Any Custom Dash Cam Roms?

[Android Question]

I've been using my old HTC Design 4G as a dash cam with "AutoGuard Blackbox - Dash Cam" and "Autosleeper Auto power ON-OFF" which are both free apps in the play store. It does a great job, but the issue I'm running into is Heat! I live in Florida, had no problem in the winter, it's now summer! The autosleeper only puts it into a sleep mode where it is still very slowly draining the battery, and when the car is started and it starts recording video it instantly overheats. Powering the device off/on completely works but takes forever!

A custom rom is definitely needed here, one that turns your old somewhat junky phone, which is still 720p or better, into a sweet dash cam. Keeping the GPS features and camera features enabled is all that's needed. Just have it power on/off with the power connection and autostart/stop recording. Many more features could be cranked into it, but I can't believe nobody's made one of these already.

Someone please step up!

 

[dsmryder]

I've been using my old HTC Design 4G as a dash cam with "AutoGuard Blackbox - Dash Cam" and "Autosleeper Auto power ON-OFF" which are both free apps in the play store. It does a great job, but the issue I'm running into is Heat! I live in Florida, had no problem in the winter, it's now summer! The autosleeper only puts it into a sleep mode where it is still very slowly draining the battery, and when the car is started and it starts recording video it instantly overheats. Powering the device off/on completely works but takes forever!

A custom rom is definitely needed here, one that turns your old somewhat junky phone, which is still 720p or better, into a sweet dash cam. Keeping the GPS features and camera features enabled is all that's needed. Just have it power on/off with the power connection and autostart/stop recording. Many more features could be cranked into it, but I can't believe nobody's made one of these already.

Someone please step up!

Have you turned off the cell phone parts of the device? This would lower the power consumption. Also, the Design is a kind of old phone and thus takes a lot of "effort" to do what it does. Maybe a charger that charges a 500mA would reduce the heat, although it might not be able to keep up with the demands. You might need to find a way to darken the screen partially to reduce power consumption. That's the main issue here is there is a large amount of power going in and being used.

If you can find any ROMs that would allow a minimum amount of processor power and turn off everything you don't need you would at least be going in the right direction.

 

[Devlin85]

I'm running carbon rom on it now, very minimalist settings already, cell data off, no Bluetooth, etc, just gps on. The problem is it stays on 24/7 in a hybrid sleep mode provided by the auto on/off app, but overheats when reactivated. I've had it last a week and then just power off the second it start recording. I mean it has technically been sitting powered on in the scorching sun, in the hottest part of the car, so it's not a huge surprise. But GPS and radars sitting in the same spots don't have these issues, even with batteries, but they automatically fully power down.

So going on that, if I power it off fully and turn it back on manually it usually doesn't overheat, but that's too much of a hassle. And who wants to wait around for 5 minutes everytime you get in the car to wait for it to boot, load the sd card, realize it's charging, load the recorder, activate the recorder..

A custom dash cam only rom needs to be made, with a custom loader that auto-boots the phone when power is established rather than just charging, I am really surprised there are none out there already. Especially when if you want an actual h.264/AVC stand alone dash cam your talking minimum $125, and that's no GPS features, or a screen in most cases. I don't know who doesn't have an old phone that can record in the same or better quality. Big untapped market there IMO..