Blaupunkt Cape Town 940 Review

What is it?

The Cape Town 940 is Blaupunkt’s offering for customers looking for a premium aftermarket head-unit. The highlight is that it runs on Android’s Jelly Bean 4.1.1 OS and essentially brings the same functionality as your Android smartphone.

Aesthetics and Functionality

The setup’s design is quite clean and minimalistic with the 6.8-inch capacitive touchscreen occupying most of the real estate. Any buttons present are slim and the buttons selected include those to access the homescreen, menu, CD drive or to go back a tab – this comes in handy on the move. I also like that there is a proper volume knob.

The system comes with 1GB RAM and 8GB built-in flash memory and we experienced no real lag. The touch response is quick, but there were a few times where we wished for better sensitivity. The 800x480 pixel resolution is par for the course and the fonts are nice and large enough to read on the move as well. The user interface can also be customized quite easily and apart from being steering-mounted controls compatible, you can also organize the menu options according to your needs. Simply put, functions like the AUX, SD card, radio and even navigation can have their chronology shuffled, based on which features you use most.

Speaking of which, Blaupunkt has tied up with MapMyIndia and the Cape Town comes with an SD card-loaded navigation system. The Cape Town 940 gets one USB port up front and three at the rear. A USB Wi-Fi dongle is included and yes, it is rear seat entertainment-compatible as well with rear zone disc, USB, A/V support. Not to mention, your car’s rear camera feed can also be relayed to the screen. The system can play audio and video files or display images and up to 40,000 files can be supported on the specific media. NTFS formatting is supported to connect a portable hard drive too.

Bluetooth pairing is a breeze and you can connect up to two devices at once, though only one phone book/up to 1,000 entries can be used at a time.

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Apps and Unique Features

While the system is Android Auto-ready, Blaupunkt hasn’t received a license for the same. There’s no Google Play Store access either, but what you do get is a handful of pre-loaded apps like Shazam, Facebook, Twitter, Spotify, Amazon and AccuWeather. Since the system is Wi-Fi enabled you can browse through popular apps, but do keep an eye on your web usage lest the data plans drain your wallet. YouTube is also offered as one of the pre-installed apps, and for safety, a physical linkage between the handbrake and head-unit can be fixed, though you will have to manage this at the time of the install.

A highlight feature is the Mirror Mode, which, as the name suggests, mirrors your phone’s interface on the head-unit’s screen. The feature does require you to connect your iPhone or Android device to the system through an HDMI cable and you also need to install the Mirror Mode Assistant app, but once installed, enables you to use your phone through the Cape Town’s screen and can prove to be quite a lifesaver.

You also get the fast boot feature which essentially makes the unit hibernate until the ignition is switched on again. This fires up the system in a few seconds and it displays the last chosen music or navigation mode, allowing you drive off without any delay. You can choose a maximum time period for the fast boot mode (up to 5 days), following which the system will switch off entirely to avoid any battery drainage.

Verdict

Priced at Rs 55,000, this isn’t a cheap offering by any means. However, it does offer an extensive feature list, offers support for multiple inputs and comes with all the harnesses/cables you’d need. The Cape Town 940 is a great all-rounder, isn’t unnecessarily complicated and offers great value for a high-end AVN system.