The tablet is like a photo frame program. How to make a photo frame from a tablet? Why is all this needed?
We will need:
- an old tablet (in my case Texet TM-7029, but it could be almost any)
- charging for it
- thin wires
- screwdriver
- soldering iron
- solder, rosin
- multimeter
- resistors (may not be needed, depending on your tablet, the value also depends on the tablet)
- convert DC-DC voltage (may not be needed, depending on your tablet, the rating also depends on the tablet)
- drill
- metal drill 6mm
Step 1 Nutrition.
This is the most difficult and responsible step. Old tablets have many problems. One of them is an old battery that does not hold a charge. There are several ways to solve this. The easiest way is to leave the battery inside, connected, and supply power through regular charging. But there are pitfalls here. Firstly, over a long service life, the connection socket breaks and no longer provides a reliable connection. Secondly, aesthetically, I personally don’t like the look of the charging wire sticking out from the side. Thirdly, the battery may completely fail and then the tablet simply will not start. As you already understand, an individual approach is needed here.
I will only tell you in detail about my Texet TM-7029, and for the rest I will give options on what can be done. So, in my case, the connection connector is broken and the wire does not stay in the socket, the battery is weak, but still alive. Let's disassemble the tablet.
I tried desoldering the battery and supplying power through its connection terminals. The tablet started up, but gave an error and turned off. Therefore, I decided to leave the battery and connect the power via the micro USB socket, as charging should be done. The micro USB socket is soldered on the back of the board. Unsolder the battery and speaker wires. We unscrew all the screws holding the board. It is not necessary to disconnect the screen and touchscreen cables. We turn the board over and see that the socket contacts are very small. You can unsolder the socket and solder the wires to the contacts, then it will be much easier, but I wanted to leave the possibility of connecting to a computer, and so I used a multimeter to find a capacitor that was used to smooth out the power on this line, and soldered the wires to it:
I will give advice for owners of other tablets. You can also try:
Disconnect the battery, connect the original charger, it turns on - great, we test the stability of operation in different load modes. If it cuts out under load, you can try to take a more powerful adapter, or replace the wire with a shorter/high-quality one, since the material, length and cross-section of the power cable are of great importance and can easily create conditions under which the device cannot take more than a certain current.
Most modern devices charged via USB understand whether the computer in front of them is a native or non-native charger. And this understanding comes to them via the data bus D+ D-. In this regard, the device will take a certain current, namely up to 500mA from the non-native charger and USB, and up to the adapter rating from the native one. Accordingly, using the device via USB without a battery becomes impossible. Regarding enabling the “native” memory mode, there is information that:
most android devices need to short circuit D+ D-
some Samsung feed both D+ and D- at 2.5v
Iphone on both D+ and D- at 2v. iPad D+=2.5v and D-=2v
So, some people think (or simply do) that the external power adapter can be “plus-minus” connected to the corresponding contacts instead of the battery and there is nothing wrong with that. This is not entirely true. In most cases, power from the battery goes first to the power controller, just as from external power it goes there too. Take the time to find and open the datasheet for the chip of this controller, for example AXP209, it says in English in white that the power from the battery should not exceed um... 6.3v, and it will burn out at 11v. maximum. And on the controller of another tablet it says no more than 4.5V... you can’t guess, besides, sometimes the power from the battery can go straight to other nodes. And it is unknown how those nodes will treat your 5v, instead of the required no higher than 4.3v. In general, you need to watch here.
In addition, it is possible that the voltage from your charger reaching the battery contact pads sags on the wires, or simply under load, then, in general, everything is in order) The main thing is to take measurements.
As for choosing the maximum current of the power adapter, the best thing to do is to put an ammeter in the positive gap of the battery and see how much the device actually consumes in different modes. In general, an honest two to three amperes with a power reserve should do.
If the backlight blinks and the sound crackles, try soldering a capacitor between the plus and minus contact pads of the battery on the device itself (the larger the capacity, the better), maybe two. One, for example, 3000 µF - the second 0.1 µF.
As another option, you can connect power to the battery pads via a DC-DC converter, setting the converter to a voltage of 4.2 V.
In general, everything can be played out even simpler: put a silicon diode with a current reserve on the positive side of the adapter, the voltage drop on the silicon diode when connected directly is 0.6-0.7v, which results in exactly the “battery” voltage.
We connect the soldered wires to a wire at the end of which is a UBS connector.
The main thing is not to confuse the polarity. You can take a wire from an old phone and cut off the plug connecting to the phone. Most often, the wires differ in color. Red is a plus, black is a minus, cut the remaining ones shorter and insulate them.
Step 2 Cover
It is necessary to provide ways to attach or position our tablet. To wall mount our tablet, you need to drill a hole in the back cover. For this we use a 6 mm metal drill. First you need to measure the middle and only then drill. And don't forget to cut a notch for the power cord. If the lid is metal, like mine, we cut it with metal scissors, if it’s plastic, just with a knife.
If you have a “flipper” type case for it, you can just put it on. For example like this:
Step 3 Programs
The functions of our tablet are completely dependent on the installed programs. One of the options is a table clock with the weather. I use the free Tablet Clock program for this. You can download it via Google play using the link:
Tips for use:
When you first start, select the city for which to display the weather.
If your tablet has a navigation bar, it will be hidden when you launch the application. In this state, clicking anywhere on the screen will return that string without affecting the application in any way.
Clicking on the alarm clock icon will display the system alarm settings window.
Pressing in time displays the application menu (the same as the device menu button, if it is not there).
Clicking on the weather switches to two different types of forecast - for a day and for a week.
If your device does not have a light sensor, but has a camera, preferably a front one, enable brightness adjustment using the camera in the settings - the light will be measured by the camera every 30 seconds. If you run the application without a connected charger with this mode, the battery life will be reduced.
The time and date format is taken from the system.
If you want to reduce the brightness even less than your device allows, change the R, G, B values in the text color settings to lower ones. For example, if for green (#00FF00) you set 80 instead of FF, the brightness will be 2 times lower.
You can choose to rotate the screen in Settings.
Another option is a digital photo frame. The application is called Digital Photo Frame. It's also free. It also has musical accompaniment. You can download it from Google play using the link.
Today I’m reviewing an interesting little thing – a digital photo frame. I love taking photographs, but somehow I didn’t like looking through photos in my family. With the advent of a new gadget, I caught myself thinking that in a few days I managed to review the family history of as many as 5 years and more than once. I placed the frame on the desktop, and willy-nilly, periodically distracted from work, I stare at the screen. Productivity decreased somewhat, but I was pleased with the device. I suggest you take a closer look at the characteristics and operation of the device.
Description of technical characteristics and delivery set
- Silver color
- Diagonal 10.1"
- Resolution1024x600
- Screen format 16:10
- Remote control YES
- Display type tft
- Adjust screen brightness, contrast, saturation
- Landscape working position
- Slideshow YES
- Slideshow + Music mode YES
- Clock YES
- Alarm clock YES
- Calendar YES
- Support jpeg image formats
- Playback of video formats/codecs avi, mpeg1/2, mpeg 4(divx4.0, divx5.0, xvid)
- Playback of audio formats/codecs mp3, wmaBuilt-in acoustics YES
- Support sd/sdhc/mmc memory cards
- USB interface (Type A) YES
- USB interface (Type Mini-B) YES
- Automatic switch on YES
- Automatic shutdown YES
- External power supply
- Weight 380 g
- Dimensions 253.7x167.5x8mm
The packaging has quite a gift-like appearance, neat, strong, colorful.
The kit includes:
- Digital photo frame
- Power adapter
- Remote control
- User manual in Russian
- Warranty card
Description of appearance and operation
Undoubtedly, I liked the interesting appearance of the frame in a practical metal case. It's not plastic, especially if it's black, which collects dust terribly. On gray metal, dust is absolutely invisible. Frame dimensions – 24.8cm*15.8cm. The thickness of the upper and side strips of the case is from 12-15mm, the bottom – 22mm. Dimensions of the working area: 21.8*12.3 cm. The screen, as you noticed, is elongated, however, such dimensions are convenient when starting the “calendar” mode, for example. When both a photo presentation and a large format calendar fit perfectly on one screen. The image will not necessarily be stretched to fill the entire screen; you set the format of the displayed information yourself in the frame settings. As for weight, I like weighted gadgets, if, of course, they are intended for stationary use, without being carried or worn. This gadget is heavy, 447g. But it is stable, and you can’t just brush it off the table.
Overall, a good product, with high-quality assembly and materials.
Front view: In the front center of the bottom panel, the manufacturer has built in a fairly large peephole for an infrared sensor. It is worth saying that the frame responds unconditionally to all requests from the remote control, the signal is good, and is not lost even if some kind of obstacle is placed in front of the frame. My gadget is located on a computer desk, so some small things appear in front of the screen periodically, but this does not affect the actions from the remote control, and there are no problems at a distance either. The main thing is that the remote control is aimed at any point in the frame and responds even from behind the device. The signal is received at a distance of 5-6m.
There are no functional buttons or holes at the ends of the device.
Rear: All physical controls are located at the rear on a cylindrical plastic stand. Which, by the way, also serves as a speaker. There are 2 of them here. So, on the stand there are: a power button, a menu button, play/pause, 2 buttons for scrolling through tracks. A detailed description of the operation of each button is described in the user manual in Russian. However, looking ahead, I will say that without a remote control, the photo frame will not be fully functional; some aspects, for example, starting the calendar with one button, silent mode, moving through the menu, are organized only using buttons on the remote control. Unfortunately, you cannot change the volume directly from the device.
As for the most interesting thing, screen display. The picture is clear and bright, especially if you select the playback mode in the original format. Good color rendition, excellent viewing angles on the right and left, bottom and top - not so hot. I placed the frame in the brightest room on the south side. On a bright sunny day in a room without curtains or tulle, the picture is good. This is despite the fact that the screen brightness is set to only 50%.
About software. The system supports the Russian language and starts up very quickly, within a few seconds. There are no glitches or slowdowns while the photo mode is running and music is playing at the same time. I was pleased with the variety of supported formats, as well as the presence of an alarm clock and turning the device on/off according to a schedule. There is no need to write files to the root; the device sees the contents of the folders.
Device menu
Briefly about the operation of the modes: When viewing photos, you can zoom up to 3x. Ability to delete files from storage media. The frame responds instantly to the remote control request - “calendar” mode, replacing any other mode. A calendar, the current date indicating the day of the week, a clock and a slide show with the previously set settings appear on the screen. The slide show mode is classically interval, maximum delay is 3 hours.
About the sound. There are, indeed, 2 speakers, as the manufacturer promises. The sound at minimum volume is an excellent background. The maximum is weak. But guys, let's not find fault, this is a photo frame, not a column. The speaker doesn't have any bass. Sound? Normal sound for a non-specialized device. Thanks to the available headphone jack, music while you watch photos or videos will not disturb others. The sound in wired headphones is a little better and louder.
Having worked 16 hours a day without a break, the frame, or more specifically the stand, barely warmed up. If we talk about autonomy, a wireless version would be interesting.
Remote control description:
The remote control is miniature, with classic buttons for controlling the player, plus 3 buttons for launching photo, music and video modes. The frame is controlled both by push-buttons and by remote control. But many requests are carried out by the remote control, so its failure or loss will deprive you of the following actions with the frame: lack of movement through the settings menu, launching the calendar and some others. As for touch controls, I miss it here. But this would increase the cost of the device.
Conclusion
If you say that the tablet is the head of everything. Not true. The house has 2 tablets, a laptop, 3 desktop computers, not to mention TVs, but... they are not a replacement for this gadget. Looking at family photos became a good indicator within a few days. This device fits perfectly as an interior decoration, has good functionality, and most importantly, the quality of pictures and recordings is excellent.
I apologize for the sound quality. It looks like the microphone is being covered. I will repair it.
Advantages
- Interesting appearance
- Practical metal case, high-quality assembly
- Excellent display of information
- Long wire
- Stable
- Multifunctional (video viewing, calendar, clock, alarm clock, music player, slide show with music, automatic start/shutdown, deleting files)
- External speaker, audio jack
- Variety of readable formats
- Control panel with a signal at 5-6m, and even a closed sensor on the frame reacts
- Works with both USB flash drive and SD card
- Ability to delete files (with confirmation)
- Does not heat up during long-term operation
- Reads information from the media even from folders
- Stable software operation
Flaws
- Managing the frame menu is not possible without a remote control
- Vertical viewing angles
In about a month and a half, the New Year will come, which means it’s time to make/buy gifts again (generally speaking, it’s better to buy many gifts even earlier - let’s say, parcels from China take more than a month to reach us, so...).
The easiest thing this year was to decide on a gift for my still strong grandmother - with the birth of my child, there was a flood of photographs that everyone, including her, wanted to see. Printing and giving away paper photographs is already an anachronism when you can provide her with a digital photo frame with hundreds of photos.
Background
The list of requirements for a photo frame is quite obvious, no one wants bad things for their family:
- screen size from 7"
- not very low ppi
- good color rendition (IPS matrix and other eye friends)
- basic control
- the ability to automatically replenish the digital photo album with fresh photos
With the very last point, everything is a little more complicated. I’m lazy and busy enough to often travel across all of Moscow (35 km is the shortest one-way route through the very center) and add new photos, but I want to please with fresh food. Therefore, the device needs synchronization with, from where these same photos will arrive independently.
A quick look through Yandex.Market led me to one conclusion: the photo frame industry is stillborn from the very beginning, and there is no need to look for a good frame with a high-quality screen and synchronization, so you need to look at tablets. There are quite a lot of tablets that fit the specified characteristics. One of the simplest ones is enough, I personally opted for the Huawei Mediapad 7 Lite, which currently costs about 4,000 rubles (if you want a really high-quality screen with 300+ ppi, then it’s better to immediately take the Nexus 7, but it already costs 10,000 rubles, or even look at the new Apple iPad mini, but wouldn’t all this be too much?).
Inside is a single-core gigahertz processor, 1 GB of RAM, 8 GB of space (plus support for memory cards), IPS screen with a resolution of 1024 * 600 (not a fountain, but for 7 "), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS (too many ).
Materials and tools
So, to turn the tablet into a photo frame we need the following pieces of hardware:
- tablet with the ability to get root (to completely hide the bottom panel with control buttons and clock)
- tablet stand
or this one from Qumo:
I settled on the following software:
- Wallpaper Slideshow - for displaying photos; there are dozens of programs that are complete clones, choose - I don’t want to
- full!screen - to hide the control panel
- Nova Launcher - to lock the desktop; There are probably other launchers with a screen lock, but I’m used to this one, there’s no point in looking for anything else
- FolderSync Lite - for syncing with the cloud
- Battery Widget Reborn - to show the charge level; you can choose any one, this one is good for its minimalism
- any convenient program for automatically adjusting the screen brightness depending on the time of day (especially important if the tablet is constantly on)
- any convenient program for remote control of the tablet
Action plan
We get root. Route is necessary to use full! screen, which in turn is needed to eliminate even the ghostly possibility of the problem “I pressed, I don’t know where and it’s there!!!”.
Setting up the system
- disable screen lock. After turning on the device, it should immediately show the desktop, and nothing more.
- connect Wi-Fi
- FolderSync - connect the cloud, set up a synchronization schedule (once a week will be enough).
- Wallpaper Slideshow is a live wallpaper, so we select the folder from which to take the photos, set the photo switching time and allow the only action (except for turning it on/off with a hardware button) - switching to the next photo by double-clicking.
- Nova becomes the default launcher. In it we delete all desktops, except one, from which we delete all icons. Disable the search bar. Remove all icons from the dock.
- We add Battery Widget Reborn directly to the dock, make the widget more transparent, and you can also remove the surrounding circle.
- In full!screen, enable autorun after loading and hide the bottom panel.
- We return to Nova’s settings and block the desktop (it could have been done right away, but then we would have to temporarily unlock it to install the widget).
Why is that
Because it’s still a year in 2013, Google has just introduced Android 4.4 KitKat, where full-screen mode finally appeared, and cheap devices with this OS will do well in a year. And I’m not talking about the fact that it’s impossible to find a simple slideshow program with the ability to block almost all controls given the current state of the market.
Total
Photos are synchronized, the tablet shows only photos and nothing more, it is possible to break anything, but it is extremely difficult (using a long press on the screen, turning off auto-lock and unlocking the screen is still a long sequence of necessary actions). Surely everyone will be happy, all that remains is to hand it over :). We'll check in 45 days :).
A tablet is a specialized device that is capable of performing a variety of functions specified by the user. One of these abilities is to work as a photo frame. This is especially true if the device is obsolete and has been replaced with a new one. Having learned how to make a photo frame from a tablet, you can breathe a second life into a compact device.
Photo frame from a tablet: why is it beneficial?
Photo frames are a popular product offered in electronics stores. For such pleasure you need to pay a decent amount, and the proposed devices themselves will be:
- Show user-selected photos.
- Demonstrate collages and animations in a constant mode, when one photo is replaced by another without human help.
The tablet can also perform the task and accompany the change of pictures with pleasant music. You can turn your device into a convenient photo frame yourself. To do this, you should download several applications, one of which is Dayframe software. You can download it online for free, but the program will work on devices with the Android 4.2 operating system and higher.
The application allows the “tablet” to display your favorite photos, and the technician will be able to upload them using the network not only from its own archive (pre-downloaded), but also from the Internet. The program can process various formats, it supports normal work with Google and Dropbox. It also works with other resources - Tumblr and Flickr. The developers do not forget other popular applications and services, including the famous Twitter and Instagram.
This opportunity appears exclusively on tablets; a regular photo frame will not be able to work over the network with the specified platforms. There are other important differences that speak in favor of using a tablet, including:
- Possibility of accessing the network and uploading new photos over the network.
- There is no need to remove the microSD (as in a photo frame) to upload a new batch of photos.
- It becomes possible to synchronize the program with one of the listed portals in order to pull up new photos for their subsequent demonstration.
You can also send new files to your tablet via email.
A few simple steps to transform your tablet into a photo frame
Stage 1 – download, installation, software configuration
Dayframe is available for free on Google Play. After opening the application, you will be able to upload photos and set up automatic login to your favorite resources and social networks.
Stage 2 – setting up access to sources for uploading photos
This function is relevant not only for those who have active accounts on social networks and constantly post photos there. The function can also be used by those people who do not have or do not update accounts, but want to view new photos. They can configure the device to connect to photo banks. The most popular services provide an endless supply of photos. The program allows you to connect three areas at once that are interesting for viewing.
Step 3 – Setting the Time
You should indicate exactly what period (time interval) will be required to update the photo frame. The user determines this parameter at his own discretion.
Stage 4 – additional features
If your tablet will be used solely as a photo frame, you can disable the use of other buttons. But for the device you are using, you can specify a certain time in the timer when the equipment will start surfing photos. At his discretion, the user selects a number of other parameters.
Remembering the boom in digital photo frames that raged just a few years ago, I wondered: where did photo frames disappear from stores and the former excitement for them? Out of curiosity, I monitored the market for devices and offers today.
The peak popularity of photo frames occurred in 2009-2010, then the demand for the product steadily fell. Manufacturers made changes to the design and functionality of photo frames, adapting photo frames to the needs of the market. For example, the idea of producing photo frames with Wi-Fi was first implemented in 2009-2010. Photos were uploaded onto such frames remotely via Wi-Fi, the frames had a fixed e-mail address, some were synchronized with Facebook, Flickr, and Picassa sites.
Many manufacturers have created separate websites for working with photographs and photo frames (Kodak, CIEVA, Pix Star). Pix Star released an Android smartphone app in 2010 that makes it easy to upload photos to a photo frame.
Several major global brands have produced Wi-Fi and touchscreen frames:
—Sony
— Kodak
— Pandigital
Among the additional features of photo frames, internal memory and playback of MP3 and MPEG4 multimedia files have become popular.
Today, the production of frames with Wi-Fi and touch screens has almost completely ceased. The production of Wi-Fi frames was closed by Sony, Kodak, CIEVA, Looqs, PF Digital Inc. The idea of remotely uploading photos to a photo frame has not become widely popular. However, Pix Star (one 10" model) and Pandigital are still selling Wi-Fi frames, but their models are very outdated in design. Sales are mainly carried out through AMAZON.
The sale of conventional digital frames is still carried out by Viewsonic (2012 models with a very modern design), Sony (2011 models with the ability to view HD video and play audio), Philips, Transcend, Assistant. And Samsung completely abandoned the production of photo frames.
In the country where literally everything is produced (China), there is also a decline in demand for photo frames. Therefore, the bulk of Chinese manufacturers have concentrated their efforts on the production of tablets. I was able to talk with some manufacturers, most of them who were considering the possibility of equipping Wi-Fi frames, came to the conclusion that this product would not be in demand on the market due to limited functionality and great competition from tablets.
Among the most attractive digital frames on the market today are the products of the Chinese company Gadmei electronics www.gadmei.com.
They don't make frames with Wi-Fi and/or touchscreens, but they do have a very sophisticated design. The company is the manufacturer of the world's thinnest digital photo frame - model PF 8086E. With a screen size of 8”, the screen thickness is only 3.5 mm. The control is push-button, located on a leg-stand.
Their products are sold under their own brands by such companies as Viewsonic, Texet (Russia). Thus, the Texet company recently announced the release of a new model of the teXet TF-111 frame, produced in a bright design (in lilac tones with orchids, with Chinese motifs and in disco style).
Naturally, tablets became competitors of frames, and eventually their complete replacement. Today in China you can buy quite high-quality tablets in retail at very low prices: for comparison, a tablet based on the Allwinner A31 Quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 chipset and a Retina 9.7″ 2048x1536 screen (a screen with wide viewing angles and increased pixel density per square inch) for only $158, and a tablet with an Infotmic iMAPx15 Dual-core ARM Cortex-A5 chipset and a 7″ screen with a resolution of 1024×600 for $57.
Frames, especially for larger sizes, may compete with SmartTV technology.
From the latest news in photo frame production technologies, I can say that Google has received a patent for the production of a “smart” photo frame that supports automatic synchronization with a smartphone via a wireless communication channel. In addition to the traditional functions of downloading and demonstrating photos, the photo frame is equipped with the ability to tag people in the photo. During synchronization, the frame will transfer a list of tagged items to the mobile device, where they will be associated with contacts in the phone book.
Thanks to tagging and synchronization, the user will be able to initiate a voice conversation by simply clicking on the image of the desired subscriber in the photo shown on the photo frame display. In addition, when you receive an incoming call on your smartphone, the caller's photo will be displayed on the frame screen.
Wait and see. Do you believe in the future of photo frames?
