Thread: The iPad's role in your car?

k) Multitouch Soon...(or with a jailbreak)

I think you mean multitask*

Multiflow is like 2 bucks on cydia, i prever Pro Switcher, its free and its the same palm pre esque multitasking.

But to get all the navigation, you need to have the more expensive gsm model.

Originally Posted by likeobama

An iPad in car dash system will be a godsend to people like myself as long as it can deliver Music, Navigation, Video, and Bluetooth Phone Connectivity in one easy to use interface. I've always wanted a Car PC but they all just seemed too yesterday and tedious to get running.

In comes the iPad, true the size will be awkward, but hopefully after a jailbreak or countless complaints to Apple, Landscape mode can be an option for everything. Once this happens it should be a lot easier to plant one of these on the dash. I currently own a Kenwood DDX8109 with all the extras, Bluetooth, GPS, Amps, etc., paid about $5000 for everything installed and I can honestly tell you it was totally not worth it. The interface is slow and extremely dangerous, touchscreen has a mind of its own, no multitouch, bad in cold weather, bluetooth works nicely only with lower level phones like flips, Garmin Nav is slow when typing, video looks awful, the list can go on and on.

So you bought a crappy headunit....realized it was crap....and then picked an ipad because carPCs are slow and outdated?? I'm hoping theres a step missing in there.

This debate makes me laugh. Please continue for my enjoyment, but for those of you who do manage to install a maxipad in your car, please dont drive near me.

Oh and..

Originally Posted by likeobama

the iPad is a godsend to in-car dash systems

+1 for all the imagination you put into your first post.

I think I'm going to rip all my stuff out and use a Kindle.

Originally Posted by Curiosity

I think I'm going to rip all my stuff out and use a Kindle.

it would make more sense than using a ipad

a couple of problems i see-- see bolded areas:

Originally Posted by likeobama

An iPad in car dash system will be a godsend to people like myself as long as it can deliver Music, Navigation, Video, and Bluetooth Phone Connectivity in one easy to use interface. I've always wanted a Car PC but they all just seemed too yesterday and tedious to get running.
part of why carpc's are a hobby...

In comes the iPad, true the size will be awkward, but hopefully after a jailbreak assuming that apple will allow it to be jailbroken at all--their track record with patching holes in iphone updates doeesn't look too promsing or countless complaints to Apple, Landscape mode can be an option for everything. Once this happens it should be a lot easier to plant one of these on the dash. I currently own a Kenwood DDX8109 with all the extras, Bluetooth, GPS, Amps, etc., paid about $5000 for everything installed and I can honestly tell you it was totally not worth it. a carpc can cost just as much

The interface is slow and extremely dangerous, touchscreen has a mind of its own, no multitouch, bad in cold weather you realize that capacitive touch won't always work with gloves and cold or dirty fingers right?, bluetooth works nicely only with lower level phones like flips, Garmin Nav is slow when typing, video looks awful, the list can go on and on.

I need something that will keep up with the times and what better than an iPad maybe a well planned car pc?. Every developer and their momma will be touting out apps for this thing and you can bet on some of those being designed for cars there are thousands of apps already, and none of them are for cars, so why would the ipad change that?. I wouldn't even be surprised if Kenwood made a nice app to go with a one-size-fits-all dash system. They've worked with Apple before and still do with many of their products. what apps has kenwood made? i thought they just allowed their HU's to control Apple devices? They really aren't selling in-car dash systems anymore this is more personal opinion(i am not big on kenwood either, but...) kenwood is a huge company, and so they must be selling something, and someone must be buying it, otherwise, they would not exist.. like the OP says but they do have some understanding on car audio. Imagine a car setup that was based on an iPhone, iPad & iPod Touch. we have imagined it, and there is even videos of itouch-run setups in the blog, and entire threads about ditching carpc's for a itouch/phone/pad setup
You could use your iPhone to control your setup if you ever forgot your iPad but if you wanted complete control or more choices, you bring in the big guns (iPad).

Regarding Multitasking, I feel everyone's pain but from news reports it seems it will be coming soon or you can always jailbreak and use what's already available, I think its called Multiflow. I currently use a Palm Pre and Multitasking is just a way of life for me so if apple won't allow it, then you will need a real carpc . I would much rather have an iPad sized WebOS device in my dash but from the looks of the company, they need to focus on staying alive. If either of those don't happen or work, hopefully some type of app will allow cross interaction for music, nav, & video eliminating the need for multitasking while driving.

Touching on this device being underpowered or slow, I highly doubt it. The iPad isn't running a full fledged OS like Windows 7 or Snow Leopard, and it will be running on a fast 1GHz A4 made by Apple themselvesfrom what i have read, it is based on the iphone/touch os, so if you have ever tried running simultaneous apps on one of those(i tried running pandora, and notepad at the same time once using backgrounder on a iphone 3g-- notepad wouldn't even open until pandora crashed itself...), then you have a idea why most don't think the ipad will have multitasking. From speculation it will help with battery drain and I'm all for that.

So summing this up and adding some extra pointers, the iPad is a godsend to in-car dash systems because:
a) Large Consumer Base
b) Large Developer Base
c) 3G, Wifi, A-GPS, Compass!!
d) Cheapactually, i don't consider it cheap at all-- base price is about $600 + the data plan that would be required for most features to work-- at about $50/mo, that is another $600, just to run it for a year, so the end cost after a year is $1200-- that is the cost of a cheaper, atom based car pc, that has no recurring costs(using a wifi card)...
e) Multitouch
f) Apps Galoreall of the apps that are in the app store now are designed for the itouch/phone, which are no-where near car friendly...
g) Jailbreakable for non approved Appsassuming that apple will play nice--and they haven't so far with the itouch/phone jailbreaks-- every apple os update closes a hole that the jailbreak uses to jailbreak...
h) Keeps up with the times opinion-- technically, there is no electronic device that will ever keep up with the times--everything is outdated in a month or 2..
i) iTunes in the Car!that could be taken as goor or bad-- in my experience, bad(my itunes has a bad habit of 'losing' songs, that i know used to be there, hence, i must keep multiple audio backups in multiple locations...)
j) Fastthe software or the device? my old dual core 1.2ghz atom carpc was fast and could multitask...
k) Multitouch Soon...(or with a jailbreak)apple likes to toute multitouch as a feature, so i think that it will include it, but i haven't seen too many apps other than picture, map, and gaming apps take advantage of it(are there any music apps that use it currently?)
l) Take it with you out the cara netbook/laptop carpc also has this advantage
100,000+ more reasons (App Store)i would count the app store as a dissadvantage-- it could be a limiting factor if the device cannot be jailbroken.....

i think i am done murding this post for now...
i am really starting to think that the ipad will be a huge seller-- just think of all the free publicity it is getting, even just on these boards-- and you know what they say " any publicity is good publicity"...

i think we all need to watch for the "iTurd" next... I can see the slogan already: "smearing a Apple store near you!", with a chrome apple logo right in the middle...

LOL does likeoboma work for apple or something? This is possibly the best and most hilarious 1st post ever!!

Most likely not. Apple devoutees are like cult followers. They put in the hard work free. Arguing about any disadvantages is a waste of time because there are none that can be conceived.

I think I said this about 10 years ago. Apple products are amazingly designed and perform their intended purpose very well. Period. Just like the feature list on any gadget. It's the users who have the disillusions, not Apple. Bring on the flames, LOL.

Originally Posted by Curiosity

Apple products are amazingly designed and perform their intended purpose very well. Period.

You're absolutely right (With the obligatory caveat about price) I think that's the problem. We've gotten so used to our devices having hidden features and such expandability that we have been desensitised to feature lists. We see them as a starting point rather than the end point. Apple does not allow this.