Google Will Soon Let Pixel Phones Double As Dashcams (9to5google.com) 35
Google mistakenly released a test version of its Personal Safety app that includes a new feature called "Dashcam" on select Android devices. As the name suggests, it allows users to record video and audio while driving in the event of an accident or unexpected situation, with automatic recording triggered when connecting to a specific Bluetooth device and videos automatically deleted after three days unless saved. 9to5Google reports: Once available, the feature can be launched through a new "Dashcam" shortcut in the "Be prepared" section of the home page. Here, you can begin recording manually or view your recent videos. While Dashcam is recording, your phone is still fully usable, including for navigating with Google Maps. Alternatively, you can save power by locking your screen, and the recording will continue. More importantly, Google has built this feature to work without you needing to think much about it. When setting up, you can choose to have recordings begin automatically when you connect to a particular Bluetooth device (e.g., your car stereo or infotainment system) and end when you disconnect.
To conserve storage space, your recordings are automatically deleted after three days unless you save them. Additionally, the app says that the videos themselves are compressed, averaging "30 MB per minute," with a maximum recording length of 24 hours. Overall, this feature seems to be impressively well thought out and looks essentially ready to launch. Using a smartphone as a dashcam also makes quite a bit of sense, as your phone probably has a better camera than some cheaper dashcams would offer. It's unclear if this feature will be available on other phones with Google's Personal Safety or exclusive to Pixel phones.
To conserve storage space, your recordings are automatically deleted after three days unless you save them. Additionally, the app says that the videos themselves are compressed, averaging "30 MB per minute," with a maximum recording length of 24 hours. Overall, this feature seems to be impressively well thought out and looks essentially ready to launch. Using a smartphone as a dashcam also makes quite a bit of sense, as your phone probably has a better camera than some cheaper dashcams would offer. It's unclear if this feature will be available on other phones with Google's Personal Safety or exclusive to Pixel phones.
gives Google entirely too much information (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Smoke less crack... you are getting paranoid
If you think what they said is paranoid, you don't know shit about how government investigations work, let alone police ones. They absolutely will seize evidence. If you are on a disaster team and use your cellphone to take notes, they are going to want your cellphone! The idea that the cop wouldn't seize the phone you were using as a dashcam because it contains evidence is a seriously dumb one.
Re:gives Google entirely too much information (Score:4, Informative)
A lot of dashcams use capacitors instead of actual batteries because they are exposed to extreme hot and cold temperatures.
If your battery doesn't explode in a hot car parked in the sun it will kill it's lifespan.
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The idea here is to put your main phone in a cradle while driving, not to repurpose an old phone as a fixed dashcam.
I'd suggest using a cradle with a USB plug for charging, rather than wireless, to minimise risk of overheating wile driving in summer.
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My 4a5g will go into thermal shutdown to protect the electronics if it gets too hot. Admittedly I have it in a case, so it's possible that I'm not letting it radiate heat away the way Google intended, but my solution in the vehicle is to mount it with a magnetic base, where the dash vent airflow can catch it just a little.
Unfortunately that means it has to sit vertical, not horizontal, and to my knowledge only special applications can record horizontal video while the phone is oriented vertically, which st
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I live in Phoenix. I had the same work-issued laptop, a first-generation Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga, from 2014 to 2022. It lived in my car full-time unless I actually needed to use it (bearing in mind I had a desktop computer at the office, so it didn't come in with me 99% of the time) until the COVID-19 telework policy in 2020. So for six years it lived full-time in the car through the desert summers, and for those last two years it worked just fine for teleworking, including plenty of times sitting on the co
Re: (Score:2)
The scene: You are inside your car at the scene of a traffic accident and a cop walks up to your car to speak with you.
Cop: "So you used your Google Pixel as a dashcam, eh?
You: Um...yeah...maybe...NO.
Cop: We will need to seize that Google Pixel device and supoena Google for all records related to it.
You: Mmm...WHAT! You can't do that!
Cop: Yes we can...and lucky you were not driving a TESLA since they keep good records on what your car was doing at the time.
You: [thinking to yourself...am I screwed this time
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Don't talk to the police beyond what is absolutely necessary. The only people who need to know that you had a dashcam running work at your insurance company, and only if it benefits you.
Integrate this with Google Streetview (Score:1)
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You'll get a lot of exposed anatomy if you do that. Because if that feature exists, a lot of gross people are going to drive around with their clothes off or open and their cameras pointing right at themselves.
Meh ... (Score:5, Interesting)
This is nothing new. I tried this kind of a solution and concluded that smartphones make lousy dashcams. There is no substitute for a dedicated system with at least a front/back cameras and preferably 4k video, 1080p is the minimum I'd buy. Dashcams have saved me more than once from being stuck with the bill for a fender bender by traffic-tard trying to lie his way out of taking responsibility for his actions. Investing in a camera option that keeps filming while your car is parked is also recommended. People will not hesitate to just leave and stick you with the bill after they back into your car.
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I think this would be more for occasional use in someone else's car, e.g. a rental. If the rental doesn't have a dashcam built in, or you just want to record the journey for your own use, you can stick your phone to the window.
What's not clear is how it's different to just using the camera app to record a movie.
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I think this would be more for occasional use in someone else's car, e.g. a rental. If the rental doesn't have a dashcam built in, or you just want to record the journey for your own use, you can stick your phone to the window.
What's not clear is how it's different to just using the camera app to record a movie.
That is about all that it might be useful for. However, you'd have to glue the holder onto the windscreen to use the display side camera to film out the back window and/or if you want to use the front camera to read the max speed signs. Also, the holders with a suction cup tend to come loose (specially when the glass gets heated up by sunlight) and fall down when you least expect it. That's is specially fun if you happen to be driving at a high speed on an Autobahn at the time.
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So far living in Arizona, the suction cup holding my Scangauge III hasn't let go, and it's been getting pretty hot lately.
I agree (Score:1)
I tried this kind of a solution and concluded that smartphones make lousy dashcams.
I also have tried this off and on and totally agree.
Mounting them in places they can see enough to be useful as dash cams is pretty hard, especially if you want to provide power to the phone (as most do while driving).
Also you don't really notice it while using a phone in a car, but if you try to take video with most phone mounts they are VERY shaky and the resulting footage is almost unusable.
As you said, just better to get
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Digital image stabilization is a thing but its behind the curve compared to optical (ie lens) stabilization, or in-body optical stabilization where the sensor itself can be shifted around by the camera.
Modern mirrorless cameras are starting to offer both, working with existing DSLR lenses' image stabilization, while also doing In-Body-Image-Stabilization (IBIS) to provide extremely smooth images and video regardless of how unsteady the photographer is.
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Digital image stabilization is a thing but its behind the curve compared to optical (ie lens) stabilization,
Some iPhones now (maybe just the pros?) have optical stabilization, will have to re-try with that on...
But I feel like most phone mounts are loose enough they add significantly to the vibration.
I wonder if dash cams have any car-specific stabilization going on. It's probably just digital at this point.
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I can see one benefit to using your phone instead of a dedicated dash cam. Plausible deniability. You can provide cam footage when it serves you... but deny you were using a cam when it would implicate you. A dedicated dash cam installation would imply to the officers and courts that you have footage that they can make you hand over. But a cell phone? "Meh, it's up there for navigation."
And, it's likely encrypted... unless you have it streaming footage to the cloud. (don't do that)
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This is nothing new. I tried this kind of a solution and concluded that smartphones make lousy dashcams. There is no substitute for a dedicated system with at least a front/back cameras and preferably 4k video, 1080p is the minimum I'd buy. Dashcams have saved me more than once from being stuck with the bill for a fender bender by traffic-tard trying to lie his way out of taking responsibility for his actions. Investing in a camera option that keeps filming while your car is parked is also recommended. People will not hesitate to just leave and stick you with the bill after they back into your car.
Just out of curiosity what dashcam do you use?
I bought a Rexing years ago and it worked for only a week or two before it died.
Re: (Score:2)
This is nothing new. I tried this kind of a solution and concluded that smartphones make lousy dashcams. There is no substitute for a dedicated system with at least a front/back cameras and preferably 4k video, 1080p is the minimum I'd buy. Dashcams have saved me more than once from being stuck with the bill for a fender bender by traffic-tard trying to lie his way out of taking responsibility for his actions. Investing in a camera option that keeps filming while your car is parked is also recommended. People will not hesitate to just leave and stick you with the bill after they back into your car.
Just out of curiosity what dashcam do you use?
I bought a Rexing years ago and it worked for only a week or two before it died.
Currently, I use a Blackvue 4K front and back kit. My next car will either have a built in set of cams or I'm splurging on a set with side cams as well. So far the only issue I had with the Blackvue is that the back camera stops working when the frost drops below -10 celsius.
Apps already do this (Score:2)
Great (Score:5, Funny)
So it will record the accident you get into because you were using your cellphone instead of concentrating on driving.
Welcome to years ago... (Score:3)
...I used to use my Nexus 7 2013 as my dashcam, there have been apps for such for years. Even took it to court once to get out of a ticket.
Dedicated dashcams are superior and more convenient though. Also kinder than dashboard heat to batteries.
A little late (Score:2)
A nice dashcam is like $120 (Score:2)
Ah well, so much for wireless charging (Score:2)
But then there are USB cables.
Not exactly practical (Score:2)
Are people meant to prop their huge phones up on the dash, or in special mounts that have a view of the road but impede visibility to use this "safety" feature?
Google would be better off to sell or license a separate, purpose built dashcam that syncs video to a phone or something of that nature.
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A good dashcam should ideally be positioned on the rearview mirror, with a clear path forward and a fairly wide angle, and capable of dealing with the heat of direct sunlight on the device and when driving towards the Sun and the lens getting a full view of it.
I am hesitant to outright replace the rearview mirror with one of those combination units though, because it would be harder to take it with me if I need to retain the data on the camera. Also many put the screen behind the mirror, and there are vary
I wanted something like this (Score:2)
Except data would be recorded to a circular buffer in RAM and only written to flash when triggered. App would also not have network access and not serve as yet another excuse for pervasive cyber stalking by Google et el.
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This is why you look for third-party apps before you try anything from Google.
Of course, they're all going to want every possible permission to your phone so they can grab everything for THEIR databases.
I've tried several cheap solutions ... (Score:2)
... for dashcams like my GoPro, spare iPhone, a tablet, and the Texas heat shut them all down. I'll wait for the reviews.
In Your Pocket (Score:1)
Here the use of a cell phone while driving - even while stopped at a traffic light - is strictly illegal. Big fines.
In fact, it must be in your pocket. If it's on the seat beside you, or in the centre console, you will be ticketed.
I am fully in favour of all this, but it will be interesting to see how this use-case plays out...