Android WebTop - CarPc Setup

For a while I have been working on integrating my phone into the car.  I thought about doing a full CarPC project like the ones in mp3car.com, but the reality is that I am cheap plus I want something "maintenance" free.  Well really.. what project is maintenance free?....  :)

The easy route to accomplish my goal was to use my aftermarket head unit display (Avic Z110BT) mixed with Motorola Atrix Webtop.  When I connect my "rooted phone" to the HDMI, the Webtop application takes over and I can see the Android screen in the head unit and the phone becomes a mouse and keyboard.  This allows me to take advantage of the Android applications like:  Google Maps, Pandora, Trapster, etc..  For aid, I use Vilingo to read text messages and voice commands.  Another future I like a lot is remote desktop to my in car notebook for running car diagnostics.

Too much talk...  Let me just show it and ask.  :)

Connection:

In this clip I show how the connection occurs between the Android WebTop and the the car's console.  For this project you need a head unit with video / audio input, hdmi to rca converter, power supply for phone and converter, phone mount.

Apps:

In this clip I show a basic idea of the apps. Something I missed recording is the usage of Vilingo for aiding in the hands free solution.  Also Vilingo developers.. please make the activation voice command to be always listening for "Hey! Vilingo" instead of only when app is open....

Car Monitoring:

In this clip I show how I monitor my car from within my phone.  I have a separate notebook computer which boots when car is on and hibernates when car shuts down.  From the phone I use WiFi AdHoc tethering so the PC and the phone can communicate wireless and I can remote desktop in.  The program shown is RossTech Vag-Com which is an OBDII monitoring tool for Audi.

My Car:  (Love Audi!)

Major progress:

• Fix resolution of the rendered screen by updating Webtop X11 config
• Hardwire the notebook computer used for monitoring the car
• Setup tethering between notebook and phone (automatic)
• Setup remote desktop and aspect ratio to be manageable from phone
• Configure the remote Windows machine to have bigger icons, fonts, etc...

TODO:

• Automatize the expansion of Android screen in head unit upon Webtop connection
• Use something like Tasker which starts / stops Android apps upon detecting head unit bluetooth (just for knowing I am in car and is ON)
• Better hands-free automation

Phone - Photo transfer direct to share folder

Personally I still store photos in my own server and not in cloud computing.
Maybe I should try looking for a cloud back up service later...

But for those out there who have the same practice, you probably notice that phones really don't have too much support for transferring photos directly to a share folder.  Lots of apps do the same like uploading to certain services or making your phone a host to access from the PC browser.  In my case I like simplicity and control.  I just want to select the photos from my phone and send to local server over wi-fi... done!

So far these are the best options I found.

Android:  Sweet Home WiFi Picture Backup

Sweet Home is a simple application which once configured to access your shared folder, it allows you to send the new photos by clicking "Upload Now". And also has an option to automatically upload whenever the phone is connected to the network.  Simple!

This application works really well for me using:  Motorola Atrix 4G & Windows 7 for home server.  It has a free version for try out, but please support the developers and purchase it if you like!  :)

iPhone:  Files Connect

This application is not as simple as Android's Sweet Home for sending photos to the share folder, but it does carry a lot of functionality.  Files Connect is more like a general network file transfer application as the name suggests.

At the end, it is really easy to send photos to the shared folder once this is configured.  You only need to browse for the photos in you phone and "select / copy" them to later "paste" them at the share folder.  Something I liked a lot was the transfer activity monitor which allowed me to see the transfer was not hanged.

In my case I had an iPhone 4G and the share folder in Windows 7 home server.  The application was able to transfer over 1,500 photos with no hangs in a descent amount of time.  It took a little to start the transfer but still less than 1 minute.  I am happy from purchasing the application.

Quick note:
In order to transfer even faster, I browse the phone from the server.  Then PULL the content instead of pushing it.  This significantly reduced the transfer time be 66%.  Just look in your router for the IP the phone is connected to.

General Comment:

If you need applications which directly communicates with your share folder, then search for Samba client applications.  Both of these applications supports the SMB protocol which is what allows the direct access between phone and PC.


Hope this helps others.