Dash marries your car and iPhone

Aftermarket smartphone integration leaves plenty to be desired. Most systems limit the usability of your device and require a tangle of cords or battery-sucking Bluetooth. Then there's the headache of trying to figure out how to access your files and applications via the stereo's cryptic controls. A new Kickstarter project aims to fix all that. Dash is a standard double-din head unit that uses a unique magnetic CNC-aluminum faceplate to dock your phone straight into your vehicle's dashboard. From there, accessing GPS, sending texts (by voice, of course) and playing music is as simple as swiping your screen. Pretty slick.

Dash features a video pass through so users can play video on external monitors, and the system keeps your phone charged while in use. The unit pumps out 4x50w of power and includes two preamps for front and rear subwoofers.

We typically get antsy any time we see technology that encourages distraction. To that end, Dash also includes an app to make all of your auto-themed applications easily accessible from one home screen. While that should cut down on the amount of time spent flipping through the main menu, it still appears that drivers will have to squint at their phones from behind the wheel.

The system features some interesting innovations, too. In addition to carrying the traditional FM tuner and an AUX in, Dash will eventually allow users to connect to their vehicle's computer. That, we can get behind.

The system is expected to begin shipping in June 2012. At first, Dash will only support the iPhone 4 and 4S, but Devium, the company behind Dash, hopes to support other smartphones in the future.

Source and Video:
http://www.autoblog.com/2012/02/19/d...phone-w-video/

 

Would be more interesting if it was for Tablet.

 

Some concept cars and one or two customs are showing up with docking stations for an iPad rather than the DIN stack at 2011's SEMA show. Makes plenty of sense to me. Larger screen than iPhone, useful for nav, music, diagnostics, etc. Need to work on that interface a bit though - you thought texting and driving was bad . . . .

 

honestly, looks like crap... better do that video out to a dumb terminal thing, it shouldnt be too expensive and looks a lot more integrated... like app radio for instance.

 

Looks kind of silly and cheap. Definitely not something I would put in my car. And What happens when you don't have your phone on you or leave it? No radio for the whole ride?