Ever since the mid 1950s, when the popularization of driving for pleasure combined at full speed with the expansion of America’s great western metropolises, the car has become a sort of central base for many Americans, a place where they feel at home and can recoup during the day. This hasn’t changed, in fact as automotive interiors and electronics have grown increasingly plush and advanced, people have come to depend on their high tech hubs of reprieve more than ever. The next piece of technology that comes even close to the cabin of a modern vehicle? It may come as a surprise to some: The Smartphone.
If you think about it, a vehicle’s interior, especially the area surrounding the driver, is essentially a compact version of an office. Or perhaps a den is a better comparison, because not only can you use it to work, but also to relax, listen to music, and catch up on the news. We all use our smartphones for these same things. It makes sense that we should have a piece of hardware that seamlessly integrates these two technologies, allowing us to keep a continual flow of work and information on an as needed or desired basis. Until now this hasn’t been the case, with smartphone integration systems that can be described as clunky at best.
Devium, a new start up automotive audio company, hopes to change the face of smartphone auto integration by offering a new face for your dash, a piece of technology that doesn’t merely integrate your smartphone into the vehicles entertainment system, but actually turns your smartphone into the command center. This technology allows seamless integration of all media for the individual user, whether in the home, at the gym, or on the road.
The Dash’s innovative interchangeable faceplate design allows you to keep your phone at the center of your car and allows you to have the functionality of a several thousand dollar DVD navigation unit sans the headaches of the learning curve, the lack of apps, or repurchasing the same apps, and at a fraction of the cost.
“I saw a fragmented marketplace when it came to integrating smartphones into car stereos,” said Paul Lizer, Creator and Owner of the Devium Dash. “So I thought why not develop a product where the smartphone is the interface and give the customer a platform they’re already familiar with.”
The Dash will feature Bluetooth for hands-free calling and will allow users to designate their top five app icons to appear in landscape mode for easy viewing while on the go. It will also feature an FM tuner that will automatically switch over to radio stations’ streaming audio over the Internet when a loss of signal occurs, allowing drivers to listen to their favorite local stations anywhere in the U.S
Devium expects to make its first shipments in July of 2012. Phoenix Valley automotive and audio enthusiasts can stay tuned to Vroom for further updates as they become available.
