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Use a smartphone in place of iPod?

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Old May 4, 2010 | 12:42 AM
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Use a smartphone in place of iPod?

I'm getting a smartphone soon (HTC Incredible or EVO 4g) and I would like to use that as an iPod in the car. The iPod classic I had died and I don't want to spend extra on an iPod if the phone can do it, since the phone will be my music player as well.

Apple have a special iPod protocol which the car understands. Is this documented? Since the 2010 G37 uses a usb connector, I'm thinking another device can act as an iPod if it implements it and then I can use the phone with an app.
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Old May 4, 2010 | 05:39 PM
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There are a number of posts about this.
The G supports the Apple AiR mode, which is capable of advanced ipod remote control functions.
It also has limited support for USB mass storage devices. There are a number of limitations there, such as maximum partition size of around 60gb, and some have had issues with re-scanning mass storage devices when they add or remove music.

If you have the premium package you should have bluetooth A2DP support though, which most new phones support. There have been issues with skipping which seem related to signal strength, but I've used my Nexus One over bluetooth without any problems for music.
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Old May 4, 2010 | 06:11 PM
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USB and A2DP don't give me the nice iPod interface which is what I want. I think what I'm looking for is an app that implements Apple Accessory Protocol - nuxx.net, and uses it with the smartphone player.
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Old May 4, 2010 | 07:14 PM
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ANYCOM FIPO Bluetooth Receiver, White
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Old May 4, 2010 | 07:20 PM
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So wish I had a USB input on my 08 Coupe
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Old May 4, 2010 | 08:28 PM
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Originally Posted by ExtraCrispy
USB and A2DP don't give me the nice iPod interface which is what I want. I think what I'm looking for is an app that implements Apple Accessory Protocol - nuxx.net, and uses it with the smartphone player.
So what you're looking for is an app on a smartphone that basically implements the Apple protocol and acts like an iPod? Yeah, good luck with that I'm sure Apple will have a lawsuit somewhere, even if they have no legitimate grounds for it, they'll try to squash it somehow. That said, yup, it would be cool.

Originally Posted by finagle69
That's pretty cool for the '08 and '09 with the ipod only connector, but with the '10 G, with A2DP, you can directly communicate to the car. No need for another device.
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Old May 18, 2010 | 11:11 AM
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Has anyone tried that anycom adapter yet. Looks interesting. Work well? Does it transfer song text to screen. Can you control track control extra?
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Old May 18, 2010 | 11:37 AM
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Have you considered bluetooth streaming?
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Old May 18, 2010 | 11:51 AM
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I have an 08 no bt audio streaming
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Old May 18, 2010 | 12:16 PM
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Originally Posted by ExtraCrispy
USB and A2DP don't give me the nice iPod interface which is what I want. I think what I'm looking for is an app that implements Apple Accessory Protocol - nuxx.net, and uses it with the smartphone player.
Like mentioned above, you won't find any app that does this (on Android).

The simplest answer is: the iPod adapter is a cable, the cable sends data/commands to the iPod via a serial port connection. So unless you want to code up an App for Android (easy enough) and then figure out the hardware portion of this communication (hard), its not going to happen.

I've played around with the iPod adapter in my 08, got it talking to my laptop ( for more info read HERE ) This can't be done on a phone like yours without some hardware hacking... some USB host kernel hacking...then USB to serial conversion... its a freaking pain, trust me.

What I do have right now is a cheapo BlackBerry Audio Gateway that connects to the AUX RCA jacks and streams music from my Droid (but no steering wheel controls), read HERE

Now, about the ANYCOM FIPO thing... thats quite interesting, not sure how I missed it before. Looks like it supports Bluetooth AVRCP profile, and so does Android... I'm going to order one today and give it a try (not holding my breath for steering wheel controls but we'll see).
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Old May 18, 2010 | 02:27 PM
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Originally Posted by mozy
thats quite interesting, not sure how I missed it before. Looks like it supports Bluetooth AVRCP profile, and so does Android... I'm going to order one today and give it a try (not holding my breath for steering wheel controls but we'll see).
Well, android supports AVRCP, but the support on the media apps are spotty. I've been unable to get play/pause working reliably with my Nexus One music player app. I hear tunewiki works better though, but I never tried it. Fortunately, I have an ipod classic in my car
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Old May 18, 2010 | 02:41 PM
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Originally Posted by dopey
Well, android supports AVRCP, but the support on the media apps are spotty. I've been unable to get play/pause working reliably with my Nexus One music player app. I hear tunewiki works better though, but I never tried it. Fortunately, I have an ipod classic in my car
Ah yeah, I've browsed around and read the same stuff... damn. Oh well maybe support will get better. I mainly use DroidLive (or whatever the name of that app is now...) and I saw a post by the developer talking about AVRCP and help with bluetooth coding. Maybe support is coming soon (or in Froyo?)

I'll give it a go anyway, ordered already placed.
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Old May 18, 2010 | 04:59 PM
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I think it's worth it just to buy a cheap 1st gen ipod touch 8gb and leave it in the car.
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Old May 18, 2010 | 06:53 PM
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Originally Posted by cruzmisl
I think it's worth it just to buy a cheap 1st gen ipod touch 8gb and leave it in the car.
Like the OP said, his iPod died and he's getting a new smartphone... so this is not a solution.
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Old May 18, 2010 | 08:08 PM
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Mozy, I read that that Anycom does not support EDR (enhanced data rate) bluetooth and therefor samples down the bitrate of the audio so it sounds kinda crappy. Mozy hope you have good results. Please report back!

Also if you connect via BT to the anycom, can you still connect to the car via BT for phone calls? They are two different BT proticals just not sure if my Incredible will do that. Any ideas?
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