viper689

So after scouring YouTube and Google, I haven't found anyone that's tried to install a Nexus 7 tablet as a head unit, as opposed to buying a $600-700 deck. I imagine it would be a tough install. Has anyone else had the temptation or ideas to take on this kind of project? And I mean set in dash, not on a dash mount hanging in front of the stock stereo. So that it looks OEM, works with steering wheel controls, etc...

Tap'd from my Nexus 7

DermalsNmohawks

https://www.scionlife.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=215285

Took me 2 seconds 2 find on google.

Ps how would you hook your speakers up to the tablet?

DermalsNmohawks

Oh and to make it work with the steering wheel controls you would also have to run wires into it and probably make the OS in the tablet compatible.

Just stick with a deck (way less headaches)

O_O

Haha sweet that's my thread
But yeah since it's the Nexus 7 it looks to be a little bigger than my tablet but depending on the dimension of the N7 you should be able to modify the dash to make it fit.

For steering controls they still work since I've got the factory head unit still in there so everything like the radio and cd still work.

viper689

Yea I found that thread, but that's not mounted per se, it's sitting in front of the stock head unit. And music is played thru bluetooth or aux. I was wondering if anyone had seriously installed it in the dash itself and replaced the stock unit. I know there's custom roms that allow you get audio through the usb port on the N7 so I was wondering if anyone here had gone that route.

Sent from my 4.2.2 Galaxy Nexus

O_O

hmm..if you're going to go that route its going to be much more complicated. You're going to need to hook up and amp and equalizer to get your music to the speakers since once the head unit is gone the usb and aux port isn't going to work anymore. The usb is only functional when hooked up through the head unit.

Mine's still mounted although it's using the aux and head unit still. Sound quality is still fantastic since i'm using the equalizer from Poweramp which is incredible. Check out the app if you like.

viper689

Yea I'm thinking it may become a hassle and in turn become more annoying than functional. After reading your thread again, someone said they tried it with a Nexus 7 but that it was too wide of a tablet to fit like yours. I may have to try it on my own to see the fitment, but overall, how difficult would you say the process was for you? I've never opened up my dash and would be kind of terrified to, but just curious lol

Also, how do you power your tablet?

O_O

Overall it wasn't anything too hard, pretty straightforward once you have an idea of what you're doing. I was pretty new to all of this recently and tearing apart your dash is actually extremely easy. Just gotta pull on the pieces the right way and they just pop right out, literally. The hardest part for me was just repositioning the stock head unit deeper to fit the tablet in by basically squeezing it back farther when you remove the head unit brackets.

Here's a video I found from another forum member
As for powering the tablet its powered through usb as normal. I just wired the usb cable behind my head unit just as I did with the AUX cable down to the two ports. You can see it in my last picture where I fed the two cables out of my traction control button into the ports lol

viper689

Anything you wish was different? Like if someone had a USB stick that they wanted to play music off of and wanted to scroll through the list on the head unit, no easy fix for that I assume?

But then again, how often does that happen lol

O_O

Haha yeah that would be a problem if that happened. But you're right I don't think anyone would have that problem. The one thing that happens a lot is sometimes I or someone else would want to play music from their phone but that's not a problem at all. Just get a second aux cable and store it in the car for that use. That's what I did.

One thing I wish I could change is that if I want to put new music on the tablet I would have to pop that one piece off to access the tablet but its easy. Just more of an annoyance.

Edit: actually now that I think about it I could just get a female to male USB cable and just connect it to my laptop using the USB I connect for power...why didn't I think of that before!?

O_O

Random btw I used to try to use a USB stick for music when I first got the car but scrolling through to find a specific song was waaaaay too much work. You had to scroll by page of 5 songs until you got to it. The user interface on that head unit was terrible if you ask me lol

viper689

Lol yeah I'm excited to try it out but worried that someone else said the N7 wouldn't fit. Only one way to find out though so I'll try it out tomorrow hopefully. Another concern I have is bluetooth from my phone. If you have music playing through the aux cable, does it pause the music if a call comes in from BT?

Oh and another thing, how do manage when the screen turns off, or if it turns off? I imagine you can't turn the tablet on and off because the power button is concealed, so do you just have the display on all the time? What about when the battery is off and no power is flowing? Sorry for asking so many questions lol

Also check out Dropbox to move music without having to connect your laptop. You'd need to be on wifi (my phone, Samsung Galaxy Nexus, is rooted so I plan on tethering data to my tablet), but that way you'd be able to add music into Dropbox from your PC, then download them on your tablet.

O_O

Yeah, seeing if the N7 fits would probably be your biggest obstacle. Sanding down or cutting the really small tabs shouldn't be a problem if you do see it fitting past those. For the bluetooth problem I would assume the music would pause but I can't help you on that one my head unit doesn't come with bluetooth

Dropbox thing is a great idea though! Have your tried using Airdroid? I can't use either because I haven't rooted my galaxy s3 yet so no tethering for me. Also tethering to your N7 would be great if you ever get this to work. Pandora and navigation all to your tablet lol also if this does end up working it'll look more flush and OEM than my tablet

viper689

Oh lol no problem on Bluetooth I'll test it out before pulling apart the dash. And I use AirDroid all the time on my phone but it doesn't require root. I haven't found as much use for it on my tablet though.

And yea that's what I'm hoping for, Google Maps in my car! Lol it would be awesome, but that fitment is what I'm most worried about. A $200 Google Map equipped stereo deck lol. Also not sure if you saw it, but I edited my last post at the same time you responded. Here it is:

Oh and another thing, how do manage when the screen turns off, or if it turns off? I imagine you can't turn the tablet on and off because the power button is concealed, so do you just have the display on all the time? What about when the battery is off and no power is flowing? Sorry for asking so many questions lol

O_O

Oh I didn't notice the edit lol I put the display setting for always on because as you said there's no reaching the power button. As for how to turn the tablet off when you're not in the car I use an app for shutting the tablet off completely just like holding the power button because you don't want you tablet in sleep mode when you're not in your car for a while (it doesn't sleep anyway since the setting is on display always on) and when its completely off and your get in your car and turn the car on the power flow from the USB wakes up my tablet again which I'm assuming should be the same for all tablets.

Haha don't worry about it. I basically ran into these small problems since you wouldn't realize it until you start doing it

viper689

Well I got impatient and took apart my dash. Unfortunately the N7 is too wide, and so wide to the point where I'd essentially have to remove the small tabs at the bottom in order to clear the top side of the tablet....

Sent from my 4.2.2 Galaxy Nexus

O_O

hmm...are you willing to remove the small tabs? I didn't have to remove the bottom tabs but I had to cut off a little bit of the top tabs..the really small ones up top to make it flush. What about the length of the tablet? Does that fit at least? I might have to borrow someone's N7 someday to see if I could make it fit. That is quite unfortunate though....

viper689

I wouldn't mind removing them, but I don't know what I would rest the N7 on at the bottom. And I didn't have any tabs at the top. It was a solid bar where the clock and alarm indicator are. As for the length, that fit fine with some gap on the side. I didn't move the stock stereo yet (obviously), but that seemed like it was just 4 (or maybe 2?) bolts holding it in?

Oh wait I see the tabs now on top. They're so small that it would hardly make a difference. I'd still have to shave down the bottom tabs so much that there would be little to no support on the bottom

O_O

Ahh I see...the top of the climate control piece might be able to hold the tablet in place but that probably won't be secure enough...you might have to get creative on that part maybe 3m tape small metal brackets at the bottom to hold it in place. I wish I could get a hold of an N7 but I'm too broke to upgrade my cheap tablet haha

viper689

Lol no worries I appreciate all your help though. Maybe I'm wrong, but do those tabs at the bottom do absolutely nothing? The stock stereo is supported by the bolts, so I can't see what they're being used for?