She was about to throw it away. But then she discovered the world of custom ROMs. After some research, she found a stable, lightweight custom ROM based on (LineageOS 14.1). The instructions were clear: "First, wipe your device. Second, flash the ROM zip. Third, flash GApps ."
This time, the setup wizard appeared. She signed into her Google account. Her contacts synced. The Play Store was there, ready to download Netflix, Spotify, and Kindle. The tablet, powered by lightweight Nougat 7.1.2 and minimal GApps, ran better than it had in years. gapps android 7.1.2 nougat
The Resurrection of the Nexus 7 (or: How GApps Saved My Favorite Tablet) She was about to throw it away
She didn't know what GApps were. She skipped the third step. The instructions were clear: "First, wipe your device
She went back to the forum post and read carefully. A user named "moonbutt74" had commented: "YOU MUST FLASH GAPPS IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE ROM, BEFORE FIRST BOOT. Use Open GApps for ARM, Android 7.1, 'nano' or 'pico' size."
For a moment, she panicked. "How do I install anything ?" she thought. She couldn't download a browser because... there was no browser that could download an APK easily. She had essentially turned her smart tablet into a dumb Linux machine with a touchscreen.