Thread: Android enter car entertainment

I'm really going to have to blog about why Android is not going to work for carpc's. but here's a preview:

Firstly, Linux is an ecosystem of hundreds of companies, projects and people working in a symbioses. Anything anyone does to improve their little portion of Linux benefits everyone else. For example when Intel's moblin project improves booting for mobile devices, amazingly enough, my desktop, servers, and every other Linux device started booting faster. Imagine that!!?

Subsequently, things i develop for linux have the potential to run on other linux devices. nGhost can run on my n900 phone. The maemo 5 on-screen-keyboard can run in my car. GPS and media subsystems are the same from the desktop to the server to the car to the phone.

Android is based on Linux, but it's not Linux. Everything android does to improve itself helps noone but android. Apps developed for android don't run on my ubuntu desktop, they can't run in my car. Android takes from the Linux ecosystem and gives literally nothing back.

Google nav will never come to your PC. the x86 version of of android is *banned* from using the android app store. Even if you could get google nav (illegally), android is meant to work with a non-standard gps subsystem which likely doesn't support your bu-353 or your wifi card, or your 3G modem etc.

Android devices may be created for the car, but that won't mean you will be able to run android in your car without that device.

It's just a matter of time before the Android x86 guys get GPS working. Google Maps/Nav will install just fine on the x86, it just won't do anything... yet.

Originally Posted by Tidder

It's just a matter of time before the Android x86 guys get GPS working. Google Maps/Nav will install just fine on the x86, it just won't do anything... yet.

That'll be nice.... but i still won't be able to run it on anything non-android.

Yes, i'm just ****ed that nothing android does helps me in LinuxICE. On the other side of the scale, almost everything that MeeGo does can potentially help LinuxICE... hmm. amazing how that works.

I get what you're saying, and I'm definitely onboard with the open source. A rising tide raises all boats and that sort of stuff.

However, other models have been shown to work. Windows and OSX are two examples of closed OS's that can provide broad appeal if the right resources are put behind them. Why can't a company like Google manage to do the same for the mobile phone?

Sure, I agree that it's crummy that it doesn't help Linux when Linux helped them. But that doesn't mean it won't work. Just that it sucks. The number of mobile devices is far smaller than the number of desktops and the battle for the mobile OS has not yet been won. Why shouldn't Android have a shot at that?

kev you picked the wrong rant! this is where you pull out the why android doesn't belong in a car rant.... much better argument and i know you have that one nicely polished

i'll basically leave it at this....nice idea but I would love to see the retail price. My guess is after the first two idiots kill someone browsing the internet while driving, this company will get sued into bankruptcy. Android is very open which has advantages in the cell phone market but will be disastrous in the car market. Applications which were designed to require your focus or don't take vehicle speed into account when choosing allowed activities are downright dangerous. Not to mention android is a general purpose OS...it has nowhere near the integration required to be successful in the car environment.
Moblin is the only OS i've seen with any potential to do things right but its too touch screen dependent atm. Well see how meego turns out but honestly my hopes aren't much higher.

hehe, yeah, this was a slightly different anti-android-in-the-car rant than I normally give. I think the two of us have driven the other point to the point where it's obvious, but maybe it's not yet. I'm looking at it now from a slightly different mathmatical viewpoint:

Android + Car designed UI could work

Compare with:

Meego + Car designed UI could work.

The apps part is useless as JC said. The phone apps will be a bane more than a boon in the car. RSS feed apps, twitter and facebook apps are useless in MeeGo or Android in a vehicle environment unless they do text to speech so you can hear it without taking you away from driving. And 99% of those apps don't even have that usage model in mind. So if you take away the apps, what's a better platform? I say MeeGo is a better platform, but I'm biased because I work on MeeGo for a living. Don't take my word for it. Take a look at each on a technical level and decide for yourself.

Moblin is the only OS i've seen with any potential to do things right but its too touch screen dependent atm. Well see how meego turns out but honestly my hopes aren't much higher.

The MeeGo UI will be touch-centric. I'm not sure what other usage models you have in mind.

No offence to your work Tripzero but the main difference is Android is a shipping product and MeeGo isn't.

And I hope I am wrong but I doubt we will ever see a great offline sat nav app (e.g. Copilot) on MeeGo. So the app part is still relevant.

I really hope MeeGo can succeed, but if not then I'll probably go for an Android tablet.

Originally Posted by wywywywy

No offence to your work Tripzero but the main difference is Android is a shipping product and MeeGo isn't.

And I hope I am wrong but I doubt we will ever see a great offline sat nav app (e.g. Copilot) on MeeGo. So the app part is still relevant.

I really hope MeeGo can succeed, but if not then I'll probably go for an Android tablet.

Ovi nav already works offline, as Hitler points out. Of course, it may or may not be available for MeeGo. Who knows at this point? But I wouldn't count it out just yet. Furthermore, Maemo and Moblin (both parts of MeeGo) predate android. Maemo has been in 3 generations of internet tablets, 2 of which predate android.

Besides, we are talking about two products, neither of which are a drop in solution for the car right now. We'll see who's got the better platform when they get there.

Originally Posted by wywywywy

No offence to your work Tripzero but the main difference is Android is a shipping product and MeeGo isn't.

And I hope I am wrong but I doubt we will ever see a great offline sat nav app (e.g. Copilot) on MeeGo. So the app part is still relevant.

I really hope MeeGo can succeed, but if not then I'll probably go for an Android tablet.

I'll just go straight for the heart of this....... a common misunderstanding by those that aren't software developers is a carPC is just a collection of applications. Hackware like rr kind of perpetuates the belief, but the reality is that the car environment is very unique and software needs to be designed as such.

In order for software to be safe to use while on the road it needs to be 100% designed to require minimum attention, be fully integrated and be aware of the surrounding environment. You will not see a professional in-car product that doesn't accomplish those goals and yet its something that on the most basic level android is incapable of. Android was designed for smartphones and tablets-not for use in a car.

What kev was alluding to in his earlier post was that in order for android to be useful you would need to put a full FE layer over it. But at that point you might as well just use linux and save the translation layer.