Opinions on the new Sony XSP-N1BT Car Audio Smartphone Deck

[GunGriffin]

 

Source: http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/05/25/sonys-xspn1bt-double-din-smartphone-car-stereo-phone-mount-is-available-on-amazon-and-crutchfield-for-250/

 

So I've been sort of in the market for a new double dinn deck for my vehicle and I recently fished this interesting unit from crutchfield.ca. 

 

It's basically a car headunit that connects via bluetooth to most (not all) types of smartphones and uses the phone's screen as the hub for your car. So this includes features like navigation, voice activated calling/texting via Siri or Google Now and a lot of other stuff. 

 

Comparing this unit to other options with touchscreens I think its an interesting option considering the cheapest unit with GPS seems to run about $400+ and even then I find that most car audio touchscreen leave a lot to be desired. 

 

This was a product that was apparently also covered at CES 2014 but interestingly enough haven't heard too much about the device since then.  

 

What are your thoughts on this new kind of car audio deck? Useful? Useless? Has Potential? 

 

It's a relatively new product on the market that doesn't seem to get very much attention so I thought I'd start the ball rolling here to see what you fellow techies think . 

 

 

[vt3c]

 

Source: http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/05/25/sonys-xspn1bt-double-din-smartphone-car-stereo-phone-mount-is-available-on-amazon-and-crutchfield-for-250/

 

So I've been sort of in the market for a new double dinn deck for my vehicle and I recently fished this interesting unit from crutchfield.ca. 

 

It's basically a car headunit that connects via bluetooth to most (not all) types of smartphones and uses the phone's screen as the hub for your car. So this includes features like navigation, voice activated calling/texting via Siri or Google Now and a lot of other stuff. 

 

Comparing this unit to other options with touchscreens I think its an interesting option considering the cheapest unit with GPS seems to run about $400+ and even then I find that most car audio touchscreen leave a lot to be desired. 

 

This was a product that was apparently also covered at CES 2014 but interestingly enough haven't heard too much about the device since then.  

 

What are your thoughts on this new kind of car audio deck? Useful? Useless? Has Potential? 

 

It's a relatively new product on the market that doesn't seem to get very much attention so I thought I'd start the ball rolling here to see what you fellow techies think . 

I'd buy something like this for our 2003 toyota matrix. The stock stereo is utter crap. Hardly puts out any power to the speakers and only reads CDRs. >.< Something like this would be amazing.

[GunGriffin]

I'd buy something like this for our 2003 toyota matrix. The stock stereo is utter crap. Hardly puts out any power to the speakers and only reads CDRs. >.< Something like this would be amazing.

 

The only bad part about this thing that I can see is that it lacks an AUX input (Sony seriously? >.<) and without the smartphone attached the unit can only really be controlled with the included remote which is kind of odd. Though it can read CDs and music off the USB so I guess it's okay? Lol. I still prefer having an AUX port for just that extra bit of simplicity with these kinds of things. It's very weighted heavily on the fact you'd always use bluetooth for this thing.