Forum Discussion
Android for digital signage?
Does anyone have any experience using Android for digital signage?
We currently use Dell Optiplexes running Windows in kiosk mode with the Poppulo (formerly known as Four Winds Interactive) app but the machines are:
- Costly
- Overpowered for what we need
- Purchased on a 4-year lease cycle
- Pain in the butt to manage Windows kiosk mode
Poppulo also provides an Android app to run the digital signage but I am struggling to find many options for hardware. They suggest using a modified Amazon Fire Stick but in our testing they don't work great. I also came across the Elo Backpack 4 for Android which looks fantastic and just what we need except the you have to buy a subscription to get only 4 years of OS and security updates. We are also looking into running Android on a Raspberry Pi but that would have to be open source and might be kinda janky. Plus, no guaranteed security updates.
I thought it would be easier to find just a stick or a box with Android on it but that seems to be proving difficult. It's especially difficult to find one that supports Android Enterprise.
Wondering what other orgs doing for digital signage.
Thanks!
To your first question: Not yet.
But Android Apps can be run on Android devices (surprise 🤣) and also on Chromebook, Chromebox or other devices running ChromeOS (not flex!).
I don't know your other requirements on the hardware or to the OS but Chromebooks and -boxes can be relatively cheap.
I was thinking about to use one of those maybe in private usecase but not happened yet because of several other reasons.
Ah yeah I thought about Chromeboxes too but unfortunately we are a Microsoft shop so we don't pay for Google Workspace and I don't think I could manage Chrome devices.
Same here, no experience yet but i'm always keeping an eye out for interesting solutions to use at home that don't require a battery 😂.
But would a media box like the mi box work for you? It runs android TV (or Google tv now maybe, I only have an older one here), and can open apps. You can even sideload apps if it there is no Android TV specific app developed.
So funny story, I actually just tried to manage my Google TV at home with Intune and it didn't work. I tried really hard too. Had to load the Device Policy, Company Portal and Intune apps with ADB, give them system permissions with shell commands and connect a keyboard to enter in the provisioning code but no dice. I guess other people have tried this as well and it's a known thing that Google doesn't support managing Android TVs.
haha okay thats indeed not possible, its about time they get that sorted because I can already hear my colleagues working with apple shouting, " we can manage our Apple TV's without problems😈"
Since you are a Microsoft focused company, you might find some cheaper Teams rooms solutions (that either run Windows or Android), those can be managed with Intune and can be used for narrow casting in meeting rooms (Dual function) https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/rooms/digital-signage
In a lot of cases I've worked with orgs that lean on smaller OEMs specialising in signage. ELO is an obvious one excluding the update subscription as you point out. Sunmi, Mason, Microtouch, HatchMFG, or a wider net exploring the ODMs on Google's certified partner lists.
I've got a lean to GMS for typical android management and most of them do that. Esper can also provide their custom OS, GMS or AOSP, on a range of hardware including x86 to repurpose existing kit.
Yeah I've really liked Elo for a long time since I came from the restaurant/POS world before coming to education. It's been pretty neat seeing what they are doing with Android in that space. But I've had a hard time understanding what buying an Elo Backpack with Android without an OS 360 subscription looks like as far as updates go. Do I not get any security/OS updates? Is it just a shorter amount of time? idk, the rep I'm working with isn't giving great answers but I will get to the bottom of it.
Thanks for the suggestion of other companies to look at! I'll be curious to see what we can take advantage of and what I can buy through an existing vendor like CDW. I know a lot of companies only do business with you if you want to purchase hundreds of devices and we only need around 70 or so.
My recommendation is the Elo Backpack with the software maintenance plan (OS360). It is very common practice for enterprise manufacturers to offer such a plan (Eg. LifeGuard OneCare from Zebra, Mobility Edge from Honeywell). I sell all of these manufacturers to my end customers and have never sold them without the corresponding software maintenance plan to guarantee access to long term security patches, OS upgrades, and. bug fixes. They have these plans decoupled from the hardware so you have the option of purchasing the hardware separate from the plan at a cheaper price. If you are an enterprise that needs access to the regular updates however then these plans are highly recommended.
