Thread: Double Din Friendly Tablet

Well, in all I guess it depends on what the in-car use of the tablet would be and how much you value functionality and features over usablity (ie UI). For my purposes I'm mainly interested in music (both local and internet-radio) and gps fuctionality. I mean these are the functions I that I use on a daily basis. There are loads of apps in the Android market that meets those needs (for me). I can put up with the lack of a nice in car gui and be on my merry way (Implicity, this is what most of the people with iPad installs have decided). Like most people, I prefer a hassle free way of doing simple things that are important to the functionality I need.

For example, I currenly use Centrafuse's webradio (internet radio) pluggin. When I want to listen to specific radio streams, I have to find the mms link for the station (can be a pain to find) and update an xml file and hope it plays nice. In contrast, I use Tune-In radio app (on iOS and Android) for the same functionality without the hassle of worrying about links etc cuz all the stations I need are preloaded and managed by that vendor. The interface is not something I'd really worry about right now as it's doable. 1. How important is it if a developer merges this interface into a car friendly app for me? Not very. 2. How important is it that I can just press play without mucking around? Very.

I know, my views might not be shared by all, but I'm one of those people that like to know that can easily add functionality by going into an app store and looking for what I need. There are thousands of Android apps, while not perfectly scalable to a tablet today (this will be addressed shortly by future releases), still provide additional functionality to the car in a hassle free way.

To be honest if Apple released a double din friendly tablet (which I know from Job's last earning call, they never will) I'd probably be looking at that option instead.

I see what you mean. My wife's been using the FX with CF installed and 500GB of music and video content, but she stopped using it because Internet radio, plus tagging is easier with the iPhone (via Shazam, Soundhog). Instead of selecting say Broken Bells artist on Centrafuse, she creates a Pandora station and as a bonus still gets to hear related similar stuff she can then tag with Soundhog and buy later.

The apps are not optimized for in car use, there's no voice control like on CF, but she manages to do it on her daily commute. I'm sure that if there was a way to fit the iPad into the FX she would love it. CF is not being accessed for months...what a waste.

I want to remove that and put on the Sequoia. It is still hard to beat a carputer to control 2nd and 3rd row entertainment. But for the rest...it's getting long in the tooth fast. The customizability advantage is not enough to keep up with the times.

I suspect pretty soon will have a better internet radio/tag ability (Pandora/Shazam, etc.) in an OEM basic no nav Ford Fiesta than in a custom made super poweful carputer running your favorite FE.

Who knew?

Originally Posted by RipplingHurst

I see what you mean. My wife's been using the FX with CF installed and 500GB of music and video content, but she stopped using it because Internet radio, plus tagging is easier with the iPhone (via Shazam, Soundhog). Instead of selecting say Broken Bells artist on Centrafuse, she creates a Pandora station and as a bonus still gets to hear related similar stuff she can then tag with Soundhog and buy later.

The apps are not optimized for in car use, there's no voice control like on CF, but she manages to do it on her daily commute. I'm sure that if there was a way to fit the iPad into the FX she would love it. CF is not being accessed for months...what a waste.

I want to remove that and put on the Sequoia. It is still hard to beat a carputer to control 2nd and 3rd row entertainment. But for the rest...it's getting long in the tooth fast. The customizability advantage is not enough to keep up with the times.

I suspect pretty soon will have a better internet radio/tag ability (Pandora/Shazam, etc.) in an OEM basic no nav Ford Fiesta than in a custom made super poweful carputer running your favorite FE.

Who knew?

Funny... here we are arguing about Android tablets catching the attention of developers and how that relates to a nice UI for in-car use. Here's to bet that if a software vendor focused on making an in-car use gui app for iOS, Android etc that I'd be a hit. There's no argument that there's a huge market of people (Rip your wife included) out there already using these devices (while not necessarily in the tablet flavour) in their cars already. It's a much easier target market than say a few hobbyist and developing for say Centrafuse on Win7.

Part of my decision is to compare the demand and developer attention being put into say car pcs vs me installing a tablet an having access to way more apps and functionality. Where I think most people disagree with me is my OS of choice, Android as opposed to iOS.

Yeah, that's the downside - we're likely the main ones who would push the whole car infotainment thing until manufacturers and developers start getting 'em into the market, but then their target audience would be the mainstream/our wives/average person/user not power and technically inclined folks like us. We'll end up complaining about the lack of advanced features that matter to us.

On a daily basis my use is also music and navigation/gps with my EVO. And while it does technically work, its a pain if you need to operate it for whatever reason. I usually have a combination of music, Google/Sprint nav, Waze, SpeedView, Trapster or Glympse running at a given time and switching back and forth between apps takes some work plus takes your eyes off the road for an extended amount of time (vs. a better designed car infotainment experience). Not good. And don't get me started on asking a passenger to switch/check/text/call for you while you're driving, it just produces a ton of questions starting with "How..." Its great we know how to get the functionality we need/want out of it, but it comes at a relatively deadly price.

Originally Posted by DiGiTY

On a daily basis my use is also music and navigation/gps with my EVO. And while it does technically work, its a pain if you need to operate it for whatever reason.

The majority of that frustration to usability is the screen size. No? Then there's a smaller factor of UI.

Originally Posted by DiGiTY

I usually have a combination of music, Google/Sprint nav, Waze, SpeedView, Trapster or Glympse running at a given time and switching back and forth between apps takes some work plus takes your eyes off the road for an extended amount of time (vs. a better designed car infotainment experience). Not good.

Damn, I wouldn't want to be driving in front of you. You have all that stuff going will trying to drive? The question is... for people like you (don't take the wrong way) that want to multitask while driving will there ever be a UI that meets your needs? There's a limit to one's attention span.. ya know. Lol

BTW, the Nook was rooted today:



Via Gizmodo. Here's the link with the discussion.

Its 8 x 5" though, but much cheaper than the Galaxy Tab at $249.00.

As for iOS vs Android in the car, I have some hope in the Win Phone 7. I like that it's more task oriented, so the main UI is not just a bunch of icons one for each app. And they all need the Blackberry message/mail notification screen. In a bigger screen in a car that would be awesome.

Don't you find win phone 7 too busy for a car? I actually love the idea of their UI, just not certain it'd be good in a car without some serious mods.

Exactly, I like the idea, but I haven't tested one yet.

Originally Posted by prodigalsun

The majority of that frustration to usability is the screen size. No? Then there's a smaller factor of UI.



Damn, I wouldn't want to be driving in front of you. You have all that stuff going will trying to drive? The question is... for people like you (don't take the wrong way) that want to multitask while driving will there ever be a UI that meets your needs? There's a limit to one's attention span.. ya know. Lol

Frustration with screen size? A little (4.3" isn't that bad actually). Frustration with intuitiveness? A lot. Most music player apps try to pack too many features into themselves sacrificing fluidness and a smart UI/UXs (i.e., too many taps to get what you want done).

I meant a combination of music player and one of the mentioned apps (they're all map based and/or always on/running in the foreground apps). I'm not doing that much multitasking, I'm simply switching to the music app to skip a song and switching back to the original app. It requires too much tapping and attention.