Who's interested in a full Android head unit?

[2forme]

Originally Posted by greenguy101

I hear ya. To me it almost looks like an "App" radio but running an Android OS instead of using an Iphone. But im sure the programmers in the group could probably unlock the full potential of the headunit and use the Android market instead of the watered down Astroid market.

IF it gains enough attention. Parrots first android radio was a piece LOL. I'm excited to see how the ca-fi unit does in comparison to the adayo.

[ProTekk]

Hey, not sure where this project is at but I recently bought a FR-S and I'm also a lead developer for AOKP (Android Open Kang Project) and also work along side of another project called CyanogenMod. What we do is full open source development on the Android platform across all devices. We develop full custom ROMs and features. We have been porting Android to devices for ~2 years now ranging from the HP TouchPad to simple breadboard devices and more. Since I had my eyes on the FR-S the first idea I had was to port and design Jellybean (Android 4.1.1) to a head unit for this car so I have a high level of interest in this.

Professionally I work as an Android security engineer and would love to offer my assistance as well as my teams development if needed. You can find me either here, on Twitter @ProTekkFZS or our IRC channel on FreeNode which is #teamkang. You can find out more about our development via our site which is aokp.co or on rootzwiki.com and xda-developers.com Hope all goes well!

Regards, ProTekk

[CMOS]

$600? why not just instal a carputer and have something that is truly useful?

[2forme]

Originally Posted by CMOS

$600? why not just instal a carputer and have something that is truly useful?

Two reasons:

1) You can't build a decent carputer for that amount of money. And by decent, I mean a minimum of a core i3/4gb/SSD. Not to mention the fabrication necessary to get a screen into the dash. And having to purchase a 3rd party front end software.

2) I've had a carputer and there is really nothing that it offers that is better than a dedicated car stereo with app support such as this. It's actually much more of a headache.

So in the end a carputer is nice in theory, but it takes a lot more time, effort, and money to maintain.

[2forme]

Originally Posted by ProTekk

Hey, not sure where this project is at but I recently bought a FR-S and I'm also a lead developer for AOKP (Android Open Kang Project) and also work along side of another project called CyanogenMod. What we do is full open source development on the Android platform across all devices. We develop full custom ROMs and features. We have been porting Android to devices for ~2 years now ranging from the HP TouchPad to simple breadboard devices and more. Since I had my eyes on the FR-S the first idea I had was to port and design Jellybean (Android 4.1.1) to a head unit for this car so I have a high level of interest in this.

Professionally I work as an Android security engineer and would love to offer my assistance as well as my teams development if needed. You can find me either here, on Twitter @ProTekkFZS or our IRC channel on FreeNode which is #teamkang. You can find out more about our development via our site which is aokp.co or on rootzwiki.com and xda-developers.com Hope all goes well!

Regards, ProTekk

That's awesome. I wish I had gotten in on those projects when they were starting. I just recently loaded the nightly version of CM10 on my EVO 4G LTE. It's actually very stable for a nightly. I ran AOKP exclusively on my old Galaxy Tab.

I would absolutely love to at least have the discussion with you, or your team as to what the capabilities are of this. I feel that with the right support, this could open a whole new sector of the market. We should definitely "compare notes" at some point!

[ProTekk]

Originally Posted by 2forme

That's awesome. I wish I had gotten in on those projects when they were starting. I just recently loaded the nightly version of CM10 on my EVO 4G LTE. It's actually very stable for a nightly. I ran AOKP exclusively on my old Galaxy Tab.

I would absolutely love to at least have the discussion with you, or your team as to what the capabilities are of this. I feel that with the right support, this could open a whole new sector of the market. We should definitely "compare notes" at some point!

Nothin' like the good ol' unicorn right?

Hopefully you're familiar with me (and my insanity) haha

Let me know when and where works for you. I'd have no problem bringing you into our private channel on IRC or do a Google+ hangout so you can meet everyone. I'll be picking up my FR-S tomorrow so I may not be around much. I'm definitely interested in this and I agree, this could be a whole new unexplored market.

Edit: Depending on the hardware, Jellybean would be a much more feasible option over Gingerbread (I assume that's what you're using) as the framework is MUCH better.

[2forme]

Originally Posted by ProTekk

Nothin' like the good ol' unicorn right?

Hopefully you're familiar with me (and my insanity) haha

Let me know when and where works for you. I'd have no problem bringing you into our private channel on IRC or do a Google+ hangout so you can meet everyone. I'll be picking up my FR-S tomorrow so I may not be around much. I'm definitely interested in this and I agree, this could be a whole new unexplored market.

Edit: Depending on the hardware, Jellybean would be a much more feasible option over Gingerbread (I assume that's what you're using) as the framework is MUCH better.

From what I understand, the ca-fi unit runs a 1.0 GHz Freescale SoC with 512MB of memory. The one listed in this thread (ADAYO AN6B01), runs a cortex A8 1GHz with 256 MB of memory. So I'm assuming it's pretty similar to something like the original EVO 4G hardware wise. Bonus that they don't have a resource hog like sense running on them. That's probably why they run pretty damn smooth.

Enjoy the FRS, we'll definitely talk soon. And remember, keep it sideways

[CMOS]

Originally Posted by 2forme

Two reasons:

1) You can't build a decent carputer for that amount of money. And by decent, I mean a minimum of a core i3/4gb/SSD. Not to mention the fabrication necessary to get a screen into the dash. And having to purchase a 3rd party front end software.

2) I've had a carputer and there is really nothing that it offers that is better than a dedicated car stereo with app support such as this. It's actually much more of a headache.

So in the end a carputer is nice in theory, but it takes a lot more time, effort, and money to maintain.

A computer that you just described was used to design an Android tablet and you are complaining that at $50 less then the said tablet it is not a top of the line machine. The computer has to have a purpose, I'm not sure if $600 to run angry birds is money well spent.

[2forme]

Originally Posted by CMOS

A computer that you just described was used to design an Android tablet and you are complaining that at $50 less then the said tablet it is not a top of the line machine. The computer has to have a purpose, I'm not sure if $600 to run angry birds is money well spent.

You're forgetting the market that we are discussing. If we were discussing tablets, absolutely 600$ would be overpriced... But we arent. We are discussing car stereos. 600$ is bottom of the barrel for navigation units, yet the unit I had was a bit better than 1000$+ stereos that do the same thing. Only the Android head unit does more than just CD/DVD/GPS/Ipod/SD. It can run apps and be customized, all on an interface that is a bit smoother than the Windows CE based crap that Pioneer and Kenwood put out at outrageous prices.

As I've said before. Carputers need to be very watered down software wise, with an interfacing software to actually make it useful in a car stereo application. You can try and just run vanilla windows for all your music and such, but it's a PITA. Besides, you're not going to be cruising down the road writing something in Microsoft Word. Oh, and this is assuming the computer doesn't pic up any noise interference from the other electrical systems in the car. I highly doubt the sound card puts out a high enough voltage to overcome interference.... in fact I know it doesn't.

It was just a bad analogy is all. I was one of the first people to hop on the carputer bandwagon. If I had to do it all over again, I would do the Android head unit in a heart beat.

[CMOS]

Originally Posted by 2forme

You're forgetting the market that we are discussing. If we were discussing tablets, absolutely 600$ would be overpriced... But we arent. We are discussing car stereos. 600$ is bottom of the barrel for navigation units, yet the unit I had was a bit better than 1000$+ stereos that do the same thing. Only the Android head unit does more than just CD/DVD/GPS/Ipod/SD. It can run apps and be customized, all on an interface that is a bit smoother than the Windows CE based crap that Pioneer and Kenwood put out at outrageous prices.

As I've said before. Carputers need to be very watered down software wise, with an interfacing software to actually make it useful in a car stereo application. You can try and just run vanilla windows for all your music and such, but it's a PITA. Besides, you're not going to be cruising down the road writing something in Microsoft Word. Oh, and this is assuming the computer doesn't pic up any noise interference from the other electrical systems in the car. I highly doubt the sound card puts out a high enough voltage to overcome interference.... in fact I know it doesn't.

It was just a bad analogy is all. I was one of the first people to hop on the carputer bandwagon. If I had to do it all over again, I would do the Android head unit in a heart beat.

There is the issue of value attained, what will a $600 Android radio do over the free Android cell phone that Android people already have? I can't whip out a desktop out of my pocket and read the OBDII to display all of the engine parameters in a neat graphical form therefore I add an IBM compatible as a permanent fixture. Also, I don't know where you get your noise issues from, pretty much all standard audio data links run a 1V connection from mp3 players to desktops, if you want more then you need to add an amp which is kinda the point of the whole radio thing. If you still have gremlins you can add an optical line to your amp and be 100% EMI free.

[2forme]

Originally Posted by CMOS

There is the issue of value attained, what will a $600 Android radio do over the free Android cell phone that Android people already have? I can't whip out a desktop out of my pocket and read the OBDII to display all of the engine parameters in a neat graphical form therefore I add an IBM compatible as a permanent fixture. Also, I don't know where you get your noise issues from, pretty much all standard audio data links run a 1V connection from mp3 players to desktops, if you want more then you need to add an amp which is kinda the point of the whole radio thing. If you still have gremlins you can add an optical line to your amp and be 100% EMI free.

Because I want to sit and hold my phone up to watch GPS or play music? What if I want to monitor engine parameters via torque while taking a phone call? Or input an address into GPS while on the phone.

1V? That's it? That's nothing in car audio. For a good quality signal you want AT LEAST 2V, preferably 4+. How many car audio amps do you know that have optical inputs.

You obviously don't get the point here. Android head units represent the next generation of in car entertainment systems. The market is flooded with Windows CE based head units that are entirely overpriced. There is NO reason a 1000$+ system should have a clunky, non-smooth interface. The Android head units are attractive, smooth, and have the advantage of the Android market. I'm sorry but a carputer just can't offer a clean, hassle free, streamlined in car experience that a dedicated head unit can.

I'm glad you love carputers, but I've had both and know the advantages and disadvantages of both.

[CMOS]

Originally Posted by 2forme

Because I want to sit and hold my phone up to watch GPS or play music? What if I want to monitor engine parameters via torque while taking a phone call? Or input an address into GPS while on the phone.

1V? That's it? That's nothing in car audio. For a good quality signal you want AT LEAST 2V, preferably 4+. How many car audio amps do you know that have optical inputs.

You obviously don't get the point here. Android head units represent the next generation of in car entertainment systems. The market is flooded with Windows CE based head units that are entirely overpriced. There is NO reason a 1000$+ system should have a clunky, non-smooth interface. The Android head units are attractive, smooth, and have the advantage of the Android market. I'm sorry but a carputer just can't offer a clean, hassle free, streamlined in car experience that a dedicated head unit can.

I'm glad you love carputers, but I've had both and know the advantages and disadvantages of both.

-There is a phone mount that you can screw directly into the face of the radio which will not only hold it for you but also charge it, that is what I used on my last car and it worked hell of a lot better then the BRZ clunk of a GPS, if only android did not crash all the time I would have swapped the whole radio for an amp and upgraded my radio each time the contract runs out.

-Uhmm, multi-tasking operating system? I know its awful at it but it can get out of phone call mode into other apps. I do it all the time since the phone's 10 cent GPS magically outperforms BRZ's roof mounted antenna.

-We are talking about a distance of 2cm from the PC output to the pre-amp, there is no need to run 10kV lines, also a basic sound card will get you surround sound which allows you to deliver proper frequencies to each channel without the need for passive filters that waste power.

-2CH toslink DAC will run you $10, I never had the need to use it as all my systems ran fine off mp3 players, ipaqs and now phone.

-WindowsCE is not windows, neither is Windows phone or "RT", these are embedded operating systems like Android. Windows 8 has the interface you seek and we all hate but at least it gives you the option to get out of the toy mode.

-every OS has a market, remember Windows desktop gadgets? its a brilliant scheme to charge you for things you have been downloading for free for the past 15 years but realistically how many things can you download for the in car tablet that would justify the $600 cost

[Shizuma]

Originally Posted by 2forme

Oh, and this is assuming the computer doesn't pic up any noise interference from the other electrical systems in the car. I highly doubt the sound card puts out a high enough voltage to overcome interference.... in fact I know it doesn't.

I actually never had any noise from the car itself when I had a carputer in my last car, though I did have an expensive DC-DC power supply and added additional shielding to the audio cable to the head unit, it was a short run, and the computer was in a steel case.

But yeah, while I did like my carputer back in the day I would never do a carputer install over an android tablet install now a days.

[CMOS]

Originally Posted by Shizuma

I actually never had any noise from the car itself when I had a carputer in my last car, though I did have an expensive DC-DC power supply and added additional shielding to the audio cable to the head unit, it was a short run, and the computer was in a steel case.

But yeah, while I did like my carputer back in the day I would never do a carputer install over an android tablet install now a days.

Hypothetical question, you have an Android tablet and wintel tablet, same price... would you still go for the droid?