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Ask HN: How to ship software as a physical device?

2 points by supermatt ↗ HN
I have a business idea that I would like to work on. It is a combination of a software product (a field in which I am experienced) and a hardware device (a simple android tablet).

The tablet will do nothing, other than run my application. It will be based on Android. It will boot directly into my application following a splash screen. The user wouldn't even know it was an android device, it would just be a tablet that has my interface and application.

I would have thought the best approach for entering this field would be to approach a manufacturer on alibaba, explain that I want their hardware, but to flash it with a custom image that I would provide, and away we go. It seems nothing is quite so simple.

There are multiple android tablets that I can source on alibaba that would be suitable, but it seems they want to sell the devices with their (often terrible) android distribution - suggesting I simply install the application. This is not an option - I really want to have a things like a seamless boot, a customized interface, dedicated app store, etc - and I want to be able to handle my own updates rather than distributing some manufacturers idea of a "final" release, with no channels for updates, etc.

What are my options here? Am I asking the wrong questions? I don't have much in the way of funding. The plan would be to get a device, build a prototype, and launch a campaign on kickstarter or similar. Ive already been through validation, its just I don't see how to proceed with execution.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

2 comments

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Topgamer7
You should be able to do what you suggest, flash your own kernel/OS. Probably why the alibaba merchants don't want to handle that is because

    A) it's a pretty decent undertaking to  flash 1000+ devices.
    B) It's going to incur a QA overhead
    C) They don't know how to do that, a lot of these merchants will offer a product they don't actually produce or know too much about. They'll promise they're experts, in reality they will just go source what you want from someone else.
Are you sure that kiosk mode won't provide you with what you want to do? https://developer.android.com/work/dpc/dedicated-devices
supermatt
Kiosk mode is a good option for simply limiting to the app, but we would like to have a lot more control over updates, etc. These devices generally come with images stuffed with junk, and often have no update capabilities.

But many thanks for the reply!