Thread: Double Din Friendly Tablet

Originally Posted by DiGiTY

Well you're pushing that initial 3/4" overage to 1" or 1 1/4" with the cables permanently plugged in. That's asking a bit much.

Well the Galaxy Tab has a hugh bezel surrounding the actual screen so that's why the dimensions are that way. If you take the formula for calculating the diagonal of a triangle and apply it to a 7" screen you'll see there's no way if it was pure screen could the length be 7" or more, else that formula wouldn't hold true. So in all, the bezel width is the problem. As mentioned there are other Android tablets out there or coming in the near future so I guess we'll see.

Originally Posted by DiGiTY

Furthermore, you're giving the Android development community too much credit. The verdict is still way out on Android tablets - developers are extremely hesitant to invest their time and resources in yet another strand of Android devices. Developer's ROI with Android apps is already dismal and the chances they'll put in new efforts for us, very tiny niche audience of tablet + car users, is bleek.

No offense but that's your opinion, some of which is a bit speculative. It's too early in the game to make a decree that developers are hesitant in developing apps for the Android tablet form factor, especially for the needs of our community. Is it hesitation or just that it's too early? I mean it took a good while for even car pc community software to get to what it is today. Patience is a virtue my friend.

Well, the problem with being patient is that of being TOO patient, I mean, should I buy the hardware now (no software, not much in car use) or later (no software, because nobody bought it for that - in car - application; so why buy it then also?).

A bit of a catch 22 there...

Modded Dreamcast, Modded XBOX 1 (driven by XBMP/XBMC), Intel PC, Mac Mini, iPad and now Android tablets... in almost 12 years in this scene I have yet to see this community produce a hit - no killer app, no go-to solution. Patient? Yes. Optimistic? No. This game is old and in no way early.

Think about it from a developer's point of view: You have 3 to 4 major Android manufacturers on 4+ carriers (I'm not even including international carriers) and those carriers are pushing everything from cheapo Android phones to premium Android phones which vary in screen size & resolution, processor & graphics processor and OS versions. Now throw in the fact that a new device (the Android tablet) has entered the market bringing a new screen size, resolution and an uncertain future (Google says Android currently isn't tablet friendly/ready, wait for Gingerbread, Honeycomb or Chrome OS). Now throw in the fact that your Apple counterparts are earning 5 to 10 times more than you. How much of your time would you invest in a car infotainment system app let alone Android?

Newb is pretty convincing...My plans of buying an Android Tablet are dying...

My bad I'm just frustrated with the car infotainment scene and Android's lack of maturity and progress... I shouldn't spread it

I am not sure why none of the tablet makers have designed their hardware with the double din slot in mind. I am sure it wouldn't have been hard for Samsung to make the Tab just 3/4 inch narrower.

Companies like Pioneer and Alpine are coming around with Pandora interfaces when tethered to an iPhone. I don't know if they work with Android yet.

Ford and MS are getting there with Sync, and Audi is the first manufacturer offering 3g powered google maps straight from the factory. Of course, it's the 80k+ A8, and only comes with one year of service.

Internet is slowly replacing our ancient media distribution like TV and radio. It's only a matter of time before all cars start rolling out the door with 3g/4g radios in them. But not everyone can or will want to buy a new car. I think the market for internet enabled auto gear is pretty big.

Hopefully, someone realizes this and makes the right products, but we shouldn't hold our breath.

It's been a while since I have last bought a car with a double din slot...This is pretty much gone as a standard. The last one was the Infiniti M35...I removed the whole dash, and found out that behind the totally curved and funny looking fascia, the "radio" functions were distributed in around 5 places and small modules connected via proprietary LAN, including behind and above the glove compartment...

Anything close to 7" is easier to install than an iPad and that's how I think it's going to be from now on...have you seen the 2011 Fiesta(?) or Focus dash? It's crazy.

Originally Posted by DiGiTY

My bad I'm just frustrated with the car infotainment scene and Android's lack of maturity and progress... I shouldn't spread it

I can't blame you for arguing your points, even if you didn't convince some, it did sound reasonable...that's what I meant. Actually I should thank you for offering your perspective.

Well 3G/4G connectivity is pretty worthless to a large portion of consumers (in the U.S.) in areas that still can't get hi-speed coverage.

Android tablet makers (and Google) are still waiting on developers and users to dictate the possible uses of tablets, so for now they're just going to follow the industry leader's (Apple) lead design-wise. The extra bezel/border is apparently there so the user can actually grip the tablet without accidentally touching the touchscreen. So the chunky bezel makes sense and it won't go away.

The good news is that the companies currently making the cheapo Android tablets are most likely to be the first (and maybe the only) to venture into making car infotainment double din Android devices. The bad news is they'll perform badly like they do now (terrible touchscreens and slow processors).