After showing a prototype last year, Rydeen is now preparing to ship a true Android car DVD/radio that is essentially a tablet in a car chassis. It relies on a smartphone only for a wireless connection.
The car AV radio allows you to download Android apps. It runs on a version of Android 2.2 that has been modified to be suited to the automobile.
In addition to the usual Android user interface is a “bar” of icons that appear on the bottom of the screen for car radio functions like DVD and equalizer. There’s an icon for setting up steering wheel controls and one for launching a back up camera.
The unit is a full DVD/CD double DIN receiver with a capacitive touch screen with swipe capability.
You can get Facebook, email and other features typically found on a tablet using a similar interface.
It runs on a 1GHz processor with 4GB of memory. It also has 4 volt outputs.
Called the model DV638A, it should be available in April at $699.
Source: Rydeen
