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-   -   MapMyIndia enters tablet market with CarPad : Hit or Miss? (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/car-entertainment/106993-mapmyindia-enters-tablet-market-carpad-hit-miss.html)

MapMyIndia, one of the leading providers of digital maps and navigation services in the country, announced a 7-inch Android tablet. While CarPad looks like just any other Android tablet running Android 2.2, MapMyIndia has customized it for navigation purposes.

According to the company officials, CarPad comes with With Aura, MapMyIndia's latest navigation interface. It is loaded with comprehensive all-India maps, with over 5 million places, national-level maps for 5,79,000 towns and villages, street-level maps for 1200 cities, house-level maps for 18 cities and 3D landmarks and building footprints for major cities.

MapMyIndia enters tablet market with CarPad - The Times of India

9999333223/4) or visit http://www.mapmyindia.com for more details about MapmyIndia CarPad.

More details here

http://www.mapmyindia.com/carpad/

http://www.mapmyindia.com/carpad/pdf...d_20110829.pdf

Any idea how this CarPad compares to CASKA HU mentioned in this thread.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/produc...on-review.html

I am planning to buy MMI so as i can use it for our very long drives, but would like to use the screen for multiple purposes like Video watching, Reverse camera display and MMI UI as well. Caska seems to be able to do all that. Is this similar or has less capabilities.

Also Caska it seems costed close to 47k this one is half that price, whats is missing, i am sure something would be missing?

I dont know the feature list for the Caska HU so cannot comment on that. However, with the HU will it not be restricted to use in only one car? I guess with the CarPad we should be able to can use it across multiple cars or even at home

By the way, how does the 3G subscription work on these units? Are we stuck with one operator or is it free like on the Kindle?

Hi Mayank. I think you have misunderstood the new MMI device. It's a tablet, like an iPad. Whereas, the Caska is a HU.

In case you knew this then I dont think you can compare a tablet with a HU. You will get features in a tablet that are different from those in a HU, and vice versa.

Interested to know..what the "you can call" is?
Is it that we can use it to call any number?

I have gone through the link provided and it is impressive for the price, considering going for it.

Right ! You can use it to call any number just as you use your cellphone.Since its a 3G enabled device it uses a sim card for connectivity,and will allow calls as well.
I guess MMI might have tied up with various cellphone operators across India for the same to lower the data usage charges or they may allow us to choose our own operator.
Samsung Galaxy Tab also allows you to make calls from the tab.
Voice Calls as well as Video Calls.

k2max6,

Thanks.
One more query, can we use this tablet as an alternate cell phone...meaning without additional charges?
Regards,

This is a under-powered device (600 MHz CPU) and just a white-labeled tablet re-branded as MMI Car pad. Good enough for navigation, but not much else.

Way over-priced at 22k.

Better to buy a better device for 11 - 13k and buy Mapmyindia software for 2k. E.g. Reliance 3G Tablet and various others.

The same MMI software would run on the any android tablet.

absolutely agree. This should be a grand commercial failure. Manufacturers should realize that today, excepting the likes of Garmin - people like MMI cannot fool us by rebranding a simple chinese tablet and loading their software and expecting us to pay top dollar for it!!

Additional charges as in additional rental ? Yes you can, but have to pay for the call charges.

But as quoted by others it is better to buy a reliance tablet for a cheaper price.

Unfortunately, any tablets costing more than USD 300 or nearly INR 15000 is surely going to flop.
Looking at the pricing the price seems too ambitious, but point it thats the way the market is, a cumulative of all the cost of its raw materials will surely go beyong 25000.

But needless to say it has all probability of flopping. Sorry if that offended any MMI fans.

I won't buy. Simple.
22k is too much to expect. That to for a cheap Chinese unit with MMI label. And on top of that I think the unit will be locked to use only MMI Maps.
Better go for a normal Tablet and put maps on it.

One can simply put MMI software on their Android/iOS/Symbian phones and use it as a Navigator. It is much more convenient than as I find putting 7 inches tablet in/on/above the dash.

Putting it on your phone would also help while your are using any other means of travel like Bus/bike/walk to find the destination.

So I have been after MapmyIndia customer support for the past 2-3 days with the following questions (answers in bold, below each question, followed by my comments in italics):

1. Which company has manufactured the hardware of the Carpad?
Response: Qualcomm
As far as I know, Qualcomm manufactures the Snapdragon processor, and not the outer casing, display, etc. So, is this some Chinese tablet as others have claimed?

2. Can Android 2.2 be upgraded on the Carpad to version 2.3 or 3.0?
Response: No. MapmyIndia maps do not work on Android 2.3 and higher versions presently.
When I insisted that I be informed about upgrade policies, the person on the phone said that MapmyIndia keeps working on new things and there is a good chance that Android 2.3+ support will be given in future...

3. How much will updates to the Carpad cost compared to updates for the SX550 and ZX150?
Response: As of now, we are not sure of the update policies.
When I asked if I would have to buy the entire software worth 2-3k again on every update, the person assured me that the cost of each upgrade should not be more than 2k in the worst case.

4. In the event of a system crash induced by installing some other Android application, can I restore the system to factory settings (Android 2.2 with all the MapmyIndia + aura software provided by default)?
5. Does the system come with a CD/DVD containing a backup of the system software?
Response: No. The system is not likely to crash.
When I insisted, the person responded by saying that the 'firmware' would be sent via email. No information was available about computer interface.

The person kept emphasizing the feature of 3D house level maps, though he agreed that this feature isn't available in Kanpur yet. But he also said that since I am willing to shell about 20 k for the SX 650, I should spend the extra 3k and get a Carpad.

Does anyone here have experience with MapmyIndia PNDs in UP? How detailed are the maps? How about Garmin? Would it be a better idea to buy a Galaxy Tab or other Android tablet?

By the way, the person at MapmyIndia insisted that the software for existing phones and tablets does not include as many maps or features that are included in the PNDs and the Carpad. I had earlier been toying with the idea of buying MapmyIndia software for my existing Nokia E75/E71 phones to check out the level of detail in the maps, and then decide whether to buy a PND.

But now I am confused about whether I should buy another tablet and depend on Google Maps, for navigational purposes. Ideas and opinions are welcome, especially from tablet, MapmyIndia and Garmin users. :)

This is what I thought too. But the MMI person told me over the phone that the phone application doesn't have as many maps, and further, as an upgrade one has to buy the new version of software (worth 2k) all over again. Also, features like voice assistance are perhaps absent?

Do you have some experience with the MMI software?

Secondly, I saw on NDTV GadgetGuru that MMI is using Sygic's Aura software for the 3D maps (this is installed on the Carpad). Does this come with MMI's phone software?

What if one were to buy Sygic Aura for Android directly, bypassing MMI, from Sygic | Sygic GPS Navigation for Android (it costs about 40 Euros, which is roughly Rs. 2600/-). There is an India version. Does it come with maps, or is it just the interface that I'm paying for?