[APP] CarWebGuru - Universal car launcher with widgets, skins and music

[carwebguru]

CarWebGuru Launcher 2.0

Functions:
• Skins for interface
• Widgets (internal) System widgets in the near future
• Custom backgrounds
• Up to 6 desktops
• Speedometr (GPS), Odometr (GPS)
• Clock, Time, Calendar
• GPS logger (export tracks to KML)
• Internal music player
• External player control (Power Amp, Jet Audio and other)

I am developer of CarWebGuru - this is universal car launcher with player, widgets, GPS logger and more useful functions.
CarWebGuru is free without functional limitation. There is an opportunity to buy additional themes.

Download 2.xx here:
You can download from Google Market or download
Some screenshots.

 

[D3LTA]

looking real nice, i'm gonna try it

 

[CadillacMike]

i will try it tonight

 

[carwebguru]

Not all functions completed yet, but I hope you like it!
Now I make web site for CarWebGuru. I want to post help and documentation in the future.

 

[sosimple]

I think this should go in "android" topic as it hasnt anything to do with android auto, as it doesn't work there..

Sent from my SM-G9350 using XDA-Developers Legacy app

 

[nosidefcp]

amazing. anyway you can make the music "widget" in the homescreen compatible with the native music player?

 

[leonkernan]

I think this should go in "android" topic as it hasnt anything to do with android auto, as it doesn't work there..

Agreed, it's an Android Head units topic, not Android Auto.

 

[carwebguru]

How I can move this topic? Or moderator only?

 

[1milenia]

you have the time in military can you have a option for regular time

also if you use poweramp for your music some of the cover art does not show

 

[carwebguru]

Hello! I make release of version 2.0 - See on Google market.

 

[cscotty]

Looks great. Gonna give it a try soon on my AC83XX device.

Thanks!

 

[cscotty]

Just installed CarWebGuru. Awesome App! Its super smooth and works very well.

Here are my observations/wishlist:

1. Volume (+) and Volume (-) buttons are not functional. Is there a way for me to map these to the system volume control any how?

2. Apps found in my MainUI.apk are not present for adding to any of the home screens. I've used a shortcut app that allows me to create shortcuts from the apps within MainUI.apk but they did not appear once I created them (they did appear on the home screen when I used nova launcher). These include shortcuts for the following apps: Radio, Bluetooth Sound, GPS, and AV In.

Do you happen to have any work around for these findings?

Thanks,
Scott

 

[Chemelipour]

the most amazing launcher that i ever used on my headunit...way to go man :good:
Can't wait for upcoming updates

 

[cscotty]

We're you able to map the volume controls and radio shortcuts to the hone screen? If so would you please share how.

Thanks

 

[Boff]

Really good app - everything I've tested so far works great!

Just one request - in the music browser, is it possible to change the sort order of the folders? E.g. alphabetical, date, etc. Currently they seem to be in a random order with no way to change it. I keep all my music in folders and it makes it difficult to find the folder I want!

Thanks for making such a great app!
Boff

 

[DragonFlye]

Issues and recommendations

I'm a long time Android Car Head Unit user (currently using the Newsmy NU-3001 running KitKat 4.4.2) and fairly critical when it comes to Car Front-ends. I've tried just about every front-end available and they all have their pros and cons. CarWebGuru certainly looks very nice and is highly configurable but a do have some issues and recommendations:

• Stability - issue
  There's one thing a Front-end absolutely has to be: stable for obvious safety reasons. You can't have an app crash or stop on you while driving, itching you to fix it. And in my experience CarWebGuru crashes.......a lot. That doesn't necessarily mean it's CarWebGuru fault. It could also be the android firmware or another app that's running. I just think there needs to be more field testing done before releasing a stable version.

• Built in audio player - issue
  I've got all my music (albums) organized in folders, properly tagged and have embedded album-art. There are no single tracks in the root folder. Using the music browser I can only select one folder to be played. I cannot (as most music players can) choose the entire music content (all folders) to be played subsequently or, if I choose to, all tracks from within those folder in random order. Luckily the user can choose another default player. I use PowerAmp

• PowerAmp as player - issue
  As said, all music is properly tagged and has embedded album-art. However, CWG seems to have issues displaying the album-art. Though art is present in every track, CWG often displays nothing. Skipping back and forth sometimes resolves the issue but most of the time an app restart is needed to display the correct album-art.
  Using my current front-end (CarDashDroid) in conjunction with PowerAmp, music playback nicely resumes where it left off when resuming from sleep (or when the car is restarted within the grace period). Using CWB, I have to manually start playback again.

• Launcher integration - issue
  Even if both options (set as launcher and launch at boot) are ticked, the operating system keeps asking at reboot and every once in a while if the user wants CWG as its default launcher. This also happens when resuming from sleep (i.e. car is restarted, NO lock-screen used). It seems if CWG's does not register itself properly as a launcher (or is not allowed to). Perhaps launcher behavior is different on a Car head-unit compared to a normal phone. This might not be such a problem when used on a phone, but in car car this is very annoying and doesn't help with the seamless integration. Again, this could be an issue of the android firmware CWG is running on.
  
  Also, when CWB is set as launcher, it's difficult to do anything once CWB has crashed. There's no way to start the default launcher to restart the program or to start anything else. Most front-ends have the ability to (re)start default launcher if needed. In my case the associated apk (launcher3.apk) does not appear in the app-drawer

• Interface - recommendations
  CWB has a nice interface, but sometimes it can be a bit cluttered. Less is more......
  
  Please have an option to discard the icon titles (CWG-wide). Just displaying an icon should be enough information for the user (like the app-drawer icon). The interface would look a lot 'cleaner'
  
  On the main skin, please have an option to fade the music controls and time/date. You have beautifully integrated album art, but the controls and time/date overlay often hide some valuable album-art information. Show the controls for a short period of time, hide them and let them reappear with a touch on the screen or some other event (set by user). I know widgets can be deleted, but fading seems a nice option.
  
  If no player controls are added at all, maybe add gestures like a tap on the album art to play/pause and swipe left/right (on the album art) to go to the previous and next track. When driving (and if no SWC is present), it would also be much saver to tap the relatively large screen area of the album-art instead of clicking on the tiny player controls. Also maybe add voice commands in the future.
  
  An option to rearrange the skins. I've spent a considerable time configuring skins, but when ready, I found out I'd really would like skin number x left from the main screen and skin number y on the right. In order to do so now I had to begin all over.
  
  An option to add, delete or edit multiple widgets at once. When a widget is added, the interface immediately shows the result. When more widgets are needed, especially on a blank form, the user has to start the configuration process all over again. It would be nice to add and place multiple widgets (like play, next, previous etc) first and after confirmation show the end result.

Please forgive me if some of the issues/recommendations are already fixed or are just related to the user. I haven't found a really good "how-to" of all CWG features

 

[riccobonito]

Thank you!

 

[mrvogl]

Very nice launcher, i'm using it with a Panelo head unit running 5.1. Still trying to work out everything.

One thing I noticed is I cant add some widgets, I'm not sure if its something with the ROM or the launcher. I installed CWG on my phone (7.1) and when I click add system widget I see all of them as I should. However from the Panelo If i click add system widget it only shows a few and not the ones I need. 2 in particular I'm trying to add are a digital clock widget, as the built in clock seems it can only be set to 24 hr time with no option for AM/PM. And Power controls widget for the music player controls. The built in music controls only seem to control the built in music player, I would like them to work for pandora, google music, and bluetooth music. When I click the controls they stop my music and play from the built in player, this is a little confusing since your listening to say google music and you hit play/pause only to have a completely different audio file play.

EDIT: Ok I figured out I can add a music player switcher for pandora, stock player and google music, it doesn't work for the BT music player though. But that is good enough. Every now and then something happens and music randomly starts playing from the built in player. I say music but its actually a bunch of navigation .wav files in another language. I need to locate and delete them.

I would like the ability to add home, recents, back button as widgets. I think that would be a nice addition

 

[cscotty]

Any updates from the developer? I really like this launcher and would love to see it improved. Thanks!

 

[cscotty]

Maybe the OP is on vacation? Perhaps he abandoned the project? Such a shame...this launcher was the best I've seen so far. Just wish the volume controls would work and the radio widget would appear.

...back to the drawing board