[JohnClancey]

Greetings, all.

I have decided to upgrade my cars audio system, and instead of paying high dollar for a nice capacitive touch screen, I have decided to install a Nexus 7 tablet to the dash of my 05 mustang. I am wanting it to run Kodi (obviously) but I am concerned how efficient it would be on a 7 in tablet in terms of usability.
I have been looking online, but have not found much for addons that are tablet specific. Essentially what i want is a Music player addon that has decent size buttons, so i can easily switch songs while driving, as well as turn the volume up and down.

Also, I am wondering if their are any known issues to get Kodi to play out of a car speaker system.
Lastly, if their are a nice collection of addons, or skin that optimize Kodi for Tablets, or Car systems, any information on that would be awesome!

Thank you in advance.

[Knocks]

Car systems are starting to focus on hands-free operations, and the Kodi interface is built for remote controls (and most recently touch). It'll require thinking up a new control paradigm to transition to cars.

[whitebelly]

I'd think it through. You might be better off buying a car audio unit with a human interface designed for drivers. Also, tablet audio out might not be the highest of quality compared to a normal audio head unit. The tablet will require an amplifier of some sort. In addition, if you go diy/tablet, you will likely be forever working on it but never satisfied.

A decent head unit with usb input and bluetooth will give you a lot of flexibility. You can still use a tablet if you desire.

If you are still determined, the nice thing is that you can always work on tablet configurations and test them before installing. There are several car dash android apps out there that look cool.

[Ned Scott]

Actually, I think tablets are perfect for this. I don't know about Android tablets, but I know cheap $60 x86 Windows tablets can be used as Bluetooth audio receivers and have normal USB ports. Audio quality should be fine, but if not, a cheap USB DAC can be added.

As for Kodi itself, I really think Kodi could work well as a car interface, but so far no one has made a skin that would work well with it. At 7 inches even the ReTouched skin is hard to use "at a glance". Kodi needs a little love and attention in the big touch button/small screen area, and maybe some other touch ups for other music features, but nothing too bad.

However, there are lots of existing apps/solutions for using an Androis tablet as a car unit, even if Kodi isn't quite there yet. So the tablet itself is still likely a good buy and direction for this project.

[whitebelly]

It might turn out great, didn't mean to discourage. Just go into it eyes wide open. Simple things like fade and balance, or turning on/off with ignition and resuming where left off become challenges. Do you want to be able to adjust the volume without looking at the screen? I spent some time contemplating a R-Pi car entertainment system, but decided I was not ready to address all those little things. You may want to think through how you want to store the music and how you intend to add new music, or if you still want the ability to plug in a flash drive.

[JohnClancey]

To paint a full picture, I am wanting to mount the tablet into the dash, in place of the Double DIN. I am thinking of getting an OTG USB adapter, which will mount to the inside of my center console. This way, I can easily add/remove media, and plugin a keyboard for when I want to make any larger changes. I assume that there is an adapter of some sort that can connect the audio to the 4 car speakers I have (plan on getting a shaker500 upgrade)
So it seems like the physical function should not be an issue. Plus I am quite familiar with Android, so it will be rooted, and it will be a ROM of LTS.. more than likely it will be the stock Android ROM, as from my experience, custom roms, no matter how capable, they are always much more fussy. Anyway, it be a rom with LTS, and it will be rooted to allow the proper programs I need to access the core of the device, for simple configurations,
Here is a link of this being done in a dodge, sans the XBMC: http://www.androidcentral.com/nexus-7-ma...ystem-ever
I am just mainly focused on finding a kind of bulky skin, or perhaps changing the resolution to make it bulkier.. Everyone is focusing on it for cars, which is what I am looking for, but Tablet configuration would work just as well. There has to be some tablet specific skins out there.

[JohnClancey]

Deleted

[JohnClancey]

I now realize that I cannot charge the device and use the OTG usb adapter at the same time. So that will not work.The alternative (unless others can think of a better idea) is to have it mounted in a fashion that all external buttons, and chargers can be mounted.. but that sense, I might as well keep it detachable..so that is probably what I am back too.. So but that is not relevant to this forum.. I have also found a few tablet specific skins so this might work.

[BeesKnees]

To further Ned's point I just got in a refurbed Nexus 7 and while loading Kodi on it was pretty simple it is hard to navigate even from my easy chair. Maybe hard is not a good way to describe it... extremely frustrating is more accurate. re-Touched helps but not by much.

In addition, one of the best features of Kodi... the visual experience, is extremely muted on such a small screen. I can't think of a benefit (right now) of using it for audio in a car when it would be so much easier and no doubt safer to use something actually designed with drivers in mind. I can make toast on a light bulb but a toaster works better.