Galaxy Tablet - car application
Discussion
I have an idea to install a Galaxy tablet into a car without a head unit- idea is that it will be used for music, sat nav, phone, rev camera etc - just looking to see if anyone has done this and experience to share or if anyone has any pointers - ie how do you connect amp etc
thankyou, Mark
thankyou, Mark
Just in a car mount? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xp4MTkn1XfQ
or built in
http://www.intomobile.com/2010/03/19/first-android...
Supose no reason you can not install it like any other Car PC type intsall.
or built in
http://www.intomobile.com/2010/03/19/first-android...
Supose no reason you can not install it like any other Car PC type intsall.
Hiya,
I've had a very similar idea and got to a certain level with it and for the moment, I'm not taking it further due to some other elements I'm focussing on. I purchased two Windows based tablets towards the end of summer 2009, a 7 inch and 4.8 inch both running windows XP and the relatively well known in in-car PC circles, Centrafuse mobile/in car software. From the demo video above, this 'type' of setup has been done - car mount in the windscreen and using inbuilt GPS for navigation.
I thought about the how to connect to amplifiers thing and for a short while was thinking it'd just have to be a 3.5mm lead to RCA's. But then discovered a couple of products
autumn 2009. That aspect is now resolved by use of Bluetooth to RCA adaptors.
The iPAD was fitted into vehicles, using some absolutley top end car audio customisation and build work perhaps a couple of weeks after it was released. I met and spoke to one of the very well known (in USA pro level car audio work) and best installers and have gained a little more knowledge from him for my own particular route I'd eventually like to take. Here's his video and Dave R was great to meet and talk with
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oDy2ZU8xqc&fea...
That actual car is the absolute top end, was great to sit in it and talk at the recent SMEA 2010 show I was at
Here's some pics I took of the car
Moving on, Some flaws with Android in the car, is that it's still Google's baby and is still a platform that must mature. I'm not at the CES show in Las Vegas this year (starts Tommorow) but as I've mentioned previously, there's a multitude of Tablets that will be announced - quite if they'll be good, no one yet knows. Because of that maturity thing, screen resolutions is something that needs to be standardised, as one app might be ok on a 9 inch tablet but not work on a 5 inch one and all the other combinations. For what I want and thought of, the 4.8 inch machine I have in one way of use, is perfect, and in another way, the 7 inch is perfect. I won't be able to use say an 8 or 9 inch+ size device for what I want.
Embedded systems are being looked at by the big manufacturers, and from last years CES show, it wasn't Android being showcased and developed...... now that may or has changed, but I doubt it. Android is good, popular and will hopefully mature to be a really good contender for devices and an Operating system and will easily give Apple a run for its money in certain ways, but for now, it's not mature enough.
Coming back down to earth for a second as well, another aspect of in car use and doing the 'tablet' thing is useability. Many of us are so used to turning the key and 2-3 seconds later having audio that many will find getting in, booting up a tablet (however short with SSD drives & short 5 second wake ups) then having to 'connect' stuff or having 'auto connects' work etc means it'll become frustrating to be driving and then music coming on or the GPS fix or program being ready for use. This sort of shortcomings can only be resolved by development of bespoke in car systems... and for now, I don't they'll be £20 apps you can buy and install on any android/tablet device..
Cheers, Dennis!
I've had a very similar idea and got to a certain level with it and for the moment, I'm not taking it further due to some other elements I'm focussing on. I purchased two Windows based tablets towards the end of summer 2009, a 7 inch and 4.8 inch both running windows XP and the relatively well known in in-car PC circles, Centrafuse mobile/in car software. From the demo video above, this 'type' of setup has been done - car mount in the windscreen and using inbuilt GPS for navigation.
I thought about the how to connect to amplifiers thing and for a short while was thinking it'd just have to be a 3.5mm lead to RCA's. But then discovered a couple of products
autumn 2009. That aspect is now resolved by use of Bluetooth to RCA adaptors. The iPAD was fitted into vehicles, using some absolutley top end car audio customisation and build work perhaps a couple of weeks after it was released. I met and spoke to one of the very well known (in USA pro level car audio work) and best installers and have gained a little more knowledge from him for my own particular route I'd eventually like to take. Here's his video and Dave R was great to meet and talk with
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oDy2ZU8xqc&fea...
That actual car is the absolute top end, was great to sit in it and talk at the recent SMEA 2010 show I was at
Here's some pics I took of the car
Moving on, Some flaws with Android in the car, is that it's still Google's baby and is still a platform that must mature. I'm not at the CES show in Las Vegas this year (starts Tommorow) but as I've mentioned previously, there's a multitude of Tablets that will be announced - quite if they'll be good, no one yet knows. Because of that maturity thing, screen resolutions is something that needs to be standardised, as one app might be ok on a 9 inch tablet but not work on a 5 inch one and all the other combinations. For what I want and thought of, the 4.8 inch machine I have in one way of use, is perfect, and in another way, the 7 inch is perfect. I won't be able to use say an 8 or 9 inch+ size device for what I want.
Embedded systems are being looked at by the big manufacturers, and from last years CES show, it wasn't Android being showcased and developed......
now that may or has changed, but I doubt it. Android is good, popular and will hopefully mature to be a really good contender for devices and an Operating system and will easily give Apple a run for its money in certain ways, but for now, it's not mature enough.Coming back down to earth for a second as well, another aspect of in car use and doing the 'tablet' thing is useability. Many of us are so used to turning the key and 2-3 seconds later having audio that many will find getting in, booting up a tablet (however short with SSD drives & short 5 second wake ups) then having to 'connect' stuff or having 'auto connects' work etc means it'll become frustrating to be driving and then music coming on or the GPS fix or program being ready for use. This sort of shortcomings can only be resolved by development of bespoke in car systems... and for now, I don't they'll be £20 apps you can buy and install on any android/tablet device..
Cheers, Dennis!
Edited by DennisCooper on Wednesday 5th January 01:57
Edited by DennisCooper on Wednesday 5th January 02:03
Edited by DennisCooper on Wednesday 5th January 02:05
I was thinking exactly this!
And the Tab would be perfect for it, 7 inch screen is what the largest double din's have.
I think Andriod is more than ready for it, it has all the features you'd want from a high-end head unit: gps, bluetooth, voice recognition.
I forked out more than the price of a Tab for my Pioneer AVIC, and while it's a good unit, it's nowhere near as good as an integrated tab would be, I'll even put up with the boot time (which the AVIC has too).
I think a tab is a little bit too big at the moment, but the hardware could be easily fit into double din, the only "hard" part is the integration.
If people are forking out in excess of £1000 for a head unit, surely a unit based on the £400 tab, with more connections yet less design should be profitable?
I'd buy one in a heartbeat, and if I was a bit more confident with car electronics, I'd start working on one right away.
And the Tab would be perfect for it, 7 inch screen is what the largest double din's have.
I think Andriod is more than ready for it, it has all the features you'd want from a high-end head unit: gps, bluetooth, voice recognition.
I forked out more than the price of a Tab for my Pioneer AVIC, and while it's a good unit, it's nowhere near as good as an integrated tab would be, I'll even put up with the boot time (which the AVIC has too).
I think a tab is a little bit too big at the moment, but the hardware could be easily fit into double din, the only "hard" part is the integration.
If people are forking out in excess of £1000 for a head unit, surely a unit based on the £400 tab, with more connections yet less design should be profitable?
I'd buy one in a heartbeat, and if I was a bit more confident with car electronics, I'd start working on one right away.
Hiya
I think I did ok for a late night reply there!
Zespak - what you've mentioned there to a large extent is what I was conceptualising summer 2009, and again, what you've said is the 'easy' part! For me, I have a particular 'focus' I need to address and resolve. I'm there to an extent, but the initial barrier is the 'hard' bit - integration and looking as factory/oem as possible or at least, very highly professional finish. That cost's serious money - the motorised iPAD holder in the pictures above, I have a 'customer' retail price for and it immediatley puts the project into UK football player type amounts! Talking £3-4K !! Whilst I'm sure with mass production and perhaps less expensive materials used that figure could be brought down, there's simply way too many potential cars out there that could accept an iPad to develop for. Add to that, Apple like to change their product each year, perhaps by only a few millimetres or a slight change in the back of a product, you can imagine sinking thousands into a motorised holder or even a manual swivelling one isn't something anyone really wants to do. So, integration stays in the hands of the aftermarket and usually 'one offs' etc and the price stays high. I am in talks with some UK based installers to see what I can do over here as well, but as it's such a small market and interest level at the moment, pricing here is still very expensive still
If you just stick a tablet device on a suction holder then of course that's an option - but then there's no mounting integration... and if, like me and many other's you have a smartphone, then I've found that does everything already, I don't actually 'need' to buy another device just for a larger screen. I've always had HTC handsets in this case, current one being a Touch HD2 with a 4.3 inch screen that's more than capable - I bluetooth stream to my Alpine head unit music, it has co-pilot for GPS, a 16GB micro SD card I store music and movies on, when a call comes in, the Alpine has a Parrot Bluetooth car kit built in so that's covered as well. I'm not going to be driving and wanting to play a game or buy train tickets via some app, so from that view - no need to buy a tablet. When I'm parked up waiting or in a traffic jam, then perhaps then features like that could be useful for 5 minutes. I think tablets in car's will have an enthusiast following initially, and then you'll see them as secondary use items in the car for passengers etc. That's the focus I'm looking at currently.
I have another concept which makes use of tablet devices in a more involving way which I soon hope to be demonstrating in my own car in the near future and my head unit, for now will be an Alpine double DIN with a 7 inch touchscreen (iXA-W407BT) - I'll have pictures and details up here on PH when I cover that part of my projects
Cheers, Dennis!
I think I did ok for a late night reply there!
Zespak - what you've mentioned there to a large extent is what I was conceptualising summer 2009, and again, what you've said is the 'easy' part! For me, I have a particular 'focus' I need to address and resolve. I'm there to an extent, but the initial barrier is the 'hard' bit - integration and looking as factory/oem as possible or at least, very highly professional finish. That cost's serious money - the motorised iPAD holder in the pictures above, I have a 'customer' retail price for and it immediatley puts the project into UK football player type amounts! Talking £3-4K !! Whilst I'm sure with mass production and perhaps less expensive materials used that figure could be brought down, there's simply way too many potential cars out there that could accept an iPad to develop for. Add to that, Apple like to change their product each year, perhaps by only a few millimetres or a slight change in the back of a product, you can imagine sinking thousands into a motorised holder or even a manual swivelling one isn't something anyone really wants to do. So, integration stays in the hands of the aftermarket and usually 'one offs' etc and the price stays high. I am in talks with some UK based installers to see what I can do over here as well, but as it's such a small market and interest level at the moment, pricing here is still very expensive still
If you just stick a tablet device on a suction holder then of course that's an option - but then there's no mounting integration... and if, like me and many other's you have a smartphone, then I've found that does everything already, I don't actually 'need' to buy another device just for a larger screen. I've always had HTC handsets in this case, current one being a Touch HD2 with a 4.3 inch screen that's more than capable - I bluetooth stream to my Alpine head unit music, it has co-pilot for GPS, a 16GB micro SD card I store music and movies on, when a call comes in, the Alpine has a Parrot Bluetooth car kit built in so that's covered as well. I'm not going to be driving and wanting to play a game or buy train tickets via some app, so from that view - no need to buy a tablet. When I'm parked up waiting or in a traffic jam, then perhaps then features like that could be useful for 5 minutes. I think tablets in car's will have an enthusiast following initially, and then you'll see them as secondary use items in the car for passengers etc. That's the focus I'm looking at currently.
I have another concept which makes use of tablet devices in a more involving way which I soon hope to be demonstrating in my own car in the near future and my head unit, for now will be an Alpine double DIN with a 7 inch touchscreen (iXA-W407BT) - I'll have pictures and details up here on PH when I cover that part of my projects
Cheers, Dennis!
Just found this on endgadget http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/04/parrot-asteroid...
But from the write up it seems to completely miss the point.
But from the write up it seems to completely miss the point.
DennisCooper said:
Hiya
I think I did ok for a late night reply there!
Zespak - what you've mentioned there to a large extent is what I was conceptualising summer 2009, and again, what you've said is the 'easy' part! For me, I have a particular 'focus' I need to address and resolve. I'm there to an extent, but the initial barrier is the 'hard' bit - integration and looking as factory/oem as possible or at least, very highly professional finish. That cost's serious money - the motorised iPAD holder in the pictures above, I have a 'customer' retail price for and it immediatley puts the project into UK football player type amounts! Talking £3-4K !!...
I think we have to agree to disagree. I have an old double din radio that has an amplifier in it (like nearly all car radio's do), and if I glue a samsung tab 7" on it it's an almost perfect fit.I think I did ok for a late night reply there!
Zespak - what you've mentioned there to a large extent is what I was conceptualising summer 2009, and again, what you've said is the 'easy' part! For me, I have a particular 'focus' I need to address and resolve. I'm there to an extent, but the initial barrier is the 'hard' bit - integration and looking as factory/oem as possible or at least, very highly professional finish. That cost's serious money - the motorised iPAD holder in the pictures above, I have a 'customer' retail price for and it immediatley puts the project into UK football player type amounts! Talking £3-4K !!...
Put it in the car and it looks factory integrated, just as much as the next 7" Pioneer AVIC.
Cost? Almost nothing, but then comes the "hard" part I described: pull the galaxy tab open from behind, make the audio and power connections (maybe even some steering controls).
I can't imagine myself a dashboard these days that would look ok with a 10" display, and imho the iPad is less suitable for in-car use (the lack of SD/USB support being a start, secondly Andriod has built-in voice dialing).
Hi Zespak,
I see where you are leading with that setup - and for some that's absolutley fine. The first thing that strikes me is by 'gluing' the tablet into place would severely impact on the aspect of portability. I think it'd be a fantastic selling point to be able to get into your car, slide in an iPad/tablet and have it as a in car multimedia interface and engine diagnostic interface. Once at your destination, out it slides and you then use it in the comfort of your home, office, holiday hotel, friends house wherever. Side bonus is nothing is in the car for potential thieves to have a pop at. I then thought, by removing the battery and getting to the innards of the device so you can connect up perhaps hard wire for power and audio connections, USB connectors and SD card reader etc you'd need to give it a go yourself or perhaps get an electronics specialist to do it - so extra costs and complexities.
The above all wouldn't really be needed if Android was perhaps installed on regular in car PC hardware and just a small 7 or 9 inch touchscreen monitor was put in place of the OEM head unit or in your case, the older AVIC Pioneer unit? I'm not sure if Android is even available like that? so perhaps when Google's Chrome OS comes out, that will have similar functions and apps that can be ported from Android? - so this goes back to the enthusiasts only level of in car PC's which have been around for a number of years and are not in the mainstream, due to installation costs and time - many owners of new cars don't want this sort of install.
So currently, it looks like Android in the car via a tablet will be for the enthusiasts level only and for those who aren't enthusiasts, they'll stick with the suction cup method as shown in the above link and really what's been done over the last few years with other tablet hardware. The 4.8 inch machine I have just 'happens' to fit in nicely to a niche I've spotted which is in BMW's, it may well work well in other cars, but I just don't know of them at the moment!
One OEM setup which really will blow you away in terms of it's complete integration is the US brand Lincoln and it's My Lincoln Touch system
http://www.ford.com/technology/sync/mylincolntouch...
Cheers, Dennis!
I see where you are leading with that setup - and for some that's absolutley fine. The first thing that strikes me is by 'gluing' the tablet into place would severely impact on the aspect of portability. I think it'd be a fantastic selling point to be able to get into your car, slide in an iPad/tablet and have it as a in car multimedia interface and engine diagnostic interface. Once at your destination, out it slides and you then use it in the comfort of your home, office, holiday hotel, friends house wherever. Side bonus is nothing is in the car for potential thieves to have a pop at. I then thought, by removing the battery and getting to the innards of the device so you can connect up perhaps hard wire for power and audio connections, USB connectors and SD card reader etc you'd need to give it a go yourself or perhaps get an electronics specialist to do it - so extra costs and complexities.
The above all wouldn't really be needed if Android was perhaps installed on regular in car PC hardware and just a small 7 or 9 inch touchscreen monitor was put in place of the OEM head unit or in your case, the older AVIC Pioneer unit? I'm not sure if Android is even available like that? so perhaps when Google's Chrome OS comes out, that will have similar functions and apps that can be ported from Android? - so this goes back to the enthusiasts only level of in car PC's which have been around for a number of years and are not in the mainstream, due to installation costs and time - many owners of new cars don't want this sort of install.
So currently, it looks like Android in the car via a tablet will be for the enthusiasts level only and for those who aren't enthusiasts, they'll stick with the suction cup method as shown in the above link and really what's been done over the last few years with other tablet hardware. The 4.8 inch machine I have just 'happens' to fit in nicely to a niche I've spotted which is in BMW's, it may well work well in other cars, but I just don't know of them at the moment!
One OEM setup which really will blow you away in terms of it's complete integration is the US brand Lincoln and it's My Lincoln Touch system
http://www.ford.com/technology/sync/mylincolntouch...
Cheers, Dennis!
A bit of a thread ressurection, but it looks like Saab have been developing an android based in car entertainment system, looks good too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BOd9oX1p4s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BOd9oX1p4s
bishbash said:
A bit of a thread ressurection, but it looks like Saab have been developing an android based in car entertainment system, looks good too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BOd9oX1p4s
Now THAT's what I'm talking about.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BOd9oX1p4s
Functionality like that will blow iDrive and MMI out of the water
Hi
Another thread resurrection !
Here's what I thought about as part of my pre iPad time in 2009 tablet solutions. A specific application for such devices within the car. I posted it up on another forum some days ago, so it's pasted here for the larger PH members to see !
Concept is really very simple, to me, DVD players and headrest monitor type solutions are old hat, tried and tested for sure and successful over the years no doubt. I thought it'd be nice to bring some bang up to date technology to replace it and this is what I came up with!
Two quick release headrest holders with adjustable 'arms' to hold any tablet style PC. This means there's no cutting of the leather of the headrests or changing and swapping them out and worrying about colour and headrest shape matching to interiors. By then having those adjustable arms, it means any device can be held, instead of being tied to one product only. Great from a security aspect and viewpoint too and of course, value for money is vastly enhanced as it means less outlay than say having to buy and install a twin headrest monitor solution and potentially have extra expense if driving the content from other car audio.
I'll post up some pictures of the actual headrest holders shortly, available off ebay sellers for around £12-15 each delivered.
The two units I've shown there are Dell Streak 7 Android devices and I find them a nice size when in use like this. The holders themselves 'jutt out' just an inch too far for my ideal, but for the moment I'm not too worried! Anyone using a 10 inch Android like this will almost feel as though they're at home watching a big screen! As these tablet devices have excellent high resolution screens, clarity is great. Another possible downside is direct sunlight on the screen means it can be a little tougher to see what's onscreen, but as car's are generally moving although bit of an annoyance when it happens, chances are the car will change direction quite quickly. No other disadvantages really.
For the internet connection, I'm using a 3 Mi-Fi device which creates a small wi-fi hotspot around it and allows up to five devices to connect simultaneously. So another Tablet in use by the passenger becomes an easy possibility. The Mi-Fi device has a microSD card slot into which I have a 32GB card with music and movies on it, I'm just trying to figure out how to have the tablets be able to access that card which will give independant streaming capabilities for the rear passengers! no more fights over what to watch! once at your destination and the devices go with you and you just take the holders off and all back to OEM looks!
total cost of the above
2 x Dell Streak 7 Tablet PC's - £275/each
2 x Headrest holders - £14 delivered each.
If you get some of the cheaper tablets say for younger kids who don't need all the latest all singing all dancing device, there's tablets from the likes of Elonex for like £85 each! those with cash to splash will perhaps opt for two iPads!
The only other aspect I'm thinking to do is to get some longer USB cables and wire them up inside the seat so there's a permanent power source for longer journeys and keeping the devices battery levels topped up.
Thoughts and opinions?!
Cheers, Dennis!
Another thread resurrection !
Here's what I thought about as part of my pre iPad time in 2009 tablet solutions. A specific application for such devices within the car. I posted it up on another forum some days ago, so it's pasted here for the larger PH members to see !
Concept is really very simple, to me, DVD players and headrest monitor type solutions are old hat, tried and tested for sure and successful over the years no doubt. I thought it'd be nice to bring some bang up to date technology to replace it and this is what I came up with!
Two quick release headrest holders with adjustable 'arms' to hold any tablet style PC. This means there's no cutting of the leather of the headrests or changing and swapping them out and worrying about colour and headrest shape matching to interiors. By then having those adjustable arms, it means any device can be held, instead of being tied to one product only. Great from a security aspect and viewpoint too and of course, value for money is vastly enhanced as it means less outlay than say having to buy and install a twin headrest monitor solution and potentially have extra expense if driving the content from other car audio.
I'll post up some pictures of the actual headrest holders shortly, available off ebay sellers for around £12-15 each delivered.
The two units I've shown there are Dell Streak 7 Android devices and I find them a nice size when in use like this. The holders themselves 'jutt out' just an inch too far for my ideal, but for the moment I'm not too worried! Anyone using a 10 inch Android like this will almost feel as though they're at home watching a big screen! As these tablet devices have excellent high resolution screens, clarity is great. Another possible downside is direct sunlight on the screen means it can be a little tougher to see what's onscreen, but as car's are generally moving although bit of an annoyance when it happens, chances are the car will change direction quite quickly. No other disadvantages really.
For the internet connection, I'm using a 3 Mi-Fi device which creates a small wi-fi hotspot around it and allows up to five devices to connect simultaneously. So another Tablet in use by the passenger becomes an easy possibility. The Mi-Fi device has a microSD card slot into which I have a 32GB card with music and movies on it, I'm just trying to figure out how to have the tablets be able to access that card which will give independant streaming capabilities for the rear passengers! no more fights over what to watch! once at your destination and the devices go with you and you just take the holders off and all back to OEM looks!
total cost of the above
2 x Dell Streak 7 Tablet PC's - £275/each
2 x Headrest holders - £14 delivered each.
If you get some of the cheaper tablets say for younger kids who don't need all the latest all singing all dancing device, there's tablets from the likes of Elonex for like £85 each! those with cash to splash will perhaps opt for two iPads!
The only other aspect I'm thinking to do is to get some longer USB cables and wire them up inside the seat so there's a permanent power source for longer journeys and keeping the devices battery levels topped up.
Thoughts and opinions?!
Cheers, Dennis!
DennisCooper said:
Hi
...
Thoughts and opinions?!
Cheers, Dennis!
Dennis, all very nice but a completely different setup as the one we were discussing. You are actually replacing portable dvd players, with a solution that vogels also did (although more expensive)....
Thoughts and opinions?!
Cheers, Dennis!
We're talking about your "radio" unit in your car, that displays the radio/music/gps/range/mpg...
Why not replace those units, that often cost upwards of £1000, with a 7" tablet that has a lot more functionality STANDARD and costs less than half of that?
Hi Zespak
Yes, my last post there was another aspect of in car entertainment using Android hardware compared to android as a head unit application.
Parrot have released their single DIN Android powered head unit called the Asteroid and it comes in at a retail price of £299. Looking at that product, it's new and as yet too early to see if it's a success in terms of sales and units sold but does look promising. A double DIN version with a 6.5 or 7 inch touch screen would be fantastic and perhaps at £399 for retail I'm sure would be well recieved provided the internal's are up to good sound quality and performance.
I'm in the car audio trade and gearing up for a niche in the market I've spotted, there are some oem level products I've seen at the trade shows which could indeed be developed further and perhaps Android will indeed be well received for use in car audio head units, only time will tell.
I suspect, that for car use, the OS will be relatively 'locked' down so that maybe only approved apps can be installed to minimise the risk of bloating the unit with rubbish apps which could slow it down etc.
Looking at a higher level view, mobile handsets are android powered and getting more and more powerful all the time, perhaps it'd be good to create a 'base' unit hideaway box, with a touch screen video output and it connects via wifi to android powered handsets? this would be good for integration in older cars for instance.
I'll be watching closely for trends..
cheers, Dennis!
Yes, my last post there was another aspect of in car entertainment using Android hardware compared to android as a head unit application.
Parrot have released their single DIN Android powered head unit called the Asteroid and it comes in at a retail price of £299. Looking at that product, it's new and as yet too early to see if it's a success in terms of sales and units sold but does look promising. A double DIN version with a 6.5 or 7 inch touch screen would be fantastic and perhaps at £399 for retail I'm sure would be well recieved provided the internal's are up to good sound quality and performance.
I'm in the car audio trade and gearing up for a niche in the market I've spotted, there are some oem level products I've seen at the trade shows which could indeed be developed further and perhaps Android will indeed be well received for use in car audio head units, only time will tell.
I suspect, that for car use, the OS will be relatively 'locked' down so that maybe only approved apps can be installed to minimise the risk of bloating the unit with rubbish apps which could slow it down etc.
Looking at a higher level view, mobile handsets are android powered and getting more and more powerful all the time, perhaps it'd be good to create a 'base' unit hideaway box, with a touch screen video output and it connects via wifi to android powered handsets? this would be good for integration in older cars for instance.
I'll be watching closely for trends..
cheers, Dennis!
kimike2 said:
Has there anyone installed headrest car dvd player for babies? Will it be halmful babies eyes? Need you advice about the headrest dvd I plan to buy. Plan to buy this 7 inch Digital Car Headrest DVD Player with USB/SD/GAME/IR/FM transmitter. http://www.justcardvd.com/products/7-inch-Digital-... . good for my 2-year-old boy?
7 inch TFT LCD 16:9,Resolution800*RGB*480,Digital panel
Sony lens,Sunplus chip,mabuchi motor
Built-in FM Transmitter Function and Dual IR transmitter,Built-in Speakers,Built-in 32 Bits Games Function
Compatible with MP4,DVD,VCD,SVCD,CD,CD-G,MP3,JPED,WMA,CD-R,CD-RW,and DVCD formats.
Does sound cheap, but I'd have a couple of reservations:7 inch TFT LCD 16:9,Resolution800*RGB*480,Digital panel
Sony lens,Sunplus chip,mabuchi motor
Built-in FM Transmitter Function and Dual IR transmitter,Built-in Speakers,Built-in 32 Bits Games Function
Compatible with MP4,DVD,VCD,SVCD,CD,CD-G,MP3,JPED,WMA,CD-R,CD-RW,and DVCD formats.
- If I'm not mistaken, it replaces the original headrest? I don't think I'd want to do that with a cheapo jobbie like this.
- The OS/compatibility. What do you want to play? Codexes for videos off the internet are a b
h, and without a decent support you'd have to convert everything to be able to play it, which is a pita. - Screen quality. The resolution is, in todays terms, woeful. Even the worst res screens of the small tablets (iPad Mini, 1024x768), you'd have over twice the pixels, the better tablet screens (N7) add another factor to that
Don't worry with a tablet, buy one of these:
http://www.pioneer.eu/uk/products/25/299/35829/SPH...
Currently £200 from Halfords
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/...
I've just bought one, not installed it yet as I need to buy a new facia but it will duplicate your Android or Iphone allowing you to use all the functions.
http://www.pioneer.eu/uk/products/25/299/35829/SPH...
Currently £200 from Halfords
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/...
I've just bought one, not installed it yet as I need to buy a new facia but it will duplicate your Android or Iphone allowing you to use all the functions.
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