What to Look for in Tablets for Your Car

Tablets are everywhere, but did you ever think about tablets that are specifically designed for a car?  When you are talking about a car and using a tablet, the needs are going to be a lot different than the tablet that you use to relax before bed.  Playing Grande Vegas online casino might be fine to relax before bed, but if you tried to play Grande Vegas online casino while driving your car, any winnings you get will quickly be spent on paying for a lawyer.  Texting while driving (messing with tablets and phones while driving) is illegal in all states and most countries.

Anyway, back to tablets and cars.

Steering Wheel Controls

The most important thing to consider when buying a tablet for your car is if the steering wheel controls that come with your car can work to control the android tablet.

In the after purchase market, you can buy buttons that you can stick to your steering wheel.  The buttons are powered by a standard CR2025 button cell battery.

There are 10 buttons that are included.  Five on each button:

• Volume lounder
• Volume softer
• Next selection
• Previous selection
• Mute
• Answer phone
• Hang up phone
• Stop
• GPS

Car Multimedia Player

The main difference between a car tablet and a regular tablet is two main features.  The first is that the tablet fits into the car, so there is no concern that the tablet will fall down while driving and then you (stupidly) try to pick it up.  Second, it has actual buttons around the edge of the tablet to handle stuff like volume, next, previous, and a really nice and large looking radio application.

GPS

GPS and driving in 2021 are like peanut butter and jelly.  When you think about one, you think about the other.  Yes, a regular tablet can handle GPS.  Yes, you can buy a separate GPS.  But by having a GPS enabled tablet that is specifically designed for a car it means that it can fit into the computer and not fall down while driving.

Cameras

Some cars come with cameras attached to the car to help with backing up the car and parking the car.  If you have automobile cameras, you need to make sure that your car android tablet can connect to your auto cameras.

Speakers

Another major difference between a regular table and a tablet specifically designed for an auto is the ability for the table to easily connect with your auto’s existing speakers.   If you have the speakers, take advantage of them.

Bluetooth Cell Phone Dialing

Even though tablets are not usually designed for placing calls with an auto tablet, it includes the ability to use the tablet as a Bluetooth device to place a call on your cell phone.  In other words, the dialing pad does not get dropped, with huge buttons, and a huge display of the numbers dialed.  Those are a must, so you can quickly dial (while your car is safely stopped).

Split Screen Mode

This is now a standard feature in most Android tablets, but a lot of people do not take advantage of it.  One major use while driving is to show the GPS on half of the screen and then the radio on the other half.

Smart Dash Cam (software)

It allows you to use a phone’s camera as a dashcam video recorder that can be submitted in court.  So if you have auto cameras, this software can also be used to record that video as well.

Find My Parked Car (software)

This application allows you to quickly record the GPS location of where you parked your car as well as take a picture of your parking location.

Mileiq (software)

MileIQ is used to keep track of your miles for business purposes.  The application uses your phone’s clock and GPS to automatically track each of your journeys.  It logs the start and stop times, as well as total miles, are driven.  You can tag it as a business or personal trip with a simple swipe.

Radarbot: Speed Camera Detector and Speedometer (software)

Radarbot provides real time traffic alerts and speed camera detection.

Roadtrippers (software)

Roadtrippers allows you to plan a trip including planning itineraries and even discovering off beat destinations.

Summary

If you do a lot of driving (or even the standard daily long commute), it may be worth it to invest in an Android Tablet that is specifically designed to work with cars.  Steering wheel buttons, installing the tablet into the car (no dropping of the tablet while driving), connecting to auto cameras, connecting to auto speakers, and connecting to the auto microphone (if your car has it) are features that you will quickly discover you cannot live without.