Hi everyone,
I've been following the Home Assistant community for a while and wanted to share some observations from the smart panel side.
Over the past few years, we've been developing Android-based smart control panels for smart home and building automation projects, and recently we've seen increasing interest in using Home Assistant directly on wall-mounted panels.
In many projects, users no longer want to rely only on tablets. Instead, they prefer dedicated in-wall smart panels that stay powered permanently and integrate better with the overall installation.
Different types of Android smart panels
From what we see in real projects, there are usually two common types:
1. PoE Android panels
These are powered via Ethernet and are popular in:
apartments
villas
retrofit projects
commercial spaces
PoE installation is clean and simple because:
power and network share one cable
no external power adapter is required
network connection is generally more stable
These panels are often used mainly as:
Home Assistant dashboards
room control interfaces
intercom monitors
camera viewers
2. KNX Android smart panels
KNX panels are slightly different because they are usually integrated into KNX-based smart home systems and powered separately.
In many KNX projects, users now want:
KNX for automation logic
Home Assistant for visualization and monitoring
So the Android panel becomes a combination of:
KNX control interface
Home Assistant dashboard
smart home visualization panel
This hybrid approach seems to be growing quite fast, especially in Europe.
Running multiple apps on one panel
One interesting thing we’ve seen is that many users don’t want the panel to do only one thing.
Instead, they want a single wall panel that can switch between different applications.
For example:
Home Assistant dashboard
SIP intercom app
music streaming app
camera monitoring app
KNX visualization app
Because Android is flexible, some smart panels can run up to 3 different apps on the same device depending on the project requirements.
This makes the panel more useful as a true smart home control center instead of just a fixed dashboard.
Home Assistant works surprisingly well on dedicated panels
We've tested:
Home Assistant Companion App
browser dashboards
kiosk-style interfaces
and overall the experience is very smooth on larger landscape-oriented panels.
Compared with consumer tablets, dedicated smart panels are usually better suited for:
permanent wall mounting
always-on operation
thermal management
long-term stability
especially in hospitality and building automation environments.
Curious about other setups
I'd love to hear how others here are approaching this.
Some questions I'm curious about:
Are you using tablets or dedicated wall panels?
PoE or traditional powered panels?
Browser dashboards or native apps?
Does anyone combine KNX + Home Assistant on the same panel?
Any recommendations for kiosk stability over long-term use?
Would be great to learn from other real-world setups.
Thanks!
Shiny Luo
Working on Android smart control panels for smart home & building automation projects.