Android Tablet + Gps Dongle + Google Turn-By-Turn = Car Gps?

[second exodous]

Ok, I have gotten lost for the last time and am finally breaking down and getting some sort of GPS. I would want at least a 7" screen because I think I'll get in accidents if it is any smaller than that. I was researching GPS units and have read positive things about 'Google Turn-by-turn' but I think a smart phone is too tiny for me to use as a car GPS so I was wondering if anyone has ever heard of someone putting turn by turn on a Android tablet and using a usb GPS dongle?

If this is possible I think in the long run it would be better as I would always want to take the tablet out of the car to prevent theft because I'd want to use it for other things also. I'm looking at one of the Archos tablets right now, might go over kill on size and get the 101 that is 10.1 inches if it is possible. The 101 isn't out yet so I might not go with it.

So anyone hear of this or better yet do this?

EDIT: Oh, the 101 is out, just the places that have good prices for it are out of stock right now.

 

[SNESFAN]

you need network connectivity to use google maps because of the sizes of the maps etc, the application on the phone it's self is ~5mb the map info is in the gigabyte(s)+ range and it's stored online.

if you had a mobile hotspot it would work but my question at that point would be why not just get a android phone and a "car kit" that basically turns your phone into a gps

for the price, just get a garmin ~200 usd for a extremely decent sized one with touch screen and the whole lot.

 

[second exodous]

This was only an idea, I've been looking into it and I watched a video of Google turn-by-turn and was blown away. The only GPS unit I've liked so far was on that was built into to a Lexus as it has a larger screen, 7 inches, so it would have to be that big so a smart-phone wouldn't work for me. I'm also starting to notice that to get a GPS that was as feature rich as turn-by-turn it would set me back over $300 where that is the price of a Android tablet so I thought I would try to get two devices in one.

I found this so I think somewhere someone is using the Archos 101 as a GPS unit I'm just not sure. Android 2.2 would have to come out for the 101 first.

I don't know, I'm still shopping around, no concrete decisions yet.

 

[Orion4874]

This was only an idea, I've been looking into it and I watched a video of Google turn-by-turn and was blown away. The only GPS unit I've liked so far was on that was built into to a Lexus as it has a larger screen, 7 inches, so it would have to be that big so a smart-phone wouldn't work for me. I'm also starting to notice that to get a GPS that was as feature rich as turn-by-turn it would set me back over $300 where that is the price of a Android tablet so I thought I would try to get two devices in one.

I found this so I think somewhere someone is using the Archos 101 as a GPS unit I'm just not sure. Android 2.2 would have to come out for the 101 first.

I don't know, I'm still shopping around, no concrete decisions yet.

Wow, $300 for a gps unit? Where are you shopping? Those things aren't nearly as expensive as they used to be, mainly because phones are killing that industry. A 4.3inch with turn-by-turn can be bought for $100-$150 range. The Magellan 1700 is 7" and runs about $175 for example. I'd go with the Android tablet though, you get so much more out of them. What do you need a dongle for btw? Doesn't Google Maps do everything you'd need, including turn-by-turn?

Thanks for letting me know about the 101. I've been waiting for that to be released, gonna get myself one also.

 

[SNESFAN]

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Mobile/thread?tid=3634773013544912&hl=en

 

[SNESFAN]

well holy hell... ask and ye shall recieve... offline google maps

http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/06/google-maps-for-mobile-5-unveiled-adds-dynamic-map-drawing-and/

 

[second exodous]

@jb0yx: Ohh, I see what you meant in your first post, I just assumed that Google Maps would be able to work off-line because of the turn-by-turn feature. After looking at the link you posted about off-line maps I wonder if I can download satellite images for a city or at least an area of a city I know I'm going to be in, have to look for that. Street view for an entire city is probably TBs in size, I probably can't download that for a city.

@Orion4874: I'd need the GPS dongle to make the tablet GPS capable. Looking at the features of the sub-$200 units I notice that they don't have speech recognition, I guess I meant that one that has all the features I want are $200-$250 and the Archos 101 is $299 so I think it is worth the extra $50 to have a tablet also. I don't know how much I'll like a tablet, didn't like using the iPad too much, but it is nice to get something I can use outside of the car for other things rather than a GPS unit that can't do much out side of a car.

EDIT: Anyway, I want to wait for someone to do it first, I don't like how the 101 reviews say 'there is a way to get the Android market on the tablet', that just seems too locked down for me. If it was an open tablet how the Pandora is an open handheld I might buy it and try it but $299 is a lot to spend for a 'maybe'. Also there is the GPS dongle drivers, I don't know what kind of device support the 101 will have so even if I get a dongle that will work for Linux that doesn't mean it will work on the 101 or even Android.

 

[SNESFAN]

EDIT: Anyway, I want to wait for someone to do it first, I don't like how the 101 reviews say 'there is a way to get the Android market on the tablet', that just seems too locked down for me. If it was an open tablet how the Pandora is an open handheld I might buy it and try it but $299 is a lot to spend for a 'maybe'. Also there is the GPS dongle drivers, I don't know what kind of device support the 101 will have so even if I get a dongle that will work for Linux that doesn't mean it will work on the 101 or even Android.

android is not locked down... that's not really being fair to the OS. Android open source project (AOSP or vanillia android) allows for root access right out of the box. Carriers and manufacturers are the ones that either take away root access or disable stuff like side loading, google is not to blame for that half of it. Putting the market on the tablet is another form of restriction, google doesn't brand with the "google experience" certain brand tablets and pmp's phones stuff like that. Archos is a popular manufacturer that basically is giving the hand to google for being a main contributer of android and saying "thanks for the software" and moving on, google is not involved in the archos line at all from what I understand. Along with that, they get none of the google proprietary bits.

the archos android tablet, is almost as open as the pandora believe it or not. With the release of android they are legally obligated to deliver the source code for the flavor of android they ship. This allows for you to build and modify the kernel and drivers for all their hardware. Put alternate OS's on your device and hack and tinker to your hearts content. One of the only things they haven't done is give schematics and that's not even available for the pandora yet is it? I don't want to turn this into an argument, I'm just saying though...

google's propritary software (see not android) is what is locked down, their youtube, gmail, maps (yea maps), talk, and market, search and other google services... so take android and just remove all lines of code that say google and that's what they removed. So in fact it's the exact oposite situation with the flavor of android that's on the archos tablet. It's so open they don't force you to use the awesome software google provides by getting all up in your device lol. Android works fine without the google bits, and the bits are just applications you run on android. Some are deep rooted, but nothing is broken if you run android without the google bits. It might feel broken because you only get a minimalist load of software, browser, mail client, random tools and functions, but that software you have is truly open like any basic load of any linux suite.

I just wanted to clarify that for ya because it appears to be a common misconception around here that android is evil... vanilla android is actually completely 100% open sourced... it's google software they put on top of android that's evil because it's only free as in lunch... not free as in speech.

 

[Orion4874]

Hey second exodous, I came across this hack for getting the Android Market app on the 101. Seems pretty easy, thought you'd be interested. http://www.techhackz.com/2010/11/how-to-install-android-market-on-archos.html

Here's one if it ships with 2.2 installed, http://forum.archosfans.com/viewtopic.php?f=63&p=285385