Hey Fellas

[Mr Eps]

hey everyone

okay so - ages ago i imported a soarer - soarer came without a stereo (yeah yeah laugh it up)

anyway i am looking at getting a full tabouleh double din touch screen unit...

namely the alpine W407 from the states.. because that's very cheap with our exchange rates

my only draw backs of the unit are:

i don't really like the interface all that much - seems a bit messy...

it's not an out of the box unit - ie: if you want the sat nav, you have to buy the expander etc etc

lastly - no detachable face - i know times have changed and nicked stereos are getting less common, but still i like to know i can remove the face...

so i got to thinking... WHAT IF....

...what if i get a REALLY cheap nasty shitty stereo that has decent output and a USB input (like some entry level single din alpine unit)

...then buy a samsung galaxy tablet.. and just custom fabricate some mounts from fibreglass so that it can slot into my centre console LIKE a stereo..

..and feed the sound through the speakers via USB connection?

i mean to THINK about that for a minute...

if i DID that, i would have all my music, videos, GPD sat nav, google maps, etc etc not to mention the fact that i can use apps like TuneIn radio to listen to internet radio from all over the world via 3GS connection.. plus the ability to multi task (ie listen to music while GPS is doing it's thing)

ALL consolidated into the one "thing" that uses a hi definition amoled screen, that has a really responsive touch to it..

and when i'm finished my journey, i just slide it out of the custom bracket that i've made, and take it with me..

as opposed to a double din touch screen which stays in the car awaiting a theif...

the other up shot is obviously being that the tablet wouldn't be hard-wired to the car, that would mean that i wouldn't need to worry about installing bypass devices that prevent me from using video playback functions without the car being stopped etc..

...am i crazy for thinking this??? is this WAY too hard?

call me crazy but i think it's a decent idea - and before you ask - YES i have thought of the iPad and frankly i'd prefer an iPad - im addicted to apple stuff after buying my ipod touch... BUT

...i need to think about SIZE!!!!

so am i onto a good wicket? or should i just get the double din unit...

[Mr Eps]

oh and - you can also make phone calls with the galaxy tab.

no more faggoting about with blueteeth.

[VNS 24]

Do it, Rowan!

One Subaru WRX from Hot4s magazine did an IPad custom installation. Galaxy Tab is smaller, so will look better.

[Carbon 34]

its been done many times already, Search for soundman car audio or fishman(dave) car audio in YOUTUBE they have tonnes of videos with them.

dave the fishman is old school from my days in audio, in 1984 I think, and he made it big with a fishtank in his Acura, some crazy installs from us old farts.

The guys at soundman have been selling premolded fiberglass ipad mounts for many cars, ipad 2 as well

in case you haven't heard SAMSUNG is being sued in a big way by APPLE for galaxy products, and ipad look alikes, after testing one it is a dead ringer for my iphone, but sucks even more ..lol

you don't need a radio if you use a ipad, they have apps for it. and digital outputs too.

shame we can't get Pandora in australia. you have to use a american credit card and address grrrrrrr search itunes for it. its amazing

Edited April 20, 2011 by sapphiregraphics

[Mr Eps]

i know all about pandora, Troy

and yes it sucks we can't get it..

okay just went to shop in my lunchbreak and priced up a samsung galaxy tablet.

$299 outright unlocked thru telstra.

fwoor.

and yes i was researching soundman last night ... i've been watching what he does for months now - he seems like a total dolt but he's actually quite smart!!!

im at work, so no youtube unfortunately

im going to research a little bit more to make sure that the galaxy can put out decent quality audio thru an alpine unit... if it can, i'll be buying one this afternoon

Troy can you please teach me a bit more about these things you know? I'm Rowan by the way, i don't think we've spoken before

[Carbon 34]

both of the guys in youtube are certified master installers, fishman is old like me and only does crazy mad installs, you know 100k or more in a car audio system kind.,

I started .... you know the 8 track tape deck with house speakers sub days. and a radio shack homemade amp pushing 40 watts max, and 100% distortion

soundman is a bit nuts but most installers get that way and enjoy the work , long hours of sitting with your head under a dash will do that to you, but these guys goof around and cross the gross barrier a few times. but when it comes to installs they do good work , not perfect,,,, but above average for sure. in usa you have so many shops, and retail stores doing lousy installs. it drives you mad fixing up mistakes on a 100k car because a doctor wanted to save 20 bucks on installlation.

nice to meet you rowan.

I think I should write a car audio book ....lol I could start on how to install a 8 track , and build your own 40 watt amp from parts from radio shack..hahaha

[Mr Eps]

the japanese would most likely buy that.

those guys are crazy with their ironic backwards technology

i still can't get my head around why the japanese love minidiscs...

like, why would you favour a really non-user friendly format of compact disc that is a ridiculously compressed system which kills sound quality!

anyway - Troy - after giving it some though - i'm in two minds about it...

i like the alpine because it will give good sound quality.. in that... i'll be using MP3s... RAW Mp3 too.. so the alpine software will correct the peaks and the crackles that come with MP3 formats, plus the varying volume levels within the different MP3... plus level out the bitrates of the Mp3...

....but if i use the galaxy tablet.. it will have the crisp awesome display and have all the other features...

although i imagine the sound quality will suck balls.. and i dont know if i'll be able to connect the galaxy up to a head unit via USB to the alpine deck (for example) and still have control of the music via the tablet...

=( what would YOU do?

[nicr4wks]

Alpine usb wont work how you're talking, they're designed to read from a filesystem or ipod/iphone protocol. If you could somehow present the tab as a usb drive and constantly write to an mp3 file that could possibly work.

I've though about doing something similar with a car pc, currently have an Alpine cda117e, analouge can be fed in via the din plug on the back, but can't work out how to best fit a double din screen along with the headunit. Not to mention the price is non comparable, Centrafuse is a fairly reasonable interface

[Mr Eps]

for $299 for a sumsung tablet, you can just a pay guy to custom fab you up a slot...

it's a hell of a lot better than a carPC in my opinion

but yeah audio wise i think im just going to kick it oldschool with the alpine unit - i care more about audio than i care about being able to watch chingy music videos to impress my leb mates.

[sonnyQ]

I would love to see a neat fabricated mount with a hard wired charger/connection...like a dock

[Mr Eps]

Yeah so would I man but problem is as discussed is audio quality!

Otherwise it'd be great

[Carbon 34]

I would love to see a neat fabricated mount with a hard wired charger/connection...like a dock

its been done already, I know the distibuter in the states who sells them if you want a catalog of items for the 100's of pads, phones and mounts

todays news the google platform of phones and pads is a posible issue with tracking your daily movements and a db virus.(info from wall st article )

iphones keep track of you everyday too. in a DB file .. big brother is watching..haha

Edited April 23, 2011 by sapphiregraphics

[sonnyQ]

So there is no option to mount the tablet as a disk drive? cmonnnnnnnnnnn

It runs on froyo which is the same platform as my phone. When I connect it to the pc I have the option to mount as disk/sync/modem tether etc...

sapphire - all this new tech is a tad scary at times in that regard

Edited April 23, 2011 by sonnyQ

[Mr Eps]

They keep track of your movements just like any other computer really... The reality is though - you don't do anything that is that interesting anyway so really it doesn't matter haha

As a computer for in car, it's work great... Who wouldn't love a hidef capacative touch screen 7 inch gps screen that can access Internet via froyo etc?

But for me personally... All I care about is MUSIC and sound quality and the depths and tones...

I love being able to put a favorite piece of music into a good system and be able to say "wow I never heard that tone in this song before"

Reason this is, would be because the sound processor works with the alpine unit to "clean up" the shitty mp3s you have and make them sound good...

Ie you can have spice girls.mp3 and it'll be at 328 bitrate with perfect treble and bass peaks

And you can have deadmau5.mp3 at 92 bitrate with totally f**ked volume settings and blown out peaks at treble...

Play this two raw data music files thru a speaker... Needless to say deadmau5 won't sound good... Spice girls will

But... You filter the two mp3 through alpine's audio processing software and it'll make both songs sound warm and deep and crisp and pleasant...

Unfortunately... A galaxy tablet won't be able to offer that..

What it CAN offer though.. Is great hidef gps, movies, Internet radio streaming, navigation, telephone, etc etc...

Which for $299 you can't really go wrong ESP considering u get to take it out with you and use it as a computer etc

Unfortunately for me though.. I can't justify paying 300 bucks for something I then have to pay 30 a month for Internet data... Only to use it for ... What is essentially a bigger sized smart phone

[shanusr33]

I was at JB on the weekend considering buying a new deck and thought of this idea! I thought I was a genius but after purchasing a new tablet I knew somebody out there would have already thought of this... but I was still pretty chuffed with myself :-)

So I haven't started the installation of a bracket yet, I'll do that this week, but I put it in place yesterday to see where it would sit and fit... I think it's gonna be awesome

I'm guessing once the battery of the tablet is charged and it's turned on the reflection on the screen will be much less. And I had the sunroof open when I took this shot as well.

It would look too chunky on it's side horizontally, so I loose the air conditioning display mounting it vertically but still worth it. Besides, I can turn that stuff on before I slide the tablet in if I want.

[Carbon 34]

I was at JB on the weekend considering buying a new deck and thought of this idea! I thought I was a genius but after purchasing a new tablet I knew somebody out there would have already thought of this... but I was still pretty chuffed with myself :-)

So I haven't started the installation of a bracket yet, I'll do that this week, but I put it in place yesterday to see where it would sit and fit... I think it's gonna be awesome

I'm guessing once the battery of the tablet is charged and it's turned on the reflection on the screen will be much less. And I had the sunroof open when I took this shot as well.

It would look too chunky on it's side horizontally, so I loose the air conditioning display mounting it vertically but still worth it. Besides, I can turn that stuff on before I slide the tablet in if I want.

Nice, so that is your car I saw with the interesting airbrushing on the shift area.... its pretty cool imo

. really the pads can plug into your data port and display your gauges as well. if you need room. your about at the point of no return, and making a custom dashboard

there is a few gotchas on tablets and getting them to display outboard while playing on the pad screen at the same time. the fix is know but not widely.

Im using my old iphone 3gs for some new tricks in the car until I get a tablet to ditch my radio. its hard to justify having a ipad, iphone and laptop, they should just make a really kick ass ipad so I can ditch my laptop too..lol

to many limitations for a device , and I have a love - hate relationship with apple

give me a linux device thats stable and upgradeable wihtout hassles.lol think you will see a lot of changes once the cloud computing takes effect and National broadband network , 4G etc.