HUDY Pro
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If you’ve ever wished that you had more insight into your car’s performance, or at least a more organized way to measure that performance, BroadCon HC, Inc’s new utility Hudy Pro gives you those opportunities, and more.
Combining innovative projection technology, your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad’s GPS and backlit display, and your vehicle’s dashboard and windshield, Hudy Pro creates a sleek series of gauges and information that can be assessed at a glance. Must be complicated, right? Wrong. It couldn’t be simpler to both deploy and employ. Once the free app is downloaded, the user opens it, taps the screen to open the dashboard (you have the option to change some of the settings, or to purchase some different features, but it’s ready to go the way it comes as well), and then places the device on their vehicle’s dashboard. Using HUD – which stands for “Head’s Up Display” – a speedometer including a clock and your current direction pops up on your windshield.
That in itself is awesome. No more frantic glancing around trying to figure out if you’re going the speed limit, while trying to make sure you’re not running late, and trying to determine if you’re going the right way. One glance at the brightly lit, clear display can confirm all of this. Or, in my case, confirm that I’m speeding, late, AND going the wrong direction. Hudy Pro doesn’t stop there, though. For a small fee, you can choose some additional features.
The first feature – ECO drive – is a way to note and record sudden surges in speed. It helps the user understand the impact they are having on their vehicle. This knowledge can ultimately help the user change the way they drive, and save gas mileage and wear and tear on their vehicle. Which, in turn, can save the user tons of money.
The second feature is Zero-100, which measures the amount of time it takes the vehicle to go from a complete stop to a pre-determined speed, set by the user. While I initially thought that there was a specific demographic that would benefit from this feature – mainly teenage boys drag-racing hotrods – I’ve been surprised by how often I’ve used it. The last time I used it was before I took my car to the shop for a tune-up; I ran the same test after the tune-up to see if the work done affected how quickly the car accelerated. It may have been chance, but it was faster – and that was enough to make me feel better about having the money spent.
In addition, you can also purchase different colors for the display. The free application comes with an orange backlight, which is very easy to see. It’s nice to have the option to change it to blue, or yellow, or green though. Lastly, although it doesn’t require purchase but does need wifi or 3G, you can choose to have the weather conditions added to your HUD dashboard.
There’s very little that I don’t like about Hudy Pro. Being GPS-driven, should you be driving between tall buildings or through tunnels, it’s bound to cut out here and there. None of the features of the app are necessary to the driving experience, but it still throws me off when it blinks.
Hudy Pro is now available for download for the iTunes App Store, for your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad running iOS 4.2 or higher. The app is free and doesn’t require anything additional, and its functionality can be further expanded with in-app purchases.
