iPad gets fitted into car dashboard, makes you an instant carpooling superstar (video)
By Vlad Savov 
posted April 6th 2010 9:24AM
posted April 6th 2010 9:24AM
posted April 6th 2010 9:24AM
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Thats ridiculous.....
in a good and bad way
@a piece of cheeze Yes, if they're going to put that much work in it, at least mold it over the bezel to hide everything but just the screen, and make a custom button for the home button. Now it just looks ugly with that huge bezel.
@a piece of cheeze
Atleast when they flip the tacoma over sideways from not paying attention to the road the screen will auto rotate...
@ArcSyn Yes, I think "fitted" is not the best word to use here. "Put" maybe?
@rutter9 thats a great feature
"Right, dawg?" Well played, Vlad.
"y0 dawg, we heard you like reading books while you drive, so we put an iPad in yo Taco', so you can read BOOKS while you DRIVE!"
"y0 dawg, we heard you like a complete and unbroken web browsing experience, so we....uh, wait... what?"
@rutter9 Lol. Not only sideways, you can roll the car too.
@Atkins
Actually, I'm not joking, this is the best use for an iPad. It can't multitask, so no car accidents, and it has a nice screen, so you can watch video or someone can surf the web while you drive.
@ArcSyn At least? Easier said than done.
@rutter9
They really should cover the bezel up and add a cover to the home button with something matching the interior. Right now the whole thing looks a bit silly and amateurish - like the iPad is just velcro'd to the dash.
@a piece of cheeze
Ridiculous? I thought geeks loved this kind of "tinkering."
@a piece of cheeze
Now it just became a GPS!
ZOMG!
What cant it do?
.......Its only everything!
*sarcasm*
@(Unverified) I like how it's the multitasking, and not the web browsing or watching videos that would cause an accident.
@a piece of cheeze
No it's not, it's one of the best songs from The Matrix!
What the.. That kills the main purpose of a tablet. A tablet for god sake.
@PastorTom These are "car geeks".
@rutter9
What if they had the rotate lock on?
@PastorTom read my comment right below my first one
@(Unverified)
Googd luck surfing on a touch enabled device that is fitted to a dashboard in a moving car.
As usual a laptop on your lap would be MUCH easier.
@fourthletter Next thing you know, they'll be mounting THAT in the dashboard!
I think the iPad has found it's place in society.
@a piece of cheeze - If I was Tesla I would hook up with Apple and put this in the WhiteStar instead of going it alone with a custom flat panel.
http://www.engadget.com/photos/tesla-model-s-official-shots-unofficially-unveiled/#1454579
On second thought, forget it. That WhiteStar display is AWESOME!!!
@a piece of cheeze: By "makes you an instant carpooling superstar", they really mean "makes you a target for car crime".
@a piece of cheeze That guy and his shades are annoying.
@a piece of cheeze Now how incredibly awesome would this be if it had a GPS.
@a piece of cheeze
so.... anybody else realize this isnt the 3g one. Meaning that theres NO web browsing or pandora streaming outside of that garage lol
BRILLIANT.
@(Unverified) Watch video while you drive? Are you out of your mind? That shit should be illegal.
@a piece of cheeze
It looks cool. To be honest a built in iPhone/iPod touch is too small a screen.. this is dope for watching movies (hint, when you're not driving)..
@a piece of cheeze I think this guy thinks he's in the Top Gun 2 casting auditions.
@a piece of cheeze
This hole. It was made for me.
@Duke i'm sure you can do so much better right?
@a piece of cheeze
This would actually be a good use of an iPad if it didn't look so darn ugly installed with that giant bezel exposed. With such huge markups in car audio it almost makes the iPad look like a deal...almost.
@schultz Verizon's MiFi will work just fine for the connection.
@abedinthehouse I thought that was the PS3's slogan...
@a piece of cheeze being from the ghetto, i hate white people that try and act black.
@VictorBush
I think this has become my reason to get one now. I don't see how everyone thinks this is a bad idea.
Also, my ford fusion has piano black trimmings with silver bezels all around, so the iPad would fit right into the design
@madwh Wonder if the iPod gps mounts would work with it, once you extended the cable....
@abedinthehouse Yeah, that sarcasm tag was totally needed.
/sarcasm
see what I did there?!!!?
@techi25
Last I checked there were not video's of me showing off. This looks silly, has no web access and looks like something begging to be jacked. Don't like me criticizing such obvious flaws? Cry me a river.
@Duke
This setup may have better web access than the still unreleased 3G iPads...if this guy has got a 4G Sprint Overdrive MiFi packed away in the glovebox.
@a piece of cheeze Yeah, because if you want to view it in portrait mode, you have to flip your car.
Two Questions:
1. How to I plug my cigarette lighter into it? and...
2. Will it make the battery explode like the ipods?
I'm not a fan of the iPad but I think the in-car concept is pretty cool. Most in-car systems would have a box somewhere behind the screen or in the glovebox but with the iPad, that's it. It's also fairly affordable for an in-car kit. Check newegg to see the cheapest touch display kit sitting at $499 with a 6.5" screen and you can be damn sure that's not an LED backlit IPS display.
The shortcomings would be having no access to the sync port of the iPad unless it was removable. If they had implemented wireless sync, you could even hook it to a home wifi while the car was outside and sync. 3G isn't a huge problem as you get the mobile wifi stations anyway, which I'd rather pay for to get 4G speed and better coverage than AT&T.
The real downside to the non-3G model is no real GPS, just assisted. Also, the in-car position might even block the receiver on the 3G model.
Still, I think this could be a huge market if they get it working right and would be the most functional in-car audio kit I've seen. With a Mifi or whatever, you can Skype call from it.
@schultz Actually you can tether it to just about any network you want. Phones now offer wifi hotspot capability. Think MiFi etc.
I'm more concerned with how he's going to type on this thing.
@a piece of cheeze
They forgot to hook the sound up to the car.
@a piece of cheeze Well it Hopefully there's an equivalent app as good as that. Some good apps: http://bit.ly/app-from-ipad-good
@a piece of cheeze
I'm actuallu working on something similiar with an archos 5.trying to find a way to add ecm monitoring along with turbo monitoring on the device. Its going to be removable as well.
@schultz not hard to tether it with an android phone or even more logical, a mifi. not a very good comment.
@TinWard
"The real downside to the non-3G model is no real GPS, just assisted."
Nope. No GPS at all. Assisted GPS IS real GPS; it simply uses the cellular towers to get a fix FASTER when starting up or when satellites are inaccessible.
That's why ALL of the iPads should've had GPS, greatly increasing their value. Apple's lack of vision for this product is just appalling, exemplified when you think of all it could have done in a car or small plane. Pathetic.