The perfect Car Radio?

[Low-Light]

I'm not a huge music buff or anything, but from time to time I enjoy listening to a few good tunes or two. (ok maybe a lot more) Listening to the standard FM/AM radio gets boring, unless you're driving through Liberty City listening to WKTT Talk Radio.

I enjoy internet radio much more, so much variety and always something great to listen to. My favorite internet radio source is Pandora at the moment. But now how can you get the awesomeness of Internet radio into a moving vehicle that does not have nearly as many gadgets as KIT from Nightrider?

Well I've always been in search of that one special device. I found articles all of the net of magical internet radio players, however I could never really find a real product. I did find this special Microsoft giant expensive computer thing that fits inside your car and if you have a edge network or something, will then some how allow you to play music. But that is not feasible for a person like me.

Now we have the magical and hopefully super amazing going to change my world T-Mobile G1. A phone that pretty much has it all: GPS with Google, tons of cool apps that do a bunch of cool things, and hopefully quick 3G network.

So mobile phone with all that and a car with none of that.

IDEA!
Find a away to get G1 to play almost flawlessly on car stereo.

You can almost play MP3's ok in the car, but I want Internet Radio!

We have FM transmitters - Sound quality drop... Bad if you are in a big city and overall just does not work too well.

Cassette plug in - works somewhat if you have a cassette player in your vehicle. Do you have one???

Or just buy a brand new stereo with MP3 capability

So well I found somethings that I think might work for me. And I would like to hear what others think or if they have even better solutions.

After searching around I found some nice devices that you can install into your car:

OEM RADIO IPOD AUX INPUT MP3 USB SD INTEREFACE (http://cgi.ebay.com/TOYOTA-OEM-RADIO-IPOD-AUX-INPUT-MP3-USB-SD-INTEREFACE_W0QQitemZ310091685430QQihZ021QQcategory Z3293QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153. l1262)
This device is specifically for Toyota type models But I'm sure there are others similar for other makes.
This system allows for USB, SD, and Line input. Thus tons of ways to possibly connect the G1 into your car.

USB - Get a USB to USB mini (http://www.usbgeek.com/prod_detail.php?prod_id=0387) to connect G1 to device (I think that would work)

Or get the USB mini to 3.5mm converter (http://store.androidcommunity.com/content/accessories/73-75--2373.htm) and a 3.5mm male to male extention (http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/205180921/3_5mm_STEREO_PLUG_MALE_TO_MALE_EXTENSION_CABLE_AUD IO.html)
And wahla you can plug into the Line input and play your tunes!

There are other similar type of car devices out there, but I did not want to put everything up.

Hopefully this little guide or thread or whatever you want to call it sparked some interest in making your G1 the perfect Car Radio. If others out there have better or similar solutions or feel that everything I wrote is completely wrong. Let me and everyone know!

So I hope I will finally be able to listen to Pandora and other online radio stations in the comfort of my car during all those long drives and traffic jams.

Thanks for reading! :)

[aaronkt]

man that is a great idea. once they get it where the phone can connect to my pioneer head unit i will be able to use my phone to take calls and stream internet radio over it. I know there was/is an internet streaming radio station. something bee.

[shmokinponcake]

I considered the potential for the G1 playing internet radio the second I found out about the phone. Then, one second later, I considered the bandwith implications. Although tmobile is giving us 10 gb per month, it could absolutely be an issue depending on how much you plan on using it as a radio in your car. I don't feel like doing the math, but a 128kpbs station left on continuosly is going to add up.

I am with you though. I am a massive music buff, dj and producer. I love internet radio but in the mean time, Sirius splits the MASSIVE gap between FM radio and internet radio quite favorably. Look into that.

[Habitat]

Well I bought the adapter so I can hook up my phone to the stereo :)

[oomikeyboy]

Right now i too love to listen to internet radio!

Pandora is my player of choice, and i use it with my iphone religiously. I have the "tzones 5.99 unlimited" plan on my iphone, and i use it to stream pandora when im in my car. I connect it to the in-car ipod jack, and it streams SEAMLESSLY. beautiful.. i wonder if the G1 can do something like this?

I know the car wont have a "G1" jack, but my car also has the ability to play using auxillary cables, so i can only hope that the G1 plan data plan is truly "unlimited" and Pandora releases the Android version of their fantastic program.

[foxdie]

Been doing this for a couple of years now, more recently in the last 12 months with my HTC Universal on T-Mo, but it sure mounts up, 128kbit radio station, half an hour journey, 30~ MB if I remember correctly, had to ration it :)

[EcheLON]

Here's my idea I think all vehicles should basically just have a horizontal Connecting dock where the radio would normally be. So that your touch screen phone, fitting snuggly in place, can handle all the functions of being a music/ media device, gps, and phone. All in one convenient package instead of having to buy a blue tooth kit and sync this or paying so much for a built in gps system just let the phone do it all. And that's not even scratching the surface as far as other capabilities. The possibilities are endless.

[shmokinponcake]

Here's my idea I think all vehicles should basically just have a horizontal Connecting dock where the radio would normally be. So that your touch screen phone, fitting snuggly in place, can handle all the functions of being a music/ media device, gps, and phone. All in one convenient package instead of having to buy a blue tooth kit and sync this or paying so much for a built in gps system just let the phone do it all. And that's not even scratching the surface as far as other capabilities. The possibilities are endless.


I couldn't agree with that more. I don't see anyway this won't happen in the next 5-7 yrs.

[onilink67]

very simple even a lot of OEM stereo's can do this. Get an AUX to RCA converter for your radio then get a mini-usb to 3.5mm converter then a 3.5mm to RCA converter and walla direct connection and you can probably hide most of the wires. Most care USB port radios will not work as they just search the device for music files not stream them automatically.

[happyandyv]

I'd like to see the pictures if anybody does get something custom wired up in their car for extra G1 control.

[EcheLON]

I couldn't agree with that more. I don't see anyway this won't happen in the next 5-7 yrs.

I think that this is an entrepreneurial venture waiting to happen anybody have any start up capital lying around anywhere?

[Gary.Lavin]

I played around with different systems with my HTC Universal and finally hard wired power, mic and speakers in to get the quality I wanted. I now have voice commands for my music, internet radio, GPS and hand free phone in the car. Planning to do the same with the G1, will just be missing voice commands.