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Google will soon let Pixel phones double as dashcams

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Re: Google will soon let Pixel phones double as dashcams

#51

Post by saagarjha »

borissk wrote: post #25
paranoidrobot wrote: post #12

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.

My iPhone heats up uncomfortably if I leave it in the sun even if I don’t use it. The SoC is irrelevant here.

Re: Google will soon let Pixel phones double as dashcams

#52

Post by saagarjha »

seized wrote: post #34
AHOHA wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will check the garage CCTV cam.

Except for malls, grocery stores, events, train station, movie theaters... Work...

You might be able to get your employer to share parking lot footage?

Re: Google will soon let Pixel phones double as dashcams

#54

Post by silisili »

There's really no reason for this. Everyone should have a dashcam, that much I agree on.

But dashcams are cheap(ish), reliable, and you don't have to think much about them.

The whole point, to me at least, is that it's always there, like a silent guardian. We shouldn't have to remember, or fiddle with our phones, or block our field of vision for this.

I spent about $100 on a dual front and rear facing cam. It tucks out of the way, turns on with the vehicle, has shock protection when parked, night vision, etc.

Re: Google will soon let Pixel phones double as dashcams

#55

Post by disillusioned »

ShadowBanThis01 wrote: post #53

Hm, let's see: Do I want to wear out the flash memory in an $800 phone, or get a $150 dash cam? This comment applies to Android phones that wouldn't let this thing write to a micro-SD card, of course.

Yeah, all I could think of was "that's an insane amount of thrashing on the storage on this very expensive phone" alongside my second thought which was: "My Pixel 7 Pro can't record video for more than a couple minutes before it microwaves itself into oblivion, there's absolutely no chance it survives for even a couple seconds as a dashcam."

Re: Google will soon let Pixel phones double as dashcams

#56

Post by michaelolt »

usrusr wrote: post #40
borissk wrote: post #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).

Phones have multiple lenses and sensors, but they don't have multiple sets of sensor readout capacity. Even when the theoretical maximum pixel througput (as in biggest sensor the SoC can be paired with) is big enough on paper to do all sensors in a time division multiplex, I wouldn't be surprised if the switch wasn't fast enough. (personally I'd love to have a camera app that did all-lens release for stills, I'm of t…

> they don't have multiple sets of sensor readout capacity.

That's wrong, Android has multi-camera API since Android 9 (API level 28). Modern phones can record 2 or sometimes 3 camera streams simultaneously.

Re: Google will soon let Pixel phones double as dashcams

#57

Post by jgerrish »

AHOHA wrote: post #48
seized wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except for malls, grocery stores, events, train station, movie theaters... Work...

If you live in an area with a high probability of getting your car stolen, you better protect your investment properly and install a gnss tracker, not just it is more reliable, accurate, and use way less data on your cellular plan, but also you can hide it and conceal it in a location (like near the engine) that you have a better chance to find your car before the tracker is found, unlike a dashcam, that will obvious…

Yeah, you could work around this with anti-tamper APIs and trip-wires and tech solutions to secure your phone.

But then you're playing an arms-race game against inventive thieves with jammers and portable Faraday cages.

Another solution is legal. Make a dashcam phone a "Protected Insurance Entity" or some shit. Maybe have it always streaming as part of some Citizens on Patrol Star Watcher campaign. Bump the punishment to federal level insurance fraud.

Jesus, this fucking future.

Obviously, we will save lives, and that is great. It just takes one drunk driver and one teddy bear falling from the sky.

I imagined a future hopping between cyber corps if you have that power.

But this feels different.

Re: Google will soon let Pixel phones double as dashcams

#58

Post by bombolo »

h0l0cube wrote: post #5
AHOHA wrote: post #3

The concept separation of concerns I apply every where, and I like my dashcam not connected to any cloud, if I ever needed a footage, I’ll just take it from the sdcard.

> I’ll just take it from the sdcard What about in the situation of a theft?

Then it would not contain any traffic accident footage?

Re: Google will soon let Pixel phones double as dashcams

#59

Post by mellosouls »

There are already apps for this, its not obvious what the big deal is here unless there is some hardware change providing improvements wrt eg. overheating etc.

I guess a simple mode change built in is a nice idea, but I agree with others who suggest a dedicated wired-in device is always preferable; the phone useful as a backup for rare occasions when the dashcam isn't available or as an interface.

Re: Google will soon let Pixel phones double as dashcams

#60

Post by dzhiurgis »

borissk wrote: post #33
dzhiurgis wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are chips made by samsung vs tsmc are any different?

Why are cars made by Toyota and Ford any different? A lot of different technical decisions have been made by different people along the way.

Both are producing same chips, maybe slightly different serial number. Perhaps better comparison would be why Chinese Tesla’s are better than American ones.
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