SkieCan a hostel use cheaper tablets with Skie?
Yes. Skie works on any Android 12 or newer tablet or phone, so a hostel can buy budget models. A new model goes through a one-time model review during setup. Check that the tablet has Google Play services and that the review passes, then test a few before ordering in bulk.
Skie is software, and customers buy their own devices. That means the price of the hardware is your decision. The requirement is Android 12 or newer, with Google Play services present so that apps come from Google Play. Beyond that, a low-cost tablet manages in the same way as a premium one.
The one extra step is the model review. The first time a model is provisioned, it goes through a one-time review, and a profile for that model is created. After that, every tablet of the same model uses the same profile. On a model that has not been reviewed, built-in apps are left alone, so nothing important is removed by mistake.
When you buy for a hostel, think about the things that hurt in daily use. Battery life matters because a tablet that is always flat falls out of reporting and shows up as silent. Storage matters for the apps students actually need. A sturdy case matters more than a faster chip. Skie flags low battery per device, which shows you which tablets are struggling.
Buy a few of the candidate models and test them. Provision one, run your policy, check the compliance score and see how the device behaves for a week. Only then order the batch.
Skie does not set a price for devices and does not require a specific brand. Licence cost is separate and is on request.
A practical tip: standardise on one or two models. Every extra model is another review, another set of spares and another set of quirks for your IT person to learn.