It’s not very powerful and the biggest complaint in the reviews is about battery life but for $25 and has Google Play store installed by default it might be worth it for some of you looking for keypad replacements using SmartThings App or ActionTiles:
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/digiland-7-tablet-16gb-black/5246601.p
These are the tablets I’m using as ‘control’ tablets.
You are right that they are not very powerful. But they get the job done.
I have them mounted by my egress doors, and am running the following on them:
SmartTiles
Tasker. With plugins such as
-AutoNotification
-MotionDetector
-Sharptools (fabulous app!)
Notifications for Android TV
Along with some other apps.
They perform all my announcements, they control the http gets/posts to my tv and AVR, they interact with IFTTT, they capture images to the cloud if there is a security breach, they display status on important things such as whether the garage is open…
They are cheap enough that I am seriously considering putting one in each room as the secondary light switch for the smart bulbs in those rooms. Only use the mechanical switch if Alexa and the tablet both fail.
I got a few of those “Dragon Master” or whatever they’re called for cheap and they do get the job done as far a dashboard and what-not.
The only real catch is that a lot of these do not receive any sort of updates, including security updates.
Please elaborate on what you are using for motion detection. Thanks.
It’s an app that uses the device’s camera to detect motion. It can do many things with that. It can record photos or video, you can use the fact that it has detected motion to trigger other devices or events.
you got me curious, what about power are you hard wiring this units ( you mentioned you have them mounted), or you keep charging their batteries , how often you need to plug them to charge? how these compare with the amazon fires that are sometimes offered for around 30 on sale. is this tablet a better value for this implementation. thank you for the insight, always learning new tricks from this community
Advantage over Fires are 1 Native Android so no messing around to install Play Store and or side load apps. Disadvantage is that the majority of these off brand generic devices never get updates.
There are multiple threads and posts on the different ways we have all powered permanent/semi permanent tablets for control panels or CCTV/IPCam monitors, Most of them ( Including the BestBuy 10" ) will do fine on even a 1A charger so long as the screen is not set to full brightness if they are constantly plugged into a smart charger . I’ve got some that have been plugged in for well over a year with no visible signs of battery expansion. I did have 1 FireHDX8 that the battery went out after about 2 years as a camera monitor, but it was also a couple years old when I started using it as a monitor and was plugged in to the original rapid charger. Now I just use generic 1A charge ports for all of my tablets and have not had any issues. Some people use a smart outlet set to cycle the power on/off on a schedule to let the battery drain down. How long between charges, how long to charge is a matter of just checking your tablet and deciding how low you want the battery to get before charging and how long it takes to recharge .
I keep mine plugged in at all times. Bought a couple 15’ USB cables, ran them down the side of the molding by the doors. I will eventually take those moldings off the wall, and channel the sheetrock underneath to mostly hide the cables. Didn’t want to do that until I’d proved the concept.