Cute little touchscreen / smart alarm clock / BT speaker / charging dock that is now also a TV running Channels

I'm calling this the best bargain in tech right now. Considering how versatile this device truly is, the price is astonishingly low. It'd be a good deal at 3x the cost. I just set up another, and will be gifting one to a friend.

Another spot that benefits from a cute little touchscreen / smart alarm clock / music player / TV? The bathroom! :cowboy_hat_face:

I just went the refurb route - good-ish price though...

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Just ordered one of these from Walmart you cannot beat the price... and the ability to add Channels is a big bonus.
I Installed the Beta on this device so I can use HLS for a 4 hour buffer.

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Curious if others have come up with other use cases for this device once unlocked? I have CDVR and Pandora on mine right now, but imagine there are other possibilities others may have already discovered or tested out?

I've tested a bunch out and ultimately chose these installed apps, they all work well enough. Would love to hear about any others.

Video:
Channels DVR
YouTube Vanced
Netflix
Disney+
Amazon Prime Video
Twitch
Pluto TV
VUDU
PBS

Audio:
Apple Music
Spotify
Amazon Music
SiriusXM
Pandora
Pocket Casts
NPR One
TuneIn Radio
Noice (for ambient audio)
Sleep Sounds

Other:
Home Assistant Companion
Hue
AdGuard Home Manager
Buttons Remapper
Set Orientation

Curious what is your space on the device like ?

With all of those apps installed, I'm using about 7.5GB of 8 GB. Kinda close to being maxxed out. So pretty much anything new I'd consider adding, would likely be at the expense of removing something else.

Make sure you clean up after app installations, empty your caches and delete leftover APKs to recover lots of space.

Nifty little device. My eyes are getting bad, so not sure if I could use, but nifty none the less.

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Soon we will have a replacement for 2006 Chumby - Chumby - Wikipedia

Chumby_in_hand

The button mapper setting doesn't seem to stick? do you have any tips?

Yes, a couple of settings I've found help:

  1. Settings > DuraSpeed > Buttons remapper > enabled

  2. Settings > Accessibility > Volume key shortcut > Use service. Set it to Buttons remapper, and "Allow from lock screen." This way if Buttons remapper doesn't respond, you can press both volume keys for 3 seconds to start it up again. On that same screen, make sure "use service" is on for Buttons remapper.

  3. Sometimes you just get stuck for some reason and a reboot is necessary. As long as your default home screen is a 3rd party one (Last Launcher, Discreet Launcher, Target Home Launcher or the like,) you're OK and can get back into Settings or launch any app. I also installed an app called "Power Menu" that makes restarting easier, at least easier than having to physically pull the plug.

  4. If an app insists on launching in portrait mode, very often this can be fixed by exiting the app, launching the "Set Orientation" app, set it to Landscape, then going back to the original's app settings (via your home screen,) tap "force stop" and then "open." Unfortunately some apps don't play nice with this consistently, I am often picking the device up to turn the screen. Thankfully the plug is on the device itself, and not the charging pad.

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Haha, yeah, I had a Chumby One too. Used it as my bedside alarm clock for a long while. Very configurable, pretty good audio, and lots of fun. Lots more expensive than $20 though. I think I paid 6x that amount! I tinkered with the hacks when their servers went down too. Good times.

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Thanks, it sticks now also like that Power Menu. :+1:

Another use case I’m playing around with, is a Stock Ticker. “Yahoo Finance” works and so does this app called “Investing:”

Any other kind of “information dashboard” app, like for weather, recipes, photo slideshows, daily quotes, sports scores, crypto price tracking, subscriber count or whatever, would be good for this screen too.

Any idea how to get audio out, other than Bluetooth? I have Fosi Audio TB10D.

Would this work:
https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-External-Adapter-Windows-AU-MMSA/dp/B00IRVQ0F8/

I haven't tried that, I've been pretty impressed with the built-in speaker on its own. But that would open up lots of doors, for sure! I'm not sure if it's possible, unfortunately. I'm pretty sure the USB port on the back is only for charging other devices, via cable (in addition to the wireless pad on the right.) I think it is power output only, not connected to the Google Things software at all. No data transmitted. I'd be be curious to hear what you learn on that front, though!

It's chilly out today. Perfect timing to warm things up and get a little fire going.

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I edited the topic title to reflect the discovery I just made, that this device is a Bluetooth speaker too! I'm playing music from my iPhone to it now. I'd say audio quality is comparable to a Nest Mini. On screen shows the artist and track name.

For speaker output I was able to connect a UE Wonderboom speaker via Bluetooth but couldn’t get audio to actually play in that direction. Maybe someone else will have better luck than me.

Once you're all set up you won't want a future unexpected software update (if there ever is one) to potentially break things. So here's something else to consider:

In the Settings app > About AIV > tap "Build number" 7 times, in order to enable Developer Mode.
Then go to Settings > System > Advanced > Developer options > DISABLE "Automatic system updates."

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I have Sonos speakers everywhere, so this is another interesting discovery. At least with Spotify, Pandora, YouTube Music and TuneIn Radio, I can issue Google Assistant voice requests for music, playing to a default speaker (or request a different one, on-the-fly.)

This functionality is part of the stock device, no unlock required. And it still works even when you're in a 3rd party launcher, and not the original Home screen. These settings are in the Google Home app in iOS or Android, and not on the Lenovo smart clock itself:

I wasn't able to do the same with Apple Music or SiriusXM though, I got an error when I tried, saying they weren't "currently supported." Voice requests did work for those, but were only able to play to the built-in speaker.

A little more on this topic, from the forum where all this great info originated from:

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