Installing a tablet in lieu of a head unit

[Emerge]

Originally Posted by eTiMaGo

get yourself an exogear exomount with tablet adapter:

http://www.mobimega.com/exogear-exom...martphone.html

the suction cup also has an adhesive coating so it sticks to pretty much anything, you might be able to stick it in front of the speedometer and have the tablet hand in the area in front of that little pocket thing... worth a try!

Cool products on that website. Thanks for the input, it might be worth a shot.

[toy_toronto]

Originally Posted by Emerge

The transformer is the best tablet out now; trust me, I researched for months@!

I'm officially picking mine up tomorrow --Thanks for doing most of the leg work for me

I agree, it's a very legit tablet per the reviews I've read.


-toy

[ezhacker1]

i was thinking of getting a 7in android tablet too. Either the Galaxy Tab 7 ~$300 or the Nook Color ~$200 and get android on it. As for GPS, the nook color doesnt have it but i have a BT gps keychain anyways. Theres pros and cons to both but the IPS screen on the Nook Color seems the best in a carpc kind of role. Of course i want to do double duty with the tablet and undock it for normal day use..then again i already have the asus Transformer with dock.

With that said, im looking forward to see how you mount yours.

[ezhacker1]

Rooted and OCed mine. OC is absolutely necessary to play Hulu..well root too. But in the end, i need more of a laptop than what even the docked form can provide. Afterall its still weaker than a netbook. Plus theres an update to the eepad coming very very soon with the new processor.

[Emerge]

I'm going to best buy today to look at some stuff. Wish me luck!

[ezhacker1]

update?

[Emerge]

Originally Posted by ezhacker1

update?

Found a decent solution for in car charging. Next step is deciding where the eff I am going to put this damn thing.

[Altitude]

Just picked up an Acer A100 Iconia 7" tablet (Honeycomb 3.2!). Over the next several months I'll be working on getting it installed and writing some custom SW to work with my bluetooth OBDII unit (which means I'll be selling my ScanGaugeII, Ultragauge and possibly my HU.)

The size of this tablet is almost a perfect fit for the OEM radio bezel. Hopefully I can work out an installation that looks super clean. It doesn't have cellular capability (I think the A101 does) but I think I can use my android phone and tether it when needed. Does have GPS, BT and WiFi so all that's good. Not sure if the USB port supports hosting, but I think the dock connector will so I might have to buy a dock and cannibalize it for the port connector.

Should be an interesting project and I think this is a better solution (less hassle and less cost) than a carputer which is something I always wanted to install but never had the time.

[ezhacker1]

Originally Posted by Altitude

Just picked up an Acer A100 Iconia 7" tablet (Honeycomb 3.2!). Over the next several months I'll be working on getting it installed and writing some custom SW to work with my bluetooth OBDII unit (which means I'll be selling my ScanGaugeII, Ultragauge and possibly my HU.)

I just got a used Nook Color, its perfect with it's IPS screen, sure I could have gotten a real tablet but at $185, how could I say no. Doesn't have gps on board but externals are usually faster at refreshing.

Definitely interested in what oBd stuff you'll do, better than Torque?

[eTiMaGo]

yep, the advent of (relatively) cheap, powerful tablets is going to make some big changes to in-car entertainment, that's for sure!

[tk-421]

I pretty much scrubbed my earlier attempt at a carpc, and am looking forward to getting a Nook very soon as well. At $180ish it's too good a price to pass up. Heck, at that price it could almost be worth it to get a couple more for the rear seats (if I still had any )

[eTiMaGo]

if I had the fabrication skills, I would get the blank 2-DIN plastic plate that the base models came with instead of a radio, and make some brackets that directly attach to that.

Which tablet did you buy? You should check if there is a desktop dock available for it, that would make for a good base, and keep the tablet easily removable, all you would need is a spring loaded clamp to hold it in place at the top.

[Altitude]

Looks like finding the right amp is going to be the challenge. Been looking for a *small* 5 channel and they are hard to find. Something along the lines of the pic that Emerge has in one post only with the addition of a sub/5th channel.

Everything I see is huge wattage and for show. I don't care what it looks like. I don't need huge wattage either. I want to hide it, preferably behind the dash.

Emerge - Where did you get that pic of the tiny amp? I tried to search for it using the brand and model number on the unit and can't find it.

Test Fit:

[ezhacker1]

nice work, get nook in soon

[Lil Abner]

That fits quite nicely!

Altitude, look on eBay. There are a TON of small 2-channel, low power amps out there. They are usually $20-30. I personally have 2 tiny old-school Blaupunkt amps (2x25W) that I always used for my tweeters. I can't remember the site I found that had a ton of them. But here is an example of one I use to own:

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-FFyk0Ps...kt-PA2100.html

Also remember, there is room under the passenger seat for an amp!

[Altitude]

Thanks Lil Abner. Thing is, I already have an amp under the passenger seat for the SW. I think what I'll probably do is get a single DIN HU that has the outputs I need and also has an AUX input so I can hook the tablet up to it. There's room to stash the HU behind the tablet, just need to tie it down.

[ezhacker1]

Got my Nook Color installed. The bezel thickness is causing me some mind pain {installed as close to the radio trim as possible, needs some side trim pieces}. The tablet is too tall when laid horizontally. pictures to follow to explain. Tho it looks awesome to have Torque app running there.

I'd like to be able to remove the tablet from the car but right now ibhave to remove the HU trim to do so. It's too wide to just come out of the Double Din bezel

[Altitude]

^ Nice work exhacker! How did you hook up your audio?

======================================

So I was messing around with getting the audio all setup and I think I've hit a show stopper.

Using the headphone output of the tablet and an aux in on an HU sounds like ass. Tried a little EQ and whatnot and I really can't get what I would consider good quality audio out of it. Major disappointment.

Edit:

Ok, so Bluetooth audio works and sounds great. Bypassing the analog output from the tablet is the way to go. Using an HU was a matter of convenience before, now it's a necessity. I had purchased a single DIN HU but it doesn't support audio streaming so I went to exchange for another one that did... only it doesn't, despite the description of the website. Guess I'll return that too.

My existing HU is perfect. It sounds great and has all the features I need. But it's double din and too big to tuck into the opening and still be able to get the tablet in there.

Plan B - found lots of space to the right of the HVAC core behind the glovebox. Gooing to put a little shelf in there to mount the HU on. I'm tired of searching for amps, EQ's, HU's and all that crap so I'm just going to stick with this idea. It should do the job and save me from investing any more money into the project.