The title of this thread is half tongue-in-cheek and half serious. Those who were around when I installed my Kenwood DNX system will remember back when I spent a nice chunk of change to integrate XM, XM Traffic, XM Weather, GPS, Bluetooth and iPod playability in my C6 with the Kenwood.

So now, 6 months later, I have this little Motorola Droid cel phone that pretty much does everything my Kenwood does.

GPS: built in GPS with self-updating maps. Never any need to buy an update again. Oh yeah, I can use Google Street View to see the place I'm going before I get there. Price: FREE.

Traffic: Google maps show traffic right on the screen and has been very accurate so far. No need for XM, I guess. Price: FREE

Weather: There are a handful of weather apps which show radar and cloud cover in real time. The Weather Channel app for the Droid is the best. No need for XM. Price: FREE

Satellite Radio: With a 3G connection and Pandora (playing through the Kenwood Bluetooth) and customizable music "channels" I don't really ever see the need for XM radio...maybe for Fox news, but that's about it. The only downside is the Droid doesn't show the artist or the song on the Kenwood's screen. Give this some time. I haven't messed around with Last.FM, so I don't know exactly what channels I can access just yet. Price: FREE

iPod: The phone streams playlists through Bluetooth. I have 16GB of space to fool around with. Add a new SD card and I can have 32GB. Plenty for Podcasts and my song library. Price: FREE.

So, essentially, I have a $1,500 Bluetooth device that has some outdated capabilities. LOL. Not ready to throw my Kenwood out yet. Just sayin'...

I really think this is the future. Everything will be in your pocket. If I were Garmin or Tom Tom, all of this would concern me.

The device also does a lot of other things...phone, barcode scanner, games, etc.




RMX

 

That is why in my recent thread, talking about buying a HU i said gps isnt a must since i have my Iphone. I will say one thing, it is still nice to have satellite based interfaces for spirited drives and road trips because remember your phone only works with a phone signal. I know when i go driving i like to take a lot of back roads and such where cell reception is hit or miss so having sat radio and sat gps is definitely a good thing.

 

Well, sat-based GPS is built into the phone. As far as a signal for 3 or 4G, you definitely have a point. I haven't tried to drive out of the coverage area to see how the maps react. I did drive to Orlando a few weeks back and no hiccups.

RMX

 

it is pretty kickass that you can add a simple aux in and use the phone to do alot of stuff

 

REMIX, I just got the Droid phone and it is a work horse, I also have the Kenwood DNX haven't tried to pair the two how did that work out does it download your contacts.
Thanks

 

The DNX communication between its Bluetooth module and the Droid phone is very wonky. It works, but it's unpredictable most of the time. The stereo doesn't always "ring" when a call comes in like it did when I was using my Blackberry Curve. Sometimes it does. No explanation for that one.

It will load your contacts but it takes a few minutes after the connection occurs. Inexplicably it will lose the Bluetooth connection every once in a while and the contacts will disappear. If I turn the phone's Bluetooth feature off and then on again, it'll eventually reload them. Weird.

The Bluetooth between something like Pandora and the DNX seems flawless.

RMX

 

Lol. I know how you feel. I just got the Droid and am going through the same problem, except I haven't bought a HU yet.
I must admit that I will probably still go with a double din gps unit, but i may wait and see if any of the new ones interface better with android.
It is nice to have options, though.

 

have u updated the BT firmware

 

Wow I hate to hear that the Droid doesn't due the DNX well, that's on thing about the iPhone which I'm coming from it did do well with the HU
thanks for the reply.

 

I checked on the Kenwood firmware a few weeks ago - nada.

The Droid just pushed an OS update (2.0.1) and that did not address the issue.

RMX

 

REMIX got my Droid paired with the DNX 9140 with no problem, just having trouble getting it to download the contact's. Is there a trick to that part.
Thanks

 

When you start your car, does your phone say "Droid" when the BT goes active?

RMX

 

I don't believe it does

 

Hmmm....mine didn't send the phone book until I told the Droid to allow interaction with the HU. It would connect via BT but not send the phone book until I told it otherwise. When you start the car and after the Droid pairs up, check the notifications bar at the top and see if it's asking you to do anything. If not, chalk it up to the unstable nature of the phone and Kenwood's BT software. It does sometimes take a few minutes.

My HU just does whatever it wants, whenever it wants. It's annoying, but I like the phone way too much to take it back. Kind of sucks, though.

RMX