1. What Kind of Hardware Is Used for Smart Kiosks?
Custom hardware is rare, and most kiosks are based on Android devices combined with off-the-shelf additions such as touch displays or cabinetry. Often, kiosks use standard tablets from popular manufacturers such as Samsung, Amazon, Lenovo and LG for a starting point, running standard Android software. By leveraging off-the-shelf hardware, projects can get off the ground quickly and reduce risk and investment while taking advantage of the huge world of Android hardware and software.
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2. What Kind of Software Should I Expect?
The best kiosk projects are those that come in on time and under budget. It’s best to use rapid prototyping with multiple software releases rather than looking for a single delivered solution, which will likely need out-of-scope tuning and adjustment to make the user community happy.
Although a custom app on both client and server side is the most elegant option, cities can get up and running quickly if managers steer the kiosk project team toward a browser-based application that requires an absolute minimum of client-side software. Once the kiosk is a success, revisit and see if an updated interface is really necessary, and budget for additional development accordingly.