[Q] Android remote bluetooth controller - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hello guys,
I'm putting my big phone (thl t200) on the dashboard of car by using amazing steelie car mount kit.
However, I want to take a step further, I would like to have a bluetooth remote control for my android phone, like apple magic trackpad or logitech T651 near my gear lever so I don't need to raise my hand every time for use the phone and distract.
Those two devices I mentioned above are perfect, except on the size, is there any existing stuff like this, just smaller?
Luca

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Android-based Car Stereos - opinions?

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

Ultimate smart car aftermarket radio..appradio? nexus7? other??

I'm talking about the 90% of the world who doesn't have a fancy new car with built-in self-aware factory gizmos that mostly sucks anyway.
Those of us with older cars with 'traditional' 1 DIN (think traditional car stereo size) or 2 DIN (think the size of a nexus 7 turned sideways) panels and a pretty 'dumb' car.
Since this is an android forum and the people here probably believe this is the best UI going (particularly with custom ROMs) for car integration, I'm curious what everyone is using.
I really think the appradio 2 is a great option. Built in GPS antenna, car microphone and Pioneer's proven audio capabilities and a fantastic little app like ARliberator to push your Android screen to the head unit makes this a virtual no-brainer.
Its a drop-in $100 install at probably any best buy or car installation shop in the country (and easy to install yourself) as opposed to all the crazy stuff you have to buy to get a N7 to function as a head unit.
You can literally turn any old vehicle into a virtual state of the art car with the majority of the features in brand new cars that you'll pay a couple thousand for (built in GPS, car phone, HD radio, etc.) but you get the android UI for free! don't like something? just download a new app and GO.
So..any suggestions for a category killer here other than the appradio? It can even hook into your car rearview camera (if you choose to install one)
Is there a compelling argument for the N7 over the appradio?
Is there anything else out there that comes remotely close in functionality without having to buy an i(crap)phone?

[Q] Slimport (HDMI) + bluetooth in car

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.

Any sort of bluetooth trackpad for Android?

Hey guys,
I'm thinking about hooking up a system to cast my phone's screen to my car's nav screen. I had an idea of looking for a small bluetooth trackpad as an input device for my phone. I have a nice space where that can go so I can more easily/safely control the phone w/o having it in my hand.
I tried looking online but all the trackpad devices are mini-keyboards. That would be a fine second choice, but honestly a stand-alone trackpad would be awesome, if it worked with android.
Is there anything I can use as an input device, like a trackpad or something? Kinda small is important. doesn't have to be mini, but around 4in by 4in square would be the largest I can fit in the car.

Tab 10.1 as car head unit [A Few Questions]

Hi
I'm working a project to mount The Tab 10.1 in my car
i have a third party Bluetooth car kit in my car , and it's able to connect a one individual device ,
also i have i phone 6S as my main cell phone ,
I'm planing to use 3M double face to attach the samsung Desktop Dock (Galaxy Tab) on my dashboard ,
My questions are :
first of all , is the dock stable enough to hold the tablet on the road ? did anyone try it ?
is there any way to connect my phone to the tablet to receive music and answer calls on it ? Note that the tablet is connected to the car via Bluetooth ! but i have a portable router to connect both devices to wifi !
anybody there ?
I don't own the mount, but I think it should hold the tablet since the micro USB plug is anchoring it in place. If you have some support on the sides of the tablet to prevent it from tilting from side to side would help it from falling during hard cornering.
For phone to tablet connection, I've tried Tablet Talk, but it's android only, no iOS version. I think it's tough to do these things with iOS. Android is the way to go mostly because it's easier to root Android than to jailbreak iOS. And Tasker is only on Android.
My car didn't have bluetooth so bought a cheap Panasonic head unit with bluetooth and cramped it behind the tablet. This head unit was able to pair to my phone and tablet at the same time. I set phone to only pair for calls and tablet for media audio only. This works well with tasker automating the connections of wifi tethering.
mhmadkhlil said:
anybody there ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using Tab 10.1 in my car too. There is a product in Turkey as announced TTEC Easy Drive 2. It's a in-car phone holder but with very strong magnets in it. So it may help you to hold your tablet in your car.

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