Cheap chinese tablet

I came across this cheap tablet, or are there any better options. I am gonna by 5 tablets so money is kinda an issue.

800x480 is really low resolution for the display but may be good enough for a HA display. Though I would get one first to make sure it works OK before shelling out for 5 without knowing if it will work OK. In my experience these really cheap devices often have major problems or break really quickly.

I keep looking @rlkoshak, will let you know how it goes, my main tablet is a lenovo a7-30. I am pretty happy about that one. Nicely mounted in my hallway.

I have seen those tables in person. They are sluggish but powerful enough to do OH web interface. I didn’t try the app.

The biggest issue was the display was iffy at best. It’s viewing angle is terrible.

As for reliability, my friend gave a pair of them to his kids (5 year old boys) to play with. These kids aren’t gentle. They have survived quite well honestly. They do randomly experience issues like loosing wifi but those are likely related to them not knowing how to use them.

I decided not to use them myself for my project.

I have bought 3 cheap tablets over the years and decided to only buy decent named brands now…

My latest is just a refurbished LG Gpad 7 which I am loving… And it was less that $100…

I was looking at these tablets and noone looked good to me for ordering. So now my choice is Kindle Fire. For 50$ it comes at least with some support and warranty, but requires some work to get access to Google Market.

@TommySharp, Refurbished would be great, however there seems to be few around in Norway…

I think the best option might be this one It comes in white and will then blend in nicely in my flat.

Yeah. White is a problem. I’ve googled around to find better design - checked Lenovo, Trekstor and some other 7" tablets.
For <60€ there is not so much choice, but I wanted white, and at the best without any text or speakers on front side - to have it in a bit “luxus” look.
Finally I took Hisense Sero 7 for 59€. Ordered it in white and surprisingly it came with white frame - not like black one on photo, but more like the one from @skatun link. Anyway it has more “clear” front panel look than aliexpress. No camera on back side, no worries. WAF was quite high.
Here is the image how it looks on my wall. The power cord I’m going to replace with flat 90° one or from wireless charger. The 5V USB charger is from american iPhone - very compact, so that it fitted in hole behind tablet.


The viewing angle is not super, but resolution and brightness are OK.
I did not checked the OpenHAB app, because I’m using CommandFusion over MQTT, but from installation point there are some tricks need to be done - a lot of applications were not available in Google Play store, because they were marked as “incompatible” with this tablet. But downloading APK file and installing it manually worked fine, and I got no bugs so far. I guess same problem will exist with any “Chinese” tablet.

Hi @Artyom_Syomushkin , can you share more details about how you got the tablet connected to electricity and how do you wake it up ? just press a button or do you use motion detection ?

Hi @Niko_Izsak. I will post couple of more photos this week. Basically I have an opening in the wall for wall-mount 230V socket behind the tablet. Instead of socket I used a 5V USB charger from Iphone - it’s very compact, so it fits without problem there.
For tablet wake up - it’s simply stays always on. I used some free app from Google Play, which keeps tablet alive all the time. Not sure about Display Lifetime in this mode, though. :slight_smile:

Here are some photos.
The cable was made from old USB Cable and flat MicroUSB part of Chinese wireless charger.

As I said behind tablet I have an opening for socket. There I inserted american version of iPhone USB charger - it’s compact, that it fist there easily.

Finally the tablet was mounted above this using Hook and Loop Fasteners. As you see charging cable is almost invisible.

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Hi,
Sorry I have been on holidays, but when i get home tonight I will post some pictures of my instalation as well. What I did was that I ordered a case from china, cut away the cover. Then I just screwed the whole cover to the wall with two small wood screw. This way I can take the tablet off and bring it with me in case I need to.

I also installed an app called stay alive so that the screen is always on… I use the classic UI, not sure what UI @Artyom_Syomushkin is using.

Yeah, I’m also using Stay Alive to keep Tablet Always On, and also Immersive App to get Rid from Navigation bar. For latter one I would like to get better one, since Immersive free Version leaves some red Line below.

Hello @Artyom_Syomushkin What UI are you using in your photo’s?

Hi @shep, it’s Commandfusion.



Thats my instalation, if someone knows a short angular white usb cable let me know:)

I have soldered a female usb plug behind the tablet to power it.

You could recreate my cable. It took me about 15 min to cut it from wireless charger and solder to usb connector. It pretty unvisible - just small golden piece is visible. And since it’s quite flat - you can put your tablet right over it - no need to route it from side.
Under wireless charger i meant this HW -perfect angle and size for connector. http://g03.a.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1HwvJJXXXXXaaXVXXq6xXFXXXO/Universal-Android-Phone-Qi-Wireless-Charger-Receiver-Card-for-5-Pin-Micro-USB-Port-2-Charging.jpg

By the way - how your tablet is fixed?

I just slightly modify a case for it, then put two wood screw through it.Wanted a white case but could not find such a case for my lenovo. At the top the two magnets for the cover(I cut the cover off) can been seen.

Hi!

Are you still using the Lenovo or have you ordered an additional Teclast? I’m also looking for a cheap but sufficient HA tablet.

I guess one problem might be that if the “wall tablet” is too capable I might start using it for other tasks and then my Habpanel tablet might get lost in the couch rather than being mounted to the wall. :smiley:

If any of you have advice regarding a capable tablet, please comment.

I have 21 PoE tablets in my new house, so far no real issues.

https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/1280-800-IPS-screen-Android-tablet_60423128901.html