# Dash Mounted - 7 inch Android Tablet



## thorpee (Mar 10, 2013)

So I decided to mount a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7inch in my Holden Cruze dash to perform GPS and music duties plus a whole lot more.

I got the idea and product information from wmschoonover in this forum topic http://www.cruzetalk.com/forum/36-audio-electronics/8792-7-android-tablet-dash.html some members in there were asking for a step by step guide, so I took heaps of photos as I was doing it.

The housing kit for the tablet came from this site JY Custom CCRUZ-74 2 Piece Navi & Digital Display Housing. Basically my originally stock stereo still operates exactly the same except for a tablet being connected to it's aux input. This means steering wheel controls remain the same. The kit included an enclosure for the stock stereo information display so it could be relocated to the compartment above the stereo. Then a bezel was included to attach a tablet and install it where the stock display use to be. The kit was designed for a Magellan Roadmate series GPS so some modification was required to make the galaxy fit.

*Higher res photos here* http://imgur.com/a/le6K6#0









Here I had to sand back the tablet to make it fit with the nav kits bezel. No more warranty 









I Pulled the tablets back cover off to ensure I didn't hit anything important when dremeling


















A screw hole which will hold the tablet securely in.


















Had to modify the dock connector the tablet uses. I really wanted to use a Nexus tab as it uses a micro usb, but the samsung tab's length was just a little shorter so it made a better fit.









Had to cut a little off the tab that holds the bezel into the dash. Later when I had to install it in the car I need to take more off.



























Applied fine double sided tape to hold the tablet to the bezel.


















Then I carefully aligned the tablet to the bezel and screwed a rubber belt that was provided with the kit. This kept the tab in position and added to the strength of the double sided tape.









It holds together nicely. You can see the tablet is a little bigger then the bezel, this made it a bit hard to install in the dash, I will get to that soon.


















This is the power system I used. Again it came with the kit. They call it a smart box and it provides a regulated supply of power. It wires up the same way a headunit would accessory wire, constant 12v, and ground (-). As you can see it already has a female cigarette pulg on it. This allowed me to plug in a 12v usb charger. Make sure you get a 1.5 or 2amp one as the tab will not charge if you were to use a standard 0.5 amp one. The smart box also has a 3.5mm audio cable input and output which cleans the signal of electrical noise.









Now the fun part pulling apart the dash. I recommend following an online guide to pull apart your dash as I did with my Cruze. You can see the stock stereo screen is in the same place the tablet will soon be in.









Pulled the top compartment out. there was two bolts and two little rubber grommets holding it in. 









Empty compartment area.









Empty Console









Screwing the stock stereo screen into its new enclosure. Two brackets held it in place and an extension cable was provided with the kit.


















The extension cable plugging into the original cable.









Trying to get the tablet in.









Some hackery to the internal sides of the dash. I mainly did this to allow for the dock connector and audio cable to be plugged in.


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## thorpee (Mar 10, 2013)

A dremel is your friend.









Things are a bit easy to get in now. As the tablet is a little bigger then the bezel I had to push and pull the soft dash plastic to get it in.










This is a photo inside the air con duct which is right next to the tablet.
I had get my hand in there to plug in the audio and dock connector.



























See the dock cable running up to the tablet. This is the point where I had to cut a little more off the bezels side clip to make room for the dock connector.









Back of stock stereo unit. I tapped into the accessories, constant 12v, and ground here. I used a multi meter and worked out which was the correct wire. It seems my radio has two accessory wires, one for when the key is first inserted, and one for when the key is turned to accessories. By mistake I plugged the smart box into the accessories wire that turns on by only inserting the key, But I like it like that anyways.



























There was a hole the perfect size to hide the smart box under the stereo.









I then run the 3.5mm audio cable passed the gear stick and towards the 3.5mm input under my arm rest. I probably could have connected it in the stereo, but I still wanted the option to unplug the tablet and plug another device in.









The old coat hanger trick to pull it through



























There was a drainage hole in the compartment already, so I just ripped out a little bit of plastic in the center of it and the cable fit through.










The end result




























For music updates I have a wifi signal in my garage so I just load up spotify and choose the playlists I want downloaded and then leave it finish overnight. Then in the morning my music is ready for offline playback.

For internet I have installed autotether on both my phone and tablet. It will turn your phones hotspot on by shortcut widget on the tablet. Saves grabing your phone out of your pocket or bag then thumbling through menus to activate it.

I use tasker to turn the screen on and resume the last song when the accessory power is provided from the car via the ignition being turned on. Likewise it turns the screen off and pauses music when car is turned off. The tablet has plenty of battery life to last days in an idle state.


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## bci26401 (Jun 25, 2012)

U had a little too much time on your hands to think this one up but job well done.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

Nice write up. Why not put the BlueTooth PDIM in and improve your audio and eliminate the 3.5mm cord?


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## Maxzillian (Sep 16, 2012)

I'm in the process of finishing mine up. I found that the tablet can fit the holder if you notch out about half the diameter of those two pegs. I've got the rubber straps that come in the kit arranged in a V-pattern with the bottom secured to a tab at the bottom of the mount and the top of each secured at the two pegs. This actually holds the tablet very well and doesn't rattle, but the tablet does creep up ever-so-slightly after a while. 

This has allowed me to temporarily mount the tablet while I've been testing. I had to trim my dash to clear the Samsung connector, but I can manage to wedge the assembly in without cutting up more of the dash; the connector has to be plugged in after the tablet is mounted. I ended up mounting mine upside down so that I could reach the power button by removing the bezel around the radio, but I too have resorted to tasker to handle turning the tablet on and keeping the display from dimming due to inactivity. Ultimately I had installed the bluetooth PDIM previously to this job so I just stream audio to the radio with my setup.

Right now I'm running a nightly build of Cyanogenmod 10.1 which allows me to set the DPI (dots per inch) of the tablet to 240. This makes everything easily readable and the buttons larger, but being a nightly build it does have bugs. So far the only one that bothers me is that the icons on a quick-launch bar like to randomly stack on top of each other. Other than that, it's actually stable near as I can tell.


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## thorpee (Mar 10, 2013)

Thanks guys. I like the Bluetooth idea only I know from experience Bluetooth can be problematic with pairing up, so I don't really want to add any issues when I know a solid wire connection will work everytime. I can see it might be a good idea for people that don't want to run the cable back to their arm rest. Also are you sure audio quality would be better? as I thought the devices compress the signal. Can I install the Bluetooth module and also keep/use my aux input?


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## thorpee (Mar 10, 2013)

Maxzillian said:


> I'm in the process of finishing mine up. I found that the tablet can fit the holder if you notch out about half the diameter of those two pegs. I've got the rubber straps that come in the kit arranged in a V-pattern with the bottom secured to a tab at the bottom of the mount and the top of each secured at the two pegs. This actually holds the tablet very well and doesn't rattle, but the tablet does creep up ever-so-slightly after a while.
> 
> This has allowed me to temporarily mount the tablet while I've been testing. I had to trim my dash to clear the Samsung connector, but I can manage to wedge the assembly in without cutting up more of the dash; the connector has to be plugged in after the tablet is mounted. I ended up mounting mine upside down so that I could reach the power button by removing the bezel around the radio, but I too have resorted to tasker to handle turning the tablet on and keeping the display from dimming due to inactivity. Ultimately I had installed the bluetooth PDIM previously to this job so I just stream audio to the radio with my setup.
> 
> Right now I'm running a nightly build of Cyanogenmod 10.1 which allows me to set the DPI (dots per inch) of the tablet to 240. This makes everything easily readable and the buttons larger, but being a nightly build it does have bugs. So far the only one that bothers me is that the icons on a quick-launch bar like to randomly stack on top of each other. Other than that, it's actually stable near as I can tell.


Yeah I may not have had to cut into my tablet like I did, but I wasn't quiet sure how the kit went together as the instructions were vague. I also need to find a way to access the power button and in future I wil add one of these for hot swappable SD cards http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/SDHC-SD-card-to-micro-SD-TF-extension-adapter-FPC-cable-for-mobile-phone-/221149974785?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item337d90 d101 

So did you cut most of the bezels clip off to make room for the dock/power connector?
I did most of the work to the tablet before pulling apart the dash so I assumed I had to keep most of the clip, which is why I hacked up the dock connector so much.


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## thorpee (Mar 10, 2013)

obermd said:


> Nice write up. Why not put the BlueTooth PDIM in and improve your audio and eliminate the 3.5mm cord?


Hrmm, if this makes the steering wheel controls change songs on the tablet I'm sold. Can you confirm this?


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## Lightz39 (May 14, 2012)

Thats actually very cool. If only they still had unlimited data plans. >.>


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

thorpee said:


> Thanks guys. I like the Bluetooth idea only I know from experience Bluetooth can be problematic with pairing up, so I don't really want to add any issues when I know a solid wire connection will work everytime. I can see it might be a good idea for people that don't want to run the cable back to their arm rest. Also are you sure audio quality would be better? as I thought the devices compress the signal. Can I install the Bluetooth module and also keep/use my aux input?


When I installed my Bluetooth PDIM and tested my sound quality improved so much I thought I had installed a whole new stereo system, including speakers. The 3.5mm jack is good for "books on tape" and that's about it. It's response range is aimed a spoken word and not music. I also have full access to the USB and 3.5mm ports should I want to use them. Bluetooth A2DP also gets rid of the alternator whine that you can hear through the 3.5mm jack when your device is plugged in for power.



thorpee said:


> Hrmm, if this makes the steering wheel controls change songs on the tablet I'm sold. Can you confirm this?


The only thing I can't do from my steering wheel is select my play list. I also don't see the track information on my display. I can start/stop the music, control volume (I keep my Android at full volume), and skip/repeat/fast forward/fast reverse from the steering wheel.

The writeup for the Bluetooth PDIM is linked in my sig.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

Lightz39 said:


> Thats actually very cool. If only they still had unlimited data plans. >.>


There is one android navigation software on the market that uses internally stored maps. You download the maps over wi-fi. I don't remember the name off the top of my head, however, but it's easy to find.


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## bbdhomer (Jun 20, 2012)

What an awesome job - great write up with pictures. Scratch free result my friend, hats off!


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## emanon9297 (Oct 10, 2012)

Great write up, I am def sold on the tablet install. My girl wants it so im looking to get it very very soon.


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## phantomknight321 (Jan 29, 2013)

I would be all over this but i still dont like how you lose access to the power button...

plus i really like my galaxy tab, i would have to buy another one for it


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## rpcraft (Jan 12, 2013)

Great write up, and for what it is worth to anyone wondering about the sound quality... I have played music from my phone over bluetooth and then swapped to the same song (same MP3 file) playing on my older ipod on the USB connector and there is some loss of bass over the BT connection. It's not bad overall, but it's one of those things where it is noticeable. I imagine if you get a little more advanced in your setup and add a subwoofer it will not be such a loss, or at least easier to compensate for. I'm thinking when I do mine I may use an Audison DSP and have an EQ setup for each input so it will be adjustable. I'd like to do the tablet in the dash but I'm trying to finish up a bike project that is kinda taking all my money right now, lol.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

The USB port in the Cruze handles music really well. The problem is the 3.5mm port - it doesn't handle music well at all. OP hooked into the 3.5 mm port for sound. Bluetooth is far better than the 3.5mm port for music.


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## rpcraft (Jan 12, 2013)

Yeah, Honestly I have never considering using it. I guess for anyone with some offbranded device that only plays through a headset jack I could see it being necessary but I just look at that thing with disdain........ lol :disgust (1):


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## Maxzillian (Sep 16, 2012)

thorpee said:


> Yeah I may not have had to cut into my tablet like I did, but I wasn't quiet sure how the kit went together as the instructions were vague. I also need to find a way to access the power button and in future I wil add one of these for hot swappable SD cards http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/SDHC-SD-card-to-micro-SD-TF-extension-adapter-FPC-cable-for-mobile-phone-/221149974785?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item337d90 d101
> 
> So did you cut most of the bezels clip off to make room for the dock/power connector?
> I did most of the work to the tablet before pulling apart the dash so I assumed I had to keep most of the clip, which is why I hacked up the dock connector so much.


I don't have a photo, but I shortened the bezel clip enough to clear the connector without modifying the connector at all. Everything seems to fit just fine as what I removed was more just the section that guides the peg into the slot of the dashboard.

Here's some photos of my install.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

rpcraft said:


> Yeah, Honestly I have never considering using it. I guess for anyone with some offbranded device that only plays through a headset jack I could see it being necessary but I just look at that thing with disdain........ lol :disgust (1):


Mine plays through both the headset jack and the usb jack. My music is taking up about 25 GB of a 32 GB micro-SD card. Google Navigator also needs to use this card and since I use my phone for both navigation and music, I can't plug the phone into a data port via USB. Google Navigator requires the external SD card be controlled by the phone. Android has a design flaw in that the SD card cannot be accessed by the device at the same time its being accessed via a USB interface. I say this is a design flaw because Windows CE 5 and 6 didn't have this restriction.


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## emanon9297 (Oct 10, 2012)

"Thorpee"

I use tasker to turn the screen on and resume the last song when the accessory power is provided from the car via the ignition being turned on. Likewise it turns the screen off and pauses music when car is turned off. The tablet has plenty of battery life to last days in an idle state.


Man what settings do you go to to make the tasker turn off when the ignition is off...???


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## thorpee (Mar 10, 2013)

It just works off the charger on/off state. When I get a chance I will back up my tasker data so you can just restore mine and it should work the same. I also think I'm running something that keeps the screen on ie. disables time out, will let you know.


emanon9297 said:


> "Thorpee"
> 
> I use tasker to turn the screen on and resume the last song when the accessory power is provided from the car via the ignition being turned on. Likewise it turns the screen off and pauses music when car is turned off. The tablet has plenty of battery life to last days in an idle state.
> 
> ...


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## emanon9297 (Oct 10, 2012)

ok thanks. I just got the galaxy tab 2 yesterday and before i install it I want to make sure i have tasker down.


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## thorpee (Mar 10, 2013)

emanon9297 said:


> ok thanks. I just got the galaxy tab 2 yesterday and before i install it I want to make sure i have tasker down.


Here's my back up file
View attachment userbackup.zip
I had to zip it to be able to upload it to this site. 

You will need to unzip it to your tasker folder which is located in the root folder of your tablet. Do not put it in the auto backup folder.

Then install this tasker plugin: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.intangibleobject.securesettings.plugin&hl=en

Then open tasker, hit your options key and choose back up restore, and then hit restore.

You can test everything with your wall charger (eg. turn it on/off to test if the screen turns on/off)

Then you should have all my setting, I still have some wifi related setttings you may wish to delete, and from memory the secure settings plugin was used to adjust the brightness of the screen at nighttime eg. Between 6pm and 6am brightness is set to 50% so it dosen't distract while driving at night.


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## Evofire (Oct 3, 2013)

i want to use tasker on a cell phone...can someone help me set up the profile to activate blue tooth, turn an app on, then turn it all off when then car is turned off?


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## maro (Apr 2, 2014)

There are 3 wires that comes out the smarbox. Red, black and yellow. Where did you connect the yellow one? That yellow wire need to be connected ?


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## Dragonsys (May 27, 2013)

My kit did not come with the smartbox. any ideas where I can get one from?


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## Mick (Dec 31, 2011)

The lighter box is sold separately. 
http://www.jycustomusa.com/product_detail.php?no=71
$25 after shipping.

I don't plan on using mine since I'm planning on modding one outlet to be hot all the time. If you want it, let me know.


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## Dragonsys (May 27, 2013)

Mick said:


> The lighter box is sold separately.
> Rebooter Supressor
> $25 after shipping.
> 
> I don't plan on using mine since I'm planning on modding one outlet to be hot all the time. If you want it, let me know.


Dang, wish I had sen that could have saved a little on shipping, lol
Sure, if you don't need it, let me know how much you want for it.


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## Mick (Dec 31, 2011)

I'll take $15 shipped just to recover some of the cost. I thought it was included as well.


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## Dragonsys (May 27, 2013)

Mick said:


> I'll take $15 shipped just to recover some of the cost. I thought it was included as well.


I'll take it, just let me know how to get you the money.


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## Dragonsys (May 27, 2013)

thorpee said:


> Here's my back up file
> View attachment 12614
> I had to zip it to be able to upload it to this site.
> 
> ...


Thanks for sharing this, it has helped me out tremendously!


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## phpsteve (Jul 15, 2014)

Nice job. Looks great. I'm thinking for my nexus having it be on a slider up top If it fits..didn't check yet. So leave the dash alone but the top compartment when lifted would slide the tablet down to use. If I get really creative will make it motorized. If I'm really lazy then nothing will get done lol.


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## SiK GambleR (Jan 24, 2012)

Out of curiosity has anybody done this with a nexus 7?

Secondly, since I would not be going the bluetooth route and would be going the aux route: would there be any issue adding a pushbutton in line to the upper monitor's power line so that I can shut it off when using the tablet? Or would that cause some sorta computer induced BS interruption?


PS: sorry for bump.


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## txcruze26 (Jul 7, 2015)

wow! nice write up!! thanks!!

and it looks great btw! definitely a cool mod to stand out


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## anthonysmith93 (Jul 15, 2015)

thorpee said:


> A dremel is your friend.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Were you able to get Tasker to unlock the screen as well? Or just to turn on and resume music.


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## lonewolf04 (May 6, 2016)

Ordering a new galaxy tab a 7.0 to prepare for this! I've got the center dash speaker but not concerned about it. It's going to be nice having NAV, music and many other options in the Cruze.


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## AutumnCruzeRS (Sep 10, 2012)

I ordered the install kit just before the Lordstown meet this year. Its still in the box waiting for a tablet. The Elipsis 7 I have isnt gonna work for me. Is there any tablets that fit with the kit? I just havent had time to get this project going yet.


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## anthonysmith93 (Jul 15, 2015)

AutumnCruzeRS said:


> I ordered the install kit just before the Lordstown meet this year. Its still in the box waiting for a tablet. The Elipsis 7 I have isnt gonna work for me. Is there any tablets that fit with the kit? I just havent had time to get this project going yet.


Why isn't it going to work? It has to be better than the POS tablet I picked up at wally world for this project LOL my kit should be here Tuesday! (today)


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## AutumnCruzeRS (Sep 10, 2012)

i was hoping to find a tablet from verizon that will fit without having to cut into the casing. Gonna have data package with tablet.


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## lonewolf04 (May 6, 2016)

So I downloaded tasker and the zip file that was provided. Apparently a lot of changes have happened since this was introduced. The on/off feature is disabled after android 4.2+ as well as the wifi sleep function. In the process of rooting it and trying to get it to a way that will function as described by *thorpee*.


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## Fastorange (Jul 7, 2016)

Very cool!!

Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk


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## soulmeetsbody12 (Jul 29, 2016)

wish i had the balls to do this with an ipad so navigating would be easier
nice


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## brianguy1979 (Jun 17, 2012)

Get it working correctly?


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## dwoodwarth (Jun 19, 2016)

thorpee said:


> Here's my back up file
> View attachment 12614
> I had to zip it to be able to upload it to this site.
> 
> ...


thanks for sharing this was a huge help.. getting my dash set up this week


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## AutumnCruzeRS (Sep 10, 2012)

What tablet are you going to use. I bought the install kit a year ago and never found a 7 inch tablet to use for it.


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## dwoodwarth (Jun 19, 2016)

AutumnCruzeRS said:


> What tablet are you going to use. I bought the install kit a year ago and never found a 7 inch tablet to use for it.


i just did mine today
used a DigiLand 7" Tablet Model: DL721-RB got it from best buy for about 40 bucks.
didn't have to trim any of the dash minus where the aux and power cords went behind the dash
looks great & performs everything i have wanted it to do so far


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## AutumnCruzeRS (Sep 10, 2012)

I've been meaning to get to Best buy to check out if there were an 7 inch tablet. Is that the only one available? Also does it have data with it?


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## dwoodwarth (Jun 19, 2016)

I'm sure there are other options available. 
I would guess Anything similarly sized should work with different abouts of cutting of the dash required.
I'm not sure on the data. The tablet I got has Wi/Fi and Bluetooth options. So i plan to just use my phones hotspot or home wifi for downloads and the like


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## BrandoFisher117 (Mar 14, 2016)

I don't have the in dash setup, but I can comment on a 7" tablet. I have a Nexus 7 that I use (along with an iPad), but I will say I like the Nexus 7 a lot.


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## Dngrsone (Jul 3, 2017)

I'm considering this mod myself. I happen to have a Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 which should fit the bill nicely.

I am researching the 30-pin connector right now to see if there is a way to force power-on from there. I know there are audio outputs that can be pulled from there, though I wager one would need an amp or DSP to use it.

I am wondering if the ambient light sensor is blocked by the housing... it would be kind of nice if the display brightness could still autoadjust.


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## Dngrsone (Jul 3, 2017)

Okay, it took me a year, but I got this mod done. I will likely create a separate thread and link to this one, but the long and short of it is that I used the aforementioned GT2 7.0, the kit mentioned in this thread, and a few simple hacks.


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## Dngrsone (Jul 3, 2017)

Instructible here.


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