Devium Dash

[scorp965]

I've been using an AppRadio for about a year now, running custom firmware; it's probably the best solution to this problem.

It's unfortunate they decided to saddle NA production units with numerous nag screens, but, once removed, the device is pretty handy. Currently using mine with DashCommand, Pandora, and MotionX Drive for the most part. Of course, it also allows access to your iphone's photos, videos, and contacts (including photos), there are also work-arounds for web-access, but I personally don't see any need to surf the web while driving.

The AppRadio solves the screen problem, and has a great glossy touchscreen, similar to that in the iPhone, with pinch controls. You get to stash your phone away where it won't look tacky (I retrofit an S2000 console pocket in my NSX), yet still control the main car-driving apps you need access to on a full-size screen.

Another option, if you're going to be running a custom iphone-level interface anyway, is mimics with a custom screen, in a navpod, or just in a console-mounted bracket. This, paired with a readily accessable iphone for input, is just behind the appradio, in terms of functionality.

Regarding comments that the iPhone's screen resolution makes up for its tiny size, try this exercise: fire up your iphone, now put it in your right hand, and hold it at arms length away from you. You really want to spend a couple hundred bucks to stick that in your car? The iphone's screen is not suitable for a main display, while driving. There's a reason stereo manufacturers use oversized features and menu's on their decks, it's so you can quickly reference the interface, make necessary adjustments, with limited attention to what you're doing. Like Centrafuse, for CarPC users.

Also, these concepts are nothing new, I first put an amp and switch in place of a deck in my '94 NSX about six years ago. The problem isn't the dock connector, it's not the orientation of the base, it's the tiny screen size and resolving that with your car's interior. Solutions like AppRadio and Mimics bridge the final problem with iphone integration, which is screen size.

To diverge slightly, the ideal solution for the NSX would be to custom mill an aluminum dock, which slides into your upper vent in place of a factory clock assembly - this would put the phone at eye level, resolve some of the issues with the tiny screen, and make it readily accessible if input is required, without being too distracting. Pair this with an AppRadio, running custom firmware, and you can run an app on the 2DIN, while controlling a second app from the phone.

Of course, there's little point in hooking up a great dock for the iphone4/4S, when we know the impending iphone5 is going to have a completely different footprint, meaning any of these ideas is only going to be a bridge for a few months, before you get to do it all over again, or buy another faceplate for the devium, and spend more cash, and time, trying to get your iphone integration solved.

 

[bngl3rt]

I've been using an AppRadio for about a year now, running custom firmware

Have any more detail or a link you can share about how to customize the firmware? I'd be interested to find out what that means - I assume companies like Pioneer don't really invest in putting out an SDK for third parties to extend their products, but I'd love to be wrong.

 

[bngl3rt]

Here's more info:

Thanks for sharing that. Glad that they will be going ahead with the MFi certification.

 

[scorp965]

Have any more detail or a link you can share about how to customize the firmware? I'd be interested to find out what that means - I assume companies like Pioneer don't really invest in putting out an SDK for third parties to extend their products, but I'd love to be wrong.

All Pioneer decks manufactured in the last few years run on custom builds of WinCE; by going through a reset button sequence during the boot process you can gain access to your WinCE desktop, complete with taskbar, start menu button, and registry.

What you do from this point depends on your desired goals; there is an open-source project called AppRadio plus, which is available on Avic411, or you can write your own custom extensions for WinCE, which is what I have done. When I first played with the AppRadio at CES I loved it, since it was a development model and had no nag screens. In Europe, they have a few nag screens, but in North America, you're presented with a Nag Screen perhaps once every 5 minutes - it's highly annoying. Also, Pioneer equipped their AppRadio with a difficult anti-bypass system, which requires a signal pulse, rather than a ground connection, which makes it very difficult to bypass reliably.

With the confirmation and nag screen dialogs stripped from the deck, the experience is quite good. Of course, Pioneer has shown their concern for liability, and as a result, it's unlikely they will create a deck with the necessary interface for high levels of sales. It's unfortunate, since this is a concept which there is a strong market for.

 

[TURBO2GO]

I've spent hours upon hours looking at app radio and mimics and to me they are all overly complex solutions for a very simple problem.

I have been using my iPhone 4s for 4 months now as my head unit with my oxygen O'car. I've found bugs and issues but screen size is NOT one of them. I think the days of head units is past. They are all band-aids. They are all overly complex and buggy, and unreliable when trying to mimic the phone. Tons of effort go into trying to make something else do what your phone does already.

The screen size and spoken commands on my phone are plenty for my nav system and anything else you really don't need a huge screen for. The simplest solution is to hookup your phone to the car amps. Even this devium thing is too complex, it has internal amps that are not necessary, it relies on Bluetooth which has to "pair", and all the issues that cme along with that. Unreliability and delays. Excessive battery drain on your phone. Shitty sound quality on calls.

I've tried playing the phone where the clock is, I find it to be too far. The ideal spot is the radio location, or if you don't want to mess with that, just drop it in the coin slot and hook up one wire. The cost of this is $20 versus hundreds or over a grand with some of these head units.

I am not trying to knock scorp's informative post, it is much appreciated, I just disagree with the path. I'm actually working on a more elegant NSX solution now. Just doing some testing. It does not use anything other than the phone.

 

[hlakhani]

I'm actually pretty hopeful about the Clarion Nextgate. It's basically a dumbed down version of the Appradio, and is essentially a 7" tablet designed for iphone integration and in-car usage.

Assuming it fits, I'd just throw this in a navpod and call it a day.