Comments on: Can Your Smartphone Be a Carputer?

By: HereAndNow

HereAndNow — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 10:28:14 +0000

Garmin is developing an Android-based smartphone that includes their navigation software and all other Android applications (email, phone, etc.). It has a dock to connect to the car, and when you leave the car, you take it with you as your smartphone.

This could be an interesting model because:
1. You don’t leave the device in the car to be stolen.
2. It is not limited to the car. You can use the navigation software when you are riding your bike, walking, etc.
3. It can be used in ANY car, so their is no dependency on a car manufacturer.
4. You don’t have to buy both a smartphone AND a carputer.
5. You can use all of the existing and future Android applications.

By: JonGH

JonGH — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 19:11:03 +0000

I really like this idea, currently my phone just sits in a space on my dashboard. Would be great to access the information on it and use the built in sat nav on a much larger screen.

By: gmazin

gmazin — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 18:52:45 +0000

They’re actually already selling GPS systems with the Intel Atom. I think one of them would be perfect if there was a custom Linux os for cars. Someone did something like it, but it’s not really a distribution.
https://www.timekiller.org/carpc/index.php

By: symbianguru

symbianguru — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 18:02:16 +0000

This is actually a really brilliant idea. Smartphones have plenty of processing power for most car-related tasks (gps, music playback, etc), and are designed to operate in restricted power situations, with smaller screens.

One of the major issues with carputers, historically, is powering the thing and getting a usable interface on that smaller screen, particularly to use while driving (though you’re not supposed to).