NokiaTerminalMode
Latest
Clarion joins Nokia's Terminal Mode movement for the greater infotainment good
We're living in the post-smartphone world, where restaurant reviews and silly time-wasting games are never more than a fingerprint away, and now it's hard to see us as anything but tippy-toeing into the smartcar revolution. While there are plenty of competing implementations out there, Nokia seems to be doing the best at unifying the playing field, announcing a partnership with Clarion to bring its Terminal Mode infotainment integration to yet another major brand. This follows on deals with Alpine, Harman, and nearly every major European auto manufacturer. That's a lot of partnerships, but as of now no actual products, leaving us feeling a bit indifferent about the whole thing -- for the moment at least.
Nokia's Terminal Mode spotted in the wilds of the Geneva Motor Show
Those lovely people over at Nokia have furnished us with a few images of what their dashboard integration will look like, as well as the names of a few more partners for the Terminal Mode initiative. Intended to smarten up your car's hardware with the phone's capabilities -- whether that be to play back music, use Ovi Maps, browse the web, or whatever else -- this was announced in partnership with Alpine yesterday, but today we're hearing that Fiat, Harman Becker and Valmet Automotive are also getting in on the fun. The gallery below shows off a mockup from Valmet, which plops your Nokia into a cradle just under the Eva concept's "on" button, and then transfers all the important stuff onto an LCD integrated into the dashboard above. Nokia tells us that each OEM will have their own particular design, so this might not be how they'll all look, but as far as ease of use goes, we don't know how you can improve much on what's being shown already. Let's just hope the software is as effective as the presentation is handsome.%Gallery-87345%
