Most liked posts in thread: Where is all this going??

So which phone, which app, and what cable?!

 

I hear ya Jim, I still don't have a smartphone, have the Garmin, the IPod and regular old Cell which I am carrying around when I am outside the car so he batteries don't fry.

Been thinking of the IPhone as it can store my music, has a Tom Tom app for the GPS end and of course the phone. Throw on top of that all the calenders and contacts will automatically update with my Mac makes a pretty good candiate.

Only thing missing is the real time info from the OBDII port which I originally got the Garmin for yet have not got the add on.

Short of it- I'm interested in what smartphone you have and what app reads the OBDII data.

Might be too much to ask for to have all of it run through one interface but...........

 

Tim, the Garmin dongle is on sale right now on Amazon for $89, and free shipping! That's $50 less than I paid about a month ago - jump on it!

I have a Crackberry - I don't know what number it is but it's at least 3 or 4 years old now - but truly it's almost a waste for me, all I want my cell phone to do is make a damn telephone call! Of course, it's nice that it automatically syncs with my PC and keeps my contacts list up to date, but I really don't need my email showing up on my phone all day when I'm sitting right there at my computer!

I used to have a different BB, but it had this odd keyboard where one button was for two letters and it was supposed to be smart enough to figure out what you were typing and print the right word - either it was the stupidest keyboard arrangement in the world or I just didn't get it - but we did not get along!

The Garmin has a hands free built right in so I can make or receive phone calls without having to look down or find my phone - and that's pretty cool.

However, I can definitely see the day when your phone will be pretty much all you need for communication (calls, texts etc) camera, video, GPS and just about anything else you can dream up. Shoot, in Asian countries you use your phone to buy stuff from a vending machine, or pay for your bus or subway ride!

 

ah i see. makes sense it'd be a windows based thing lol...didnt think of that

 

Nice!

the hands free on my Garmin really stinks (might have something to do with my Motorola handset and it's bluetooth capabilities, I have a bluetooth earpiece that is pretty sketchy too)

I see it too, wondering if I can cut down on the dashboard clutter today

 

I have Verizon here as well but my current carrier is ATT and they have everything bundled (wifes' cell, internet, etc).

Do like their minutes deal where you don't lose em' if you don't use em' at the end of a month.

 

It seems some phones work better, blue tooth wise, with the Garmin. My iPhone works great, wife's phone not so great.

That is a great price for the Garmin HD. Has anyone with one ever had the blue tooth disconnect on it's own? Ours did a couple of times on the MITM/MTTS trip:confused5:

Mark

 

I felt old enough when the optometrist brought up bi-focals :cryin:

 

Optometrist told me it was either bifocals, or grow longer arms:lol:

Mark

 

Convergence

We were thinking of doing a touch display interface... But now, why do that at all? One has a single function device that costs a couple hundred dollars, when all one has to do is do the data interface to smartphones and do apps! The unit cost can be much, much lower.

So where is all this going? The software is becoming a higher and higher percentage of the product, as there are computers in everything now. One just has to move the data from where it's generated to where it's viewed.

But it will be sad as well. Device manufacturing will implode, just like standard manufacturing did. There will be less and less devices that do more and more things.

And then we're all left with some limited decisions. Like the ever more frustrating Apple app store with it's absurd rules for what can and can't be an app, or the smaller app stores for Android or RIM. And the app store owner is gonna be the one getting rich.

So where is this all going? Yet another type of market consolidation where we're given convinience at a price.

anyway, that's how I see it....

Matt

 

This type of product has been around for a while. Actually I worked on one at a previous job. It was aimed at businesses with mobile workers and vehicle fleets. I guess the difference now is that OBD based apps on smartphones have become easily available to end consumers.