I've been using a Chumby-based Sony Dash as a bedside alarm clock for years. It has served me well with good alarm options, the ability to wake to streaming internet radio, and a complete night-time black-out display to keep the room pitch-black. That's all I want/ need. Sony has recently discontinued the Dash line and it's time to upgrade. The problem is that there are few comparable devices out there with the sole purpose of waking you up in the morning, and with a 5"+ touch screen and easy interface. After much shopping around, the only useful suggestions I found was to use a cheap android phone / tablet as a clock, running any one of the many clock applications on the app store.
An Android tablet / phone would be perfect. It has a battery, will use local wi-fi, will set itself automatically, will survive a power outage, has local storage for music, and has an internal speaker of comparable quality to most clock radios. Awesome! The dilemma is that, I just want the device to function as a clock by default. When the device boots, I do not want an app launcher; I just want to see the time (and possibly the next alarm) in full-screen. The only think I want is a reliable alarm clock that I don't have to worry about, and will wake me up in the morning to my own playlist or streaming internet radio station. It doesn't seem like too much to ask.
I know that many of you will be tempted to reply with, "Why would you want to dumb-down a powerful tablet?". The answer to that is, "Because I want a touch-based, streaming alarm clock. No more, and no less, and there do not seem to be any comparable, dedicated, non-discontinued devices for sale that will fill this need."
So my question to y'all is two-fold. First, do you have any suggestions on how to transform an android tablet (or phone) into such a device that boots directly to a clock? I'd also be open to hear about any dedicated touch-screen, DLNA-compatable, streaming internet radio, alarm clocks for under $150. You are a smart, inventive group of folks. I figure if anyone would have a solution, it would be you guys.