I had always found NFC to be rather gimmicky. Nice to have, but not mandatory. Since getting my Lumia, I have actually discovered a whole different world of convenience that I never realized. Of course, I do have peripherals that take advantage of it, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't still be useful without them.
I have:
1) Nokia 360 Portable BT Speaker
2) Nokia BH-505 Headphones
3) BT Car stereo and NFC stickers
In the morning, I touch my Lumia 920 to my Nokia 360 Speaker and it turns it on, connects, and starts playing my music. I listen to the music while I'm getting ready for work. I ride my motorcycle to work, so when I'm ready to leave, I touch the Lumia to my BH-505 Headphones and the music stops playing on the 360 and starts playing on them. I put them on and ride to work.
When I get into my truck to drive somewhere, I touch the Lumia to a programmed NFC sticker on my dash and it connects to my stereo and starts playing music.
I plan to program a sticker at work as well and possibly one near my wireless charging stand. I never really noticed how annoying it was to manually go into Bluetooth settings and connect to each device until all I had to do was touch it to my phone. I now find NFC to be a very useful feature and one I would have a hard time going without.
The NFC on the Lumia 920 is highly excellent. Much better and smoother than the nfc on the Pureview 808
Where are you getting the NFC stickers from?
Sent from my RM-820_nam_att_100 using Board Express
greyhulk said:
I had always found NFC to be rather gimmicky. Nice to have, but not mandatory. Since getting my Lumia, I have actually discovered a whole different world of convenience that I never realized. Of course, I do have peripherals that take advantage of it, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't still be useful without them.
I have:
1) Nokia 360 Portable BT Speaker
2) Nokia BH-505 Headphones
3) BT Car stereo and NFC stickers
In the morning, I touch my Lumia 920 to my Nokia 360 Speaker and it turns it on, connects, and starts playing my music. I listen to the music while I'm getting ready for work. I ride my motorcycle to work, so when I'm ready to leave, I touch the Lumia to my BH-505 Headphones and the music stops playing on the 360 and starts playing on them. I put them on and ride to work.
When I get into my truck to drive somewhere, I touch the Lumia to a programmed NFC sticker on my dash and it connects to my stereo and starts playing music.
I plan to program a sticker at work as well and possibly one near my wireless charging stand. I never really noticed how annoying it was to manually go into Bluetooth settings and connect to each device until all I had to do was touch it to my phone. I now find NFC to be a very useful feature and one I would have a hard time going without.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please inform me how and where I can obtain those kind of NFC stickers for Windows phone. I could find a lot of NCF stickers available for Android phones on web.
wnandroid said:
Please inform me how and where I can obtain those kind of NFC stickers for Windows phone. I could find a lot of NCF stickers available for Android phones on web.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Android ones will also work for WP8. Actually all NFC stickers/tags will work with each other... with the exception of mifare (some phones support it, some don't.... lucky for us, WP8 does). Then there are Sony NFC tags/stickers which are of course proprietary, just the way they like everything.
I got one of those beginners kits from tagstand. Worth the money because I ended up getting 3 different sets of 5 tags. 1 set of 5 was the mifare type. I needed to use my wife's Android phone to format them before using them for the Lumia 920 (which can't format them. Win for Android? lol
Either way, as it stands, the abilities of the NFC tags are quite limited at the moment due to the restrictions that Microsoft had put upon WP8 for now. Auto-toggling is not available... so the best that a tag can do is bring up the settings screen for Wifi and Cell Data for toggling. Another issue that I have seem to have found is that WP8 only actions the first record on the tag. :-/ That part sucks big time since I would have to have a tag just to bring up the wifi settings screen then another just for cell data. I hope this opens up more, or someone creates an app to circumvent some of these issues.
as far as i heard apps cant change system settings. so its rather useless isnt it
LudoGris said:
Where are you getting the NFC stickers from?
Sent from my RM-820_nam_att_100 using Board Express
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Amazon has them for fairly cheap.
wnandroid said:
Please inform me how and where I can obtain those kind of NFC stickers for Windows phone. I could find a lot of NCF stickers available for Android phones on web.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They are all compatible. NFC stickers are NFC stickers. We have a program now for Windows Phone that lets us program them and they are universal. I'm not sure why the sellers limit their demographic by listing them as being for Android. Perhaps they're simply not aware that NFC exists in other phones.
The only limitation is that the stickers need to be pre-formated as WP8 cannot format them. found that out the hard way
is there a quick on-off-solution for NFC yet as it seems to be quite a battery drainer for me?
I was thinking something like connectivitiy shortcuts similar to WIFI .. ?
pencilcase said:
The only limitation is that the stickers need to be pre-formated as WP8 cannot format them. found that out the hard way
is there a quick on-off-solution for NFC yet as it seems to be quite a battery drainer for me?
I was thinking something like connectivitiy shortcuts similar to WIFI .. ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just buy blank ones that are ready to be programmed. I didn't know you could even format them.
I used to leave NFC off all the time, especially after reading battery life threads here, but at some point it turned itself on again (probably after an update to some of the Nokia system apps) and I have been leaving it on. My battery life has been unchanged. I'm not convinced that NFC is the culprit. I literally leave NFC and BT on all the time now and my battery drain isn't noticeably faster than it was with them off.
what action are you writing to the tag to automatically pair the device with a BT accessory? i would really like to be able to do this but i haven't had the time to play around with the stickers i bought recently.
a short write up would be much appreciated
adiliyo said:
what action are you writing to the tag to automatically pair the device with a BT accessory? i would really like to be able to do this but i haven't had the time to play around with the stickers i bought recently.
a short write up would be much appreciated
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.nfc-forum.org/specs/spec_list/
That's the technical spec for NFC
Some random code examples
http://fupeg.blogspot.com/2011/06/local-data-exchange-with-nfc-and.html
I wish
greyhulk said:
I
I plan to program a sticker at work as well and possibly one near my wireless charging stand. I never really noticed how annoying it was to manually go into Bluetooth settings and connect to each device until all I had to do was touch it to my phone. I now find NFC to be a very useful feature and one I would have a hard time going without.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't seem to coax this behavior. I do not have any Nokia accessories, but do like to connect and disconnect to my hearing aids. The best I can get is to tap the tag, then I have to allow the action, then bluetooth settings come on. Doesn't save much in the way of interaction for me. How are you say, just getting in your truck - tapping the tag and it automatically connects to the bluetooth in your truck and starts playing music? Or is the tag just starting the music playback, and the bluetooth connection has already been made because you are in range of the device. Please tell me more...What app are you using to program the tags, and what actions from it do the magic???
mailstop7 said:
I can't seem to coax this behavior. I do not have any Nokia accessories, but do like to connect and disconnect to my hearing aids. The best I can get is to tap the tag, then I have to allow the action, then bluetooth settings come on. Doesn't save much in the way of interaction for me. How are you say, just getting in your truck - tapping the tag and it automatically connects to the bluetooth in your truck and starts playing music? Or is the tag just starting the music playback, and the bluetooth connection has already been made because you are in range of the device. Please tell me more...What app are you using to program the tags, and what actions from it do the magic???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I may have gotten ahead of myself. I haven't actually programmed any of my NFC stickers yet (haven't had time), so it may not work the way I want it to.
However, both the 360 speaker and headphones automatically turn on, pair, and start playing whatever music is currently playing on my phone, so I would think that would be possible. Unless the peripherals get some kind of special permissions that general NFC does not, which is possible, since I have read that you can't program NFC to turn your BT or Wifi on and off, only take you to the settings menu.
that's why i was wondering how you got it to work, NFC implementation in wp8 currently is almost completely useless and its faster to use an app that pins BT settings to your start screen.
hopefully they change it in an update though, until then, i'll use my android to play with NFC i guess.
adiliyo said:
NFC implementation in wp8 currently is almost completely useless and its faster to use an app that pins BT settings to your start screen. hopefully they change it in an update though.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolutely right, so please visit the page for WP feature suggestions and vote for "NFC tagg system changes"
hxxp://windowsphone.uservoice.com/forums/101801-feature-suggestions/suggestions/3088478-nfc-tagg-system-changes
They ask to "Add NFC options to change many settings at once when you tap nfc tags. E.x. At office nfc tag (data off, wi-fi on, volume 5, brightness high...), at bedroom tag (data off,wi-fi on, vibration, brightness low,...).."
I had to change http to hxxp to post that link, sry, but I'm new here.
thanks for the link, i'll be sure to go there
greyhulk said:
I had always found NFC to be rather gimmicky. Nice to have, but not mandatory. Since getting my Lumia, I have actually discovered a whole different world of convenience that I never realized. Of course, I do have peripherals that take advantage of it, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't still be useful without them.
I have:
1) Nokia 360 Portable BT Speaker
2) Nokia BH-505 Headphones
3) BT Car stereo and NFC stickers
In the morning, I touch my Lumia 920 to my Nokia 360 Speaker and it turns it on, connects, and starts playing my music. I listen to the music while I'm getting ready for work. I ride my motorcycle to work, so when I'm ready to leave, I touch the Lumia to my BH-505 Headphones and the music stops playing on the 360 and starts playing on them. I put them on and ride to work.
When I get into my truck to drive somewhere, I touch the Lumia to a programmed NFC sticker on my dash and it connects to my stereo and starts playing music.
I plan to program a sticker at work as well and possibly one near my wireless charging stand. I never really noticed how annoying it was to manually go into Bluetooth settings and connect to each device until all I had to do was touch it to my phone. I now find NFC to be a very useful feature and one I would have a hard time going without.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you have to do anything special to get NFC to work with the 505's? I didn't even realize my 505's had NFC (Since I got them long before I got the 920) and sure enough when I tapped them together I got the NFC pairing tune, but nothing happened. I tried it having my phone stream BT to a music receiver and then tapped the 505's to it and it didn't switch over. I checked under the Nokia accessories section under setting and no devices show up. Thanks!
Related
Today I Receive my BCK Stereo universal Bluetooth Headset(From Hong Kong)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I Said i would post my review~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After letting the device charge for about two hour i decided to hook it up to my TP2 Finally. Btw it come with two headphone, a charger, charging cable, and the BCK.
First Looks: remind me of the ipod shuffle but made out of plastic. The button on the device aren't so sturdy, meaning that they don't click when press, when press you barely notice that ur even pressing a button its soft to the touch.(so far this the only bad thing that i found so far).
Connecting: The Touch Pro2 connect to the BCK without a problem. The BCK use it own volume control, giving you he ability to leave your device on vibrate and still hear your phone ring(When headphone are plug into BCK and headphone are in ear) once your system volume change the change can be heard threw the device(BCK).
Music:sound quality is very good, most of the song i listen to is over 150 kbps. volume really loud since the BCK uses it only volume control and not the touch pro2 system volume(for people that like to listen to music really loud knock your self out). You have the ability to use any headphone you like(3.5mm). A big plus for me is that you don't have to take your phone out of your pocket to change the song or up the volume all can be done wireless threw the BCK!(BTW the headphone they give you is crappy ^_^)
Call Quality: After a 30min converstation on the phone the person on the other line didnt notice any muffling, and had no problem hearing me. Hanging up/Picking up is a breeze even ignoring calls, in call the device use the incall volume and not its on. Incoming call notification the device light flashes blue/red like a cop car behind you indicating to pull over.^_^
Voice Command: and the instruction guide they said the device support voice tags which i dont use. so i wont be able to review this.
Battery life for phone/BCK: BCK stated that the device can last over 10hour of non stop talking 200 hour in idle music playback wasnt stated. I did notice that my touc pro2 was a little warm(guessing cause bluetooth was on and music) as of now i can't tell you if it effect the battery life have to do a full charge for that/normal day use. Confirm that playing music is the cause of the device getting warm, not BCK nore bluetooth.
Device Performance: Didn't notice any lags or hang, freeze up, etc.
Durability: As of now i dont know how the device would hold up against some knock/drop/being sat on/kick/dangle/abuse. Reason why i order two
Radio: i notice that you can't listen to the radio while using the BCK(Stalk FM radio) but i notice that SPB radio allow you to use internet connection to listen to the radio. which basically mean it don't interfere with the BCK.
Well I think that everything, this device can be bought from Ebay(Im sorry if you don't like to shop on ebay) Search (BCK 08 Slim A2DP Stereo universal Bluetooth Headset) new hope this review help you. If you felt like i left something other dont be scared to ask
Reason for this review: Im one of those people that don't like to tell people about something and once they get it it sucks, and on top of that i couldn't find the headphone that came with my device. But overall for something that cheap/ 3 bucks it would get a 8/10
Edit: uploaded pic/want to comfirm why the device get warm(TP2) plus added one more pic
Edit: (August 31) radio update
Nice review. I might have to pick one of these up. Having headphones hooked up to the TP2 with a dongle is cumbersome, but I like to have corded headphones at the gym (they have TVs on the cardio equipment, so I can just plug a set of headphones into the TV when I'm not listening to music on my phone). For $10 (shipped), its worth a try.
yes thrd It.thanx
redpoint73 said:
Nice review. I might have to pick one of these up. Having headphones hooked up to the TP2 with a dongle is cumbersome, but I like to have corded headphones at the gym (they have TVs on the cardio equipment, so I can just plug a set of headphones into the TV when I'm not listening to music on my phone). For $10 (shipped), its worth a try.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ur Welcome. It last about 8 hour playing music.
Based on your review i just bought one, i will let you know how i think of this item!
Ordered one too!
Received this item last week, and so far I like it!
Bought it from ebay from "bestvaluesupplier". Shipping took just under 2 weeks. I knew shipping would take some time from reading his eBay feedback, so that was not bid deal. And the shipping time was really not bad, considering it was $7 shipping from Hong Kong to East Coast US.
As the OP touched upon, the housing of this device does not seem the sturdiest. Decently put together, but its just made of a light, cheap-feeling plastic. And the packed-in headphones are complete throw-aways, they sound tinny and horrible.
But listening to music through my own headphones sounds great, and calls seem good so far on both ends. Everything works great, and it was a breeze to pair with my Tilt2. Looks good, and very functional. Clips well to your shirt, pants, etc. Well worth the $10.
I also thought of another use for this device. If you usually hook your phone up to your car stereo with a 3.5mm cable (or even worse, a cassette adapter . . . like me!), you can use this as a wireless, poor man's Bluetooth adapter in your car!
Thanks again to BeEazy10 for the heads-up on this little device. Its always nice to get a cool, inexpensive toy to play with!
Received my BCK and am very pleased how well it functions for my intended need, simply small dongle to plug any 3.5mm headset for bluetooth cordless connection to Tilt2. For this use, it's perfect: easy to use, simple functions and terrific combination with Tilt2.
Pairing was instantaneous, HTC audio player directly sent audio through, BCK 08 has huge volume control available for any needs, and sounds very, very clean on $25 cans. Oh, and pause, next song, back song as well, button from BCK. Tilt2 screen blacks out and BCM continues playing. Range is very long, played two floors in house.
Tried with CorePlayer and got same results: direct audio play through only BT, no adjustings needed.
Haven't used for call-through function yet, but as stated all I wanted was cordless BT hookup to existing earpieces. BCK is so tiny, it's ideal.
One major flaw: stuffing the BCK unit into a case put undue pressure on it's built-in shirt clip (to position in-call mic) and broke off. The BCK is sleeker without the clip and a normal mic cord slider clip can replace function equally well.
I emailed seller to see about replacement, but be VERY gentle putting side or crossways stress on the clip portion.
Update: eBay seller immediately offered refund or replacement, and is sending one out.
http://cgi.ebay.com/BCK-08-Slim-A2D...-Headset-new-/260619163711?pt=PDA_Accessories
Wow, ebay hates me. I had to do a guest checkout with my school email. I tried going into the password reset form for my real account and it was in German. I answered the questions after translating the page on Google and it was wrong. I hate Ebay.
Glad
glad to see everyone enjoying the BCK. I been using mines for about a month now it everything working perfectly. Just remember to always use the stock changer for you dont have overcharging problems.
Updated first post. For ppl who like to listen to the radio
The FM radio will not work with ANY Bluetooth device because it requires a corded headset to be plugged in to use as an antenna.
Miami_Son said:
The FM radio will not work with ANY Bluetooth device because it requires a corded headset to be plugged in to use as an antenna.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well this bluetooth device has a place to plug in a headset so the radio should work
Miami_Son said:
The FM radio will not work with ANY Bluetooth device because it requires a corded headset to be plugged in to use as an antenna.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But it work with SBP radio like i said in the first post
Doo Doo said:
well this bluetooth device has a place to plug in a headset so the radio should work
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope. It has to be a physical connection to the device. The radio will not work over bluetooth, trust me. It won't even turn on if nothing is plugged into the USB port.
BeEazy10 said:
But it work with SBP radio like i said in the first post
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's because SPB Radio is not really a radio, it is an internet streaming app. It does not use the FM hardware.
Miami_Son said:
That's because SPB Radio is not really a radio, it is an internet streaming app. It does not use the FM hardware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol ur wrong about one thing. SPB radio use both. internet, and FM hardware.
Miami_Son said:
Nope. It has to be a physical connection to the device. The radio will not work over bluetooth, trust me. It won't even turn on if nothing is plugged into the USB port.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha. Yeah, Doo Doo is not understanding that something needs to be plugged into the USB port on the phone to act as the FM antenna.
But whether the FM radio app turns on when something is not plugged in, depends on the ROM. I have a Tilt2 with a custom ROM, and the FM radio app opens, but you don't get any radio stations without headphones or an adapter dongle plugged in (and speaker turned on).
But regardless of whether or not something is plugged into the USB port, it still won't play the FM radio to a Bluetooth headset.
BeEazy10 said:
lol ur wrong about one thing. SPB radio use both. internet, and FM hardware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And what evidence do you have of this? It says nothing on the SPB website about the program being able to use ANY radio hardware. In fact, it only mentions internet streaming. This means that unlike the hardware radio, it uses data, which could cost you plenty if you don't have a data plan. Please keep to what you know instead of passing along erroneous information.
I should be getting mine by the end of the week. I'll see how it is. I need a new skullcandy earbud set, since mine is wearing out.
I've installed a Parrot Asteroid (digital media head unit with hands free calling) in my wife's VW Passat and think it might be one of the best purchases I've made this year. Install on the Passat (2001.5) was almost plug and play. The only change I had to make was switching Battery and ACC on harness. The antenna adapter (unpowered) is a standard item and was available from a local source.
With CM9 (nightly 0508 currently) USB and Bluetooth tethering work.
Contacts are shared with the Asteroid and voice dialing is accurate (the Parrot seems to grok what I am saying).
Music selection (media on SDHC card in Parrot) via voice is failrly accurate but I have noticed a few inaccurate responses.
Hands-free calling is crystal clear and the music quality is awesome.
Some have reported buggy or defective units, but I have had no trouble with it over the last week with my I777. We'll see what happens with my wife's iPhone...
I am considering same setup into my 2004 Passat. Thanks for posting the picture, that certainly clears my concerns about how does it look in the car as the console is same as yours.
How is sound compared to original VW radio you had before?
Do you mind if I ask you to share with us what components went into your install beside of course the Asteroid? Especially what adapter for the wiring harness you used.
I am using (primarily) Galaxy Nexus on CM9, so I'm pretty confident hooking the Asteroid to the phone shouldn't be a problem. Thanks in advance!
Edit: forgot to ask about button backlight - from what I see on the Internet it seems to be white, is it adjustable so it can be made to match the OEM backlight on the Passat (red)?
leobg said:
I am considering same setup into my 2004 Passat. Thanks for posting the picture, that certainly clears my concerns about how does it look in the car as the console is same as yours.
How is sound compared to original VW radio you had before?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my opinion (these things being subjective), the sound is excellent. Like most Android devices, the Asteroid has a built in equalizer and other sound tweaks. Much better than stock.
Do you mind if I ask you to share with us what components went into your install beside of course the Asteroid? Especially what adapter for the wiring harness you used.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe all B5.5 Passats use a ISO connector for the stock stereo. The included Parrot wiring harness adapter works out of the box. I only had to flip Battery and Switched Power (ACC). The Parrot adapter is designed to allow quick changes to these leads and this is documented in the included instructions. The only thing I had to buy was the antenna adapter. I picked that up for about $15 US. I used the unpowered version.
I am using (primarily) Galaxy Nexus on CM9, so I'm pretty confident hooking the Asteroid to the phone shouldn't be a problem. Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CM9 works quite nicely with the Parrot with one caveat. Bluetooth audio was great (both music and hands free calling). No problems with pairing so far. I tried connecting my SGS2 USB storage to the Parrot but it is not recognizing the SGS2 mass storage (micro SD card). This is not a show stopper for me as I have a 32GB SDHC card installed in the Asteroid.
Edit: forgot to ask about button backlight - from what I see on the Internet it seems to be white, is it adjustable so it can be made to match the OEM backlight on the Passat (red)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No such luck from what I have seen. You have have a choice of white, white, or white. You can adjust the intensity of control backlight and LCD backlight for 'Day' and 'Night' modes. 'Day' and 'Night' modes are toggled by a long press on the 'Parrot' button.
The Asteroid is not perfect but it seems to be the only device of its kind at the moment. I am surprised that more car stereo companies are not leveraging Android into their equipment lineup. Both OEM and aftermarket vendors seem to be utterly clueless when it comes to emerging technologies. Who uses CD (or for that matter DVD's) anymore?
When we bought our Passat I was shocked and appalled that the head unit had a CASSETTE deck! There was a CD changer in the trunk but that meant pulling over to change CD's. Clueless, utterly clueless...
In any case, good luck. The install is pretty easy. Do some research on some of the issues some seem to experience with the Asteroid. I have not seen any major problems on firmware 1.5 as yet but your mileage may vary.
*Edit: One other thing -- the Asteroid does not fit flush with the dash like the stock head unit. It sticks out approximately 1/4 inch. Aside from doing major work to modify the dash, I could not think of any way to make the Parrot fit flush. It does not bother me, but it may pose aesthetic issues for you. I actually have grown to like it. It makes finding controls easy without taking my eyes off the road.
Oh -- and one last thing. This 38 second video is priceless for removing the stock head unit.
http://youtu.be/KNSYBSGzUuQ
One last edit -- here is the antenna adapter. $7 through Amazon.
http://goo.gl/39rIO
Thanks a bunch!! So your 2001.5 came with the singe DIN unit. B5.5's 2002 onward ship with double DIN unit, so I would need to find a tray to place in (and fill up the gap) which will be very handy as I could keep the phone (or other junk in there. I've heard Parrot is coming up with a double din unit with slightly extended functionality: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/08/parrot-asteroid-ck-asteroid-nav-asteroid-2din-infotainment-sys/. They mention late 2012 availability, wondering if I want to hold my horses for that one. Since it doesn't have physical buttons to require backlight, there won't be an issue with the look, but I like the buttons and especially the rotary ones, so this (for me) is as disadvantage as much as advantage. And probably the cost will double. Though integrated Google maps navigation would be terrific! Decisions, decisions...!
Yeah. The stock unit was single DIN. I believe you can buy the pocket if you have a double DIN OEM head unit and want to install a single DIN.
I like having physical controls -- perhaps I am getting old. The lack of apps does not particularly distress me.
I'd like to use the Parrot UNIKA steering controls interface but it does not look like B5.5 Passat is supported yet.
By the way, I'm listening to one of your (Canadian) exports today -- a band by the name of Elliott Brood from Toronto. Not bad for Canadian hacks. ;-)
http://www.elliottbrood.ca/
All the best,
Edward
Does anyone have any experience/recommendations for an Android-based car stereo head unit? My old stereo has just died, so I am interested in what people think of the currently available ones. I have a double din space.
eBay seems to have several available that are similar to this: http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/15/ca-fi-is-an-aftermarket-android-car-stereo-that-wont-fit-in-you/
There are ones where the Android part is essentially a separate tablet (probably not what I'm after, judging by the videos) http://www.erisin.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=253
Parrot make this single-din stereo: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Parrot-Aste...?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1343930713&sr=1-24
There are no doubt many others too. Prices seem to be in the £200 - £280 range which is about my limit.
Nobody has any experience of these or opinions at all?
I think I'm leaning towards the Parrot as it's rootable, and the single-din size is more likely to fit whatever car I get after my current one.
Bump for this thread. I just recently thought about getting into one of these units too, my only concern is how "locked down" they would be in terms of getting rid of their default launchers and crap they have. I basically want a way to just have android by itself running on the car - I can get apps for just about everything else. Ideally I want a clone of my phone on the car that would sync with my phone. Or better yet, simply a way to have a "remote display" for my phone. That way, anything I'm doing on the car side of things would be the same on my phone, like a received email, new internet bookmark, or something like that.
~T.J.
I just picked up a "Road Cyberman" from China Jiaho (actually they call it something else, but it's the same as Chinavasion's Road Cyberman, except $100 cheaper).
It's running Gingerbread 2.3.5 and proving difficult to root. No adb on the usb (even with debug option), no google apps (although I found some apks that sort of work) and no adb wireless available.
The devices works fine, but I would like to have a little bit more control over it.
I've tried Gingerbreak and the other get root apks, but no luck so far.
Yeah, I have seen a lot of those units, but I kind of changed my mind. I have recently been looking into doing something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Q-UXDi3dm3U
I have been following that company for a while, and they just recently released that video and are taking pre-orders for the new board. My biggest hold up at this point is that I would like to use a single DIN stereo for the "amp" by running the audio from their device into the aux input of my existing stereo. I need to find room to mount both the double DIN screen and a custom spot for the single DIN stereo I already have. I would then have the choice of using the stereo without plugging in the phone if I didn't want to for whatever reason. Alternatively, if I can find a good FM tuner app for my phone and a good customizable dock mode, I could eliminate the stock stereo and just run the inputs into a standard automotive 4 channel amp. This of course means you get nothing for a car stereo unless you connect the phone though, unlike the other plan.
Of course, another thought I had was getting a used double DIN touch screen DVD player and using their interface board to convert it to run the Android screen through it, then run the audio straight into the aux input of the touch screen DVD player. That way you have the ability to use the system "as is" out of the box, OR run the Android device through the screen. I think this is the best option, but it also takes the most money since you have the expense of the used double DIN touch screen unit first. I also wonder about picture quality and touch screen sensitivity with the built in touch screens on those units.
Anyway, just food for thought!
~T.J.
EDIT: One of the other hold ups is the calling. I would like to use an external mic and have audio come through the car speakers, currently using that board you are still calling through the device, thus you would need a Bluetooth headset from my understanding. I would like to avoid that if possible also. This is another good reason to go with the double DIN stereo since some of those support Bluetooth calling already and you could probably make/receive calls that way completely hands free.
EDIT #2: If you were into car monitoring and such also, you could easily get a bluetooth OBD interface and run the software on the phone (such as torque) so you could display live data from your car on your dash also. Something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay-ZvTn3fLo&t=45s
I picked up one of these after my buddy sent me this thread. It's got the power, but needs a root bad. Wish I knew how to find root for an Android device.
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17228
I've just bought a great Bluetooth Speaker to use with my Nexus 4 and it works great. Because it was fairly cheap I went and got another in the hopes that I could connect both speakers to my N4 and output audio simultaneously to both speakers at the same time. I quickly discovered this isn't currently "working" or even possible.
After a lot of Googling, I found an app on the Play store that supposedly let me connect both at the same time but it doesn't output audio to both speakers (I get "static" from the second one). There are also conflicting opinions about whether this is even possible with the current Bluetooth spec although it does mention multicast support and all I could find are various workarounds that involved using a secondary bluetooth transmitter etc.
So can anyone tell me if there is any software/hack (root needed or otherwise) that would allow configuring audio to be streamed/output to two connected bluetooth speakers simultaneously? Others have suggested it for use with bluetooth headsets. It seems if someone could hack/crack this it would be very useful to a lot of people. Maybe even a good idea for someone with the knowledge for a paid-for app. Any ideas? Would really appreciate some feedback on this - even if it's not actually possible - some technical explanation would be great.
Thanks!
I am also interested in this and the possibility of a Bluetooth hack.
Any luck?
Just wondering if you found any solution for this? I also wants to use multiple bluetooth speakers simultaneously with Android phone...
I would definitely pay for this ability
I'm not sure if it's possible with bluetooth, but if someone could make it happen I would definitely be willing to part with some money for that app/ability.
alsheron said:
So can anyone tell me if there is any software/hack (root needed or otherwise) that would allow configuring audio to be streamed/output to two connected bluetooth speakers simultaneously? Others have suggested it for use with bluetooth headsets. It seems if someone could hack/crack this it would be very useful to a lot of people. Maybe even a good idea for someone with the knowledge for a paid-for app. Any ideas? Would really appreciate some feedback on this - even if it's not actually possible - some technical explanation would be great.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm going to try combining two devices from amazon and see if I can send bluetooth audio from my phone to 2 separate (and different models) TDK bluetooth speakers. I will let you know what I discover once they arrive.
First Device:
Monoprice 109722 Bluetooth Transmitter and Splitter http://amzn.com/B00AJHAYCS
According to the description and reviews this device can transmit a bluetooth signal to 2 devices simultaneously. Amazon says this takes 2-4 weeks to ship, so it will be a little before I get to test this out. If it does work it's still a pain because I'll have this hanging from the bottom of my phone. That's why I'm also going to try combining this device with another bluetooth device.
Second Device:
Mpow® Portable Bluetooth 3.0 Audio Music Streaming Receiver http://amzn.com/B008AGQMQC
My plan is to try pairing this with my phone, and then plugging the Monoprice Splitter into the output on this receiver. I'm expecting some loss of sound quality with all these connections, but as long as it isn't too bad the freedom to walk around with my phone might be worth it.
I'm not sure why a single device that merges the capabilities of these two devices into a single body and shared battery hasn't been created. Through all my searching online I feel like such a device would be well received.
ESdesigns said:
I'm going to try combining two devices from amazon and see if I can send bluetooth audio from my phone to 2 separate (and different models) TDK bluetooth speakers. I will let you know what I discover once they arrive.
First Device:
Monoprice 109722 Bluetooth Transmitter and Splitter http://amzn.com/B00AJHAYCS
According to the description and reviews this device can transmit a bluetooth signal to 2 devices simultaneously. Amazon says this takes 2-4 weeks to ship, so it will be a little before I get to test this out. If it does work it's still a pain because I'll have this hanging from the bottom of my phone. That's why I'm also going to try combining this device with another bluetooth device.
Second Device:
Mpow® Portable Bluetooth 3.0 Audio Music Streaming Receiver http://amzn.com/B008AGQMQC
My plan is to try pairing this with my phone, and then plugging the Monoprice Splitter into the output on this receiver. I'm expecting some loss of sound quality with all these connections, but as long as it isn't too bad the freedom to walk around with my phone might be worth it.
I'm not sure why a single device that merges the capabilities of these two devices into a single body and shared battery hasn't been created. Through all my searching online I feel like such a device would be well received.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no ****. as long as bluetooth has been around, you would think that they would have fixed this by now. what is the use of having a wireless connection that only can connect to one thing at a time. it's beyond moronic, it's submoronic. who wants to listen to one speaker at a time, when throughout history, we have always used at least two speakers, and many times more. you would think even the idiots who make bluetooth speakers, would at least have the ability to hardwire another speaker to the one which is using bluetooth. i have never been more disappointed in a technology than i am with bluetooth.
Bluetooth Multicast Streaming Comming!
stevae said:
no ****. as long as bluetooth has been around, you would think that they would have fixed this by now. what is the use of having a wireless connection that only can connect to one thing at a time. it's beyond moronic, it's submoronic. who wants to listen to one speaker at a time, when throughout history, we have always used at least two speakers, and many times more. you would think even the idiots who make bluetooth speakers, would at least have the ability to hardwire another speaker to the one which is using bluetooth. i have never been more disappointed in a technology than i am with bluetooth.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The reason why bluetooth doesn't support Multicast is because it doesn't have the bandwith to support High Quality streaming simultaneously no would the chips really having the processing power but that could be fixed, but the main limitation is the lack of available bandwith specified in the 802.11 standard for bluetooth.
However future successors to bluetooth will likely have support for Multicast streaming such as 802.15.3a which is being co-developed by Intel, Sony, Philips, Texas Instruments, Samsung. Though the bad news is, it won't be to market for probably another 2-3 years :/
ESdesigns said:
I'm going to try combining two devices from amazon and see if I can send bluetooth audio from my phone to 2 separate (and different models) TDK bluetooth speakers. I will let you know what I discover once they arrive.
First Device:
Monoprice 109722 Bluetooth Transmitter and Splitter http://amzn.com/B00AJHAYCS
According to the description and reviews this device can transmit a bluetooth signal to 2 devices simultaneously. Amazon says this takes 2-4 weeks to ship, so it will be a little before I get to test this out. If it does work it's still a pain because I'll have this hanging from the bottom of my phone. That's why I'm also going to try combining this device with another bluetooth device.
Second Device:
Mpow® Portable Bluetooth 3.0 Audio Music Streaming Receiver http://amzn.com/B008AGQMQC
My plan is to try pairing this with my phone, and then plugging the Monoprice Splitter into the output on this receiver. I'm expecting some loss of sound quality with all these connections, but as long as it isn't too bad the freedom to walk around with my phone might be worth it.
I'm not sure why a single device that merges the capabilities of these two devices into a single body and shared battery hasn't been created. Through all my searching online I feel like such a device would be well received.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
UPDATE: I have received and tested both of these products from amazon. Good news and bad news. Good news, both of these devices work well on their own and do what they are advertised to do. I'm particularly impressed with the Monoprice 109722 Bluetooth Transmitter and Splitter http://amzn.com/B00AJHAYCS. When plugged into the headphone jack of my phone or tablet it sends audio to two different bluetooth speakers simultaneously and the audio is synced very well (not perfect, but for the price it's very good). The bad news, when combined (to create a true wireless system) a decent amount of distortion is introduced which is not heard when using each of these products by themselves. I'm not sure if it's interference from the different bluetooth connections, because the physical connections seem to work fine when used separately. It sounds like you're listening to FM radio where the station isn't quite tuned in right, just some static along with the music. It's not horrible, but it's no where near the quality that you get from a typical bluetooth connection. I might try using another stereo cable between these two devices and see if adding more space between them helps at all. I'm open to any other suggestions. This is close to be a solution for now, but not quite. If you don't mind having the Monoprice dongle hanging from you phone or tablet, the sound quality coming from both speakers is very good.
Hi folks...has there been any progress on this subject?
I am thinking about setting up a whole house, always listening, google now / voice command network using a couple of bluetooth speakerphones and an older android phone. The more speakerphones I can spread around the house the more coverage I would have.
https://www.kickstarter.com/project...ooth-audio-on-two-different-speak/description
But no aptX supported yet
Multicast & Broadcast Capabilities
The feature that you are looking for is under development and called it "Multicast & Broadcast Capabilities". use cases: Allows multiple users to listen to the same stream. Supports mono and stereo.
this is the latest update "v4.2 and CSSv5 Update"
What program you found on the market?
yes there is one , i bought beats pills its bluetooth speaker which can pair its own added speakers , like if you add few more it will extend the bluetooth range and operate togeather , beside that it has got out let jack too for more , it comes in few sizes i think XL too which is biger bcz smaller ones may not have that bass u wud like
why not try a bluetooth speaker with led light color changing
Why not try a bluetooth speaker with led light color changing, it is very nice and smart.
Where is the best place for the public to show how much they want this and then for manufacturers to see it?
Amazon has a solution - Still waiting on an App
amazon.com/gp/product/B0169TWV8O?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_sfl_title_1&smid=A1C41W6V7R1EVA
Tempow built into the Moto x4 is the solution
---------- Post added at 12:58 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:51 AM ----------
XxCLAMSxX said:
Tempow built into the Moto x4 is the solution
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The custom Bluetooth stack allows a single Bluetooth transmitter to broadcast to up to 4 devices simultaneously.
This may be such an unusual use case that it hasn't been an issue for anyone other than me, but here's to hoping for a solution...
I've just bought a new car (2015 Honda Fit) which has a decent size LCD panel in the dash (but I opted not to get the expensive navigation system) and which also has full bluetooth integration and, surprisingly, an HDMI port for the screen. HDMI is one of the "source" settings, and Bluetooth is a separate one.
I've paired my Nexus 5 to the car in order to take and make phone calls and get the other integration features such as music and podcast playback over the car's audio. I had this idea that if I were to run the Nexus 5 through the large screen using HDMI (via a Slimport adapter), I can have a much nicer Google Maps based navigation system that would give something close enough to the experience of the in-dash nav system minus the touchscreen -- which is fine, as I can set the route, put the phone in a cupholder, and not bother with it again.
Now, here's the fatal snag. While the phone is paired to bluetooth, it insists on sending 100% of its audio through Bluetooth and doesn't send it through HDMI. The car is either-or on the sources. If it's on HDMI, it only plays back HDMI. The screen displays exactly as I hoped -- but no audio at all (again, it's going to Bluetooth). Now, I can switch over to Bluetooth and hear the sound but not get the display. I could kill the pairing to get both through HDMI, but now I lose the ability to receive calls over bluetooth with the handy steering wheel call answering and all of the amenities associated with that.
I'm wondering if there is some kind of workaround -- Android configuration that I've somehow never noticed, or a third party app -- which will allow the Nexus 5 to remain paired and actively Bluetooth connected while still sending audio through the HDMI port (Slimport). I don't see that this would as likely be a car-side solution.
The Nexus 5 is rooted stock 4.3.3.
Thank you in advance for help toward a solution.
qaelith.2112 said:
This may be such an unusual use case that it hasn't been an issue for anyone other than me, but here's to hoping for a solution...
I've just bought a new car (2015 Honda Fit) which has a decent size LCD panel in the dash (but I opted not to get the expensive navigation system) and which also has full bluetooth integration and, surprisingly, an HDMI port for the screen. HDMI is one of the "source" settings, and Bluetooth is a separate one.
I've paired my Nexus 5 to the car in order to take and make phone calls and get the other integration features such as music and podcast playback over the car's audio. I had this idea that if I were to run the Nexus 5 through the large screen using HDMI (via a Slimport adapter), I can have a much nicer Google Maps based navigation system that would give something close enough to the experience of the in-dash nav system minus the touchscreen -- which is fine, as I can set the route, put the phone in a cupholder, and not bother with it again.
Now, here's the fatal snag. While the phone is paired to bluetooth, it insists on sending 100% of its audio through Bluetooth and doesn't send it through HDMI. The car is either-or on the sources. If it's on HDMI, it only plays back HDMI. The screen displays exactly as I hoped -- but no audio at all (again, it's going to Bluetooth). Now, I can switch over to Bluetooth and hear the sound but not get the display. I could kill the pairing to get both through HDMI, but now I lose the ability to receive calls over bluetooth with the handy steering wheel call answering and all of the amenities associated with that.
I'm wondering if there is some kind of workaround -- Android configuration that I've somehow never noticed, or a third party app -- which will allow the Nexus 5 to remain paired and actively Bluetooth connected while still sending audio through the HDMI port (Slimport). I don't see that this would as likely be a car-side solution.
The Nexus 5 is rooted stock 4.3.3.
Thank you in advance for help toward a solution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't help ith your situation, but I'm wondering if you can help with mine. I also just bought the 2015 Honda Fit. What I want to be able to do is mirror my Galaxy S4 to the screen for navigation purposes. But from what I understand, it will only work in Park. I don't have the cable yet and did't want to buy it unless I knew it would work.
For a quick test, I plugged a roku stick in the HDMI port. As expected, it worked fine until I put the car in gear. Then the display gets disabled. Does this happen with phone mirroring? Would I be able to actually use google maps and see it while in motion or will the screen shut off? What does and doesnt work with mirroring?
samseed101 said:
I can't help ith your situation, but I'm wondering if you can help with mine. I also just bought the 2015 Honda Fit. What I want to be able to do is mirror my Galaxy S4 to the screen for navigation purposes. But from what I understand, it will only work in Park. I don't have the cable yet and did't want to buy it unless I knew it would work.
For a quick test, I plugged a roku stick in the HDMI port. As expected, it worked fine until I put the car in gear. Then the display gets disabled. Does this happen with phone mirroring? Would I be able to actually use google maps and see it while in motion or will the screen shut off? What does and doesnt work with mirroring?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This behavior of the HDMI port / display actually became a far bigger problem than how to route the sound. I had been doing all of my testing with the car sitting in the garage, and because I wasn't ever able to get the sound to do what I needed, I didn't bother to go drive around with HDMI display enabled. I confirmed through this and consulting the manual that for "safety reasons" they have entirely disabled the HDMI input while the car is not in park. Unfortunately, I'd guess this is coded in the system's firmware which most of us aren't going to have a way to tamper with, so this is a fatal problem for what we're both looking to do. I was confident that there was probably some sort of solution to making audio go over both channels, but that's irrelevant in light of this problem.
So to summarize, I'll suggest not bothering with the Slimport (or the other kind of interface, if that's what your phone uses) because it will certainly be utterly useless for this and I don't foresee a solution. It looks like this thread is therefore dead. Thank you for bringing this to my attention, though -- I'd have continued working toward an audio solution and then discovered this bigger problem once I solved that one. You just saved me from wasting a lot of time.
samseed101 said:
I can't help ith your situation, but I'm wondering if you can help with mine. I also just bought the 2015 Honda Fit. What I want to be able to do is mirror my Galaxy S4 to the screen for navigation purposes. But from what I understand, it will only work in Park. I don't have the cable yet and did't want to buy it unless I knew it would work.
For a quick test, I plugged a roku stick in the HDMI port. As expected, it worked fine until I put the car in gear. Then the display gets disabled. Does this happen with phone mirroring? Would I be able to actually use google maps and see it while in motion or will the screen shut off? What does and doesnt work with mirroring?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One more thought (stating the obvious, I suppose) -- We've been hamstrung by the assumption that everyone is going to be using the display to watch movies while driving, even though we have excellent reasons which would actually make it safer (an easier to see navigation display). I guess Honda is mitigating lawsuits from the would-be idiots who might actually be watching American Idol episodes while driving to work.