TabletKiosk eo + StreetDeck = Car UMPC!

*Disclaimer* DO NOT ATTEMPT TO USE A PC WHILE DRIVING. Ever! Do as I say, not as I do! Disclaimer 1.5: This is an introductory review. It does NOT fully show off the features of StreetDeck. Yes, that means there's much more to it than you see here. (At this point, there are a lot of people who are going to scroll down to the bottom to watch the video. Hope they like it.)
*edit* - I found professional mounting gear from ProClip USA and wrote all about it including another video.
Introduction:
I am no stranger to building car PCs. My PyroBriefcase (VIA EPIA custom PC, still featured on VIA's Mini-ITX case mod page) was once installed in my old 1991 Nissan Sentra. I used a KeySpan Presentation Remote to control it (I still have and use that remote) and rigged a PSOne LCD display on the dash.

Well, car computers, you've come a long way.

(screenshot from streetdeck.com)

StreetDeck:
StreetDeck may well be the "be all and end all" of Car PC interfaces. Here's a list of features (I tested the ones in bold) direct from http://www.streetdeck.com

• Touch Screen Control
• Navigation & Mapping
• Bluetooth Phone Integration
• Satellite Radio
• Vehicle Diagnostics
• Rear-view Camera Support
• CD player/MP3 Extraction
• MP3 Player
• FM Radio
• DVD/Video Player
• Picture Viewer
• WiFi Sync Support
• More!
  

In the near future, I am going to test the Navigation and Mapping segment. Many of the features listed above require third-party add-ons or a computer custom built for StreetDeck.

The installation is smooth, the interface is both attractive and fast, and the opportunity through expansion is amazing. It's all I really wanted in a car PC. There would be only three things I'd change:

1. Sell a trimmed-down version at a lower price. $199 US is great for the full feature set, but $99 US for MP3, video, backup camera, and navigation features would really reel in the UMPC crowd.
2. Hide the mouse cursor.
   
3. Allow the user to hide unused buttons. (This may be a feature already - I didn't search the forums yet.)

There are some caveats that the developers wanted me to make note of in my review. First of all, this IS a 1.0 release. Actually it's 1.0.5.3 (and 1.0.5.4 in beta) but still it's in it's first major revision. Chuck at StreetDeck has a very active video blog of current and upcoming features. I could go on and on about this software, but that'd be pages of text and I want to get on with the demo. If you want to know more, check out these FAQ-heavy forums.

In short: I'm very happy with StreetDeck. If you fall in love with the software, don't want to figure out how to mount your UMPC in the car, and have the discretionary income, you may consider the Infill T3 with StreetDeck. That's all the hardware and all the software at once.

Car Mounting:
I've been working on this post all week and got sidetracked while talking to car mount manufacturers and TabletKiosk themselves about how to safely/securely mount a UMPC on a vehicle dash. I finally introduced TabletKiosk and ProClip USA directly and hope they can work together to find a solution. I discovered ProClip USA through a link on Microsoft.com.

I didn't want this introductory review to wait for that, though. I took many parts left over from a Vex Robot I built some time ago (YouTube link) and made my own. I am not suggesting that anyone take this course of action (nor will I write a HOWTO on this part) as you may break your UMPC or cause a serious accident with improper mounting hardware. Here are some pictures, though.


How secure is it? Judge for yourself.
Some Velcro around the cup holder keeps it sturdy enough. It slides into the dash a bit above the cup holder so there's no chance it will tip back.

Assembled:
Where's the GPS? Oh! There it is! A single loop of Velcro around the rear-view mirror does the trick.
The Video:
I'm sure you're sick of my jibber-jabber by now. You want to see the video. Well sit back: here it is.