I Tried Turning A Smartphone Into An Infotainment Screen. It Didnt Work

I tried to turn the smartphone into an infotainment screen. It did not work

I usually drive old cars because they are cheap. However, it lacks features such as GPS navigation and the ability to play the latest media. So I took it upon myself to integrate the phone into my dashboard, thinking it would be the perfect solution to this problem. But it turns out that using a phone or tablet as a replacement screen for the infotainment doesn't work as well as expected. It is no wonder that this practice has not become common. Now I know it first hand.

I've never been a fan of automotive infotainment. They are generally slow, ugly and ugly. When it comes to GPS navigation and media, the average smartphone performs better. They receive regular software updates over the internet and are therefore more up to date than most car shows. They have more powerful processors and better loading screens.

Even in modern cars, I still found myself using my phone through the navigation system. I usually use the infotainment system as a Bluetooth stereo for media control and phone navigation. I bet most modern car owners would do the same given the popularity of Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. But when I got my 1998 Mercedes E240, I decided to try semi-mobile integration. I wanted a clean and responsive infotainment solution. Unfortunately, my build was slow, sluggish, and a bit messy.

That's how it all happened.

conception phase

To assemble the phone myself, I considered several ideas. A lead candidate was a 3D-printed case that hides the phone under a removable panel next to the transmission. However, I had other projects on my mind and I wanted to do something fun, quick and easy. This initial plan required a lot of time that I didn't want to waste. Instead, I chose to test my idea in a simpler way first. I bought a magnetic smartphone holder and placed it on my dashboard. Then I installed a metal disk on the back of the Samsung Galaxy S10. This allowed me to test the phone in both portrait and landscape orientation. It still looks pretty low-key and positions the screen well for easy viewing. There's a reason you see so many people walking around with these phone holders.

For this project, I reviewed a selection of phones, including the Google Pixel and the iPhone XS. I ended up with a Samsung Galaxy S10 with a little screen problem. Overall, the issues I encountered were pretty neutral on the phone. Lewin's Day

Then a way to connect the phone was needed. I took a 2-output USB wireless phone charger and plugged it into one of the slots on the board. I attached it to the back of the cigarette lighter so it has 12v when the ignition is on. I then connected the charging cable to the board to power on the phone. I put it behind the radio and pulled it out of the hidden hole at the top of the dash. The hole was in a removable plastic plate, so I figured I could replace that plate if I wanted to undo what had been done.

The phone requires an internet connection for best functionality. It would be confusing to pair it with my primary phone every time I get in the car. Instead, I decided to pay for an additional SIM card that shared my main account data. For $15 a month, the car phone will still have its own 4G data connection. This would be perfect for accessing maps and music.

Magnetic storage allows the phone to be quickly attached, removed, and used in both portrait and landscape orientations.

Luckily, I hacked into the Bluetooth audio input of the stereo system. All I had to do was press the Bluetooth button and I could play songs from my phone or get voice navigation alerts. I will never do the latter because they always rock me when they stop the music.

exams

I was glad I went with the easy build. It allowed me to quickly test the system and see what worked and what didn't.

what works

The basic setup came together quickly and worked as expected. The phone fits comfortably in the upper half of the dashboard within easy reach. Of course, Australian road rules meant it was impossible to click move, but once parked it was a solid setup for entering addresses and selecting music. The USB charging setup also seems to work. If the USB-C cable is removed from the board and connected to the phone, it usually doesn't look bad. Oddly enough, I also had no issues with clarity or vision. The phone was bright enough to read and the sun was no problem for me with the location I chose.

Unsurprisingly, the phone's interface looks best in portrait orientation. I still use the setup regularly for music streaming and browsing, but not as a permanent install.

But to my surprise and disappointment, many didn't work.

What went wrong

The first headache was unlocking the phone. It used to be easy to set up your Android phone to unlock it to a specific Bluetooth device. It is specially designed to keep the phone unlocked in the car, for example. However, despite my best efforts, I was unable to get it to work due to subsequent security updates. Nowadays, when your phone connects to a Bluetooth device, it needs to be unlocked manually once with your fingerprint or PIN. After that it is (usually) left open for the rest of the ride. It was still incredibly boring. I didn't mind manually unlocking my phone every time I got in my car. This is a troublesome problem that traditional information systems do not have. This could have been solved by using another phone's face recognition to unlock it. However, it will remain confusing. Ideally, I wanted the phone to stay open while the car was running. Heck, even when it was off. Why am I thinking? Close the doors. There might be some weird Android hacks to deal with. However, pesky hackers found on the internet can compromise your phone if you don't know the intricacies of the Android operating system.

I expected the phone to stay unlocked when connected via Bluetooth, but Google has made this nearly impossible on modern Android operating systems. Lewin's Day

Voice control is very cool while driving. It lets you navigate safely, write songs and send simple messages without leaving the road. When I bought my Google Nexus 5X six years ago, it worked great. I could even say "Hey Googz" with my Aussie accent and he would hear me every time. I regularly scheduled meetings and voice reminders and fell in love with this feature.

When it doesn't work, it works badly. The current era of Google Assistant is a huge pain in my ass. Something has changed in the last few years, because I can no longer work more than 30% of the time. Examples of Google mistakes in this area include accidentally texting an ex; “I got the crackers you got me,” when I tried to text someone else about a cheese plate. Luckily they didn't answer.

I thought about putting the phone on the lower dash, but looking down while driving wouldn't be good for the navigation screen. Lewin's Day

Softphones also did not fare well for the automotive industry. I first tried using Android Auto for phone screens. It basically introduced the Android Auto interface, but on the phone itself rather than the paired infotainment screen. Junkie was a hell of an ace and fell hard. It ran like an app on top of the Android OS, but turned on and off often and fought a crash when I tried to do anything with it.

Google canceled this program and introduced the Google Assistant driving mode instead. It was a bit better, but limited to portrait orientation. It didn't really help with lock screen issues, so everything was blurry. You can set the driving mode to start automatically when the phone connects to a Bluetooth device in the car, but that doesn't seem reliable. Since then, Google has also introduced this program, which shows that they are also out of step with this idea.

Battery life was also a surprising issue. I found that if I didn't use the phone it would sleep for a long time. However, if I don't ride for a few days, I often come back to find my phone blank. Then I have to turn it on manually after reboot.

Perhaps the most surprising thing was the overheating. With low temperatures in the mid-70s, my car's greenhouse effect was enough to heat up the phone. At best I would log in and get a warning. Then I had to wait for the air conditioner to cool down enough to answer the phone. In the worst case, it will be completely closed. Then I have to wait a little longer to come back to life. I put the phone booth near the air conditioner. It was good to keep calm. However, if I set the CVC to hot, the phone will start to slow down from the heat. I usually leave it outside to avoid this problem.

other options

There are other solutions. If my car had a double DIN radio, I would buy an aftermarket stereo with Android Auto or wireless Apple CarPlay. Unfortunately, I'm stuck with only one DIN slot. Worse still, it's under HVAC control, so I can't easily use any of those pop-up display models.

If the stereo is placed above the HVAC controls, one of the screens flips over. However, in this frame it will leave the buttons. Lewin's Day

I could try more jailbroken Android versions which are less aware of lock screen security. However, I will take care of other matters. The battery life problem is solvable, I am ready to run the phone charger even when the power is off. It would be nice if I had a powerful battery and drove the car at least twice a week. However, the problem of overheating is insoluble. Autumn has been particularly harsh and Australian summers, especially in northern regions, regularly exceed 110 degrees Fahrenheit.

Archeology

There are reasons cell phones aren't really designed to be in-car entertainment displays. There's no easy way to automatically turn it on when the ignition is on or turn it off when the car is off. Cybersecurity concerns mean that modern phones aren't easy to unlock or stay unlocked.

There are ways to deal with these problems. Most of them contain more Android hacks than I had time to follow for this little experiment. It often comes with a warning that you are losing access to popular apps and security updates. This then removes the regular online update feature.

I am not the first to take this path, nor will I be the last. Others are likely to have more success. Maybe you did! I would like to hear information about what I missed or did wrong. If there's a way to do it right, I'd love to try it. In the meantime, I'll be using my regular phone on mobile to navigate properly and pump up the pace. It's not as sleek or feature-packed, but it works for me so far. Do you have any advice? Author Report: lewin@thedrive.com