I am just about to do some house remodelling and figured these could be a nice in wall solution. Was thinking running HADashboard on them through Wallpanel.
Looks like I could probable pick up a few from China for under $200 each shipped to the uk.
Anyone have any thoughts? Or seen the build quality of these upfront?
Well the lack of replies to this speaks for itself I guess.
So I’ve ordered a sample one of these today from China with the led lights, temp & humidity sensor and RFID reader.
Will eventually post a review and project on the forum.
If anyone would like me to try anything specific or has any questions about the build quality let me know.
when I asked them to quote me the price for 1 panel they sent me the spec of what it comes with. In that spec it said it came with Android v6. These companies on Alibaba have so much competition for business they do reply to questions very quickly, so if in doubt ask them through Alibaba.
As for proximity sensor, they come with a front facing camera. Some of the android kiosk apps can use the front facing camera as a proximity sensor and turn on the screen when they sense movement. I’m going to try this out but fundamentally I have a bit of an issue having a camera inside my house supplied from some manufacturer in china, who knows what other software could be hidden on the device. Probably me being paranoid but I will do a full packet sniff and see what it is doing and probably block it from accessing the outside internet on router. Other than that I was going to see if I could stick something over the camera that makes the image blurred but good enough for basic movement detection.
Won’t be getting my unit until next month probably as most of them are away on vacation now with Chinese New Year.
But of pot luck really, also good reason to do a trial version first. They have some safe pay mechanism on Alibaba which I used (although obviously I haven’t tested if it covers a non delivery and hopefully won’t need to).
I’ll post back when/ if I receive the unit with a few photos and I can say which supplier it was that delivered through okay.
I was slightly confused by how many suppliers there were as well. They all seem to manufacture under the same Sibo brand. I think all the units probably come from the same factory.
I was thinking about the Android 6 thing (I don’t use Android at all) but shouldn’t Chrome update independent of the OS therefor we will be safe with the browser?
It’s more about whether the thing can actually load HADashboard well enough. I tried loading a HADashboard page on an old Chinese tablet with android 4 and it really struggled. So much so it would just be too annoying and slow to use on a wall as a controller.
I will probably use either Wallpanel or Fully Kiosk browser not chrome. If you’ve not come across kiosk apps before have a google. They will restrict the panel to only showing the web page and load up automatically on boot etc. Those two apps you can also control though HASS (wall panel uses mqtt which I like), so for example when your house alarm is set you can have HASS change the page showing on all panels to a locked alarm screen, or doorbell rings you bring up a screen showing front door cam.
Received mine and not had much of a chance to play with it. On first inspection I think the build quality is not bad at all. The screen is bright and good viewing angles. Will look quite neat and tidy flush on the wall. No solution yet to the proximity sensor/ blocking the camera yet.
Just curious as to why you chose to go this route? It seems quite expensive for what it is. I find using tablets around the home are far cheaper (used tablets are around $25+) and far more customizeable, they can also be moved around if placement needs to be changed, and taken out completely when I sell my home for a larger home.
agree, used tablets are far cheaper and potentially have better spec. I just wanted something that looked like a professional installation. I don’t like the look of a regular tablet somehow stuck to the wall (as it always just looks exactly like that). I want to have a clean looking professional install. This was the cheapest route I could find for that.
Vidabox is another route I was considering with an old Samsung tablet but it just ends up being about the same price.
I agree that a tablet stuck to a wall doesn’t necessarily look all that great, but with a 3D printer you can design a frame and enclosure and the cost is only a couple of dollars. I currently have my tablet mounted to the wall with a 3D printed mount so it doesn’t look out of place and I can remove it if it breaks or I don’t want it anymore. Eventually I think I’m going to design a full frame to mount in-wall in other rooms like your screens. But wow, what one of those screens cost is pretty much what I paid for my 3D printer lol
lol