Live data from Hacker News

Google will soon let Pixel phones double as dashcams

9to5google.com

21–30 of 258 posts

Re: Google will soon let Pixel phones double as dashcams

#21

Don't phones get really hot if you record video for long periods of time? Edit: Whoops - the article mentions that.

I've been curious about why that is, surely it's just pumping data from the camera sensor, through a hardware-encode unit, then straight to flash?

No, they now do a lot of processing for each individual frame (and imagine doing that for 60 frames per second).

Re: Google will soon let Pixel phones double as dashcams

#22
post #7

No need for a system one if there's an app... But... Is there a FLOSS dashcam for Android? Nothing that I could see on F-droid when I looked a few months back.

A quick search brought up CosyDVR on f-droid. Might not play nice with new Android versions, though.

Re: Google will soon let Pixel phones double as dashcams

#23

FTA: > We also wonder about how Personal Safety will be able to do this type of always-on recording without generating excess heat, especially if your phone needs to be mounted in a position that’s likely to see a lot of direct sunlight. That's what I immediately thought of. I can't see this working too well unless they solve the overheating issues. I had my Google Pixel 7 Pro shut down due to overheating, on a reaso…

A mount that moves AC air directly to phone should work.

you can have direct sunlight heating up the phone on a day that AC is not needed

this issue needs to be handled by the device and not with external resources

Re: Google will soon let Pixel phones double as dashcams

#24
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A mount that moves AC air directly to phone should work.

you can have direct sunlight heating up the phone on a day that AC is not needed this issue needs to be handled by the device and not with external resources

Buy a white phone and don't put a case on it.

Re: Google will soon let Pixel phones double as dashcams

#25

FTA: > We also wonder about how Personal Safety will be able to do this type of always-on recording without generating excess heat, especially if your phone needs to be mounted in a position that’s likely to see a lot of direct sunlight. That's what I immediately thought of. I can't see this working too well unless they solve the overheating issues. I had my Google Pixel 7 Pro shut down due to overheating, on a reaso…

The Exynos based Tensor, made by Samsung is very hot. Google should've collaborated with QC or MT and used TSMC to make their SOC.

Re: Google will soon let Pixel phones double as dashcams

#26
post #20

My Pixel 6 Pro gets too hot on my dash that it stops working when it's in the sun. There's even a notification from the device that tells me it's too hot to operate normally! So I doubt this will work too well unless Pixel >=7 phones perform better under high temperature than mine does.

What color is your Pixel?

Re: Google will soon let Pixel phones double as dashcams

#27
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing in the settings shows any way to upload the videos to the cloud.

Not necessarily the video itself -although I don’t even trust google studio app-, but the meta data google will collect: when did you use the cam, duration, location, and other data that will be collected “to enhance the service” that’s already crap from the get go.

I'm all for privacy, but if you have your Pixel phone on you it will already send a ton of data to Google, even without using it as a dashcam.

Re: Google will soon let Pixel phones double as dashcams

#28
Ideally it should record video from the main, ultrawide and the front cameras. The ultrawide in case something happens out of the view of the main camera and the front cam in case something hits you from the back (if the phone is mounted so it has visibility through the back window).

Re: Google will soon let Pixel phones double as dashcams

#29
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A mount that moves AC air directly to phone should work.

you can have direct sunlight heating up the phone on a day that AC is not needed this issue needs to be handled by the device and not with external resources

ha! not in Australia you cant.

That sun is murder on hot phones.

Re: Google will soon let Pixel phones double as dashcams

#30
post #25

FTA: > We also wonder about how Personal Safety will be able to do this type of always-on recording without generating excess heat, especially if your phone needs to be mounted in a position that’s likely to see a lot of direct sunlight. That's what I immediately thought of. I can't see this working too well unless they solve the overheating issues. I had my Google Pixel 7 Pro shut down due to overheating, on a reaso…

The Exynos based Tensor, made by Samsung is very hot. Google should've collaborated with QC or MT and used TSMC to make their SOC.

Why are chips made by samsung vs tsmc are any different?
Post reply on HN