I’d like to setup a tablet or two to serve as control panels for HA. Which is the better device for this – Amazon Fire 7 (16GB) or the 8 HD (16GB)? Both are one sale right now. Any reason not to use one of these?
I used to have fire 7 tablets. They are quite slow, and also hit issues with fully browser and old WebKit versions with some custom components.
I now have 2 Lenovo tab 4 8s, which look better (in white), are much more responsive and have now compatibility issues.
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had an windows tablet laying around - i hate it, but it works - the android tablets don’t reload data and are very unresponsive.
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I like the HD8s more than the HD7. It is slightly faster (though both are overall slow) and the screen resolution is better. You can fit more Lovelace cards on the HD8. The HD10 is way too big and too slow for the price.
general word of caution when wall mounting a battery-powered device: keep a close eye on the battery to make sure it doesn’t bulge and potentially explode. I decided to remove my tablet from the wall for this reason, since there would be days when I wouldn’t be home and couldn’t monitor the tablet for issues.
Amazon Fire tablets using Fully Kiosk Browser doesn’t support custom Lovelace cards. There is a workaround by using Google Chrome as a webapp, and then use an full screen app, but I had issues where the Lovelace dashboard required a manual refresh to load.
Check out the Amazon Fire Toolbox–it’s a bunch of scripts to remove lockscreen ads and everything Amazon to make it as close to an Android tablet. You still have the outdated Android Webview issue though.
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Have you thought about building an rPi with a 7" touch display, then customize it completely at the OS level to run chromium in --kiosk mode? You would be looking at roughly $80-110 with the right components. Low cost, low power, and you could customize the screen to turn on if motion is detected using a PIR sensor and an MQTT backend. It’s something I’m looking at doing to replace my whole house nutone intercom system.
You can do that with android too.
There is another recent topic where someone went the Pi route, but was not happy with it. I remember he talked about how the Pi was not optimized for touch, on screen keyboard issues. Android tablet with Full Kiosk app might be better suited.
I’m still looking for a good tablet myself, but my criteria often limit things.
- 10,1 or 15,4"
- OS that is upgradable
- Able to built in wall
So far I came across some industrial grade solutions like Avalue and Elo, but those don’t provide updates for their tables.
Some Chinese manufacturers are also interesting for their pricing but I have no reference about quality / service.
Now I was thinking to use a touch screen, and connect this to an Rpi or other board-computer.
With this I have at least the ability to fiddle around with the OS.
Anyone else some good suggestions?
I wonder which board they used to have problems with their end result. There may be some optimizations that can be done with the distro they went with. Got a link to their thread?
My plan is to source some Nexus 7 2013s and use their wireless charging + velcro to invisibly attach them to a wall - no holes needed, cheap and regular Android 
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The good thing about nexus is that they will have a reasonable version of android, and with the ability to render HA’s complex web pages.
You’ll still need a hole to source power for the charger won’t you?
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I was considering putting them right next to a shelf unit, so that the power cord from the wireless charger can invisibly go from the edge of the tablet to the back of the shelf, since there is no connector sticking out from the tablet.
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Hi All,
any news on the topic?
What are the best (economic) options to start with?
Fire 8HD? Lenovo 4 8s? other?
Thanks!
Look at these… https://magbak.com/ I used them for an Ipad and it works really well. Super strong magnets and the 3M still sits on my wall which is painted.
I recently went with FireHD8 (2018) for £50 on sale it’s pretty hard to beat and can recommend it.
Works OK on stock.
Almost perfect now rooted and using lineage OS 14.
I have also had success with BatteryChargeLimit for controlling battery charging in software.
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Looking at this as a potential setup. Was there a particular guide you recommend for installing Lineage? Have you run into any performance or compatibility issues on the HA side?
Do you have it running all the time or wake the screen when you need to use it?
General question to everyone:
What would be a “better” option, a used Nexus 7 or a new Fire HD 8?
I put “better” in quotes because they may each have pros and cons, I assume.
I like my Nexus 7 setup. Initially I tried having the screen off and the camera do motion recognition to turn on the screen, but ended up ditching this concept because it wasn’t 100% reliable (like, if you approached it from the side it would sometimes take a bit to wake up) and I ultimately didn’t like the idea of a constantly viewing camera in my living room.
I have the screen always on with rotating wallpapers on low brightness, then it’s set to go to high brightness when you touch it and Fully Kiosk Browser shows my Lovelace stuff just fine.
i have a lenovo yoga tab 10" that i hooked up to a sonoff basic on shelude to only turn on for 2 hrs per days , it keeps my tab at 70% battery as i purposely didnt plug a fast charger to it .
i run the HA app that works great for me . I was worried to have the tab on charge 24/7 so this is all i could come up with so far .
what do you think ?
The HA companion app reports battery charge, so you can turn a charger on and off