Got a long-distance drive coming up? Here’s a list of essentials not to forget at home.
Audi’s MMI system
I know it’s neither cheap nor a gadget, but think of it as the heart of your roadtrip experience.
Although a lot of car manufacturers offer an onboard entertainment and navigation solution, my most recent trip to Port Edward was done in the new Audi A1 Sportback. Audi’s MMI system is especially great: intuitive, easy to control and helpful.
“But Steve, aren’t they all meant to be helpful?”
You’d be surprised. Often the navigation you pay for in a car is difficult to operate and more confusing than just looking it up on your smartphone…while you drive.
I had two smartphones connected to the MMI system at the same time, one so that I could answer and make calls while driving and the other stacked full of new music. Like this new song from Santigold. Check this album out, now!
I’m not sure that the MMI system is supposed to connect multiple devices at the same time, but in the A1 Sportback it does, relatively easily too.
Directions to the coast (and incidentally the windiest and most fun road I’ve driven in a while) were given by the onboard nav which now also features Google Earth.
I will say that controlling the MMI in the A1 is a little bit of work as the controls are all on the dash in front of you and not intuitively underneath your left hand as they are in higher-end Audi’s but spend 10 minutes playing and in no time you’re a master at it.
Tom Tom USB Car charger
The next item on your checklist, and probably the most important because it’s going to keep your mobile devices (that’s right, more than one at a time) charged and connected forever.
Features two USB ports for mobile charging, one of them is a speed charge which gives a little extra juice and gets you there quicker.
It plugs in to your cigarette lighter, but this doesn’t mean you smokers out there can’t still light up. On the back you’ll find a hole which replaces the one you’ve just plugged in to.
I use this device DAILY! Well done Tom Tom.
Get it: About R200
From: www.dionwired.co.za
Smartphone
The Smartphone is a no-brainer, but I bring it up because of some of the other features it affords you.
As an example, and I only use this one because I’m playing with it now and I’m loving it, is the Samsung Galaxy III.
Besides being impossibly thin and light with a battery life that boggles the mind, the Galaxy III offers you wireless tethering of your internet signal. Bizarre how many smartphones out there do the same, and yet nobody seems to know it. What this means is that you can create a personal Wi-Fi hotspot in your car for you and your passenger to get online.
In case it hasn’t hit you yet, this also means that you don’t need an ADSL line at home, nor a modem or a Wi-Fi signal. Just turn on your Wi-Fi tethering on your phone and connect any gadget in range to it. That’s a tablet, Xbox, another cellphone or laptop.
Get it: www.samsung.co.za
For: R8 000
Nintendo 3DS XL
While the Audi MMI system can play videos you stream through it via SD Card or USB, the videos don’t work while the car is moving. I know!
So your passengers are going to have to keep themselves busy doing something else. My passengers busied themselves with the Nintendo 3DS. A great time waster.
And better news, a new 3DS, the XL is coming live soon. 90% bigger screen and it’s all in 3D.
Get it: www.nintendo.co.za
For: R2 350
Apps
With all this potential in one automobile, you’ll need to make use of it.
Three apps I absolutely would not leave on a road trip without are Shazam, Waze and Trapster.
Shazam you’ve probably heard about. You hear a song on the radio you like, you don’t know who sings it and Gareth Cliff is DJ-ing so neither does he. You pull out your Smartphone or tablet and ID the song in seconds.
SoundCloud also works well.
Trapster is a cloud run traffic app that warns you of upcoming traps, mobile police or toll roads. These warning have been set and uploaded to the app by travelers travelling ahead of you. You’ll then get your chance to confirm or rectify whether the trap is legit or just some teenagers making the world a shitty place to be.
I’ll admit it has it’s moments, especially of people who program in a fixed camera when actually what the passed was a mobile spietkop so when you get there you’re warned for nothing and could have easily have reached the 200km/h mark you were aiming for.
Waze is another worthwhile traffic app. Great for directions with a unique looking and fun interface. Similar to Trapster, you upload any traffic or cops you see and your friends on Waze are warned to either take a different route or stop at an ATM before proceeding.
