Using an Old Phone for a Review Car Camera
You tin can hands transform your former Android smartphone into a dashcam. Why would you lot? Because dashcams can save yous a lot of trouble, especially when you go involved in a fender bough. NextPit shows you how y'all can breathe new life into your quondam smartphone and make proficient use of their cameras, accelerometers, and of course plenty storage space.
A disclaimer upfront: Installing devices on your windshield is illegal in many regions – also in about states of the US. And so delight ensure that the position that you go for in the end complies with the laws in your region.
Yes, dashcams around the globe provide united states of america with a plethora of entertaining videos on YouTube. But not but do they serve for entertainment – in certain countries such as the Us, dashcam footage can likewise serve every bit evidence in complicated situations. It is recommended that non only is video being recorded, but likewise data from the acceleration and GPS sensors. Even older Android smartphones do tick all of the right boxes in this matter!
Requirements: Here's what your former smartphone needs to have
Good news: Your old smartphone doesn't accept to be capable of much in order to be used as a dashcam. Of form it must accept a photographic camera, and in the best case scenario, an ultra-wide-angle camera that will provide you with a improve view. Since nigh of us do happen to have a smartphone charger in our cars, it doesn't matter whether your handset's bombardment is on its last legs.
- Don't know what to practise with your quondam smartphone? Here are xi ways to repurpose your dusty handset
There should exist at least 1GB of free retention available. You don't need more, because typically simply the last minutes are being kept – and all the old stuff where nothing happened is discarded. For the apps presented in this article, I ensured that they also work on older Android versions too as on older iPhones. For this article, I settled for an sometime Motorola Moto G that hails all the style back from 2014.
Instructions: How to transform your one-time smartphone into a dashcam
Footstep one: Fix your old smartphone
Now permit's go through step-past-footstep on how to transform your old smartphone into a dashcam. Showtime of all, you should connect your old handset to the home Wi-Fi network. A Google or iOS business relationship would as well come in handy to download apps. For my experiment, I used this app:
- Download Droid Dashcam for Android
The "Droid Dashcam" app is free and only asks you for a donation to sustain the developer. With more than 100,000 downloads already and a well-received 4.3-star rating from 1,471 reviews (as of June 2021), information technology is ane of the most pop dashcam apps for Android.
I was specially impressed by the loop office, which automatically overwrites the final recording every 5 minutes. You can too set the loop intervals based on your liking. If you activate the automatic accident detection that kicks in via the accelerometer on your smartphone, yous end up with professional dashcam features on your handset.
The app also has a handy autostart feature that begins recording when you charge your smartphone. Now, this might sound weird at first only comes in handy when y'all're charging your quondam smartphone via the cigarette lighter socket. Equally shortly every bit you begin the ignition of your car, the recording will start.
You can notice similar applications in the Google Play Store besides every bit in the Apple App Shop. Notwithstanding, pay attention to monthly subscription fees and the conditions for utilise in your domicile state that are mentioned at the outset. Since many of the apps originate from the United states of america, a number of these apps record road traffic permanently. This may not be legal in other countries.
Pace 2: Installing the former smartphone in the machine
To securely mount the smartphone in the auto, there'due south a huge corporeality of different smartphone holders available. Models with suction cups can be found for less than fifteen USD online. However, make sure that the holder has an open back and so that the photographic camera is non obstructed. And: Make certain that the holder and position yous're choosing is legal in your region.
Alternatively, you lot can as well apply a holder for the rearview mirror. This has the advantage of setting your phone in a slightly higher position and therefore, it does not obstruct your view also much while driving. As well generally a college position of the photographic camera improves the visibility of the road ahead on the footage.
Here are two cheap and easy products that may piece of work for yous:
Some other tip if yous want to employ your old smartphone as a dashcam without getting stressed out: Buy a phone charger adapter for the cigarette lighter socket. The model in my automobile comes with a retractable cord that allows you to minimize the potential "mess" that a long cable might leave, as it keeps everything taut. This does away with an annoying cord snaking around in the middle console. By the way, there are besides models available online that come with a couple of USB ports, assuasive you to charge your primary smartphone simultaneously.
The pro solution of course is connecting a charger to a fuse inside you car'south fusebox directly. Typically, the fuse box is constitute somewhere around the glove compartment. That mode the charging cable tin run along the edges of the a-pillar and/or car dashboard.
Step iii: Runs in the background
Theoretically, y'all tin likewise use your former smartphone as a new media centre in your car via USB or Aux connection also. That'due south considering many dashcam apps, including the aforementioned Droid Dashcam, also allows groundwork recording. That ways your app continues to record while y'all're using your phone for other stuff, for example for navigation or to play music.
Behave in mind, however, that in most regions, operating your phone is merely allowed when the motorcar is at a standstill and/or the engine is turned off. Merely even without tapping it, a smartphone in your field of vision is always a lark. Autonomously from this safety communication, I trust in your common sense as you repurpose your erstwhile handset!
Conclusion and disadvantages
Smartphones tin be really powerful dashcams with the right app, and they even excel courtesy of several additional features. Earlier your handset gets moldy in the drawer, why non have this opportunity and endeavour it out as a dashcam? Do comport in mind that there are downsides to using your smartphone as a dashcam though.
First and foremost, just about all smartphones lack a dark vision mode, where many dashcams already bring this feature to the table right out of the box. In addition, the battery life of a smartphone that is constantly recording will be rather short. And so, if you don't want to go out it plugged in at all times, smartphone dashcams are more suitable for short trips.
What are your experiences with vehicle dashcams then far? Have yous tried this thought using your smartphone? Let us know in the comments!
Source: https://www.nextpit.com/how-to-use-old-smartphone-as-dashcam
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