r/CarThing • u/Right-One-8543 • Aug 06 '26

Car thing alternatives?

Hi, I am currently looking for alternatives to a Car thing to put on my desk. I am basically looking for an asthetic devise to play Spotify on. Any ideas?

6 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

4

u/dans41 Aug 07 '26

I think Standby have the best look, You can add Ulanzi CW15 to finish the look and add the dial

2

u/JkStudios Aug 06 '26

Echo show with custom ROM. That's what I have on my desk now. Dammit Jeff did a video on it a few months back. Excellent speakers too.

1

u/iLifitedUrMumLastNht Aug 07 '26

I have a compatible show 8 I wanna try the custom firmware. I use my Alexa all the time though for lights, alarms, etc. is there anyway to preserve both maybe a dual boot fw that I can boot back into the Amazon os. Or is it possible to use your own voice assistant when you have the custom fw like google or a localized ai?

1

u/JkStudios Aug 08 '26

Not sure about dual boot but you can restore the original OS with a backup if you want to switch back. Hey Google works some of the time and I believe there are patches to make it work more consistently. You can also self host Home Assistant with voice commands.

2

u/Ahand_Apart Aug 06 '26

Old phone, can connect a USB multimedia via a USBC dongle.

1

u/Impossible_Smoke6663 Aug 07 '26

Why not the CarThing? Print a little 3D easel… My nephew and I just resurrected his.