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Audi A8 Gets Factory Integrated Mobile Hotspot
adeelarshad82 writes "Audi's A8 luxury sedan will be the first vehicle with a factory integrated mobile hotspot when it ships this fall with an adapter capable of connecting up to eight devices via WiFi or Bluetooth. Audi integrates a WLAN module and antenna on the roof, using technology from chip-maker Marvell and Harman Automotive. The company says its WiFi software architecture is optimized for extremely low power consumption on battery-powered consumer electronics, enabling passengers to connect to the vehicle's network without affecting the battery life of their connected devices. The Audi system, called the Marvell Mobile Hotspot, will support any combination of smartphones, tablets, laptops, digital cameras, and gaming devices."
You're doing it wrong.
Have USB outlets in the car, into which you can plug in your devices, making them free from interception/hacking, giving power to the devices and thus saving on the battery power of the device and (tongue in cheek)not broadcasting harmful radio waves which can make your head explode(/tongue in cheek)?
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
Connected to the overly-expensive cellular internet?
I don't see much use, especially at the prices you pay for that. Allright maybe if you have one subscription and you want to use your mobile AND your laptop at the same time - but at the price you pay for the connection, is it worth it?
Is a mobile hotspot some great unheard of technology? Even a cheap mobile phone or laptop can set up a hotspot. They just took the hardware and put it in a car instead of somewhere else.
I heard you can get an awesome experience playing racing games.
Doesn't every major auto maker offer mobile hot spots on 2010 models? What is so different about this?
People with an Audi A8 are most likely to be driven around by a driver, while sitting in the back with their laptop
And having in-car wifi just is a bit more stylish then having that usb dongle hanging out of your laptop.
Not to mention the fact that the kids nintendo DS wont work with a 3G dongle, but will connect to the in-car wifi
People, what a bunch of bastards
[...]enabling passengers to connect to the vehicle's network without affecting the battery life of their connected devices.
Can someone explain this? or is it just marketing bs? As far as I know, the battery life of the devices that are connected to some access point or router is not affected by the nature of the router. The fact it uses low power components is important for the car's battery (or fuel consumption), not for the attached device! Or am I missing something?
Yo Man X-to-the-Z X-zibit?
People, what a bunch of bastards
If you own an A8, I don't think the "exorbitant data rates" for cellular access to Internet is a problem for you.
Yo dawg! I herd you like driving, so I put an XBox in your car so you can drive while you drive!
I know, that was terrible. But someone had to say it, right? I'll show myself out now.
Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
Actually a WLAN Hotspot is already an option (~300 EUR) in Citroen cars, at least in Germany.
People with an Audi A8 are most likely to be driven around by a driver, while sitting in the back with their laptop
It's a very expensive car, but not necessarily I-can-afford-a-chauffeur-expensive.
-- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose
Great that the A8 has finally met the luxury of a truck.
Still paying exorbitant data rates for cellular to actually access the Internet.
I dunno what it's like in the US but here you can get some "mobile broadband" plans that are farily reasonable as long as you stay within your allowance (the overage rates are indeed exorbitant).
since I'm fairly sure that most of the people who would want mobile access on their laptop already have either a cellular stick for the laptop, or have already tethered their laptop to their cell phone....
I see several advantages to having car mounted gear
1: it can probablly use higher transmit power without battery life fears (regulations will limit this but I think the regulatory limits are higher than what a typical mobile phone will use)
2: it can make use of an antenna with some gain. Mobile phones and mobile broadband sticks may be operated in any orientation so they can't really make use of antenna gain. Cars are nearly always operated upright.
3: A car mounted antenna can be outside of the car while a device mounted antenna will be inside the car.
The combination of these factors will mean it can probablly get a usable data signal where a laptop in your car with a mobile broadband stick can't.
note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
People with an Audi A8 are most likely to be driven around by a driver, while sitting in the back with their laptop
No they aren't. It's a $76,000 (base price) car. I drive a $77,000 (base price; $95,000 as built) car, bought as second owner for $35,000, and I sure as hell couldn't afford someone to drive me around. http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2004/03/22/185936.html
For a car with a driver, you should be looking at the Rolls Royce Phantom or similar. Those start around $380,000.
It doesn't hurt to be nice.
That really depends on how you choose to spend your money though, right? My car has about the same base price as an A8, and I got it by saving money, such as by using a pre-paid phone (average cost $8 per month) instead of $120 a month or whatever that a lot of folks blindly shell out.
It really depends on priorities. I spend a lot of time in my bed, in my home office chair, and in my car, so I'm going to spend money to enjoy those places. I don't spend that much time wandering around looking for internet access in public, so it's not worth the cost. Others may make different choices.
It doesn't hurt to be nice.
If you go to an online auto site, like autotrader.com, you'll find that a used 2005 Audi A8 Quattro can be had in the 28,000 to 30,000 dollar range. I see used '08s right now in the 45,000 to 50,000 dollar range.
Just because someone is driving a German luxury sedan doesn't necessarily mean that they have money falling out of their pockets. Audi's are surprisingly inexpensive used.
The fact of the matter is that you bought a car for $35K and cannot afford to be chauffeured around in it. In Europe big Audis like these are in fact commonly used to chauffeur around politicians. The people in the back are not the ones paying for the cars and in many European countries you might want to tack on 40-80% to the US price for a car "The 2011 Audi A8 L prices tarts at 79,000 Euro" 79,000 Euro is about $102K. You are not getting the same options and engine though for those prices. The price discrepancy is the biggest though on Japanese cars in the countries with high tariffs.
Well, that's your opinion and since it's just that, an opinion, it's difficult for me to argue or agree with you.
2.4GHz and 5GHz signals simply don't interact much with flesh. The signal strength is far too low to do anything other than nearly immeasurably heat the dead layer of skin in your epidermis. It's scientific fact that wifi and cellular signals have no measurable effect on human tissues. They don't put out "radiation" in the sense of an x-ray or gamma. It's non-ionizing radiation and anyone claiming it gives them a headache is just imagining things.
1) Is the hotspot password encrypted?
2) How closely do I have to follow the Audi to tap into it?
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.