Navdy WIll Make You Forget You Own A Phone, At Least While Driving
The Navdy is a sandwich-size piece of technology whose potential equals that of a full meal. It is a sleek, black device, with a curved piece of clear plastic on top that serves as the display. On the front is an infrared LED, a power light, a power button and a camera-like gesture sensor.
The box includes a short, medium, and tall mount, a power cable, and a wireless dial which you can strap to your steering wheel for a better and safer control of the device. You can place the Navdy right on the dashboard, directly behind the steering wheel. You can plug it into your car’s OBD II port, which is where it gets both power and data and the steering wheel dial is powered by a small watch battery.
The installation process couldn’t be easier, however it’s something to be carefully taken care of, without any rush, especially if the short mount is what you opted for. The sticky base of the rubber-mat-like mount requires a little time to adjust once you’ve adhered it to the dashboard, thus it needs proper positioning upon first installing it.
Once the power cord has been safely tucked away, all that’s left to do is attaching the control dial, which wraps around whatever part of the steering wheel you prefer and stays exactly where you leave it.
The perks and features of such device are multiple. FIrst of all, it allows you to receive a series of alerts from sources such as Twitter, Outlook or your text messages. Something called “glances” is where many of these notifications are stored, which also includes a list of prompts and notification you can scroll through whenever you desire or simply dismiss all of them if you don’t want to be distracted by them while driving.
The Navdy obviously doesn’t display your Twitter feed it only mentions or replies to tweets appeared occasionally, and those that appear are displayed as a shorthand URL. Thus, there’s no threat of getting overly engaged with social media outlets while operating the vehicle.
Moreover, you can always choose to disregard any of these notifications with a simple wave of a hand. The gesture-recognition sensor on the front will recognize both left or right hand waves, which will promptly command Navdy to display the message or dismiss it. You might need a little time to get the hang of it but you can use it to impress friends.
Navdy won’t force you to reply by text like Apple CarPlay, as it will only allow you to close the message or call to the sender. If you want to reply by text, you’ll need to use Siri, which you can access through the steering wheel dial. Still no need to reach to your phone.
Many of the Navdy’s features can be updated, installed and fixed by its own software, which is installed in your phone. Several of the gestures can be adjusted or even expanded, allowing the driver to assign other functions to be sorted by the hand wave or snap of a finger.
The speakerphone upgrade Navdy has been equipped with will turn any old car into a gem of the modern age. The microphone’s directly behind the wheel and the audio plays through the car’s audio, making it so easy to converse with potential passengers without breaking your vocal chords.
The wheel-mounted click wheel, though secure with its tight strap, still feels suitable for a movie screening. Since it’s essentially floating in the back of the steering wheel, you have to get a finger under it before being able to click on it.
This efficient device can be yours for only $525.