I'll design a typical "in-home display" product with a small (4-6") touch screen display. The application will be generic, mostly oriented to security and/or home/building automation.
The human-machine interface is important (beautiful graphics, fast responses, sensible touch, ...) and the *low cost* too!!!
Does someone give me suggestions on some good platforms to start with?
Of course I have two choices.
Design the hardware (choose the microcontroller, the display, design a board, connectors...) and write the firmware from the scratch. Maybe I can use some good graphics libraries on the market (QT?) or from the manufaturer (Microchip Graphics Library, ...). Anyway I have some doubts about the result.
Find and buy a ready-to-use small Android-based tablet from a China manufacturer. I think I can found a similar thing at 25-20$ for 1k-5k pieces. The price would be very good and I can decide to use the original cabinet or adapt a new one.
My doubts are for the OS. Android is oriented for smartphone (calls management) that I don't need and let the user to install apps and make many things. I worry the user will be able to install its applications, customize settings and so on.
How is Android "lockable" from the developer so the user can use *only* his application?