Tablet PC as Carputer?

I desperately wanted a tablet installed on my Legacy but I have gauges in the chubby and I'm worried about messing up my $400 bezel. The OEM look may take some hacking away as well

Just thought I'd mention this here, but has anyone tried AppRadio 2 with ARLiberator? Basically the head unit would mirror your android phone and act like a tablet install without having to buy an amp etc.

Pioneer appradio 2 with AR Liberator - YouTube

Pioneer AppRadio 2 + Samsung Galaxy S3 + ARLiberator - YouTube

 

That is what I have setup. Exactly the same as the videos but with a HTC EVO3D. I love it. Its so nice to actually have google maps in my dash. My only beef with it is that it doesn't have Sirius support. Granted I could use the Sirius App, but that app has always sucked.

 

As for the ARLiberator app, every day it gets better. The developer is constantly improving it and in the last month it has improved leaps and bounds. You can pretty much count on an update once a week.

Funny you guys brought this up today. I'm in the process of replacing my Z110bt with this Appradio2 + Galaxy Note II. I agree--It will be nice to have real google navigation and google now voice control.

I'm gonna try it out. Been thinking of buying a bad esn galaxy 3 for that setup and getting a mobile hotspot. Hopefully this will cut down on the syn time from phone to stereo. I just need an android phone with enough memory for a ton of emulators so I can connect that ps3 controller and look baller ;p

That is what I have setup. Exactly the same as the videos but with a HTC EVO3D. I love it. Its so nice to actually have google maps in my dash. My only beef with it is that it doesn't have Sirius support. Granted I could use the Sirius App, but that app has always sucked.

 

As for the ARLiberator app, every day it gets better. The developer is constantly improving it and in the last month it has improved leaps and bounds. You can pretty much count on an update once a week.

 

Ahhh just figured out where I had seen your screen name before...appradioforums:lol:

How do you guys with Nexus 7s find the battery? does it stay charged, or slowly deplete over time? I'm finding that I need to plug mine in every few weeks as the battery drains slowly to 0. Not sure if this is normal, or if I should be looking at getting tasker to kill some more processes when I turn the car off. plugging it in is a pain as I have to pull apart the dash

How do you guys with Nexus 7s find the battery? does it stay charged, or slowly deplete over time? I'm finding that I need to plug mine in every few weeks as the battery drains slowly to 0. Not sure if this is normal, or if I should be looking at getting tasker to kill some more processes when I turn the car off. plugging it in is a pain as I have to pull apart the dash

 

You have a charger hooked up to it using the 12v plug so it's always charging when the cars on

I was going to use the android hardware connected to the oem touchscreen - but the overall quality and resolution of the kenwood LCD was too poor for me to bother. I am about 50% complete with my nexus 7 install. I have the bezel dremeled, the nexus 7 has been fully configured with the necessary power profiles to turn on and off with the car, and I have the cables in my possession.

 

All I need to do now is fabricate a mounting plate, and wire the cables inside the dash! I think I will also sand and paint the bezel since there's some sanding marks from the pieces I had to dremel. The horizontal width of the oem bezel opening is identical to the nexus 7 - but I had to carve out most of the vertical trim plastic to fit the screen.

Make sure you get the right charger. I found that some 2A chargers were still not charging the Nexus at the proper 2A and were cut down to 0.5A instead (it's a "safety" thing done by the Nexus).

 

Also, on my tablet I have it automated to go into flight-mode (ie: all connections are off) and it automatically turns off the screen when power is disconnected.

 

The Nexus is pretty smart, and when you turn off all the connections and have no running apps, it will actually go into a sleep mode. When in this sleep mode, I've found it uses up less than 1% of battery per day. So for me, when I turn my car on, it's almost always at 100%.

 

Now, with the most recent android update to Nexus (that came a couple days back), the app that I have to automate a bunch of stuff isn't working as well. It's not putting it in flight mode, and it therefore doesn't let the Nexus sleep. But even then, it's only about a 1% drain per hour, which still gives you plenty of battery life.

Now, with the most recent android update to Nexus (that came a couple days back), the app that I have to automate a bunch of stuff isn't working as well. It's not putting it in flight mode, and it therefore doesn't let the Nexus sleep. But even then, it's only about a 1% drain per hour, which still gives you plenty of battery life.

 

Are you using "settings profiles" to do the power management? I noticed that I can use the app to disable Bluetooth, wifi, and GPS when I turn the car off - but airplane mode indeed will not engage. Also - I found that it was inconsistent at locking the screen/going into standby when the profile kicked in.

 

To fix this - I downloaded the app Standby Touch Advanced (free), reverted the lock screen setting in the profile, and instead set an action (for the battery discharge condition) to start the app when the profile activated.

 

So it looks like this:

Condition: Battery Discharging/Unplugged

Action 1: activate profile 'idle' which shuts off wireless radios and gps and turns brightness to minimum

Action 2: Start App Standby Touch Advanced

 

Been having major issues with battery life with renegade OS processes in 4.2 - hope that gets resolved. Nothing A reboot doesn't fix.

I have not tried to disable the connections individually. That is a really good idea.

 

Since the update, though, I've been keeping an eye on it and it looks like the tablet is going to sleep properly now (even with wifi on) and so when I am starting up my car it is still at 100% or 99%.

 

Which app are you using? I use AutomateIt Pro, but also have Tasker. Tasker didn't quite work with the trigger for power disconnect, but I liked it because it allowed me to automatically toggle the play/pause button when starting and turning off my car.

Having the device slightly tucked in the dashboard, can you tell if the built-in GPS has a harder time locating satellites?

Not a problem, when I start up google maps it's got my exact location within 1-2 seconds and 5 seconds at most.

I see. I am assuming you can no longer use the camera nor the built mics right?

The camera is half blocked, so only shows up half of the screen. But I have never tried the built in mic, so no clue. If it is front facing, it should be fine.

I have not tried to disable the connections individually. That is a really good idea.

 

Since the update, though, I've been keeping an eye on it and it looks like the tablet is going to sleep properly now (even with wifi on) and so when I am starting up my car it is still at 100% or 99%.

 

Which app are you using? I use AutomateIt Pro, but also have Tasker. Tasker didn't quite work with the trigger for power disconnect, but I liked it because it allowed me to automatically toggle the play/pause button when starting and turning off my car.

 

The app is called "Settings Profiles" - its quite powerful. It works on a Cause and Effect model where you set conditions (such as power state change, arrival at a location, time, an app starting, etc) and then the action you wish to take (applying a profile with various system settings changes, start or kill an application, etc).

 

When my car turns on, it wakes the tablet - bypasses the lock screen, enables all of the radios, sets the brightness to auto, sets screen timeout to 30 mins, and starts my gps navigation app (NavFree USA).

 

When my car turns off, it disables all of the radios, changes the screen timeout to 15 seconds, sets brightness to minimum, closes the GPS app, and starts the system standby app to put it to sleep immediately.

 

It's been pretty rock solid so far. My only complaint is that it has an 'infinite' setting for screen timeout which doesn't appear to work in jelly bean. I bet there's a way to do it, but it doesn't work in this app.

I thought the ability to shut down an app in Jelly bean was not possible anymore? I have both Tasker and AutomateIt, and while both claim to be able to shut down an app, neither actually do when I send the command. I want to shut down the "Car Home Ultra" app that I use as my car dashboard/portal.

 

I will definitely look up "Settings Profiles" as it sounds very similar to the other two apps I use (triggers and actions) but seems to work better from your accounts.

I thought the ability to shut down an app in Jelly bean was not possible anymore? I have both Tasker and AutomateIt, and while both claim to be able to shut down an app, neither actually do when I send the command. I want to shut down the "Car Home Ultra" app that I use as my car dashboard/portal.

 

I will definitely look up "Settings Profiles" as it sounds very similar to the other two apps I use (triggers and actions) but seems to work better from your accounts.

 

Hmmm - interesting! I didn't know that was a problem with Jelly bean. This app has open and closed apps flawlessly for me, you should definitely check it out! It's great for killing apps that might otherwise have background processes that could drain the battery.

Just uploaded a video describing the progress on my Nexus 7 car install.

 

I've made some modifications to the hardware for remote power/volume buttons and relocating the usb and headphone jacks to the rear.

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7C7f7PIRGus]HOW TO: Nexus 7 Car Install - Carputer Progress Report - YouTube[/ame]

 

It's a long video - but you can skip about. I wanted to be thorough.

That vid rocks, thanks. Any updates? Curious to see what you do with the power button

I have to agree ^^ the video is awesome and very helpful. I'm thinking I just might have to do the same. Looking forward to seeing the finished product. Keep up the good work!

Hey guys! Thanks for the kind words! I haven't had an awful lot of free time to work on it, but right now I'm designing the backbrace to mount the tablet. I just finished all the wiring last week and recorded some short videos I'll edit together to describe the difficulties I faced!

 

Hopefully that'll inspire others to take the leap! I'm always available for questions and more detailed diagrams of the process.

Hey guys! Thanks for the kind words! I haven't had an awful lot of free time to work on it, but right now I'm designing the backbrace to mount the tablet. I just finished all the wiring last week and recorded some short videos I'll edit together to describe the difficulties I faced!

 

Hopefully that'll inspire others to take the leap! I'm always available for questions and more detailed diagrams of the process.

 

If you could show how you mounted the tablet that would be huge- I'm looking to sell my OEM nav and install the Nexus7, but I have no idea how one would mount it in place.

If you could show how you mounted the tablet that would be huge- I'm looking to sell my OEM nav and install the Nexus7, but I have no idea how one would mount it in place.

 

For sure - I'll document the process to the very end, and then create a thread with all of the necessary tools, parts, and videos on how to do it.

 

At this point - It will likely involve a brace spanning the bezel/air conditioning tunnel pieces. This is because the tablet is wider than the space between the bezel and the air conditioning tunnel pieces. So I'll have to drill into those pieces creating a 'slot fit' that will partially hold the tablet in place.

 

I've done another famously-crude drawing to illustrate my point:

http://i.imgur.com/XBhYo.jpg

 

I'll try to get that video up later today.

New video is up - describes the wiring problem I encountered, and runs through the software I'm using with the build.

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBvvOLTjmD0]HOW TO: Nexus 7 Car Install - Wiring Complete - YouTube[/ame]

Really nice job. I almost regret putting in my gauges and appradio