has been a bright spot for them.
However, in a place where minimum wage is only about $30/month the thought of buying a $1000 PC of a $1500 cellphone is ludicrous. It is just not going to happen. The people who could benefit the most from getting their voice heard on Hive are the ones who likely can't afford it.
In that regard I wanted to see "What is the cheapest way to engage on Hive" . If I was in a nation with little hope and a lot of difficult economic times hwo would I survive. I'll use the @tergan account to look into how I would try to feed myself. I'll use this account to look at the tech purchases I'd make to try and earn money on Hive.
Right now I'm using a Pritom 7 tablet to write this post. I did a 3speak video on it which you can find here
However, I looked at 4 different ways to access the internet and post on Hive. Here is what I came up with.
Amazon Firestick
I picked up an amazon firestick for about $15 on sale. That's about the cheapest I could find for something that could access the internet. Yes, I had to use a bluetooth keyboard and bluetooth mouse to make it useful. Yes I had to find wifi for it to hook up. Yes, it needed an external monitor and to be connected to power. It also required me to side load android apps to get the ecency app to work.
Overall it as NOT a great way to connect to Hive. However, at $15 it was really cheap. My thought was this. If you had a situation such as a classroom where there was a monitor or two each student could have a Firestick and have their own "Hive Computer" where they could keep their own hive codes and their own writings. If the students shared the monitor, keyboard and mouse...well, then everyone could have their own access to Hive for the absolute lowest price I could find.
For most people though they are going to need something with their own screen.
Amazon 7" Tablet
Much like the Amazon Firestick there is a tablet version with either a 7 or 8" screen. They went on sale for $49 / $59 CAD (about $35/$42HBD). Honestly they workd very well. They had a decent screen. They were relatively fast. They hooked up nicely to bluetooth keyboard and mouse.
However, they required apps to be sideloaded as there is no Playstore. Now as a veteran android user that didn't provide any challenge to me but for someone who hasn't used android before? It could be a daunting task.
I'll save this as a great idea but not for everyone.
Pritom 7 tablet
This is what I'm using now. I ordered it from Aliexpress. for about $35 HBD delivered to my house. Honestly it is not a great tablet. The sound is tinny. The display isn't very crisp or bright. As you can tell from the image it has an awful camera (both front and rear).
But...
If you are just doing a single task you can watch video's OK. You can connect a keyboard, mouse and speaker to make it a much better feel. It has playstore so getting Ecency to blog was a breeze. However it doesn't allow screen capture which makes it tough to grab things from the screen to put in a blog.
Overall though for the low price point AND because Aliexpress will ship virtually anywhere it makes it an inexpensive and accessible choice to access Hive.
Galaxy A7 Tablet
Now this is the tablet WITH a sim card slot inside so it can use cellular data. My price for the tablet is $260 CAD (about $179HBD) which is pretty expensive by developing nation standards. At that price it would be hard to recommend to someone in a developing nation.
However, for any Canadian looking to post on Hive it could be a compelling solution.
Why?
Because it is FREE with a $15/month cellular data subscription ($10.50HBD). Now the subscription only gives 1GB of full speed data but it gives UNLIMITED slow speed data. That is the cheapest data plan I know of in Canada AND they throw in the tablet at no charge.
A tablet which is nicer in every way than either the Amazon or Pritom tablet.
The take home message: Look for deals wherever you are...maybe there is one hiding :)
Other things I am looking into
For completeness I did look into the cheapest laptop I could find at $60 HBD. It was truly awful though and I couldn't recommend it for HIVE. First it wouldn't run the software for hive but it also wouldn't boot properly and was buggy from the start.
I have also ordered a dirt cheap cellphone ($35HBD) to see how it would work. It has a tiny screen. It is likely incredibly slow. However, if it works AND allows for cellular connection maybe it could be a useful item.
And that is it for my first installment on how to get an income stream going on Hive. Connectoin with a tablet is fairly inexpensive and can fit even small budgets. It may not be the best experience compared to my laptop. Adding images may be of poor quality.
But if you are looking to make friends and have your voice heard it can be done for fairly cheap.
And this post is proof that even a very inexpensive laptop CAN get someone posting on Hive.
Next up: A review on a 3" cellphone..once ir arrives from China...that could take a very long time :)
Thanks for reading.
Until next post :)