Found a cool app called "Speedhub" on the Android market the other night (I'm not promoting this or anything, I just found the app and did a mod on my car and writing about my experience). I for whatever was looking for anything taht related to HUDs that you could have in the car. I came across some iPhone article and had a look around for an Android equivalent. This one seems to be the best of them, purely because it's quite basic and is very accurate when compared with my speedo. I am thinking of maybe getting a non-slip mat for the dash to hold my phone and potentially having something put on the window to reflect during the day. It's absolutely useless during the day as it is too bright outside to make out the image in the reflection of the window. However at night time it is totally cool. I have my phone just behind the binnacles (in that curved bit) before the long front vent of the dash and it seems to fit in there quite nicely. Love it at night. The picture don't do it that much justice, but you get the idea. It's just off centre to where I am looking and doesn't obstruct the view out at all. It's also not intrusive to check the speed and sits just outside your fully focused vision but you can still see the speed you are travelling without taking your eyes off the road.

Here are the pics

 

"... down here there are literally hundreds and thousands of blinking, beeping, and flashing lights, blinking, beeping and flashing - they're flashing and they're beeping."
-- Buck Murdock (William Shatner) in Airplane II



Being serious, your post is a good example of why one might not purchase the NAV system from Lexus (or any car manufacturer) and just going with a smartphone. Imagine what all you could replace with a 7" tablet device (iOS, webOS, Android or other) and a 3G connection. Anything bigger I think would be problematic -- just getting in the way. Having it in a smaller package such as the cellphone may be a bit small for some functions but great for taking and carrying it when you leave the vehicle.

 

I bought the car specifically with the NAV. Sure there are problems around that (i.e. expensive to update) but it's always in the car and (except for any updated maps) it's free to use. I have seen some projects around where they have installed an iPAD or tablet device to handle all the functions such as bluetooth for the phone, 3G connections, nav etc. The cost to have one put in the car and make it look part of the dash, that's the annoying part. Either way a tablet couldn't do a HUD like display, as it would be too big on the windscreen. A smartphone is compact and small and hence the HUD option is pretty cool.

I had thought of something like this http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/GPS-Speed...item4aac91bc65 however the problem with that is the size of the unit, it would look super bulky on the dash. The smartphone well it's tiny on the dash. You just have to remember to take it with you (which I almost forgot to do this morning).

 

I think it's very cool and actually very similar to how things will eventually evolve in the industry.

However with an iPhone or any other device I cannot see it not melting internally in the summer heat sitting on my black dash just one day. I mean how many know some one that has warped CD's from leaving them out in the car.

 

Why the phone size is nice because you grab-and-go on the way out of the car so it does not stay there in the heat nor is it an easy target for thieves. You really want your phone with you anyway.

AAA has a nice TripTik app, then you have your Google maps, etc. There are dozens more for all types of phones such as the one the OP pointed out.

I would really like to have a device that would integrate with my vehicle in a much expanded way. Would like that 7" or larger screen to be customizable so I can display all sorts of information. Some screens may have music, news, video, etc. Some screens might have travel info. Some might have additional information about my RX such as actual oil temperatures, actual water temperatures, diagnostics info, etc. Remember the days when your vehicle came with a complete set of gauges? Part of why I love my Datsun 240z for just that. In my dream setup the heating and ventilation controls would remain with the car. This would just be a plug-n-play to replace the stereo, NAV and all that other stuff.

My introduction to FL heat came shortly after being transferred to MacDill AFB. Had two cassette tapes on the passenger seat of my car with non-tinted windows. I went into the bank for about 5 minutes and by the time I came back out the tapes were melted. Looked like something out of a Dali print. My next stop was to get my windows tinted.

 

An example of where things are heading and what I was talking about above would be the Nissan GTR display. I would just like it to be portable as well for other purposes. Here is the link to the manual for just the display. Weighs in at 307 pages.

http://www.nissan-techinfo.com/refgh...R-MFD-Navi.pdf

Would love to have all that information at my finger tips.