Touchjet - Wave™ TV Tablet System

I was really excited to try this product but the reality fell far short of the hype. First, the installation was tricky, since the special bracket that they use did not work with my thicker TV. If you have a thinner LCD TV, you'll be fine, but I had to figure out how to attach the thing to my TV somewhat on my own. That said, once attached it actually worked and I could interact with the device via gestures. That's where the huge disappointment revealed itself: This is am Amazon device. It uses the Kindle store, not the Google Play store. I expected to log into my Google account and just start using my apps. Unless you are a dedicated Kindle tablet user, this device will not work well for you. Why the vendor didn't opt for full Google licensing, I have no idea, but at that point, it went back in the box and back to the store.

I bought this in order to use my 4 year old 50" Toshiba TV as touch screen so my 3 year old toddler can use ABC Mouse on it. The good things first: it works fine with ABC Mouse and is nice to be able to video call using Facebook messenger. Setup is not rocket science. Now the bad things: It seems to be designed for new tvs with flat top (none of my 3 tvs have it), I have to remove the pressure screw in order to fit my Toshiba tv. I also tried on a 42" Panasonic tv with (the adjustment tool didn't help either, it is to small). The android box is painfully slow and the touch response is like a 20 dollar Chinese tablet. Calibration has to be done at least once per day due the bad design. Don't let the slogan fool you, is not for any flat screen tv. This is a new product with lot of room for improvement, buy it only if you are comfortable with the DIY approach to make the device to stay in the proper position. If expect the same response as your phone or tablet (you better get the $800 touch screen adapter). I'll keep it just because it works for my very specific purposes (use with abc mouse) and I love to test new products and technology. Note: I wouldn't use it for video apps.

It has a Sleek design. It is very light, The iOs App to remotely control the andorid box is pretty nice and easy to get going. It does miss a remote keyboard though. It took me a while to the get the thing mounted on my TV. The Velcro at the back gave me a hard time. But worse is the knob that does the finer alignment. It is a rather crudely made piece that needs lot of patience to get it right. Once you do get the alignment right, calibration is really easy and fast. But then comes the real trouble. For me, no matter how I do the set up or calibration, only a very tiny portion of the screen is interactive. The interaction does not work around the edges or at the bottom half of the screen. The device simply does not detect interaction in these areas. Then there are other interesting design choices. The Android box does not support google play store. You can only download apps from Kindle store. Summary: Nice looking HW. But not at all usable.

I'm a software engineer immersed in all things mobile, love technology, and am usually the first to try out new gadgets (Google Glass, Home, watches, etc). When I saw demos of this technology, it seemed like a great opportunity to extend our mobile apps to the "dumb" flat panels we have around campus. Sadly, this device just isn't ready for real world use. TL;DR * Brittle - slightest movement can mess up alignment * Touch targets aren't even close to finger position * Limited app ecosystem - running KitKat 4.4 and connected to Amazon App Store * Frustrating setup There are some expectations that need to be set - this is a brittle technology. Brittle as in, you'll be lucky if the head mount and bottom-mount laser receiver aren't jostled, knocked off, or moved out of alignment every minute or two. Even touching the TV can move things enough that the head mount loses connectivity. Installing this in any type of public setting where the users aren't fully briefed on the delicate nature is going to be an epic failure. If you have a completely controlled environment and the "sneeze and this will break" concerns aren't a big deal, then you'll have to worry about lighting. I spent 45 minutes just trying to calibrate the unit for touch. It took 12 reboots, multiple times of making it through all five touchpoints only to receive a "calibration failed, try again" message, moving all around the TV (Samsung 55" panel), trying a stylus, and all positions of my finger on the spots. The only way I managed to get it calibrated was to turn the overhead lights on in my office to full brightness. So, if your space isn't well lit, chances are not good for this to work correctly (or at all). So, we'll assume you not only have a perfect environment and delicate users, let's address the technical limitations. Touch positioning is awful. The location marker on the screen was at least 1" away from my finger, if not 2" at times. From what I can tell (and this is based on 2 hours of frustration just getting the device set up), apps are only available via sideloading or through the Amazon App Store. The device is running KitKat 4.4.2 and is not a certified Android device, which means there are no Google Play Services. Which means from a developer standpoint, no apps that use Google Maps, sign-in, games API, Case, Firebase, or any of the Play Services APIs. If you are developing for the Amazon App Store and are already faced with these limitations, great - you have already stripped your app of functionality that is available on actual Android devices. You can't even test out any of the apps (assuming you can hit the right touch target) without signing into your Amazon account. But you wouldn't know this because there's nothing in the documentation that explains this. The onboarding process is almost as awful as the setup, which is almost as awful as the touch responsiveness. Again, I love technology and am always looking to find new and creative ways to engage with our students. But my team and I will not be doing so with the Touchjet Wave. Even if the setup hadn't taken 2 hours, even if the touch targets were even remotely close to my finger (yeah, I could probably try calibrating again, but after seeing that screen a dozen times, I don't have the patience), you're still stuck with limited options to deploy and develop apps. This device has already been boxed up and is heading back to Best Buy. Maybe version 2.0 will be a bit more stable and the team can work out the major issues keeping this technology on the crowdsource channels.

I have been watching this product from concepts to final production. Paid with high expectation but turns out huge disappointment. First of all, the product is very difficult to install, alignment doesn't work and the sticky tape at the back to hold the sensor keep falling. I tried to use a separate 3M tape to hold in place, adjusted the laser alignment and tried to calibrate the screen following the instruction, it will not work and only received error message for calibration. It's a piece of junk now.

It seems ethically wrong that Touchjet are selling this product in open retail, when folks who have supported the product with pledges on Indiegogo almost 2 years ago haven't received it yet. It is doubly frustrating, but not unexpected, that the product sucks. They are possibly inviting legal action as well.