Iphone in car navigation - The Death of your PND - Page 3

Bugbyte · 02-09-2009, 11:36 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by prodigalsun

Yes I see your point but that just seems like a work around. Yet another thing to factor into the equation ie. mobile internet reliability, speed and cost. Here in Canada mobile internet costs are pretty much out the roof IMO and as always the Canadian market always lags behind when it comes to bringing cell phone technological innovations to the consumer.

For now I'm quite happy with my Car PC

Definitely one of those 'milestone' issues that would have to be cleared up before something like this could become a reality.

In the meantime, the cost of RAM keeps dropping and I'd be surprised if there wasn't a 60 gb mobile phone device -or larger in the next couple of years.

Also, relying on continuous net connectivity everywhere wouldn't be very smart. You'll have to solve the problem of what happens if the data or app isn't available when you need it. If it's flash based or java based or something like that, you may still be able to build an app that runs on the device and updates itself when it is in range of a network.

Lots and lots of technical challenges to be solved. Just the kind of stuff this community excels at.

bambam · 02-10-2009, 12:26 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Fiberoptic

The PND (Personal Navigation Device) and Car computer are Dead (pretty soon they will be)....

I use a cell phone only for emergencies (which costs me $15/month) so I have no interest in an iPhone or the $60-$70/monthly charge.

My carpc holds a TB of movies/music/maps, etc. and is fast. If the iPhone can store all that and run as fast, maybe I'll look at it in the future but for now, I am totally happy with my setup and it certainly looks alot cleaner than what I see in these pictures...

-zip- · 02-10-2009, 03:19 PM

Faster boot up times
no more cold/hot weather issues
more portable
cheaper
less battery draw
etc. etc.

Now, the average phone user will be more qualified to run this than our CarPCs and therefore more acceptance. I can see car audio shops installing this (errr with the movement detector so the driver cant see vids).

This looks like a very promising path. Thank you for sharing the video, the future it is very exciting.

pcpete · 02-10-2009, 04:02 PM

Oh, and a couple of other things cool about a pc setup:

- Most of my fun was planning, installing, configuring, fabricating....
I love using it and it works awesome, I believe I have the best of all worlds, audio,gps,etc ...but doing it was more rewarding than actually using it...

- My friends think I'm crazy, but they also think it is the coolest thing they've ever seen..

- Cheap simple upgrades and flexible... I can upgrade things separetaly, new cpu $100, new MB$100, new SSD $200 etc...

- I like to be different...having a mass consumer phone/headunit/oem system just isn't fun or different enough for me...

stealinfool · 02-10-2009, 06:44 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by pcpete

Oh, and a couple of other things cool about a pc setup:

- Most of my fun was planning, installing, configuring, fabricating....
I love using it and it works awesome, I believe I have the best of all worlds, audio,gps,etc ...but doing it was more rewarding than actually using it...

- My friends think I'm crazy, but they also think it is the coolest thing they've ever seen..

- Cheap simple upgrades and flexible... I can upgrade things separetaly, new cpu $100, new MB$100, new SSD $200 etc...

- I like to be different...having a mass consumer phone/headunit/oem system just isn't fun or different enough for me...

I couldn't agree more.

The simple (easy to use), mass produced, flashy products that we are seeing today tend to be just fine for the average person. One can watch hulu, youtube... download a couple <insert pop artist here> songs, and they're satisfied. Us supernerds, on the other hand, will always be several steps ahead. So, I say, bring it on, because it'll only get better for the DIY guys.

dMand · 02-10-2009, 06:45 PM

The next generation multimedia telephone has arrived with a sonic boom, sporting a 412Mhz processor. Wow! LOL!!

All pun aside- We, the old timers, do fondly remember the megahertz madness days of the Intel-AMD competition. We know that processor speed may not be the only measure of performance, however, it's an important one.

With that said, while the GPS functions on the iphone may work fine, the iphone will peg out at 100% processor usage when playing video. That can cause playback problems, and much more.

pcpete · 02-10-2009, 09:21 PM

yeah baby, supernerdy brethren unite!!!! we must fight the evil empire !!! it used to be microsoft , now it's apple!!! or both!!!

Bugbyte · 02-10-2009, 09:34 PM

Again, good points by all. It will be quite awhile before a mobile device can beat a PC for customizability. But, given the rapid improvement in CPU power and performance, I don't see that day as being terribly far away. Gotta be ready for it when it comes.

lamawithonel · 02-14-2009, 05:08 PM

The future is Bluetooth 3.0 or Wireless USB. At the base level, a standard car radio could interface with a mobile device to add features, like the screen, mp3s and gps. At the high end, carputers like we're seeing now, with large screens and full compliments of tuners, gps, etc. could exchange data with a mobile device. The apps on your carputer could either interface to sync with you mobile device so you could do things like browse your contacts list and make a hands free call, or upload your gps path so you can go for a walk, find that resturant you passed a few blocks back, and find your car when you're finished. Or maybe just use it to give a presentation to your boss while you drive him out to lunch. And like you said in the video, using the apps on the mobile device isn't out of the question, either.

Add a G3/G4 phone module into the car and you'll have a hand-held LoJack tracker. Let's not forget all the little stuff, too, like remote entry and remote start-- although that might be better suited to bluetooth/wgps or a 900Mhz/2.5Ghz band technology.

Of course all this would depend on open devices and open standards, but with Apple's latest legal action, I don't see it happening any time soon.

PaulF · 02-17-2009, 04:58 PM

You guys are all saying death of the car PC, but in reality I don't think the car PC was ever really alive. By alive I mean it was never meant to become mainstream. It is a "geek"'s hobby and nothing more. The reason we want a Car PC is for the coolness factor and for going beyond what a 400mhz processor can do.

Heather · 02-17-2009, 05:24 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by PaulF

You guys are all saying death of the car PC, but in reality I don't think the car PC was ever really alive. By alive I mean it was never meant to become mainstream. It is a "geek"'s hobby and nothing more. The reason we want a Car PC is for the coolness factor and for going beyond what a 400mhz processor can do.

I know that there were a whole bunch of companies that at some point in the last few years had business plans focused on the mass proliferation of car computing. (I might not even have to look to far from my desk to find one.) There have been prototypes in and out of the mp3car office for the all in one car computing solution - and now my iphone offers more functionality and reliability. (however it lacks customization options)

I will say this though - I don't think that it will be the iphone or any phone, for that matter, that will be the end solution. Pretty soon there will be something else, or else-s with phone capabilities even.

Interesting stuff coming out of the Mobile World Congress this week in Barcelona about all of this.

DracoPCGuy · 02-23-2009, 11:01 AM

Not that my opionion matters a ton on this because I still don't have my carputer installed yet, I don't see the harm in this. Here is my break down...

1. Eventually everything progresses to something. The first time I saw MP3Car.com it was basically a fancy MP3 player in a car. Now its color touch screens, gps and more.

2. As things get more popular someone is going to see the possiblity of making money on it. So you see pre-built carputers for tose who just want the toys but not the work.

3. Some people don't really care about all this built in stuff they just want it to work.

4. This will just make it cheaper for us who want to make a real Carputer.

Why did I number them...eh just looks pretty. But I have a point of just this is a natural progression of things. Let them do what they want. People still build home computers even though there are computers rather cheap out there because they want what they want not what some company thinks they want.

Maybe this was a stupid post...who knows. But I wnated to participate

meagain · 02-25-2009, 10:10 PM

That PAC device mentioned won't work with the car I want to buy. Nor is there ANYthing out there that I can find for Hyundai. The LG Nav used for the Infinity Logic7 Surround 10-speaker system nukes the iPod 3.5mm & USB (unreal). I think it's so crippled a backup camera can't even fit.

I'm not so sure of the statement that most all cars with a nav can find the right gadget like the PAC. At least it doesn't seem the case for me. I question I can plug anything into that Nav unit. And there's no way I'll ever know for sure.

djfourmoney · 02-26-2009, 04:48 PM

I like this thread!

Okay Nokia has wide range of phones that are compatible with AT&T's 3G network.

I have a TMO G1 so I'm just waiting for things to mature, but I can see the promise already.

I see several things were not mentioned here that could be useful...

With a solid 3G data connection, you can use any of the remote media access. I use Orb, but you can use Slingbox, etc

3G streaming if not on a busy, busy network and on such a tiny screen (under 7") picture quality is more than acceptable.

I can access my HDTV tuner in my Media Center from Orb! Try watching Live HDTV in a moving car using a standard PC specific tuner, NOT.

Many phones have A-GPS, not sure about the Iphone 3G. Many Windows Mobile Phones have A-GPS. No need for a Bluetooth antenna. There are Sirius/XM apps for Windows Mobile as well and Nokia S60 phones. Internet Radio like Shoutcast and Pandora can be accessed on most smart phones.

To stream audio from either the phone directly or via network shouldn't be an issue. I can listen to any audio on EDGE or 3G it doesn't matter.

With a few more tweaks I can see how this could replace a CarPC which tends to be tiny and expensive or of modest cost but bulky.

I don't think many of the new decks from Pioneer, Alpine, Eclipse and others, including OEM's are all that limiting really. MS' Sync for example just need to be exploited a bit further.

Using a phone is one way to keep your Car PC connected constantly anyway, why not expand its use???

chaksq · 02-28-2009, 03:32 PM

While I agree that this is where the mainstream is headed. I however think it is nearsighted to call car computer dead or dying. Hobbyists will continue using full powered computers in their cars and add more and more advanced features. A few years ago only hobbyists thought or were putting mp3 player connectivity and aux in ports in there cars. Now almost all car companies offer built in iPod or aux-in connections in their cars.

Car computing is a hobby for hobbyists. Always has been. Just because the mainstream is starting to adapt some of the concepts does not mean it is dead. People who want a hobby will still build full computers in their cars, people who just want some of the benefits will use the cheap & easy solutions.

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