The concept of in-car entertainment has become big business today. Across the board manufacturers have begun offering music systems in their models. And with people spending more and more time behind the wheel, it has taken precedence in terms of must-have features. Most stock systems these days offer the basics like USB, AUX, radio tuner, CD player and some form of sound adjustment.
However, what if you want a more premium option? Blaupunkt seems to have a solution in the form of its flagship Cape Town 940 audio system. Launched in 2015, this was one of the first comprehensive Android-based systems for the Indian market. Given that this is the next stage of evolution for vehicle entertainment systems we decided to take a look and see what was on offer.
The product
The Cape Town 940 is a two-din music system. It gets a 6.8-inch touch display and runs Android Jellybean version 4.1.1. As is the trend nowadays, the overall design is very minimalistic with physical buttons existing for just the power function, home and CD drive. There is also a dial for volume adjustment as well as one AUX, SD card slot and a USB port. It gets three more USB ports as well as AV inputs at the front and rear. This system is also capable of supporting two screens at the rear which can function independently from the main screen. It also supports the use of steering wheel mounted buttons and has an input for the rear camera.
The experience
The interface will be familiar to those of us who have used Android devices in the last four years. There are three main screens with each giving you access to various functions. The fonts are large and everything is quite visible even if it is quite bright outside.
There is the usual stuff like support for multiple audio formats, pictures and video formats. Now here is where things get interesting as the Cape Town has four major ‘power’ features that we would like to highlight. These are things that set it apart from the other run-of-the mill systems.
The first is that it can run a variety of apps like Facebook, Google e-mail client, Shazam and Spotify radio. In addition to the existing GPS system, you can also get a Map My India package for a more localised approach but this will cost extra over the price of the system.
There is full internet connectivity and this can be done using a 3G/4G device or even a dongle which can be plugged into one of the USB ports in the back to provide a permanent WiFi connection for the car. A word of warning though, you should load yourself up with a data package if you are going to use this system as it is very easy to get carried away.
The next is the Mirror mode function which allows you to connect a supported Android or Apple smart device via a MHL (Mobile high-definition) cable. This is a function that, since the launch of the Cape Town, has begun to make its way across various models. However, to connect your smartphone you need a device that supports this function as well as a mobile high definition link cable. In addition you also need to download an app to assist in connecting Android devices.
The fourth is that this system has a parametric equaliser as opposed to a graphic equaliser. This allows you to control a higher number of parameters with regard to the output. It will allow you to customise the sound output from the speakers exactly the way that you want.
The pricing
The Cape Town 940 is priced in the range of Rs 50,000 to Rs 54,000 and is bundled with all the requisite wiring, a remote control as well an WiFi dongle. You would have to buy the speakers and other equipment separately. There are similarly priced aftermarket Android-based car audio systems but lack some of the features of the Cape Town like the capacity of the internal memory, digital radio and a parametric equaliser.
