Workshop12

Thanks for the feedback, we'll keep working on it to see if we can find the right balance of aggressive design and functionality

Workshop12

The trickiest part of putting a single screen behind the existing gauge holes is finding a manufacturer that would make a screen of that side.

The theme I'm hearing from most of the feedback is:
- keep an aggressive design like the 3 gauges
- More functionality of a LCD screen would be welcome if it isn't intrusive and keeps an aggressive design.

zacav8r

iTrader: (2)

What I meant was to make your own mold to fit over the screen, but for it to not be a full pods but more pay tribute to the original design.

Here is a quick rendering of my idea.

Also be able to switch the gauges that would sit the the half circles, then have more info under them.

Workshop12

Cool, I'll feed your suggestion back to the design team

Heritage

iTrader: (3)

I don't think you can pursue any idea which requires you to modify the pods; it will drive the cost high enough to cause you to lose too many potential clients.

I believe you should design a bezel which requires the owner to cut their own waterfall at the spots right below the press-in friction clips. The cuts, therefore, will only be about one inch long each (you're cutting horizontally at the top edges of the upper opening), and an owner could easily be instructed regarding how to do it (cut away from the final finish line, so that the owner could sand down - and polish - the cut to the final finish edge). If that is done, I believe you can design the bezel to butt flush to the leading edge of the remaining upper waterfall that houses the 3 gauges.

For structural rigidity, you would have a 'step' down notch at the upper edge of the Brainiac bezel which fits underneath the leading edge of the cut waterfall, so you could push down at either the top edge of the cut waterfall without having it bow, or the top edge of the bezel - locking it all together.

*EDIT* - after studying the part itself (you've got it pictured on your site), this would be easy. The OEM waterfall would be cut right below the friction clips, and the new Brainiac bezel would be designed to take advantage of the top edge of the upper opening (which would now be the bottom edge of the remaining 3 gauge cluster waterfall). The Brainiac bezel would have to have a 'slot' designed on the upper edge in which the old top return of the upper opening in the OEM waterfall would serve as a 'tongue' of sorts, fitting right into the Brainiac bezel's slot.

Heritage

iTrader: (3)

Like this:

Workshop12

Interesting... Maybe there's a possibility that we have two options.

1) Standard: You would trim you existing pod similar to the photo you've shown
2) Optional: We provide a top pod that houses a secondary screen

Just thinking out loud, but we might even be able to create a little "overlap" that would cover the seam so that it didn't have to be a perfect cut.

Or if you don't want to cut your pod, you could always go with our secondary screen option. Interesting....

I'll take this back to the design team as well to see what they think. Anyone else reading this please let us know what you think. Would you be willing to cut your existing plastic trim?

Heritage

iTrader: (3)

This forum is full of DIYers - they've cut their hoods here.

I think the cut would be extremely easy because it can be cut a bit away from the final line that you can then sneak up on the finish by block sanding. I think it would look far better than an overlapped lip which would ruin the intent of an OEM look.

Moulding a completely new waterfall piece - plus screen - would IMO be cost prohibitive. I think it would add $300 - $400. Avoiding the screen and saving the gauges still leaves some tricky plastic work.

The goal should be getting Brainiac in as many cars as possible; leaving customization to the individual owners. The bezel should cast as wide a net as possible, with as little cost as possible.

ZMoneyPIT

iTrader: (1)

The extra screen for the gauges could be an addon. This is how it should work in my opinion. You should design something that fits within the radio and cubby space area. Something that would require the cutting of these two areas like so:

That way there is little cutting required. You guys can focus on the design and the way it will bolt inside of the area to make it secure, there are plenty of ways to do that I'd believe. I'd also recommend making the screen tilt towards the driver slightly for ease of use and so the driver can see it clearly. It is supposed to be functional right?

Workshop12

That looks like another possibility that we'll also bring back to the design team. Our initial goals were to provide a replacement that required no cutting/trimming. But if the community is willing to make some modifications then we might be able to come up with a simpler solution.

As far as tilting the screen goes.... We've been doing a lot of experimentation. In older resistive touch screen technology the resistive touch panel itself created a lot of distortion when viewing the screen from basically any angle except for straight on.

The displays that we use are a high quality capacitive touch screen that have 85 degree viewing angles from all directions. So slightly tilting the screen actually doesn't really make much difference from being able to view and read the screen.

There is only so much you can do with the physical angle of the screen. Basically an angle is good until it isn't.. if you know what I mean. Simply changing the direction of your car or a shift in the time of the day will change the angle of the sunlight coming through your windows. So a fixed angle on the screen actually doesn't make a large difference.

Our philosophy with Brainiac is to battle this with a few tactics:
- Screen brightness during daylight hours
- Sunlight readable displays
- High contrast colors
- High degree of viewing angle

I've been driving around with Brainiac in my WRX for a while now at different times of the day. Even in the situations where there's a lot of glare coming in from a certain angle the display is still readable because of its white on black high contrast interface design.

Having high screen brightness during the daytime also really helps with glare and sunlight washout by really making the whites stand out on the black background.

We also are sourcing displays that work well in the sunlight. As an example we don't use laptop displays because they really wash out in sunlight and don't perform well at low and high temperatures

Sourcing displays that have a high viewing angle really helps out as well. Laptops are notorious for poor viewing angles.. Simply tilt your screen up and down and you'll start to see the image wash out. So far the displays we've been testing have a 85deg viewing angle from top/bottom/left/right

These are all factors that really help with sunlight on a touch screen display. To be honest there isn't going to be a display that is "perfect" in all scenarios. We want to make sure the display looks great in most scenarios but also continues to be readable and usable in the bad scenarios.

Heritage

iTrader: (3)

I'm warming to the idea of the secondary screen for GPS/info/etc - though I'd would have to hear more regarding how it integrates with Android & iOS; bluetooth; etc.

If you're going to go that direction, rev2.1 is really the only way to go; the design is head and shoulders above the other feasible options.

If you produce that design, I have a suggestion for the space between the lower and upper screen: use it as a small 'center channel' speaker location. I think that would be an outstanding location, and could work as both a GPS voice output as well as DTS/Dolby center channel for certain AV applications.

bmccann101

iTrader: (16)

I think these designs are all creative and refreshing.. great job.



maybe we will put one in mine next year. Im def subb'd and interested in what you are building.

Workshop12

After more detailed design discussions today we've decided to go the route of keeping the top 3 gauge cups. We can always look at expanding in the future, but for now we plan on keeping it simple and sexy

We've received a lot of feedback both here on the forum, via email and through our social media accounts that the gauge cups are an iconic part of the interior design that people would like to keep.

The design revisions will be based off of REV 1.6 and continued from there. More revisions are in the pipeline.


We're going to follow some installation suggestions from this thread and design the screen as an insert that will look like it was meant to be part of the dashboard all along.

This will require the owner to snip out the cross beam on the existing trim that goes between the top cubby and the lower stereo area.



This should be a really simple cut for anyone to perform and will also allow the insert to be compatible with any existing trim kit that you might already have. It won't need to be a perfect cut because we'll ensure we have a bit of an overlap to create a nice clean sculpted line.

We believe we can create something that looks dead sexy in this area. We even plan to be re-use the threaded holes on the back of the existing trim to secure everything in place.

There should be some updated renderings available to share soon.

For iOS and Android integration we have two main integration points for launch:
1) Bluetooth connections for media, contacts and hands free phone using all of the standard bluetooth protocols
2) Pull up the the ability to control the systems inside your car from outside your car using your smartphone. We've had lots of people show interest in DJ'ing from outside their car at meets, controlling air suspension at car shows and it's simply just a lot of fun to play with!

We have lots of plans for more features in the future such as reading email and texts that arrive while driving and some really cool ideas around the vehicle knowing it is you that's approaching the car and when you're inside the car. Even more thoughts about how to interact with multiple passengers.

But we can't give away all of our secrets just yet

Workshop12

That is one absolutely beautiful car! Great job

ZMoneyPIT

iTrader: (1)

Looks great! I like the final decision, very clean and looks almost OEM.

Workshop12

Thanks! Next step is grabbing a 06-08 console to see if our "insert" design will actually fit both.. stay tuned for that one. I've got my fingers crossed.

EDIT: Looking at the backside of the 06-08 center trim it looks like there are quite a few differences. We'll have to see if we can source ourselves a used center trim piece to study closer.

ShadowHunter66

iTrader: (4)

I have an 07 and would be very interested in something like this.. Very cool idea.
To add to the secondary screen to replace the 3 pods.. if this is something to be considered, integrating the screen like Rev 2.1 is a good idea.. Just adding a screen on the top can seem like an after thought and not flow with the rest of the design. I personally do not like the way Mercedes added their screens - doesn't feel cohesive to the interior.

RWDBajan

Workshop12, how about the other phone platform (Windows mobile)? Any love for that? I would love to get Cortana on my screen.

Workshop12

Brainiac will integrate with other smartphone platforms via standard Bluetooth protocols right out of the gate. However we plan on sticking with Android as our core OS for the head unit itself.

The first set of mobile apps that will bring further integration functionality will be based on iOS and Android.

I worked at BlackBerry for 9.5 years, so I feel your pain of Windows getting looked at last. However, for launch we need to focus on our first targets and then look to expand from there

Heritage

iTrader: (3)

Question.

You've said this 10% off offer is good until the end of October - but (as far as I know), there is nothing to buy at this point.

Are you thinking you'll have product to sell by the last week of October?