Speed Box - The iPhone Speedometer App
Speed Box HUD utilizes the iPhone's GPS device by
showing you the actual speed and distance you are traveling. You can use it to measure the speed of your car, your bike, the speed of your boat, the train or even the plane your on.
SpeedBoxHUD also incoporates a HUD display that shows the display right in the windshield of your car. Just like in modern luxury cars.
SpeedBox also has a digital compass, which can be switched on to display the direction you are going.
Version 3.0
Changes in this version:- Nicer graphics with carbon-look
- Save speed chart when application is closed
- Digital display both in portrait and landscape mode
- Enhanced accuracy
The application
The analog speedometer view. On the bottom you see the previously traveled speed. Tap the "i" icon on the top right side to get to the settings.
The settings menu. Choose between km/h or mph display and switch from digital to analog display. You can also switch on the mirrored display for HUD view and choose the color scheme you like most. Do you have any suggestions for better color schemes? Don't hesitate to contact us! We are always happy to include features suggested by our users.
The digital display in wide screen mode. Just tilt your iPhone and SpeedBox will automatically change into wide screen mode.
One of the many alternative displays.
How to install
SpeedBox is available only at the Apple AppStore. You can download it directly on your iPhone 3G or use iTunes.
While we are working hard to enhance SpeedBox there will be updates in the future which can automatically be installed from the AppStore to your iPhone or from iTunes.
The first time the application starts it will ask you to allow it to use the GPS device. This is default behavior of iPhone applications, that want to use the GPS device. Please allow the application to use this information. Of course your position is never sent over the internet (in fact no data is sent by our application over the internet) to protect your privacy.
Thanks for your support!
Thank you for all the input we received from you guys. I just returned from a small holiday and will get back to SpeedBox soon. Meanwhile check out this little video we shot on our trip. It shows SpeedBox side by side to a Garmin GPS system, which shows the current speed quite good. The reception quality of the iPhone was on "medium".
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Probably you want to check out our iPhone Dynometer application and our iPhone Quartett as well.
Quality
The accuracy of the displayed speed may vary. We found that the read-out is most exact when traveling at speeds larger then around 30-40km/h (25mph). We added a little field, which displays the GPS reception as "low", "medium" or "high". While you wont get a good read out when being on "low", you get the best results on "high". GPS reception can be impaired by large buildings, trees or even in cars with a very "thick" roof."Real" GPS devices from Garmin or TomTom not only get the location more precisely, but they also use data (e.g. "doppler effects") to calculate the current speed, that can't be accessed on the iPhone at the moment.
Questions, Suggestions and contact
We would very much like to hear what you think about our application and what features you would like to have in addition to the basic speedometer function. Feel free to contact us with whatever comes to your mind. Of course critics are very welcome! Just use the following contact form to mail us.
Change log
Version 2.3
- Added support for knots and sea miles
Version 2.2
- Completely changed digital display for maximum readability (especially for HUD mode)
- Fixed few graphic glitches for analog display in HUD mode
- Added HUD mode to compass display
Please note that as of this version SpeedBox requires iPhone OS version 2.2. If the application does not work, please make sure to update your iPhone to the latest version with iTunes for free!
Version 2.1
- Added optional compass display
- Enhanced accuracy
Please note that the compass only works when you are moving. The iPhone does not have a built in compass, so it can't display the direction when you just turn the iPhone around.
Version 1.6
Added a warning funcion that warns when the user drives too fast. Can be switched on and off in the preferences. Warning threshold can be set as well.
The "old" speedometer view form SpeedBox Version 1.3 is back as an option in the preferences. The
preferences now also shows a preview of the selected display scheme.
The traveled distance is now saved when closing the application. You can reset the distance to 0.0 in the preferences.
We have also deleted the Start/Stop button on the main display, since it seems really not necessary.
- Added speed warning
- Brought back old speedometer as option
- Graphical display of speedometer colors in preferences
- Keep distance when closing application
- Added "Reset distance" button to preferences
- Removed Start/Stop button
Version 1.4
The new version of SpeedBox brings completly redone graphics for the analog display. We hope you like the new graphics. If you are a fan of the old dsiplay,
feel free to contact us, we can easily bring back the old style.
Another big change is the ability to rotate your iPhone in widescreen view when displaying the digital speedometer. This becomes handy when you switch to
mirrored display. This option mirrors the display, so that it is readable in the windscreen of your car. Just put the iPhone under the windscreen and
you have a simple, yet effective HUD (Head Up Display).
- Changed analog speedometer graphics
- Widescreen view
- Mirrored display for HUD view
- Choose color schemes
- Graphic display of satellite strength
- Display "---" if no satellite
- Enhanced accuracy
Version 1.3
Version 1.3 of Speedbox brings some great improvements. First of all we now display clean and easily readable abalog speedometers. You can switch
them on and off in the preferences pane of the application.
In the digit-view you can also see the maximum speed you reached.
On the bottom of the screen we added a graph that displays your speed over the last minutes.
Of course we again enhanced the accuracy of the application.
Version 0.2
The first release of SpeedBox showed weird speeds to a lot of people. So we sat down
and enhanced the calculation. With Version 0.2 the displayed speed will be a lot more accurate.
Although please note, that due to the limitations of the iPhone it still works best with "high" GPS reception
and at speeds from 10 km/h upwards. At low speeds the display will still vary a lot.
If you've already got SpeedBox on your iPhone you can automatically update with iTunes or with the AppStore applcation on your iPhone. If you
want to install Speedbox, please visit the iTunes Appstore.
- Enhanced accuracy
- Disabled readout if GPS reception is too low. Applciation will display "No satellite".
- Save the unit (mph/kmh) after you close the application
- Disable the screensaver so the application keeps running
Version 0.1
The free version allowed early adopters to display their current speed in mph or km/h