Android tablets?

[kentiiboii]

Basically I am thinking of moving my stereo down to my coin tray and fabricating my centre console to fit a 7" tablet which I can connect to my stereo so that way I have torque, Internet, touch mp3 instead of picking my iPhone up all the time and a satnav all together.

But I'm not too good with android and tablets. My dad bought a cheap eBay epad once which he couldn't get android market on.
So I was wondering if any of you know much about the tablets and android.
I would but a htc or Samsung but don't wanna spend £300 incase some low life scum nicks it.
So I'm after a cheap android tablet must have market so I can down torque and more. Bluetooth, built in USB not a adapter, wi fi, not fussed about 3G, either external hard drive compatable or take a good sized sd card, good easy to use screen.

I preferably want it to work through USB to my stereo as its better sound quality than aux.

[Matt]

So how do they work? You take the tablet and you turn into a robot right?

[kentiiboii]

As cool as it would be to have a robot in my passenger seat singing some tunes with me. I doubt that will work .

[Matt]

Damn that would be so cool

[kentiiboii]

Imagin driving down the road windows wide open singing "I'm a bar is girl, in a bar is world!" with your robot in passenger seat .

[rocker8742]

One of the guys i work with has got an archos ? i think its android but That's got a direct usb plug and its pretty nice to use not too pricey for the quality iirc

[kentiiboii]

Yes just looked at the anova 7b. They're quite nice. Sort of price im looking for. Has its own look to it as well instead of copying iPad. Can't fine storage capacity but it's a good start. Could do with going somewhere that has tablets up and running so I can have a propper look at them.

Any one know if I remove my clock in my centre
Console and join the 2 pieces together will my dials fit in the place? I'm only looking for a 7" tablet.

[bongo]

It's all about the Ainol

[4WayDiablo]

Might be worth popping into your local CeX store or cash converters anything like that. They're usually in very good as new condition and decent prices.

[Eeyore]

ive got a HP touchpad which were firesold a year ago. Got mine for £200 on ebay which is £300 than retail but £80 more than the firesale price. Its really good but not android. I have however installed android on it and its pretty awesome. No USB port though but 16GB in built!

[ash240970]

If you are thinking about this after our convo @ fcs then go have a look on YouTube as there are some nifty installs on there and I think someone makes a mounting kit for tablets. The one install I did see was really neat and you just slide the tablet out and take it with you in your 'manbag' , charger is built into frame as you slide the tablet in it docks onto the charger.

[kentiiboii]

If you are thinking about this after our convo @ fcs then go have a look on YouTube as there are some nifty installs on there and I think someone makes a mounting kit for tablets. The one install I did see was really neat and you just slide the tablet out and take it with you in your 'manbag' , charger is built into frame as you slide the tablet in it docks onto the charger.

Yeah like I said was thinking about it for a long time but never going round to anything as cars wasn't worth the bother.

I was going to move the dials down to the clock. Stereo to the coin tray.
Then get a couple centre consoles from scrappy to have a play around. The hardest thing is getting it to stay in place without falling out but so I can still get it out. I was thinking valcrow(may need spelling police there).
Will try cex when I go into town. I keep looking at the htc £25 a month with orange. But then I think I don't need the Internet in car. But If I do I might as well use the wifi hotspot my phone has which gets more data.

Any one know if in the lower console if I move my stereo to the ashtray and put the dials where the coin tray is will they fit? Will check tomorrow.

[kentiiboii]

Been looking into this more now and I've figured out for a decent tablet I'm looking at just over £350, then I'm going to want 3G.

Also from talking to ash he was on about a car pc. So I've been looking priced it all up. I can have The pc up and running for around £250-300. The of is a much better idea as i can download software to organise it like a stereo. I also have externals such as odb2 reader/bluetooth. USB bus so I can connect 3G dongle, wireless keyboard and mouse, iPhone connection and more.
I will customise a 7" touch screen into my centre console which will also come with a reversing camera with automatic change over.
I will build my own pc. Which will be a mini itx intel 1155 processor or intel atom not sure yet. A mini power supply connected straight to battery.
For sound I will either buy a couple amps and connect them straight to the pc for best sound output. Or relocate my stereo to my coin tray and have it connected via aux or is possible USB.

My first few jobs will be to buy a plastic welder and a few centre consoles from the scrap hard. Design my console thinking join the middle and bottom remove the clock. Place the screen between the 2 sections and move my dials up to where the stereo is.

Please let me know what you guys think. And all input is welcome.

[bongo]

Google have just announced a Tab with pretty decent specs for the price £169/99 8/16GB. May be worth looking into that or maybe try and pick up a cheap Atom Netbook or Nettop and hook a screen upto that if possible.

Never done it myself but quite interested as it sounds a good little project and that would be where I would start as I aint got a clue about building computers!!

Plastic welding though I have done in a way, I just used a soldering iron with a blade/spatular type head to fix some cracks on my bumper and still fine 3 months on. Can also use a heat gun if you have one of them instead.

[Eeyore]

let me blow your mind...

LINKY

im still thinking about a system with one of these... could be good. Just got to work out a way to get sound out and a monitor for the car!

[kentiiboii]

Was thinking a atom laptop but I don't have the accesability. I want to be able to remove it from the car as well you see. I've found the perfect case it's a custom made acrylic case so I can drill some extra holes into for brackets.

Thing is with android is your limited to what you can do. But on computer I can download android and still play around with the same stuff.

[Eeyore]

Was thinking a atom laptop but I don't have the accesability. I want to be able to remove it from the car as well you see. I've found the perfect case it's a custom made acrylic case so I can drill some extra holes into for brackets.

Thing is with android is your limited to what you can do. But on computer I can download android and still play around with the same stuff.

yeh i know. Its just that android on that micro pc is cheap and ready to go! Making a custom mini pc is expensive as far as im aware. basically i want spotify in my car and android has it

[kentiiboii]

Just wondering.
The pc will be run off battery. I am also going to be installing 2 amps for my speakers and sub. So will my battery take all the power drain or will i be better off installing a second battery in the boot?

---

Well I'd be downloading my music normally. Spotify doesn't have many decent music IMO.

[ash240970]

The mini PC shouldn't drain the battery it'll be the amps that draw the current but if I'm not mistaken you have a Hdi so should have a 150 amp alternator on it - you just need to work out how much drain the amplifiers will have on the battery - don't forget to do the big 3 as this will help stop lights dimming

[kentiiboii]

Yeah fair point. Will have to have a look into the big three. I just need to find a power supply that will go straight to battery.

[ash240970]

You will need a power supply specifically for cars etc a good site to get loads of info is mp3car.com but is a US based site there is a uk forum called digitalcar

[kentiiboii]

Yeah already came across the website thanks. I know what power supply im after. Going to pay the extra money to have a motherboard with wifi built in as it's easier. Also going to route a USB bus to the front of the car for 3G dongle so I have Internet on the go without using my Internet off my phone as orange are pants for signal for iPhone. Getting excited over this now. Ordering my mini itx case and 7" touch screen with reversing camera . Now I best get going to bed now I have a product list. will be working out a price in the morning.

[ash240970]

Which screen you going for?

[kentiiboii]

To start with its going to be a eBay jobbie £45. Don't want to go stripping a £100 touch screen then find out I've just completely screwed it up

I've worked out It will cost me around £350 including frabicating my centre console and cables.
While I'm at I though I'm Going to raise my boot floor and install my sub this way my cables are tidy. Going to start by buying my screen this weekend and find a suitable case for my mini itx board.
Should usually cost around a extra £100 but a lot of the computer parts I have lying around being a computer technician. As well as being able to set the computer up my self.


Can't wait to get started on this hopefully with mug practice the finish product of the centre console will look completely oem.

[ash240970]

I decided against the screen in the dash and went for a motorised 7" one for that stealth look but there is no reason why you can't go bigger and mount it on its side. Also having a Hdi like you do there's no reason why you can't connect your cars OBD to the puter for instant diagnostics and monitoring your cars performance and temperatures etc.

[Eeyore]

^^ obd diagnositics ftw. Have you got a link to the screen you got? And ash what screen did you get?

[kentiiboii]

Looks more oem though in the dash if done correctly. I know what you mean by a motorised one but if you have it where the stereo is you need your vents turned of cos it overheats your screen. And your screen angles down So it's hard to see.

[stevieg]

get a hp touchpad and install android on it, search CyanogenMod

[4WayDiablo]

Read most of it and I was looking at doing similar but rather than moving the stereo down why not just get rid of it all together
You can run decent sound software off a tablet or small PC so wire that up to your speakers. Have a little cradle you plug it into then have the wiring behind the scenes

[ash240970]

Kentii, I know what you mean about vents but a my screen is tiltable both sideways and up and down but I think I can turn it upside down so the screen pops out downwards. A friend of mine tried to mount the motorised screen in the vents and do away with them completely but there was simply not enough room.

Sam, I have 2 screens but they are both at my friends house but the one I'm on about above is a dedicated monitor for towers - cant remember names and models but I have 2 to choose from - I may mount one in the boot install or in the top glove box so the passenger can watch what they want whilst I'm driving

4way - sometimes an external sound card is better than an on board one - I'm looking at the behringer one though I do have an alpine processor as well.