How to install 3 Android tablets in your car

Ever since the original Nexus 7 came out, I always wanted to install a tablet in my car. However, there were some issues I couldn't resolve on a budget, like retaining steering wheel controls, offline navigation, clean installation and seamless operability like a regular car stereo.

That was a couple cars ago, but with my most recent vehicle acquisition, a 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo, I decided it was finally time to install a tablet in a car.

The Jeep is a project car I'm tricking out to use as a rig to take my family camping and driving off the beaten path. So far, it's mostly stock save for a new set of Yokohoma Geolandar A/T-S 30-inch tires, 15 x 8 wheels from a Jeep Wrangler. 2-inch coil spacers for a mild lift and retrofitted projector high-intensity discharge (HID) headlights.

I got the Jeep from my dad, which included a Chrysler Infinity IV CD player and Infinity Gold premium sound system. Chrysler and General Motors (GM) used 1.5-DIN sized radios in the '80s and '90s, which prevented me from installing a double DIN Android Auto and Apple CarPlay ready head unit, like the JBL Legend CP100.

Luckily, I had an Nvidia Shield Tablet LTE, an external DAC and 4-channel car amplifier collecting dust – all of which I could install in the car.

Mounting the tablet

There are many ways to mount a tablet for easy access from the driver's seat. There is suction cup, wedge, cup holder and CD slot mounts available from companies like RAM Mounts. Any of the those mounting solutions are easy and work well, if you don't mind how they look.

I'm anal about clean and stealth installations, so I mounted my Shield Tablet the hard way by modifying an interior panel to fit the car. It wasn't an easy process, but I used a tablet case as a starting point.

It took two attempts, because the first case I used, a cheap $11 ProCase Ultra Slim Hard Shell case didn't work too well as a template. I figured I could cut the top cover off, mold it into the interior panel and easily pop out the tablet as I needed. Unfortunately, this didn't work out, because the case covered the back of the tablet and didn't leave much of a lip to smoothly mold into the interior panel.

After the first failed attempt, I decided a rugged hard case would work better as a template and ordered a Poetic Revolution rugged hard case. The case has a plastic front bezel that tightly attaches to the Shield Tablet without the back cover on – exactly what I needed.

Now, I'll admit I'm not the handiest person when it comes to customization work that goes beyond simple bolt-on products. But, molding the tablet into the dash was a fun learning process that involved J-B Kwik Weld, Bondo body filler, Bondo-Glass reinforced body filler and a lot of sanding.

I used JB Kwik Weld to hold the Poetic case bezel in place at each corner and reinforced it from the back with Bondo-Glass. Bondo was used to fill in the front and sanded with 220, 150 and 80 grit sandpaper before painting.

The Poetic case has cutouts for the front-facing Shield Tablet speakers and camera, so I could retain the use of it. It has a screen protector, too, but I removed that since I didn't need the extra protection.

The result wasn't too bad for my first attempt. It's not perfect but suits the personality of a 20-year-old car. I also didn't have too much patience to sand it down perfectly, either.

Powering the tablet and connecting it to the car

Micro USB has been the charging standard for mobile devices for the last five years, so it was easy to find a hardwired charger for the car. I ordered an E-Kylin right-angled charger that claims to provide 2.1-amps from Amazon for just $10. I wired the adapter to the car's switched 12V power, so it only turns on when the car is on and won't drain the car battery.

Connecting the Shield Tablet to the audio system isn't much of a challenge. The stock Infinity Gold premium sound system has an amp below the rear driver-side seat, which I ripped out and replaced with an Alpine KTP-445U four-channel amp I had laying around from my previous car.

The Alpine KTP-445U supports direct input from portable devices and powers all four speakers from a stereo input – no splitters needed.

I opted to use Bluetooth to transmit audio to the Alpine amplifier via a Creative Labs Sound Blaster E5 portable headphone DAC. The DAC provides a cleaner output, with higher voltage than the Shield Tablet's headphone jack, and simplifies the wiring process.

It automatically turns on and connects to a paired Bluetooth device when it receives power from the micro USB port, which makes it less of a hassle. I wired another micro USB power adapter to a switched power source, so that it only turns on with the car – it turns off automatically when idle, too.

Software

While Nougat promises to bring the Android Auto user interface to your smartphone this fall, the Shield Tablet runs Marshmallow. Luckily, BitSpice Automate, one of the 11 best apps to use in your car, gives you an Android Auto-style user interface with plenty of control over your connectivity and power options.

AutoMate also works with a variety of navigation and music apps. I opted to use Here Maps for navigation because I can download maps for the entire US and Canada without manually selecting an area, since I do not have data connectivity for it yet.

The most important feature of AutoMate is the ability to automatically execute commands when certain events are triggered. I configured AutoMate to automatically wake the tablet, turn on Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and resume music playback when the tablet receives power via micro USB (when the car turns on).

When I turn the car off, AutoMate shuts off the screen, turns off Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and music playback to conserve the tablet's battery.

Volume control was another concern I had, but AutoMate lets you swipe up to adjust the volume. I can launch the Sound Blaster Central app if I needed greater control of the audio features, too.

There is one caveat with my setup, however. If the Shield Tablet battery completely dies, I'd have to remove the interior trim panel to access the power button. Nvidia doesn't have a provision to automatically power on the tablet when plugged into charge, which is a feature you can enable on the Nexus 7 and some Samsung tablets.

I just installed the tablet in the car yesterday with a full charge and haven't encountered a dead battery yet.

Hands-free calling

The other downside to my setup is the lack of hands-free calling support. I cannot pair my Samsung Galaxy S7 to the Shield Tablet and use the car for hands-free calls. It's not a feature I'm concerned about, as I rarely make calls in the car anyway.

My workaround for it will be to add the tablet to my AT&T account and use Google Hangouts to make calls from my Google Voice number, unless Nvidia miraculously adds support for NumberSync.

Alternative options

I used the Alpine KTP-445U and Sound Blaster E5 DAC because I had them laying around. There are other products that would make the install a lot simpler and cost-effective. If your car already has a factory amplifier, the JL Audio MBT-RX is a $50 Bluetooth receiver you can easily hardwire into a car.

There's also the $100 JL Audio MBT-CRX that provides Bluetooth streaming capabilities with physical controls for volume and track selection.

If you're looking for an all-in-one amplifier and Bluetooth solution, Harman International makes the Infinity K4 and K5 four and five-channel amplifiers with built-in Bluetooth connectivity. The Infinity amps start at $550 MSRP for the four channel.

JBL offers the similar GTR-104 and GTR-7535 starting at $500 MSRP for the four channel. Both the JBL and Infinity amps feature Harman Clari-Fi technology, like you would find in the new Kia Sportage and Kia Optima, that cleans up poor-quality audio sources.

Most importantly, the JBL and Infinity amps include a control pod with built-in microphone for hands-free phone calls. There's a party mode that lets your passengers connect their phones and control the playlist, too.

Ultimately, the Infinity K5 is the amp I will eventually install in the Jeep when the funds permit it. I'm particularly fond of Harman brands because the first premium sound system I was impressed by was an Infinity Gold system in an early '90s Plymouth Voyager, which lead me to purchasing aftermarket Infinity components for my cars.

What about steering wheel controls?

You can retain steering wheel controls with a tablet or phone installed in the car, but it isn't cheap. Nav-TV makes the SteerBlue interface that translates steering wheel controls to Bluetooth for $300. The SteerBlue adapter still requires a separate $50-$100 adapter from iDataLink, PAC Audio or Metra to translate the vehicle bus to a standard the SteerBlue understands.

Nav-TV also sells the StreamBlue for $100 more, but it's an all-in-one device that supports Bluetooth audio streaming. Luckily for me, my Jeep doesn't have steering wheel controls, so it's not something I'll miss.

If your car doesn't have steering wheel controls, there are Bluetooth buttons that add playback control buttons. I picked up a simple Bluetooth button from Satechi for $30 (£23 or AU$40) that sticks onto your dash with double-sided sticky tape or attaches to the steering wheel with an included mount.

The media button is powered by a single replaceable CR2016 battery that claims to last up to two years. It's small enough that you can put it anywhere. I stuck it in a blank spot where seat heater controls would typically be, which my car does not have.

When I was growing up, my parents had an '84 Dodge Caravan and eventually upgraded to a 1998 Grand Caravan. I yearned for rear air conditioning and some form of entertainment, but got by with only music from a Walkman or Discman.

Rear seat entertainment (RSE) systems were only available on high-top conversion vans via CRT televisions and a VCR – a luxury I did not have as a child. But family road-trips were a rare occurrence for my childhood, so I kept myself entertained by staring aimlessly out the window with mixtapes recorded off the radio.

You can buy a new vehicle with integrated RSE systems, but they are costly. Take the Chrysler Pacifica minivan, for example. It's the newest family vehicle with a modern RSE that includes Blu-ray playback, touchscreen two-player games and HDMI input to bring your own devices, like an Xbox or Playstation.

Chrysler charges $2000 for the privilege of keeping your children entertained, but only makes it available on the top-end Limited trim that starts at $43,000 (not available in the UK or AU). The cost of Chrysler's Uconnect Theater RSE system seems excessive, especially since you can beat the function and capability of integrated systems with a couple tablets for a third the price.

Since I'm preparing my 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee for long family road-trips, an RSE to keep my 5- and 3-year-old girls entertained is a must. So, a pair Androidtablets are going on the rear seats to join my existing Shield Tablet LTE in the dashboard.

Shield Tablet K1 is perfect for RSE

You can use any iPad or Android tablet for RSE – it depends on the level of performance and capability you want. I opted for a pair of Nvidia Shield Tablet K1's for the front-facing speakers, Tegra K1 processor, Shield controller and pure Android experience.

As a geek and connoisseur of excessive capability for no reason, the Tegra K1 fits the bill for running Kodi, Netflix, Crossy Road, Pix the Cat and SNES emulators. However, it has performance headroom for the future and Nvidia has had a good track record of software updates through the tablet's lifetime.

Aside from the basic video playback tasks, the Shield Tablet K1 tablets are configured to run ScummVM, a program that lets you run the classic Lucas Arts adventure games and the kid games from Humongous Entertainment. Growing up in the '90s, I remember playing games like Putt-Putt Goes to the Moon and Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo on my elementary school's Apple Performa 5200, which are games I want my own kids to experience.

Humongous Entertainment sells some of its '90's children games, including Putt-Putt, Freddi the Fish, Spy Fox and Pajama Sam, repackaged for Android on the Google Play Store, but it charges $4.99 for each individual game. There are 19 games for Android, which comes out close to $100, whereas I paid $40 during a Steam sale for the entire collection on PC.

Since the Steam versions run inside ScummVM, all the necessary files needed to run it on Android are available in the Windows install directory. I found a script on Reddit that automatically copies the files required from the Steam directories for ScummVM to run the games, which made things easier.

 

Secure mounting

My biggest concern with using tablets in a car for RSE is secure mounting solutions. Sure, the Shield Tablet K1 weighs a little under a pound, but it's a potential projectile during an accident. There are cheap $15 mounts that attach to your seat headrests, but they seem flimsy and I don't trust them.

In continuing with the tradition of overkill, I went to RAM Mounts in Seattle, Wash. to come up with a mounting solution for the Shield Tablet K1's. RAM Mounts produces secure mounting systems for laptops, tablets and phones, which are used by law enforcement, EMTs and other professionals, so its sufficient for a pair of toddlers.

The mounting solution devised consists of a RAM Mount Torque 3/8" – 5/8"diameter mini rail base, a six-inch arm and a Tab-Tite spring-loaded cradle. Cost for all the mounting parts came out to $70 per tablet, which is only a little more than what you pay for a rugged case for your phone.

RAM Mount's Torque attaches to the headrest post and provides a ball mount to attach the arm on. The six-inch arm provides plenty of movement to bring the Shield Tablet K1 closer for my kids to use or easily move out of the way when not in use.

The Tab-Tite is a cradle designed for the Google Nexus 7 with a rugged case installed that fits a naked Shield Tablet K1 perfectly. It has a spring-loaded back plate that makes popping the tablet in and out quick and easy.

A bonus benefit is the Tab-Tite fits the Shield Tablet K1 with the official Nvidia cover still attached. This saves me the trouble of storing the covers when the tablets are installed in the car so I can just flip it backwards and slide it into the Tab-Tite.

Powering the tablets

I used the same E-Kylin right-angled micro USB chargers as the in-dash tablet to power the rear ones. I had to unzip the seat covers and run the cable through the seat and out through to the headrest post. Most cars have a zipper you can unzip to access the seat-foam area – it may take some finagling and patience.

You could keep things simple by just using a 2.1-amp USB cigarette lighter charger, but I prefer hard-wired and hidden cabling. The power adapters are wired to a switched power source that only works when the ignition switch is on or in accessory mode.

Audio for the kids

While the Shield Tablet K1 has front-facing speakers that are perfectly adequate for watching movies and playing games, I don't want to hear The Lego Movie or Zootopia a bajillion times for my own sanity, so headphones are a must.

Standard wired headphones I had laying around are being used, for the time being. The wiring gets messy with the kids in the car seats, but it's a temporary solution until I get Bluetooth headphones.

I'm eying the Creative Labs Outlier Bluetooth headphones for this duty, since they're small enough to fit toddler ears and come in interchangeable colors. The Outliers are rechargeable, but still work when plugged in for those times I forget to charge them, too.

An 1,100-mile test run

My Jeep is being built for road-trips, so what better way to test the Shield Tablet infotainment system and Shield Tablet K1 RSE than a 7-hour road-trip? So, we packed our bags, loaded up the Thule roof box and hitched up a pop-up camper trailer and headed to Ione, Wash. – a small town along the Pend Oreille River that's about 30-miles south of the eastern Washington and Canadian border.

This was the first time I've taken the Jeep on a long road trip – previous drives were only about 2 hours to Portland, Ore. I discovered the in-dash Shield Tablet LTE developed some Bluetooth issues after I installed the Satechi Bluetooth media button and OBDII Bluetooth adapter.

Audio pops and drops start occurring intermittently making it impossible to enjoy the music. It had troubles reconnecting to my Galaxy S7 via Wi-Fi, which I was using as a mobile hot spot. I believe the new Shield Tablet 4.2 OTA update contains fixes that should solve my issues, but the OTA wasn't available for the US LTE version yet, since it's awaiting carrier approval.

I didn't have time to flash the international firmware prior to the trip, unfortunately.

The Shield Tablet K1 RSE system was a hit with my two kids. My 5-year-old spent the trip playing Pajama Sam, Putt-Putt and Crossy Road with the occasional movie break while my 3-year-old watched a couple of movies and passed out.

Should you try this at home?

Installing a tablet in a car can be either very quick or all-too time consuming, depending on how you want it installed. It's not the most economical solution either, but I'm a geek and love tinkering.

You can make things work like a normal car stereo with the available hardware and software solutions. My Nvidia Shield Tablet setup would have cost around $900 if I had to buy everything, but if your car has an aux input and you don't mind suction cup tablet mounts, it shouldn't cost that much.

Would I have spent $900 to buy everything purely for a car install? The answer is no, but my Shield Tablet was collecting dust and I could detach my Sound Blaster E5 when I need to hop a flight, so I'm not losing much and the tablet gets used.

Plus, now I can play Doom 3, Borderlands: The PreSequel and classic SNES games in the car while waiting for my wife outside the craft store, which is pretty damn cool.

As for the RSE, it came out to about $600 for all the parts necessary to complete the installation. This was definitely worth it and a much better than opting for a factory-installed system.

Not only was it much more affordable than the $1,000-$2,000 automakers charge, it's a superior system in every way. The Shield Tablet K1 is more powerful than any factory RSE system offered. It only lacks an HDMI input, which isn't really needed.

With the cost difference, I could shoehorn an Alienware Alpha R2 in the back and use GeForce game-streaming for real PC gaming in the car, which gives me another idea…

      
Download this post: PDF format / WORD format     

11:20 AM