My uncle recently gave me an old Minix Neo X8-H Plus. It has been upgraded from the stock Android KitKat up to Lollipop, and it has been rooted. I have connected a USB DVD drive, but I haven’t tested it yet.
I had Kodi on a RPi for a while, but I am otherwise completely new to this sort of thing.
I couldn’t install F-Droid, so I decided to use Aptoide TV instead of Play Store.
So, what should I do with the device? Any app suggestions? Settings I should change?
Hmm, the Minix Neo X8-H Plus size only has 2GB RAM, which isn’t really sufficient for Android (yes, even if it’s running Lollipop), so it’s performance, especially when trying to run a newer app, won’t be so good.
Also, a bigger issue is that you’re connecting this device to the Internet - Lollipop is full of several high-risk vulnerabilities, such as [Stagefright](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stagefright_(bug\)) - which can be exploited very easily), so there’s a good chance your device could get hacked just by staying online, by compromised servers or botnets. Once your device gets hacked, it could turn into another node in a botnet to perform proxy attacks (such as DDoS attacks, or as a proxy for hacking, or for other illegal activities), which could put you at risk with the authorities (as it would look like the illegal activities are originating from your IP).
A much better option would be to just use your Raspberry Pi, if you intend to connect it to the internet. A Raspberry Pi running Linux would perform better than Android on a system with low resources. Also, a Raspberry Pi - even old ones - would still get OS updates, making it a much more secure option compared to an outdated Android device, especially if you run an up-to-date media center OS such as LibreELEC.