The curious rise of giant tablets on wheels

Hands-on with KTC's 32-inch Android tablet on a rolling pedestal, the A32Q7 Pro.

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[ktmglen]

I work in this space, and a lot of the confusion here makes sense. These devices are being marketed in a way that masks their real purpose.

What you’re looking at isn’t a quirky TV-tablet hybrid. It’s a digital signage display dressed up to look consumer-friendly. These are built for public or semi-public spaces (waiting rooms, classrooms, lobbies, churches) where the screen is managed by someone else.

The Android OS (not Android TV), touch input, wheels, HDMI-in, and lack of a tuner are all intentional. They make the device flexible for signage, kiosks, light interactivity, and controlled content loops. LG calls theirs a “Lifestyle” product, but it’s signage in disguise.

If you’ve ever deployed a screen in a space you don’t want to permanently mount and cable-manage, this form factor starts to make a lot more sense.

I can imagine one of these at a hair salon or physical therapy office or something similar for appointment self check ins--just needs to run the tablet version of whatever the place uses to book appointments which could likely include a self check-in component. Just can't let the Android revision get too out of date though.

 

[xWidget]

The question: “I'm left curious about what's driving the growth of StanbyME-like devices…”

The answer. At least regarding LG: “In 2022, the company launched the StanbyME, which is essentially a $1,000 27-inch tablet running LG's smart TV operating system (OS), webOS, but lacking a tuner.”

Monetizing that sweet user data is a like a bad drug habit many companies are unwilling to kick. It feels like this is their primary driver now. Suck up more user data for profit.

In Korea, where these are extremely common, you can't sell user data like that.

These are everywhere in mom'n'pop restaurants and sometimes stores as digital signage. Menus, specials, info, etc.

They're also somewhat popular in homes that are too small to keep space reserved for a full-size TV.

It shouldn't be too surprising that LG (a Korean company) is leading here.

 

[Socks Mingus]

They don't? They're still on Amazon in the UK. I'd very away from HP after some of the revelations about their business practices, but it's a sad time nonetheless.

Obviously we are in the End Times, I'm just querying the sign posts.

FWIG (probably from the fan/archival sites like hpcalc) they shut down the famed Oregon calculator division around 2000, then HP Australia brought in some well regarded outside modders/CAS library developers for the 49 (or 49+?) onwards. Eventually they started outsourcing development entirely. Some years ago they sold or licensed the name and designs to a couple companies who now produce some lower end models, the 12c, made a limited edition 15c,
and kept the Prime and Prime apps going - though RPN on the Prime is said to be a more of an alternative input method than a core feature (on the basis of it being unsupported in CAS).

 

[jazzylarry]

I wonder why the industry has done so little to transform Android and iPhone devices into actual "computers" i.e., devices that can easily be paired with wireless keyboards, mice, and displays, rendering PCs and laptops redundant. Yes, I know about Samsung DeX, but it's extremely limited.

In the past, many smartphones supported HDMI output via the USB-C connector, but that has become rare. You wouldn't want to connect your smartphone to a display this way because you would lose a charging port.

So, what I'm looking for is a good standard wireless tech for displays and displays that support it.

Check out iPhones, use a BT keyboard, and AirPlay to a monitor. I'm sure Android has some or all of these same features at this point. The catch is you may need a device attached to your TV to handle the cast. I do, because my TV is not connected to any networks. It is just a monitor.

 

[Attackrabbit]

I do have one use case no one mentioned. Arcade 1up’s Infinity Game Table had a similar size form factor, and I seriously considered getting one for that reason. Being able to use it as a digital board game system, taking away the setup and cleanup was really appealing…but I was really concerned about its dated processor. It was already chugging at release. If this were cheaper, I’d think this could be viable?

My wife bought an infinity game table. We used for about a month and it was brilliant, some quiz games, drawing app for my lad, other stuff that I can't remember. Our neighbours came over to do quizes on it and much fun was had. After about a month it slowly got used less and less and now it sits with a cloth over being used as a normal table in the lounge....I often ask her if she wants to pay something on it with me or get some people over for more fun but she's not interested

Thinking of fiddling with it so o can stream Steam to it but as fun as that might be I already sunshine/moonlight steam to my TV I the same room as the table..

As far as the wheely tablet is the article, I could go for it. Would be handy for taking up to bed then wheeling it into the lads room for a bit then taking to the kitchen or whatever...only problem is that would include lugging it up and down 2 flights of steps. Oh and the cost

Tldr, don't bother with an infinity game table.

 

[crepuscularbrolly]

They don't? They're still on Amazon in the UK. I'd very away from HP after some of the revelations about their business practices, but it's a sad time nonetheless.

Obviously we are in the End Times, I'm just querying the sign posts.

The HP brand for calculators has been licensed to a Czech company:

• https://www.hp.com/us-en/calculators.html?jumpid=va_a9930f6a58
• https://hpcalcs.com/products/scientific-calculators/

 

[labakkudas]

This reminds me of an episode of Psych where they take a tablet to show what’s happening remotely to a guy who’s in a hospital.

 

[Dark Jaguar]

This isn't something I can see a use for at home, but it's certainly very useful for presentations, store displays, perhaps hospital bedside help, and most certainly education in classrooms.

 

[Control Group]

This reminds me of an episode of Psych where they take a tablet to show what’s happening remotely to a guy who’s in a hospital.

That’s messed up, right?

 

[Boskone]

I guess this has a certain nifty value, and would be attractive (and maybe more useful) for non-techies, but I'd just go with a USB-C monitor myself.

And did, I have a pair of 18"s I use when traveling, and use them when I need a larger screen somewhere kinda odd. They even have VESA points, if I wanted to use that for some reason.

There's >20" ones now, but mine aren't worth replacing.

 

[marshals]

mAh is not a good measure of battery capacities across different device categories, since mAh only accounts for current, not voltage - your phone's battery is likely rated around 4V, whereas this tablet seems to have a 19V battery

Good point, thanks

 

[DNA_Doc]

The person he quoted that started all the "just do it yourself"stuff said 55 inch TV from Walmart for 300.

But I mean even a 27 inch touchscreen monitor is a pretty tall lift at 300 last time I looked.

Not really,

2K 27" touchscreen monitor $279.99.

4K 27" touchscreen monitor $329.99.

 

[Readercathead]

This would be great if it were the promised Apple TV. Or a giant iPad on wheels. No way I’m using Android, I’d much rather have a cheap TV on a stand with an Apple TV box taped to it.

 

[TimeToTilt]

Not really,

2K 27" touchscreen monitor $279.99.

4K 27" touchscreen monitor $329.99.

I did say last I looked but also it's wierd y'all feel the need to correct me(poorly) instead of the dudes who literally are like "why not use a non touch screen 55 inch for the touch interface tablet?!? I am so smart!"

But yes, the part where you found a sub 4 star rated screen only that was 300 from the well known. Beans psichen more shows the point than not imo.

 

[JBanister]

I imagine another use case for these is "personal streaming screen" for elderly people who recently encountered a lack of mobility. I can easily imagine one of these being purchased to upgrade from the TVs provided in nursing homes. If they upgrade the refresh rate, I can also easily imagine one of these being a smart display for people who want a fancy gaming chair, but already own a regular recliner.

 

[khobalt]

I can imagine one of these at a hair salon or physical therapy office or something similar for appointment self check ins--just needs to run the tablet version of whatever the place uses to book appointments which could likely include a self check-in component. Just can't let the Android revision get too out of date though.

Yeah, that's one of the reasons I prefer to ship my solutions on a different platform (I'm not going to advertise for them here). It's more expensive up-front than android, but carries better support and warrantees.

 

[jock2nerd]

Seems good for a lot of use cases. Trade shows, pop up shops in malls, retail, and even industrial type uses. Also, since it runs on battery, it could be useful for home use in specific cases such as outdoor use if the brightness is high enough. Think: roll out onto the patio to watch your favorite show, bring back in before you sleep.

How many times do you go to a hospital or a lobby that uses a Windows OS for their smart display and what's showing is a big message to either update or do a restart?

Either WebOS or Android provide a much better alternative to a Windows OS for this environment.

BTW: WebOS was a tablet OS before it became a TV OS, and most of the underlying guts of the phone/tablet OS still exist within it, so its an excellent use for it.

 

[Antron Argaiv]

Anyone else thought of the American Skyper Modern Family episode?

Guy I worked for proposed something like this for teleconferencing. The idea was that the screen/camera would be a stand in for you at a physical meeting. We looked into building one, but got hung up on camera pointing.

Regarding the item being discussed, anything with a battery is going to have a lifetime of around 4-5 years before battery replacement will be an issue. And 11 hour runtime seems optimistic without some kind of sleep mode. I can think of lots of use cases, mostly commercial, but I wonder how many of these would be sold to individuals.

 

[hobiecatdriver]

How long before I see the managers at work dragging this around.

 

[Definite Maybe]

My 2yo would have that pulled over in 1 minute flat. I can see how it would be nice to have a 32" TV to pull around the house though. It would be nice in the kitchen and would probably even find it's way into the bathroom. I almost wonder if a 10" tablet with a rolling stand would get the job done just as well though

 

[CEGalyon]

I am still dreaming of a digital whiteboard that doesn’t cost $3000 and isn’t bound by a service that can get cancelled (e.g., Google). This one would be appealing if it was about half the price

 

[arc-tu-rus]

What are the real advantages of this device over a conventional 32" 4K TV/Monitor connected to an external Tablet? There are a few niche use cases, but the majority does not require an integrated device. If a 32" touchscreen is required, you can get one with better image quality at a lower price point than this device. On top of this, this device lacks a camera. The only kind-of positive point is the ability to use this as an overpriced external monitor.

 

[dikbozo]

…or turn it off like a normal TV.

I am told there are many such devices with this unique and time saving feature.
An "off button".
every thing old is new again.

 

[dikbozo]

A Not portable device with a luxury price tag that offers some of the features of others.
not portable BC it is the new version of 'luggable'
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compaq_Portable_series

 

[keltor]

We've had "Monitors on a Stick" for quite some time. Originally without the batteries and then later they came with batteries. There was probably even a CRT version. They sell a pretty cheap combo of Android TV Stick and 26.5" LCD on a stick here that's around $400 US. My in-laws have one as a second TV, they drag it all over their house. Along with their ridiculous rear projection DLP TV that's in the Japanese room - it has ashes and stuff with traditional flooring.

 

[ferdnyc]

That is one plastic-ass looking support arm, and makes me worry about its long-term reliability. I mean, even IBM has had disastrous runs with ThinkPad hinges (back when they were still built by IBM), and they looked a lot less cheapy than that thing's only link to the physical world.

 

[mdrejhon]

These actually make great transcription machines (captioning) for classroom/meeting/speech accessibility!

You can apparently run the Google's free accessibility "Live Transcribe" app on them in gigantic font mode. Black background with giant white text. Portrait or landscape mode works! They become great caption screens for your classroom, good if you have a few deaf students in the classroom.

For some more heavy duty transcribing stuff at a business meeting, you have many options - many Android apps for meeting/recording transcription apps such as "Otter" app on them too, if you need meeting minute records after the big-text captioning duty.

For the transcription duty, it's already self contained -- it has an existing internal mic. But you can also optionally use an external bluetooth mic, or other standard wireless mic transmission dongle plugged in the Android's USB / OTG port.

 

[jdale]

The person he quoted that started all the "just do it yourself"stuff said 55 inch TV from Walmart for 300.

But I mean even a 27 inch touchscreen monitor is a pretty tall lift at 300 last time I looked.

Should have quoted that then.

But OK. Let's check.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/TCL-55-C...7?classType=REGULAR&athbdg=L1300&from=/search
Normally $248, currently $188.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Hisense-...8?classType=REGULAR&athbdg=L1102&from=/search
Normally $298, currently $248.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/onn-55-C...6?classType=REGULAR&athbdg=L1102&from=/search
Normally $248, currently $228.

So, actually $300 is too high.

 

[mdrejhon]

A Not portable device with a luxury price tag that offers some of the features of others.
not portable BC it is the new version of 'luggable'
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compaq_Portable_series

It may be premium, but trying to build a TV + cart system would probably cost as much, when the price for this actually essentially includes a defacto cart.

It seems like it's more for light same-building (home/school/work) use like sharing between classrooms, meeting rooms, switching rooms (home office vs playroom), including where you need a screen that can be shared by an audience of 3 or more, instead of just 1 or 2. Not big classes, but bigger than what a single laptop/tablet can comfortably present to an audience without using an external screen which may not be already be mounted in the room.

If you're at least 40-50 years old, you may remember the TV VCR cart.

I find that the Android-on-a-pole kind of remind of this real classic common in 1980s/1990s schools:

 

[LtLoLz]

You don't see many of these anymore. From left to right: Casio EV 570, Sony Watchman, and Casio EV 660.

Hey, I've seen one of those in House MD. He uses it when hiding from Cuddy to watch his soap opera.

 

[DNA_Doc]

I did say last I looked but also it's wierd y'all feel the need to correct me(poorly) instead of the dudes who literally are like "why not use a non touch screen 55 inch for the touch interface tablet?!? I am so smart!"

But yes, the part where you found a sub 4 star rated screen only that was 300 from the well known. Beans psichen more shows the point than not imo.

It wasn't some kind of personal attack; I was curious to know how much such monitors would cost, and those were the first two that came up during a cursory search.

I admit, though, that I don't understand the need for a touchscreen with something like the reviewed product for personal use*. The author states that it is heavily marketed as streaming hardware "as a pseudo-TV" (and that she considered that one of its best uses), that "gestures can be cumbersome on a tablet this large, and the display was often out of [her] hand’s reach."

*I can see the usefulness of a touchscreen for professional/commercial use, but not when being used primarily as a streaming box.

 

[neodorian]

I'd be more than a little wary of buying a fairly pricy device that's network-connected and running a version of Android that's 3 major revisions old. And it's not as if "smart" TV and display OEMs are known for providing security updates past 2 or 3 years.

Then the whole fact that the "computer" is built into the display...just like with most TVs, you're essentially getting a low-end smartphone with a nice big screen. I get the appeal of the form factor for some uses, but I think I'd rather buy the stand and mount a display and device of my choosing to the back.

That way if the Roku/aTV/RasPi/NUC/whatever craps out I'm not stuck with a conspicuously large bit of e-waste.

 

[littlesmith]

Your ficus needs a hydration patch.

It's a ficus, so it is also possible that someone moved the pot 5 cm in any direction so the plant decided it must pretend to die now.

 

[dhughes]

With smart TV's forcing ads on every screen and people at least on Ars considering large PC monitors as replacements these large tablets could do the same thing.

Plenty of streaming services offer live channel streams as well now for those who still want some live TV.

Yes I am looking for this exact thing. TV tuners are pointless now since cable TV has not used onboard tuners for a while, at least not my region.

My local cable TV company used a cable box with HDMI to the TV but the cable box itself was connected to a coax cable from the wall. The new cable box is a small Android box also connecting via HDMI but connected via network cable or wifi no coax cable from the wall.

So really any monitor would be fine.

 

[nellswor]

As someone employed by HP at the time of the TouchPad/Pre3 disaster, it is so sad (albeit correct) to see WebOS referred to as "a smart TV OS". I will never forgive HP's worthless CEO at the time, Léo Apotheker, who idiotically made the decision to kill the entire WebOS line days before it was to be released in the US (and the day after it was released in the UK). The OS had many industry leading features at the time but so many bad decisions (like pricing the TouchPad at the same cost as the iPad) killed it before it had a chance.

I happily used my fire-sale priced Pre3 and Touchpad for a couple of years - supported by a wonderful homebrew community - until that support died out.

I was in the same boat, and had the same thoughts. I remember the "programming challenge" HP had in which they gave out a Palm Pre device to all employees who submitted an app to their nascent app store. I wrote a very simple WebOS app to display the power usage of my house using the API of the CT-based gadget I had in my breaker box. Sometime after that they just gave Palm Pre devices to nearly all employees as corporate mobile devices. I even had a few emails with Jon Rubinstein, CEO of Palm, Inc. at the time of HP acquisition. It all went up in flames, almost literally, with the sudden fire sale of the Touchpad. I did buy a few of those at $99 and used them until batteries and USB connectors started wearing out. Seems like hazy dream, now.

Working for the maker of my beloved HP 28C and 48SX calculators (from undergrad days) was in fact my original dream job, but I did not survive the very weird reverse-merger of HP Enterprise Services into CSC that became yet another TLA company called DXC. Also, HP printers became garbage over this same time period. Thus is the corporate circle of life....

 

[dikbozo]

It may be premium, but trying to build a TV + cart system would probably cost as much, when the price for this actually essentially includes a defacto cart.

It seems like it's more for light same-building (home/school/work) use like sharing between classrooms, meeting rooms, switching rooms (home office vs playroom), including where you need a screen that can be shared by an audience of 3 or more, instead of just 1 or 2. Not big classes, but bigger than what a single laptop/tablet can comfortably present to an audience without using an external screen which may not be already be mounted in the room.

If you're at least 40-50 years old, you may remember the TV VCR cart.

I find that the Android-on-a-pole kind of remind of this real classic common in 1980s/1990s schools:

View attachment 113136

I am one who used to use one of those clunky carts and their precious and somewhat fragile devices.

I do not see a 27" screen as being adequate for a class room setting. Even these old CRT TVs were difficult to see from across the room and TBH they were of similar size, image quality notwithstanding.

I cannot imagine the sound emanating from the undoubtedly small speakers as being in any way adequate to be heard across a class room either. Somehow a blue tooth add on speaker would enter into it. Yet more expense and another device to be dealt with.

also a very niche market for an expensive device without an adequate feature set for this market. Consider too the shrinking educational budgets of current time and this is a non starter.

 

[foobarian]

A lot can be done with a tripod. For example, a tripod with a VESA adapter or tablet holder can accomplish most of this with the benefit of repairability, multiple various uses, and you can upgrade the monitor or swap out tablets any time. This thing comes across as more useful for an office or shop, not a home.

 

[mrkite77]

 

[Fred Duck]

Edited to add - the author more than once considers this product to be comparable to (ie, a competitor of) LG's StanbyME, which they (LG) describe as ideal for “video conferencing with family and coworkers and viewing online lectures,” yet as far as I can tell, this thing doesn't even have a camera. I think that would also be worth pointing out in the article.

To be fair, most people tend not to turn the camera on these days.

Since no one else created the obvious image, here it is.

 

[bob_page_cousin]

What is its top speed?
I need to purchase one Tablet speedster.
I wanna do wheeeeeelieees!