dualsportmaps.com - Android App

In short, I think the phone needs to be plugged in order to work for any period of time. I can get 3 hours of battery use which is plenty for a bicycle ride, but that is not nearly enough for a dual sport ride. I'm working on a remote control that will control the software AND charge the phone. It will be mounted to the bars. This also allows you to weatherproof the phone since you no longer need to touch it.

Joystick, PCB, and buttons for the remote. I'm waiting for the USB host controller that will be the charger. It's in the mail...

bah!

Very very nice!

Nice work! Can't wait for this!

Looks great so far!

If the right plastic is used for the screen cover, you can weatherproof the phone without disabling the touch screen. There are plenty of shockproof/waterproof phone cases which do this, not to mention plain screen protectors.

I saw an iPhone case that claims this ability. In the Android world of non conforming hardware I think this will be more difficult to find in practice. It would be a really cool product if a somewhat universal weatherproof touchable case was invented though. I'd buy one.

I bought a universal waterproof case on eBay for $20, the touchscreen worked fine with it, but I can't recommend the product as the zip snapped off in the first 20 minutes of using it, and I made many modifications to improve it (including filling up huge ventilation holes with silicone. so much for their "waterproof" claim), before it finally fell apart after 6 months or so of use.

Ram makes one, but they advertise it as disabling touch screens. I've read conflicting reports as to wether or not it really does disable them. I suspect it might just be really thick and make the touch screen difficult to use.

You can get small waterproof heavy duty bags designed to protect electronics at the beach/on boats/etc. But they don't let you run a power cable to the phone.

There are lots of iPhone cases to choose from, including a really nice looking one designed for mountain bikes that I plan to buy soon. I'm currently using a gym armband zip tied to what's left of the crap I bought on eBay. It's not waterproof, but I don't really like riding in the rain anyway.

Not sure about android phones though, probably harder to find since there's a new phone coming out every other week.

Seems like there should be something good out there.

On My evo, when I was designing a custom waterproof case, I was going to use the standard 7 mil laminating plastic from Staples. Even with a piece of paper in it, I could still use the touch screen, and IIRC, with my leather gloves as well.

I think that this is due more to the variances in types of touchscreen technology on the market. I am NOT even close to an expert on these things, but I think that resitive touchscreens are much more likely to be usable under more layers of protection. Capacitive touchscreens (as I understand it) rely on the electrical current in the human body to trigger the input, restive relies on the physical shorting out of layers in the screen by pressure.

I don't think (but I'm not sure) that Android devices are standardized across the board as the iPhone is.

There are no modern phones with resistive touch screens. They were standard once, but are not very good everyone has switched to capacitive. There are some very old or very very cheap devices that still go for resistive, but no good phone is using it.

It seems there are different techniques to make a capacitive touch screen though. Some of them require an electrical contact on the surface of the screen, while others allow you to have (for example) a thick sheet of plexiglass your finger and the capacitance grid, so it may well depend what phone you have.

The internet is full of people complaining you can't use an iPhone with gloves on. I think they're either full of s**t, or are repeating other people's s**t without verifying it, or they have different gloves to any I've ever had a chance to test, and I've tested plenty.

As a test I covered my finger in electrical tape, and my phone's touch screen still works. I had to wrap the tape six or seven layers thick to stop the touch screen from working (there wasn't really a fixed thickness where it stopped working, it just got progressively more difficult. Two or three layers was as if the tape wasn't even there).

I'm sure there are android devices made/sold in china for $50 that have bad touch screens, but I would expect any of the popular models to be at least similar in quality to what I have on my iPhone. Having a grid of capacitance sensors on the outside of the display doesn't sound feasible at all, one tiny scratch and your touchscreen is ruined. I'm willing to bet all android phones are either resistive, or use a capacitive touch technology that allows a layer of protective glass or plastic between your finger and the sensor. If they have that, then you're just making it a bit thicker by adding a clear plastic screen protector or wearing gloves.

Combined with the 7mil protective adhesive plastic cover that is already on there I should mention......

http://store.androidcentral.com/overboard-waterproof-case/4A104A7226A.htm

Not until you posted it. Looks good!

I'd looked at that case, or one VERY similar. The only thing about it that I wasn't real sure of, how do you mount it to your bike in that case???

www.drycase.com has another one that I think looks intriguing, but aside from how to mount it, there's the question of how to get USB in and out. I think these are a good starting point for a waterproof case idea, though.

I built up the remote control prototype this evening. I'll write the firmware to interface with the phone and then I'll write the software for the phone to interface with the joystick. Once I am happy with all that. I'll figure out how small and cheap I can build it and see if I can get a billet case machined to hold the controls. The computer and charger (the white circuit board under the red control board) will live under the seat or in the weather proof phone case (yet to be designed) and will plug into both the phone and the controls.

I use my Tmobile Mytouch 4g (HTC Sense) in a RAM mount Aqua box, and I can still use the touchscreen. Its not great, and I need to move really slow and press on it pretty good, but it does work.

I also have a 12v cig outlet on my dash, I run a 12 outlet to USB converter and a simple usb cord to the phone inside the aqua box



Also I would love to try this app, I'm waiting very impatiently

That surprises me, but it is welcome news. I guess I need to get one of those and try it out. Is there any space in the case for something as big as a pair of USB memory sticks side by side underneath the phone? Is the screen soft plastic, I had assumed it was hard plastic.

Looks like the lens is flexible and replaceable.



http://www.ram-mount.com/Products/AquaBoxMounts/tabid/125/Default.aspx