Using a Nexus 7 as a Sat Nav (and Music Player) (1 Viewer)

steveclecy

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Jun 10, 2009
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Someone raised a thread about using a Nexus 7 as a Satnav. Well the photograph is my Nexus 7 "mounted" on the dashboard.

I had concerns at having such a device mounted with "suckers" either to the windscreen (least favourite) or a disc stuck on the dashboard (slight improvement).

The simplest solutions are sometimes the best. A piece of kite string (YES!) tied into a loop - one part hooked onto the old self adhesive disk supplied with our Garmin, the other hooked around the part of the wallet that one leaf folds into to work as a stand.

The tablet rests in front of the radio. A micro USB to USB lead plugs into a Griffin 12 volt USB charger and a jack to jack speaker lead plugs into the front of the radio.

Set the radio to Aux and Robert becomes your uncle and Frances your Aunt. Running the music player loaded with our chosen songs (downloaded from our iTunes library with an app called iSyncr), the CoPilot mutes the music when instructions are being given.

It works! Full test to France in a couple of weeks. I have already downloaded the ACSI poi's.

And surprisingly neat for such a cheap DIY fitting.

Steve
 

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Chockswahay

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I've been trying a similar thing with my Asus Fonepad (same size as Nexus 7) and it works quite well..............but............some of the apps (Spotify for instance) only run in portrait mode :whatthe: which is a (mild) irritation.

Question..........does the Griffin manage to charge your Nexus when in use coz the cheap non branded charger I bought off Amazon only manages to 'hold' the charge :whatthe::whatthe:
 
Apr 8, 2008
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We have just got an ipad 5 works brilliant with co-pilot GPS everything works really well you had to buy the voice system the only thing I would get is a blue tooth speaker to help with sound when traveling with windows open the large screen is great.

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steveclecy

steveclecy

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Question..........does the Griffin manage to charge your Nexus when in use coz the cheap non branded charger I bought off Amazon only manages to 'hold' the charge :whatthe::whatthe:

To be continued. I suspect even the branded Griffin will do little more than hold the charge. Hope to have it fully charged at the start of each journey so may not discover its true charging capabilities.

Version 1.1: Small self adhesive Velcro on two corners to reduce slight tendancy to sway side to side over uneven and winding roads.

Steve
 

Steve101uk

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Hi Guys

an app called Screen Rotation Control will landscape spotify, available from google play.

I am now torn now between the Nexus 7 and the Asus fonepad. I don't see the point in spending money on a dedicated sat nav when a tablet will do so much more. However I am concerned about performance, particularly relating to the fonepad.

with my htc one s phone I am able to run spotify and sat nav and receive phone calls all through my bluetooth hands free. The issue is the size of the phone, I find it to small to use for all these functions and would prefer the 7 inch screen of the tablet. I have no doubt the nexus 7 will run these tasks with little problem due to its Nvida tegra 3 quad-core processor.

However fonepad has some distinct advantages

a. you can use a mobile phone deal meaning unlimited data and it will receive calls (with my giff gaff sims I can forward calls free from my htc to the fonepad when we are on the road).

b. I can add another sd card for extra data which is something I cant do with the nexus 7.

So, the fonepad seems the best way to go, But! with its intel 1.2 GHz single core processor I am not convinced it will run anything like as fast as the nexus 7.

My question is, will the fonepad perform adequately when running my sat nav, music player and phone thorough my bluetooth at the same time. My gut feeling is that the nexus 7 will be fine and the fonepad will lag or freeze on occasions. I suppose I wont know til I try but I dont want to spend £180 until I am more certain.

cheers

Steve
 
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Chockswahay

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My question is, will the fonepad perform adequately when running my sat nav, music player and phone thorough my bluetooth at the same time. My gut feeling is that the nexus 7 will be fine and the fonepad will lag or freeze on occasions. I suppose I wont know til I try but I dont want to spend £180 until I am more certain.

I haven't experienced any problems. Google reviews for the Asus and you will see that the performance is much better than expected. ::bigsmile:

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Chockswahay

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an app called Screen Rotation Control will landscape spotify, available from google play.

I just tried that app, only thing is I notice it places a near constant demand on the cpu at around 23% Some people mention that this app has a significant impact on battery life :Eeek:

I use 'Watchdog Lite' to check the performance :Smile:

just sayin .......
 

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