I know some people have fit other tablets to their walls for a control dashboard, but I was wondering if anyone has looked at getting a wall mountable tablet from alibaba or such.
They seem to do pretty cheap android tablets that can even be POE powered.
Glenn.
I have one of the amazon fire tablets (8") but wanted it swap it out for something a bit bigger and more android based so I could lock it down more. I'm just not sure about these tablets though as performance is all over the place.
The amazon tablet I got for cheap, but you can't root it and lock it down (some you can) but it also gets sluggish every now and then. Maybe the newer models are better.
I see a lot of people using Fire tablets, but I just had the thought that there is a bunch of commercial tablets that are made in china that may be easy to mount (vesa mounts) and easy to power (POE). No idea on performance though, you're right. But if it was just to run a dashboard (either app or kiosk browser) surely it doesn't need much grunt.
You would think it doesn't need much power. I don't know what this fire tablet does, but every now and then it gets a software update and I wake up to it at the lock screen. No biggie, I try enter my pin and its soooooo slow. I get in and it is just crawling, I reboot it eventually and its fine again for a while.
Its full of amazon crap. I am always keeping an eye out for a native android tablet to use that I could lock down more with fully kiosk.
$120 for a tablet for wall-control? That's a little on the pricey side if you ask me.
Well in Aus everything is super expensive so that's practically giving it away for us lol.
Any other suggestions though? I thought the idea of being able to vesa mount to the wall handy and being able to Poe power it via network handy as well.
I would go with one of the Fire tabs before this Chinese crap. Cheaper and less corporate espionage.
Sorry Doug but most of out technology is made in China, including the devices from Amazon, Apple, Google, Dell, HP, Microsoft and most other tech companies.
Again Zarthan, I can't control what goes into a piece of hardware, but I can at least be a patron of companies that aren't openly stealing tech secrets. BTW, the Fire tablet has Texas Instruments inside and is mostly made in Taiwan, by Quanta Computer, while yes part of the Republic of China, is not a state run business.
While not POE, I've been pleased with using the Echo Dock as an easel mount for a Fire 10 HD. I keep the local dashboard loaded in background so all you have to do is pick it up and sometimes refresh.
I do install APKs to allow access to to the G Play Store.
I suppose the fire tablet with the show dock isn't too bad if you've something to put it on at the front door. I'm in Aus so don't have that as an option anyway as amazon doesn't sell them out here.
Just be careful man.
Most of the cheaper Chinese products do NOT have RCM compliance for Aus and if one was the cause of a fire, your insurance would not cover you. They’re always looking to wriggle out of paying out !
10” tablet
Very good price for a 10” quad core android tablet that you could lock down. 
Good point Nic. Only thing that irritates with tablets like that is the options (or lack thereof) for mounting 'neatly' on a wall. Especially if you want a mounted tablet for security control near the front door that looks at least a little pro. I really hate the look of a power cable hanging out the side of tablet on the wall.
I could maybe source a fire tab anyway, given how many people 3d print stuff for them. 
It's either look hacky or spend a fortune and cut a HUGE hole in your wall. It seems that those are the only two options at the moment, unfortunately. That's why I like the tablet on the stand idea. If you have a table inside the door that you could rest it on, it seems that is the much better alternative in my mind. I might even use one of those "floating" shelves. A lot less damage to the wall. And it's not like it weighs all that much.
Piggybacking off this thread.
is there an adaptor that converts PoE to (say) USB, or micro USB. I have a few POE slots around the house now, and could readily use them for powering IoT devices, but struggled to find an appropriate converter.
I've started to think the same Ryan. Could use a dock so that it's easy to power.
I've used a POE splitter that has DC power plug on it, haven't seen any with USB though. That would be handy for powering stuff using the network rather than having to put power points everywhere.
Thanks. Splitter not injector. It looked like an injector to me....so didn't fully read the description (last week)
Yeah, the splitters power non-poe devices using the the network power. We've got quite a few presenting boxes in classrooms that power that way.
This one's marketed for an RPi but nothing says that's what you have to use it for. But because it can support an RPi, you know it will power even the most power-hungry tablet.
Download the Hubitat app
