Can you replace a car stereo with an android phone

Whiffle

Whiffle

Whiffle

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Joined
27 Jul 2009
Posts
386
Afternoon,

Having had my pioneer car stereo since I was 17 (which makes it 18 years old now), I have decided that it is probably best to move with the times and consider a bit of an upgrade - it is simply a CD player with FM radio and nothing else (not even an auxillary input).

Anyway, it suddenly occurred to me that my android phone is as good as any car entertainment system - it has all my music, has FM and internet radio, satnav etc.

Any suggestions for how I might incorporate it into my car.

The simplest way (but no idea if this is possible) would be to somehow plug an amplifier directly into the phone along with an external touchscreen mounted on the dashboard.

Does anything like this already exist?

Thanks
 
Easiest and cheapest option would just be to get a bluetooth head unit and a bracket for your phone.

All your tunes stay on the phone, but the stereos controls will work to skip track etc as the audio is streamed via bluetooth. Internet radio and sat nav announcements etc should all work via bluetooth.
 
I've seen several android tablets being modified into dashboards. With the right interface and apps running behind it, it looks pretty good. Especially if you've got a inbuilt sim for data.

Little bit of hardware and tasker to control shutdowns and charging and you're set to go.

So tempted to do this myself in my RX8 with a 7" or 8" tab. The satnav is ok, but it's stuck to 2010 maps as the most recent version. :(
 
Thanks for all that.

Although there indeed seem to be dedicated android stereos, their price is ridiculously high (plus I only have space for a single din).

I think the obvious choice is going to be a bluetooth headunit and a phone bracket as suggested.

Just a couple of questions about this:

1. What is the difference between stereos that support bluetooth and stereos that support android over usb?
2. Am I correct in thinking (if I go with the bluetooth headunit) that I could have Waze constantly showing on the phone and then the music is taken care from the unit controls only?
 
Whiffle said:
their price is ridiculously high (plus I only have space for a single din).
Click to expand...

Sure?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Android-4...678?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2a54795eb6

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/XTRONS-D7...v-Motorized-/400944509453?hash=item5d5a27b20d


Whiffle said:
I think the obvious choice is going to be a bluetooth headunit and a phone bracket as suggested.

Just a couple of questions about this:

1. What is the difference between stereos that support bluetooth and stereos that support android over usb?
2. Am I correct in thinking (if I go with the bluetooth headunit) that I could have Waze constantly showing on the phone and then the music is taken care from the unit controls only?
Click to expand...

1 - control and navigation of the contents. Bluetooth will generally let you skip tracks but not much else
2 - Plug headphones in and see if it does what you want. If it works with headphones then it'll work with bluetooth streaming (generally). There's no reason why not though
 
My loaner Civic has an Andriod tablet in the dash. Looks like you can download apps on it, store music on the USB etc etc etc
Pretty much the same as the fleabay links above.

Not had much chance to play with it yet, but looks quite funky. I will tether my phone as a hotspot to give it broadband and see what it can do, but I suspect you can only load certain apps on it.
 
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