Turn Your Old Android Phone/Tablet into the Ultimate Car GPS

This video shows how to turn your old unused Android Cell Phone or Tablet into a dedicated Car GPS that far surpasses stand alone GPS units.

The guide will instruct how to sync the Phone or Tablet with the car using the app Automateit and enabling auto power on when USB Cable is plugged in. This makes it so the Phone or Tablet powers on when the car is started and powers off when the car is turned off.

You can use any offline GPS app (video shows Sygic Navigation).

A huge advantage of using a Modified Android Phone/Tablet as a dedicated car GPS is the ability to install Android Apps.

Phone/Table synced to the car allows for in dash installs.

Requirements:
Rooted Android Phone/Tablet
Moderate Computer Skills

Apps Needed:
Automateit
Sygic Offline Navigation (or your choice of Navigation App)

Video Overview:
1. Install Automateit
2. Install Sygic Offline Navigation
3. Set Automateit Rules
4. Enable Auto Power on when USB Cable is Plugged in
5. Test out GPS

Install Android SDK Tools Video:

My bitcoin green address: GU9aQ1ossgQdmD4qXXfGCzhLPuajQ9sweu

[DrLoco]

The very important text, you need to enter in the command window to turn on the device whenever the phone is powered through USB, says the following in white added onscreen:
fastboot oem-off-mode charge 0
however you typed the following in the command window:
fastboot oem off-mode-charge 0
notice the difference:
fastboot oem-off-mode charge 0
fastboot oem off-mode-charge 0

If this is so very important, a bit of consistency might be handy.

[trinifirst]

This is really interesting.
I hope to try it with a cheap tablet with GPS.
I really appreciate that people like yourself take time to make these videos.

[smby]

Thanks man! used your guide to complete my Android Dash Install, my galaxy tab 3 is now a seamless head unit for my truck.

[mgathecat]

This is a brilliant solution, thank you so much for making this tutorial, and filming/editing it... I imagine it must have been quite a lot of work, but I most appreciate this.

after watching this, I decided to buy a gps.

[fadereal]

Great tutorial..!
As I always wondering what to do with my old phones..!
Thank you so much..

[mhrd]

remarkable video with step by step set up man .... really enjoyed the process

[guntaraardifrans]

Thanks!!! Worth the hours of unlocking the boot loader, rooting, setting up and everything. Awesome job.

[tvbox]

How does the phone perform in the extreme heat that often develops in cars? How about in very cold areas?

[juniorlewis]

I like the video. Please do a video showing it in action since many people including myself never used a car GPS before. If such video already exists, please share the link with me.
Thank you for sharing.

[itsleo]

Hey thats great, ill give it a shot..question where did you get your car cell phone holder?

[konstantinosmanousiadis]

does this work with a wireless charger for the smartphone permanently plugged in a usb charger also?or the mini usb must be plugged in the smartphone in order to "read" the power supply?thanks!

[chrisd]

You put some serious time into this.. how is this any better than Google maps?

[lordrussell]

nice video i like how its made to help understand clearly. great job dude

[brianwolff]

If you need navigation on your old phone or tablet, just download the area map from Google Maps where you live over wifi, on google maps, then use google maps as navigation in your car. It works just fine for a phone or some old 7 inch tablet you have, and does not need any data for the GPS to work....step 1. open google maps. step 2 save area map to you phone (very small file saves in seconds). step 3 run maps as navigation. The local map needs to be saved every 30 days. My local maps includes all most of NC and a good chunk of Tennessee, so not a big issue there. You can save more than one map for continuous function on an across-the-country-drive. If you use your current phone or have data access, you get live traffic updates as well. It is all free except for the very little data you use. The maps are searchable, without data, like finding a gas station, and address or a certain business.

[AllCanTrend]

Thank you for this interesting video. I have a request for some information, I have a LG stylo 2 unlocked that I don't use anymore; I want to install 2 side view blind spot cameras in my car and I want to make this unsused android smartphone a dedicated display unit for these blind spot cameras. Any ideas on how to achieve this will be much appreciated.

[LordOrwell]

google maps has offline mapping now. You just draw a box around how big an area you need.

[jozzerful]

You can also download an app, called TomTom yes the same as the GPS TomTom, you download it, and you get 60 minutes offline use so basically, if you get lost and need directions you get 60 minutes of free directions. I think this is good because it is not that often that I need directions and 50 minutes is more than enough time for to get directions and that is just on your standard phone, sorry I forgot to mention you get 60 minutes every month, and put it on your SD card, no other things are required if and when you need directions you just tap your TomTom app and turn on your GPS tell it where you want to go and it will give you directions as good as a TomTom GPS would give you know other messing around.

[sreejithpk]

Hai.... I have successfully installed Nexus 7 on my vehicle... Thanx for the inspiration and information :)

[xdeathoreox]

How to avoid battery rules (For the most part):

Get decent usb cable
Proper amount of amps to tablet