Adding to the list of infotainment systems for your vehicle is this android based system from German manufacturer Blaupunkt. This new in-car double-din multimedia and infotainment system from Blaupunkt India is called the Cape Town 940.
The 940 is an aftermarket head-unit with an actual operating system, android version 4.1.1 JellyBean in this instance, and hence promises to offer up all the conveniences and features of your average android smartphone in your car. This, quite literally, is a ‘first’ on the ‘aftermarket in-car multimedia and infotainment systems’ scene. Running an OS like Android on a multimedia device opens up a lot of possibilities for the manufacturer and customer, alike.
The widescreen Head-Unit of the Cape Town 940 wears the familiar look and feel of android JellyBean and offers similar functionalities like a similarly equipped android phone. The display also sports a capacitive touchscreen, instead of the resistive tech offered in most of the other rivals. This means that the display was quite intuitive and smooth to operate, giving the user a more ‘premium’ feel. The entire setup is quite user-friendly in its operation and that follows through and through. The dual-core cortex 9 chipset ticking under the 940 is clocked at 1GHz and has a 1GB RAM to give it company through all the processing.
The main aim behind the Cape Town 940 is to help the user pair up their android device with the 940 and then on, do whatever he/she wants to through this big-ish head-unit. We tried using the 940’s features which includes the Bluetooth streaming feature which can stream music and videos through the user’s phone. ‘Mirror mode’ helps the Cape Town 940 duplicates whatever is on the display of your phone. But, for this to work, you will need to buy an HDMI/HML cable. The 940’s big display can be used to change your music or browse your phonebook’s contacts list or whatever it is that you want to do.
Obviously, being an in-car multimedia system means that the Cape Town 940 plays your favourite tracks, too. The certified maximum output for this head-unit is 420-watts. You can take this further by complimenting the system with some amplifiers, of course. The built-in Parametric equaliser enables the user to custom tweak the sound signature according to their unique taste. Moreover, if your car comes with steering-mounted audio controls, this head-unit can be configured to work on those inputs, as well.
The Cape Town 940 can be bought with an external microphone, though at an additional cost and this enables clearer conversations between you and the person on the other end of the call. This Bluetooth enabled device lets up to two phones to be connected with it at the same time. But only one phonebook can be paired with it and that means that if the other person in the car wants to use his/her phone to make call through the 940, the first person will have to de-couple their phone’s phonebook. Blaupunkt calls the primary user of this system as ‘Master user’.
Click on the images below for detailed technical specifications
Being an android run device, the built-in apps that this device comes pre-loaded with include Facebook and Twitter, along with Accuweather, TuneIn radio etc. This means you can use the WiFi feature of the 940 to connect to your favourite social networking platforms and also get weather updates. There’s also YouTube if you fancy watching some videos if you get bored in a mile long traffic jam. On the safety front, the ‘Parking’ mode makes sure that the driver cannot watch any videos or images or anything that is unnecessary during the driving phase, unless the car is stationary with its parking brake engaged.
Blaupunkt has equipped the Cape Town 940 with the following:
- Optional paid (one-time charge) navigation feature through a micro SD card with MapmyIndia providing the requisite data (available for 5 major cities, as of now)
- iPod / iPhone compatibility
- Support for USB mobile HDD supporting up to 40,000 files
- 4 USB ports (one at the front and 3 at the rear)
- A microSD slot for audio, video and pictures
- 5-Band parametric equaliser
- Rear seat entertainment via USB, DVD or A/V
- Input for the rear camera (if your car has one)
- Bluetooth Twin Connect, which allows 2 phones to connect to the 940 at the same time
- WiFi USB-Dongle (one of the 4 USB ports) which comes with the head-unit
Basically, you get a lot of features for your money. And that money is Rs. 54,990. Blaupunkt made it clear from the start that the customer will have to cough up extra money to take advantage of the navigation system (MapmyIndia).
What do you have to say about the Blaupunkt Cape Town 940 car unit. Let us know your views through the comments section below.
