Help on locking down an android tablet for educational purpose only

[Hadaak]

Hi Guys,

I have an educational project and would appreciate the help of an android expert here.
I plan to use several android tablet as a learning support for some kids from 7 to 18 years old, mostly kids with little access to libraries and books, let alone internet.
I haven't decided yet on the size of the screen. I already ordered an 8" tablet on ebay at 60$ to see what it looks like.
What I want to do is to lock the OS so that only these features are available:
1. Ebook reader software. I also need your help to chooose on if there are so many.
2. PDF reading software, preferrably Adobe.
3. Image reader or CBR reader for comics.
4. Dictionnary software
I want to disable all the rest !! No video playing, no audio playing. I know video and audio are great for learning too but I don't want the "users" to start using the tablets as music or video players.
I also want to lock down the "desktop" with only the application listed above. The users shouldn't bet lost in all the control panel/settings stuff and of course sould not have the ability to modify the settings or install applications.
The way I see it is the abaility to have an administrator user who can setup the device and create a locked down user "profile" for the target user before giving away the tablet.
The fact that the target users have no internet access and have no computer knowledge might make the lockdown task a bit easier.
I should mention that I'm an advanced windows user but I do not know anything about the android os. Time to learn you might say
I suppose that for this to be done I need to buy devices that can be rooted.

Would 7" or 8" be ok for this kind of project? I myself have the last Ipad 4G and the screen size is perfect. so any feedback on using a 7" or 8" for daily reading is welcome?

For 7" and 8" I found these ones on ebay with these specs:
Processor: VIA8650
OS: Android 2.2 Version ,Flash10.1
GHz: 800MHz(High Speed!)
Memory: RAM 256M
FlashMemory: 4g

So any android guru out there to help with this project? first tablet will be here in 3 weeks.
Thanks.


Thanks for any info or help in accomplishing this

 

[Androidinabox]

Any budget requirement? Ainol Android tablets are great choice

 

[userbe1155]

Hi, firstly 7" is fine fore just reading but if that's all you want it to do you can get cheap e.readers on ebay that will do the job. I hve a wm8650 7"tab & find its great for reading but resistive screen makes it poor for anything else like web browsing or gaming which is why I got a bigger capacitive screen tab. The wm based tabs with 256mb ddr are quite slow to load but once you start using readers they're fine. As a budget tab I can't say much against them. Disabling them i,'m noy sure about, many programs can't be removed which is why I wondered why not just get cheap e.readers. if you do want tabs then I would recommend ainol paladin. They're cheap, fairly powerful and have capacitive screens. Depending on your budget and if you want them to be capable of more than just e.reading, this would be my choice(or something very similar). Maybe someone out there might know of a way of disabling other apps but I guess just making sure the wi-fii is off would stop any other usage.

Sent from my M9701 using Android Tablet

 

[userbe1155]

Ps aldiko is a good reader especially for kids as you can choose page and font colours as well as font size, type etc. I think it reads pdf as well as epub files, kindle for mobi files, & I hear market(not tab ) version of i-reader is good also.

Sent from my M9701 using Android Tablet

 

[Hadaak]

Thanks for the answers, guys. the bufget is about 50-70$ per tablet. I will check the readers you recommend and report back. The reason I'm concerned about the screen is I expect the "users" to be using them a lot and I don't want them to be put off by the small print of the size of the pages !!

 

[Hadaak]

And how about reading comics on 7". My project relies heavily on comics for foreign language learning.

 

[Hadaak]

The Ainol is beyond budget. I think I will stick with ebay chinese tablets.

 

[Hadaak]

but I really need to disable audio and video playback.

 

[yann_p]

I want an educational version of the os locked down, I can't find one.... also I am having difficulty with setting up a development environment for compiling a custom one... any ideas?

 

[Hadaak]

what do you mean? there is no such thing as an educational locked down os. You mean you want a copy of what I am after?? I'll let you know how I get it done if I ever do

 

[Hadaak]

Found this : SureLock | Restrict Allowed Applications and more... | Supports Android, Windows Mobile and Windows CE

I sent an inquiry email to the guys making this app. Looks like it does just what I'm looking for.

• Lockdown your Android Smartphones & Tablets into kiosk mode
• Restrict users to allowed applications only
• Admin can securely unlock the device with a password.
• Completely Hide or Disable bottom bar on Android 3.x Honeycomb devices(might require a minor change in your application)
  
• Block users from accessing default Home screen from anywhere
• Prevent users from playing games, browsing or installing unapproved applications
• Block user from changing System Settings
• Selectively allow or block individual child windows of any application
• Per application password control
• Brand SureLock with your own corporate logo
• Auto launch application(s) at startup
• Custom title for allowed applications on home screen
• Hide icon : Allow an application without showing it on home screen
• Peripheral lockdown (WiFi, Bluetooth, Auto-Orientation, Flight-mode, Sound)
• Set custom wallpaper on SureLock Home screen
• Import/Export settings to xml
• Remotely deploy SureLock configuration(Supports http and local path specification)

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