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by afandian 2386 days ago
I'm [vaguely] interested in unconventional Android devices.

People often talk about "plenty of android devices with X" where x is e.g. a keyboard. But a search of Google, Ali Express, etc don't yield much except for conventional phones.

Is there a list or other source where I can discover these mythical interesting devices?
3 comments
swiftcoder 2386 days ago
There are a ton of non-smartphone Android devices out there, but a lot of manufacturers are a bit cagy about the fact that they use Android. A couple of fun ones:

- Sparkling water dispensers: https://www.bevi.co

- Refrigerators: https://www.samsung.com/us/explore/family-hub-refrigerator/o...

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wtracy 2386 days ago
This is probably not quite what you're talking about, but:

I'm convinced there's a bunch of interesting single-purpose Android devices that simply aren't available to the general public. The manufacturers are large companies that you've probably heard of that don't do business on places like AliExpress. Unfortunately, the devices in question are "enterprise" products, and sold accordingly.

For example, the self-service kiosks at Taco Bell seem to be Android-based, though I can't confirm this. Good luck finding a supplier who will sell you those in lots of less than a thousand.

Swinging around to your original question, I occasionally hear about MIPS-based Android tablets made for Indian or Chinese markets. I'm sure they're on AliExpress, but I doubt they're clearly labeled as MIPS.

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smichel17 2386 days ago
Norwegian Air's in-flight entertainment systems (screen on the back of the seat in front of you) are modified/custom Android tablets. When you open the flight tracker you can see the regular Android buttons at the bottom and pull down to see the notification area (which has been modified to contain no content). Didn't find a way out of their sandbox, maybe next time I'll bring a male-male usb cable and see if I can get in with adb..
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strbean 2386 days ago
Could those people be referring to Chromebooks and other ChromeOS netbooks? They apparently run any android app, although they aren't really running android as the OS.
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