# Nexus 7 and BMW dashboard tablet project [updated 2013-09-24]



## gamesfrager

Hey everyone,

It has been over two months for me researching the possibility of having an Android tablet in my car.
My car is 2011 BMW 328 without navigation/iDrive

My project is installing an Android tablet -the new nexus 7- in my car.

*My ambition is to:*
- have everything reversible, so no cutting or removing dashboard panels
- the tablet should be removable, nothing permanent
- have internet and WiFi in my car
- somehow get a backup camera through the tablet, again no running wires all over the place
- my car has bluetooth, but only for telephone hands free, no A2DP music streaming. My steering wheel has previous and next track, along with voice dialing/command -would be so nice to be able to hit that button and have Google Now come up!! I would like to retain my next and previous track buttons
- get an OBDII bluetooth scanner so I can turn on some fun gauges!

*What I have managed to research so far:*
- nexus 7 tablet. Oh boy, with all the reports on GPS and erratic touchscreen; I have been waiting for confirmed reports of a fix. So far it doesn't look that very much promising. Also, it's good holding off from buying it until I get all the other parts of the project. Maybe by then the price will be dropped?! and the issues are fixed -hopefully.
- a dashboard mount that would be as close to OEM as possible, what I have found is the Xenomix 2x
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Xenomix-2X-SHG-NX2000-Car-On-Dash-Type-Mount-Holder-Cradle-for-Galaxy-Tab-/270950816738









I also found Steelie, but this one is a magnet based solution, it is very minimal, but again magnet! And I don't think it can support a 7" tablet, it's probably more for phones or phablets?!










- to retain my steering wheel functionality, I have found that RCJoyCon module might work, but I don't have a confirmation it would on my BMW. Also, that module is not wireless, so it needs to connect via USB to my tablet. Not going to work!
I did find something interesting over at mp3car.com
http://www.mp3car.com/input-devices/155520-steering-wheel-control-bluetooth.html
it's a bluetooth module, the project looks like is abandoned. But a bluetooth solution would be great.
Since this approach is becoming way more complex, I thought of having a bluetooth remote similar to the BMW iDrive controller










This is as OEM as it can get. Of course this is not a bluetooth, and since I'm don't even know electronics, not to mention never soldered a wire  this is out of my hands. However, I have the idea of getting a generic bluetooth remote and rewire the buttons to the bluetooth controller (see Tomtom bluetooth remote below). As you can see from the following images, it's a contained controller, no exposed wires -which if someone is willing to take an adventure with me- would be ideal to hide a bluetooth remote inside of it.



















Anyone willing to do that??
Another idea is to get a nice bluetooth controller that, so no hacking. Unfortunately nothing comes close.
Except these controller, but they are either RF or a USB, and I'm looking for a wireless controller:

*Griffin Powermate - USB:* Rotary knob that has click and well.. rotate functionality. is there a USB to Bluetooth converter?
I have looked but couldn't find any useful results. Anyone has an experience with such thing?










*Parrot Asteroid Mini (the remote control only) - RF: *As you can see, it's already something made for a car, and looks close to the OEM iDrive controller, but it's an RF remote. Would it be possible to use this with Android???










*Tomtom bluetooth remote - BT:* this one has potential, not as nice as any of the previous controllers, but at least it's already bluetooth. And I have found it can control Android http://norvangorgi.blogspot.ca/2011/10/using-tomtom-bluetooth-remote-with.html










*Logitech T650/T651 - BT: *This one is a bluetooth touchpad. I have posted a topic here on rootzwiki, but I have not got any response http://rootzwiki.com/topic/46826-mouse-gestures-using-logitech-t650-t651/










or the microsoft touch mouse. This would be so ideal and nice, since no buttons are visible, small, and it's touch!!









So the question is, how can you translate gesture from such devices into actions :
1) two fingers swipe to left and right = previous and left track/screen
2) two fingers up and down = volume up and down

Phewww... this is the controller issue that I'm still researching. Are you still reading? good, you are interested then and probably crazy as I'm :wink:

- next issue is audio through car speakers. This I'm happy to say I have solved it!!!!!
With Miccus Mini-Jak RX and Tasker. I have set Tasker to detect if my phone is connected to the car bluetooth, then it would initiate a bluetooth connection to the Miccus receiver. This small receiver turns on and connects to the last device whenever it receives power, so when I just start the "Radio Ready" mode in my car -fancy term to say you only start the electronics but not the engine- it would connect automatically and all audio from my Android is routed through it. The sound quality is very good. If you are interested in such solution; make sure to buy this one, not some other generic ones. The reason being; the generic ones DO NOT TURN ON when they receive power, you would have to press and hold the power button to turn them on.








- Next is WiFi and internet. This part is 90% done. I have got the TP-Link 3G/4G wireless router.
It is so small and compact yet the features are powerful. This too turns on when it's powered. It does have a 3000mah battery so it would stay on even after you turn off the car, which is crucial if you/passengers were browsing or listening to music and then you turn off your car, you don't want to be cut off immediately, do you?










I have yet to buy the 3G/4G modem dongle (rocket) and get a tablet data plan on its SIM card.
I know I can turn my phone into a hotspot, but then I would tie my phone to this function and drain it's battery.
This router will be powered by the 12v outlet under my glove box.

- Wireless media server. Now this is not very needed, but I wanted a way to listen to music and even play movies in my car WiFi, so I found the Kingeston MobileLite wireless card reader.

It worked great until I found out it powers off immediately when the power source disconnects (turn off car) and doesn't turn on automatically when powered. Again, you would have to press and hold the power button. Which is fine if I keep it under the arm rest, but the fact it disconnects the minute you turn off the car; is a deal breaker for me. For now it's serving as a wireless NAS at home.

On this topic also, I have managed to map it as a folder (cifs) on my HP Touchpad running CM9, my Samsung Galaxy S2, and my Android TV stick (ug802) running Android JB. However, on Android JB, there seem to be an issue with mounting cifs and apps seeing the mounted folder. On Android ICS it's fine. I have found this thread on xda-developers

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=36889027

And from reading the thread it seems that CyanogenMod already have the fix?! but I can't get the Google Play Music app to see the mounted folder and play music files as if it were on the phone, since my phone is running CM 10.2 (Android 4.3)

The other solution is to get the 32GB version of the tablet instead of the 16GB, but it's not as cool as having a Wireless media server. Also, on that thread that I explained how I got the mapped drive to work on my HP Touchpad, Stacy mentioned the RAVPower, another device similar to Kingston Mobilelite. Upon investigating it, it too powers off when there is no activity and most likely would require to press and hold the power button. So this one is out as well.

- Wireless revers/backup camera. Oh boy, this one is crazy, just like the others.
This is what I have found; there are tons and tons of wireless backup cameras. GREAT! not so fast, they are all RF 2.4GHz that connect to either a third-party reverse mirror that has a tiny LCD screen on it, or connects wirelessly to a dashboard mountable LCD screen.
I have also found there is a tiny tiny WiFi camera powered by a 9v battery










however, this is camera is not water proof, and it creates it's own WiFi hotspot, so I would have to switch to it every time I'm reversing. Not to mention, it's battery powered, so it would need to be converted into a permanent powered cam.

This is not going to work. Back to wireless RF cameras.

These already made for cars and even for my specific car model.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Wireless-Car-Rear-View-Reverse-Parking-Camera-for-BMW-1-3-5-7-X3-X5-X6/1108028770.html










There are transmitters and receivers that are cheap. So I thought, is it possible to convert an analog cam into an IP cam? the answer is yes => Video Server.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/IP-Vido-server-1ch-D1-resulition-with-PTZ-alarm-two-way-audio-ip-camera-alarm-VIDEO/706051169.html










http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-Channel-IP-Based-Web-Video-Server-With-TV-Out-/230389216251










Now how should I go about connecting this to my car WiFi network?

Also, would there be a solution to turn an analog camera into a bluetooth one? probably would be a crappy quality since bluetooth is not really meant for video transmission.

if you are slightly interested or have some help/ideas in any part of this project, please comment. This would help me and everyone else looking for something like this.

Stay tuned for more......

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*Update 2013-09-24*

Well, looks like most of my phone call audio routing issues are solved. My situation is a bit unusual since my cellphone is using a tablet plan  which means I get very cheap data. I also use a SIP number, so people can call my SIP number and it's using my data plan.

I'm using CSipSimple app to handle the SIP account registration and selection of audio codecs.

Anyway, this seems to have created some issues with audio routing until I got the right combination of settings for my device (SGSII). So now my phone calls are heard through car speakers.

Now I have set Tasker to mute the ringer volume when it detects I'm in my car, then whenever there is an incoming call; it would play the ring tone as a simple mp3 file and put it on loop. I also set it up so that once I pickup or decline the call; the music stops. Basically hand created ring tone functionality with the benefit of having the ringtone play through my car speakers instead of just the phone.

As for the reverse camera... this seems to be complicated based on the fact I need some power source to have it running after I turn off my car.

*The problem is this:*

- IP camera needs to have the video server running before I put the gear in reverse to be of any use. I don't want to wait 2-3 minutes for the video server to power up and then assign an IP address to the camera. It needs to be instantaneous.

- Since having the video server connected all the time to the car battery would drain it very fast; I need to find some external power source

I have yet to find a solution to the power issue.

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## b16

Please take pics and update please!


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## knives of ice

An appradio 2 with appradio liberator seems like such an easier and cheaper solution


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## gamesfrager

b16 said:


> Please take pics and update please!


Hey b16. I'm currently busy with some work. But I'm currently working on my Samsung Galaxy S2. Setting it up with Tasker profiles.

Once I decide on a tablet; it will be easy to export my Tasker profiles from my phone to the Tablet.

My current issue is trying to get the audio routed properly when a phone call comes in.

Since my car has bluetooth for handling calls, and my phone is also connected to the Miccus Rx for streaming any audio from my Android, this is creating some conflict as it seems. For example: when I get a phone call, the ring tone is not routed through the car speakers, instead it's coming through the phone speaker.

Also, placing a call is not working. So I will have to play around with some Tasker settings and AutoVoice.



knives of ice said:


> An appradio 2 with appradio liberator seems like such an easier and cheaper solution


yes, this would be the "easy" route I guess. BUT...

- I have to remove my OEM radio -noway

- removing the OEM radio means losing some configuration option for the car itself. As some config options are only done through the car radio unit

- not a hardware or a software that I like. I don't want to be bound by the capability of their hardware or OS. I want a true Android experience

- and lastly, not very challenging  what's the fun in it?!?! I could easily just exchange my car for a newer model with iDrive and that's it! but I don't want to


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## gamesfrager

Well, it's finally happening. After all this time.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?p=23274279#post23274279


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