Small, medium, or large?

2. Screen Size

Now that we know which operating system(s) we can choose from, let’s figure out how big of a screen size we need for our tablet-based kiosk setup!

The general rule of thumb is: the biggest the better!  However, a couple of considerations / limiting factors come into mind:

– Budget: Is there a specific budget that we need to adhere to?  If so, then the size of the tablet may be determined by funds available.  Generally speaking, smaller tablets (like the Amazon Fire 7″, iPad mini, and Samsung Galaxy Tab A 7.0) will be in the sub-$100-to-$140s range; while larger tablets like the iPad Pro 12.9″ or Surface Pro can be more than $1000 – and will be more expensive.  Don’t forget to compare your list to the criteria we determined from earlier!

– Physical Mounting Space: Going back to our earlier question of “where will this be mounted?” – do we have a space / size / height restriction where we are looking to mount the tablet?  In certain setups like retail & point-of-sale, space is always at a premium, so smaller tablets are almost always preferred.  In other scenarios, such as a “SmartHome” setup with security camera monitoring, larger tablets may be preferred since more detail can be seen on the larger screens.

– App Usability: Depending on the app that we’re using, we may need to select a larger tablet screen size by default.  For example, a point-of-sale app that looks and operates fine on a medium-sized tablet may become nigh unusable if loaded on a 7-inch or 8-inch screen, as the touch buttons may be too small for accurate presses to be quickly made.

In an ideal world – we would recommend trying out the app(s) that you’re looking to use on multiple tablets of varying sizes, so that you can be 100% sure of how your final setup will look and perform – which brings us to the next criteria…