بِسْمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحْمٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ
17 August 2014
Project: Android
Tablet Car Mount
Project Objective
& Aim:
To create a car mount for an old Android tablet. The aim for
this project is to fully optimize the usage of my an old Android tablet and
mount it in my car as in car entertainment hub.
Background:
During the past few weeks, I try to find a solutions for the
unused tablet that I have. I do some research on what to do with an old tablet,
there is so much way we can make it alive and usable. In my perspective, I prefer to use it as an In Car Entertainment hub. Before we begin the details of what I start first, lets view my tablet specifications. My tablet model is CSL Spice MI-700.
there is so much way we can make it alive and usable. In my perspective, I prefer to use it as an In Car Entertainment hub. Before we begin the details of what I start first, lets view my tablet specifications. My tablet model is CSL Spice MI-700.
It is a good tablet and I feel it will be waste if i just
keep it at home and do nothing to it. Even though the specifications are low
then the current technology and the application that support it don’t much now,
but there are few thing that can make it much more charming if I could use it
wisely.
The Challenge:
There are few challenge that I have to faced when dealing
with an old technology. First the application. When I first search at the Google
Play, there are not much application that I can use with this tablet. But there are applications that can make this
tablet useable at optimum.
Second the car mount, in the market there are plenty type of
mount that we can buy, but I just feel that we can use the recycle item where
it can maintain the environment and also keep our home clean. :-)
Third plan is to make the tablet online and update my
location through any social or online location locator. But thanks to my world
of Amateur Radio @ HAM Radio, I can manage to use the APRSdroid application
where it is a tool that can track my location as long as I have connection to
the Internet and I run the application through my android tablet. But this
challenge I will discuss letter on when i found the suitable data plan that
support my tablet usage.
Forth plan is to connect the tablet to my car stereo. This might take
some cash out from my pocket. I have to survey and study the way of doing this
and also equipment that needed to be include. This might be mini In Car
Entertainment and might save a few hundred ringgit for me to buy a new radio.
Hack Start:
After been through the suitable application that might work,
next is to find the suitable material for the mount. It takes me few days to
think and find the suitable material for mounting the tablet in my car. But as
I write before, I prefer to used the recycle item for this project. First thing
measure the space needed for the mount. For my situation, my car is Proton Saga
FL. I use the empty space below the car radio to mount the tablet.
Next step is the mounting material. I’ve been thinking to
use the PVC electric wire duct. But since it’s Sunday and the hardware shop is close,
I find the other material that suitable for this project. I decided to used the
personal computer (PC) front cover for the exchange of PVC electric wire duct.
Measure and cut the panel so it can fit to the empty space. The end product would be like the image below, when it mount.
Then I try put the tablet on the mounting and the result
like picture below. It work like charm and perfectly fit the mount. For the
radio back of this tablet, also have some space for me to push the radio
button.
The Application
Installed:
This would be a tricky part as that not much application do support
this tablet available at the Google Play. But the only wat is to Google it and
find the application that you will use the most during driving time. Let me
share the application that I have install in this tablet.
- Waktu Solat Malaysia
- LauncherPro
- PowerAmp
- Opera Mini
- App Shifter
- Volume Control
- Tubemate
- OsmAnd+
- APRSdroid
- Photo Slides Lite
This tablet has a built-in GPS which is suitable for GPS
use. So I decided to used one of the best offline GPS application which is
OsmAnd+. It’s working and can navigate to the location that I pick. Below the
picture of the application running.
As an Amateur Radio, I don’t want to miss the usage of APRS
even I don’t own the tracker yet but this is a good start point for me I think.
I use the APRSdroid as a tool for track me. Picture below shows the application
running as I plan.
Future plan:
My next plan that I put on hold and further study are to
make the tablet online and also to connect the tablet to my car stereo.
Thank You:
Thank you for reading my blog entries and see you on the
next part on the next post. If you have question please do e-mail me or comment this post. I try answer as soon as possible. But please include your detail so that easy for me to contact. 73 de 9M2AIM.
