In this article we're having a look at one of AOpen's touch-based kiosk solutions: the AOpen cTILE 22 GEN 3 and we'll share our experience using it with Bizplay.
Introduction
Recently, we were asked to attend an event hosted by NextNovate at Google's offices in Amsterdam to showcase signage and kiosk applications with ChromeOS for the hospitality industry. And of course we happily accepted the invitation and set out to create a demo signage channel as well as demo kiosk content. AOpen was so kind to supply us with their new Chromebox Mini 2 for demoing the signage content and a cTILE 22 GEN3 for demoing the kiosk content. In this short article, we discuss our experience with the cTILE 22 GEN3.
The hardware
What immediately stands out when you unpack the cTILE 22 Gen3 is its weight: approximatly 8.5kg for the 22" model. It's also available in a 15" and 19" version. It is a very sturdy all-metal and glass touch device that can be mounted onto an appropriate stand or built into a custom enclosure. The screen runs at 1920x1080 and is very responsive to the touch. The screw-mounted back cover allows you to neatly route and tuck away the necessary cables, like the power and network cables (when not using wifi). In short, this is a seriously capable machine.
ChromeOS
The cTILE 22 Gen3 runs ChromeOS. ChromeOS is a web-based operating system and, therefore, highly optimized to run web-based content, like Bizplay content. And it shows: all content is rendered fast, animations are very smooth and videos play flawlessly. So that is +1 for runtime performance.
The other great benefit of it running ChromeOS is that it is an absolute breeze to install. I dare say there is no platform that is easier to set up as a kiosk than ChromeOS. All you need is a kiosk license, which is activated by logging in the very first time. After that, the associated kiosk app is automatically installed. In the case of Bizplay, this is the Bizplay app, which will show the playback device registration screen. Once registered, the device runs the associated content automatically.
Since ChromeOS has this dedicated kiosk mode, users cannot access the underlying operating system. Also, you don't have to jump through hoops to force your kiosk app to the foreground and ensure a user cannot access other applications, which can be the case on operating systems like Android or Windows.
Also, OS updates occur in the background automatically and are applied upon reboot. You never need to worry about some annoying popup telling you that some hardware driver or other part of the OS needs your attention.
Bizplay in kiosk mode
While Bizplay is a signage-first content management system, we also support navigating content by touching designated areas on your pages. The content in the demo video on the side was created in less than a day. You can see the use of element animations, the Date app, Time app, Weather app, YouTube app, QR code app and Web Page app. This makes it a really easy solution for supplying information by user request.
Conclusion
If you have web-based kiosk content that you like to run on a foolproof device, then the cTILE 22 Gen3 (or any of its siblings) is definitely a solution to consider. The hardware is super sturdy and performant. Paired with the very easy-to-install and manage ChromeOS operating system and its dedicated kiosk mode, this device is one that we can wholeheartedly recommend.