4 ms·

I'd like to be able to use my Android phone as a dashcam. When will that be available? Seems like a no brainer.

by blinding-streak 3y ago

clumsysmurf 3y ago
That would be prone to overheating.
- andrewia 3y ago
  Yep, high-resolution recording while charging, streaming music, and displaying a map will quickly exceed the thermal constraints of any phone. I guess a MagSafe holder with mini sunshade and active cooling fan could help?
  - bmicraft 3y ago
    Wireless charging is just another source of heat. There are clamps that only grip your phone from the side, leaving the back open to dissipate heat.
- blinding-streak 3y ago
  Except, they're working on it. https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/17/23726967/google-pixel-dashcam-personal-safety-leak https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/17/23726967/google-pixel-das...
  - clumsysmurf 3y ago
    FTA > We don’t know how Google plans on mitigating heat issues or how it deals with the issue of potentially damaging a camera that uses optical image stabilization I think sun sitting the phone, while its doing nothing else but charging is enough to cause concern... guess we'll see.
    - leptons 3y ago
      At some point the phone shuts itself down when it gets too hot. Not ideal to use it as a dashcam, especially if it's also doing navigation and charging.
    - askvictor 3y ago
      It's easy enough (for Google devs) to allow the battery to drop to lower charge, and only trickle-charge it. Shut down non-essential apps to keep CPU heat output to a minimum. That might help a little. Not much you can do about the sun though - maybe a liquid-cooling case that holds the phone in place?
mhfu 3y ago
What does a dashcam do differently from a normal camera? Why can't you just hit record?
- tylergetsay 3y ago
  A dashcam will loop recordings, saving with a button or some kind of gyro event
- blinding-streak 3y ago
  It would be fine for short drives, but anything longer than 10 or 15 minutes needs to have smarter handling of these larger video files, which would quickly swamp your storage. Think about using it everyday for a 30 minute commute back and forth.
jbaber 3y ago
There are dashcam apps in the play store.

I'd like to be able to use my Android phone as a dashcam. When will that be available? Seems like a no brainer.

clumsysmurf 3y ago

That would be prone to overheating.

andrewia 3y ago
Yep, high-resolution recording while charging, streaming music, and displaying a map will quickly exceed the thermal constraints of any phone. I guess a MagSafe holder with mini sunshade and active cooling fan could help?
- bmicraft 3y ago
  Wireless charging is just another source of heat. There are clamps that only grip your phone from the side, leaving the back open to dissipate heat.
blinding-streak 3y ago
Except, they're working on it. https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/17/23726967/google-pixel-dashcam-personal-safety-leak https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/17/23726967/google-pixel-das...
- clumsysmurf 3y ago
  FTA > We don’t know how Google plans on mitigating heat issues or how it deals with the issue of potentially damaging a camera that uses optical image stabilization I think sun sitting the phone, while its doing nothing else but charging is enough to cause concern... guess we'll see.
  - leptons 3y ago
    At some point the phone shuts itself down when it gets too hot. Not ideal to use it as a dashcam, especially if it's also doing navigation and charging.
  - askvictor 3y ago
    It's easy enough (for Google devs) to allow the battery to drop to lower charge, and only trickle-charge it. Shut down non-essential apps to keep CPU heat output to a minimum. That might help a little. Not much you can do about the sun though - maybe a liquid-cooling case that holds the phone in place?

mhfu 3y ago

What does a dashcam do differently from a normal camera? Why can't you just hit record?

tylergetsay 3y ago
A dashcam will loop recordings, saving with a button or some kind of gyro event
blinding-streak 3y ago
It would be fine for short drives, but anything longer than 10 or 15 minutes needs to have smarter handling of these larger video files, which would quickly swamp your storage. Think about using it everyday for a 30 minute commute back and forth.

jbaber 3y ago

There are dashcam apps in the play store.