What is the best way to prepare 1000s of phones for field deployment.

[Android Central Question]

We have a situation where we need to distribute 1000s of Android Phones to Field workers so they can use an application that we have distributed. These users are not tech savy and hence the preparation is proposed to be centralized before it is distributed to them. By 'Preparation' I mean a) unpacking b) updating the OS if required c) installing SIMs d) Installing our Android App e) Copying related media. The main concern here is about the google account. Creating a google account for each device (or even 1 for 10 devices) will be a tedious task. Not sure if google will even allow creation of several accounts from the same network without considering it as some sort of non-adherence to their policies. This is for an NGO and hence need to be economical as well.

 

[Kayza]

I can't speak to the other issues, but Google does do charitable licensing type stuff. I work for and NPO and we have a domain on Google, that's free. We don't have thousands, but we do have a fairly high number of people. Once you have that set up you can bulk import users from a spreadsheet so that helps smooth things out.

 

[Rukbat]

As for setting up thousands of devices, I've done it for PCs, where parts have to be inserted, cases have to be closed and screwed down, etc. You do it the way you eat an elephant, one at a time. Yes it's going to take a long time, but the only other options are 1) to pay the manufacturer or vendor to do it (which would probably cost more than you have) or hire a few dozen retired systems people, who can turn them out in a minute or two each (aside from charging the batteries, which is a plug-and-forget operation).

There's no "do it automatically wirelessly, so one person can do 100 at a time" method - each phone has to be unboxed, connected to a charger (you'll need a lot of outlets), allowed to reach full charge, your app inserted (how is up to the person developing the app), the media copied (probably from a PC) checked out, then turned off. By hand. Each one.

Don't expect to get it all done in a week - you won't. (I've been there many times - expectations are always better than reality in these cases. Don't forget the time to return defective phones and get them replaced. With even 1,000, some of them will slip through.)