Android phone on top of speedometer, a free "mount"

[starlightmica]

Just for kicks this morning, got out the relatively new Nexus One, started the navigation app, and laid it down on top of the speedometer face on the way to work. It sits well between the two protruding knobs for trip odometer reset and instrument panel lighting with just a little gap. Hard cornering did cause it to wiggle a little back and forth, a bigger phone such as a Droid X might not have that problem. The speedo needle is blocked at around 50 and 70mph Google Navigation doesn't show your speed, although other nav programs (that I don't have) probably do this.

Reaching through the steering wheel to change app settings is a bit inconvenient, but live traffic and ETA are nice to see. The N1 is quite power hungry and this little experiment sucked down about 20% of the battery, a microUSB cable with a 90 degree bend would work out just fine and the bottom of the phone. Fortunately I have a charger + spare battery at work. I'll post a picture later when I get a chance.

 

[starlightmica]

heat issues

Car was rather hot this afternoon and the phone heated up to 125F after about 10 minutes on top of the speedo. Perhaps an insulating pad might be in order. Glare from the windshield may be an issue if you're short like me. 1st picture was taken without the visor flipped down. AMOLED screen does okay when shaded by the instrument cowl.

I see that this isn't such an original idea, that there was a thread full of magnetic mounting points including a GPS unit overlying the instrument panel.