Infinite Skyz Skyzmatic System

Lil4X said:

I've been doing a little research with my present car and its Tom-Tom nav system and my newly-updated W-phone. Just how practical are all of the telematics? I've had fifteen years' experience with laptop-based navigation systems, very high-end factory-installed systems (that at the time required top-of-the-line audio systems and DVD players), and a couple of stand-alone pocket navigators and smartphones. At this point I wouldn't be without my electronic sat-navigator. In a pinch, it can get you to your destination - but with one BIG caveat: It's stupid and it has NO local knowledge. Often I'm better off on my own . . . still it's a good back-up for your own experience.

How in the real world do you integrate all of the electronic capability available to day into your personal driving needs? First, I often play music, talk, etc via Pandora or I <3 Radio. I can either use the old Tom-Tom (or upgrade to a newer GPS with lifetime traffic and maps for less than a couple of map updates on Tom) or use the far superior GPS (Drive+) on my Nokia W-phone. It takes a little juggling to set up both apps to run simultaneously on one device, but it's doable. The W-phone is still a smartphone, so I can send and receive call, dictate, send and receive texts by voice command, without having to take my eyes off the road to poke at the screen. It works fine, but it's still a little fiddly.

I find I use the phone primarily for the entertainment radio features - but if I get an incoming call it breaks through the radio program to announce the call and give me the option of responding or sending it to voice mail. Texts are similar. I can always ignore them - or have them read to me - and I can dictate a reply, if needed. In the real world, this hardly ever happens. I'm driving - my wife and family know where I am - so in reality they have no real reason to call me. It's safer to send me a text I can ignore and respond to when I reach my destination. The GPS is fine for what pilots call "flight following", or having the GPS run in the background to be called up if you run into heavy traffic or get lost in an unfamiliar neighborhood - those situations when you need a re-route.

The real-world applications of your telematics - once the novelty wears off isn't much more than you get with your present smartphone. Give it a try - I think you'll find the real-world application for this technology to be fun - but probably not as useful as you might think. Remember your primary job as a driver is to maintain situational awareness of where you are going and what is happening around you - not poking at a touchscreen for miles on end as you try to conduct a normal day at the office from your car. That's why you need a backseater . . . Here, Goose, handle this . . .

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Smitty901 said:

Elio needs to get off this junk and build the car not tech hype

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goofyone said:

Yup, this is the way it is. In some ways it is nice to see Paul discuss the Elgin gauges as it does give us a bit more personal insight into this project.

However for those who must have another gauge cluster I am sure there will be options in the aftermarket as we were also told all the connections are industry standard so it should be relatively easy to produce aftermarket alternatives.

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Jim H said:

I saw on the news last night that local police are trying to get Google to delete the "police location: function because cops feel compromised.

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