Since I bought my car 6 months ago, I've been using my Galaxy S II in an official Samsung windshield mount and connected to my stereo via a Bluetooth equipped GROM AUX-In module.

The stock navigation is woefully out of date and In my opinion, quite pathetic compared to Google Navigation on my Android phone.

This got my thinking... I bet I could fit a Galaxy Tab 7" inside the OEM navigation hood and get some fancy wiring setup to have it fully wired into the car.

Once I get the OEM hood out of the car and opened up, I can't believe this would be that hard.

I want to use this thread for two things. One.. Has anyone done this before? Obviously plenty of things have been put in the OEM hood but for the most part, its been touch screen LCD's connected to CarPC's. My opinion of CarPC's are that they are pretty much useless now with tablets being as powerful as they are.

Two, I want to document my endeavours with this build. So far I don't have anything apart from this idea. I'm still working out if I want to go with a 3G equipped Galaxy Tab 7 or just put my phone in Tether mode when I'm in the car... That seems like a real pain in the ***.

Anyway.. thoughts?

 

here you go

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-interior-audio-electronics-24/my-new-carpc-project-honeycomb-here-i-come-225539/

 

Well then.. looks like I don't need this thread afterall

 

On second though, that isn't what i'm after. He isn't using the OEM USDM navigation hood.

I want to retain the OEM look of the stock hood and just replace the LCD with a tablet.

 

So its settled. I'll be using a 7" Galaxy Tab from Sprint. I already have a Sprint cell so i'll just tack the Tab onto my account for the 3G access. The model is the SPH-P100.

Once I get it, i'll update this thread again with pics of the opened up navigation hood and fitting the tab inside.

 

You really need to add 3G service for your tablet? I know that's not cheap. Probably like $30/month. Let's face it. 95% of the time you're in your car, you won't be using the internet on your tablet. Why not just make your phone a WiFi hotspot for when you do actually need it? (Root the phone and do it for free, like I do)

 

Believe me, I'm all about rooting android devices...

I have an Evo 4G, Galaxy S II and Galaxy Tab 10.1 all with custom ICS builds.

I think I would be putting my phone into tether mode all the time as I stream all my music via the Subsonic app.

Hmm... I'm really torn.

 

I have the EVO too. It's rooted and I just make it a hotspot. Use it all the time.

And I really don't see a need to stream music all the time. With flash memory being well under $1/GB, you can store 32GB of music pretty cheaply. While I'm the first to say I want access to every song I have, I think I could get along with 32GB.

It's obviously up to you. I just know $30/month adds up QUICK.

 

I'm doing exactly the same thing. Except I'm using a Huawei Mediapad. I'm a bit concerned with whether or not I can fit the tablet inside the hood. I've taken the hood apart and there just doesn't seem like there's gonna be enough space for the Galaxy Tab 7 Plus or the Mediapad.

Over on the rx8club.com.au forums a member has fitted a Dell Streak 7 into it. I've talked to him and he said he didn't need to do anything to the tablet to get it to fit. But he may have modded the hood a bit. From what I've measured inside the hood and comparing to the Dell Streak dimensions (its even longer than the Tab7 and Mediapad), there doesn't seem to be anyway to fit it in unless he completely removed the screw holes.

/edit heres the thread on rx8club.com.au, https://www.rx8club.com.au/forum/vie...hp?f=10&t=7789

 

Good info man, thanks. I'm still deciding on a tablet to get. I'm trying to find a cheap Chinese one but finding one with GPS is hard! I may actually look into the Mediapad.

 

The Mediapad isn't cheap, its only slightly less than the Tab 7 Plus. I did a lot of research. Originally I was thinking HTC Flyer, but then I realised the tablet had a top and bottom lip on the bezel, meaning its face isn't flat.

The reason why I chose the Mediapad over the Tab 7 Plus was due to the screen, its higher resolution and brighter. I've read that the Tab 7's screen wasn't very bright and may be hard to see in sunlight. The two tablets dimension are very similar, the Mediapad is slightly thicker but having looked in the hood, thickness isn't an issue, you have a good 2.7cm of space in there.

Another reason why I chose the Mediapad was because of the charging connector and usb connector. Firstly, they are two separate ports, so I could run the usb cable to the glove box for future rooting/ADB/file transfer and run the charger to the cigarette lighter. This should make life easier when compared to the Tab 7, which uses a proprietary samsung connector taking up more space.

I'll let you know how well the Mediapad fits once I get it.

 

seems like a cool project, i just got a blackberry playbook and was wondering if anyone has put one of those in the nav's place?

 

I would think it would work just fine.

I'm still waiting for the perfect 7" tablet at the perfect price before I move forward.

 

Hey I'm looking into doing the nav upgrade with the Tab what did everyone decide on and how are you running the sound in the radio and the controls? Also I would like to keep the OEM nav joystick controls to function

 

I've been using the GROM AUX + BT without any issues... Have also been doing a bit of front end development including OBD2 BT connectivity. You can get a feel for the progress I've made in the cross linked thread above.

I have a stock NAV assembly in addition to my current setup but, like the guys here, have yet to find a suitable tablet to embed within it.... and the Windows 7 thing is so 2008 for me... been there, done that.

 

I think something like may be a good candidate for an in-car tablet, primarily because of the offline GPS feature.

Don't know if it would fit into the stock navigation enclosure though.

 

too bad its Gingerbread... I use CoPilot Live for offline maps (https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...rket.usa&hl=en) but on account of built-in 3G I tend to just Google Nav

 

Theorie from rx7club did this to his FD.

http://www.rx7club.com/showpost.php?...&postcount=349

 

Well thats definitely one way to do it!

 

I saw a guy on youtube who had installed the Galaxy S into the OEM nav hood. But he's speaking german so idk what he's saying. So it can be done. Also a Galaxy II here is the link

http://youtu.be/A4TDVmXORzY

 

^^ actually he speaks Dutch... as far as I can make it out, he is just going through the various features of the tablet and software.

Pretty cool, actually. It would be very interesting to know how exactly did he install the tablet in the nav housing.