When I had the mispleasure of using a car with android it was impossible that I could find to place a messanger call on it. If it was a contact making a phone call over the PSTN from the list of contacts on the phone that decided to show, that was fine, but no way to call over messenger. Had to unplug and do it the normal way.

I just don't understand the appeal. I'm in rental cars most of the month. All I want is to pair my personal phone, to stream music. If I need to make a call, I ask google, on my phone, to make it. 

I think touch screen in cars are awful. Yes I'm sure if it was your own car you'd be able to sense where roughly to touch without looking. It's like the Mazda Six. Such a lovely car, but a terrible rental car, I spent the week trying to use the central knob to do stuff. Basic stuff. 

I really like my Mazda's infotainment system - I've driven quite a few vehicles with CarPlay and frankly I don't believe a touch screen is suited to vehicles as it's more disruptive than using the jog-wheel on the Mazda.

However...

I will be dropping past my Mazda dealer to see how they implement CarPlay and will make my decision from there... I spend a lot of time in my car so it would be something I'd most likely see a lot of value out of.

I too will be keeping an eye on this, perhaps seeing it in person later this year once its released (to view usability, and price), as we have a 2014 Mazda 3 which would be eligible.

To be honest I find the Mazda system with the rotary control wheel quite good to use, and better than the touch only screen system in our Toyota Highlander.

josephhinvest: Picks up where I left off on Bluetooth speaker or headphones etc.

Don't nearly all cars with bluetooth do this?

Oh Holdens don't. It drives me insane. 

Dunnersfella:

 

I really like my Mazda's infotainment system - I've driven quite a few vehicles with CarPlay and frankly I don't believe a touch screen is suited to vehicles as it's more disruptive than using the jog-wheel on the Mazda.

 

However...

 

I will be dropping past my Mazda dealer to see how they implement CarPlay and will make my decision from there... I spend a lot of time in my car so it would be something I'd most likely see a lot of value out of.

 

I just wonder what they will charge if it is being done by the dealers service staff. Looks to be largely a software update, but also looks like it needs some hardware as well.

I don't like the mazda info system very much. the first year I had the car, the navigation kept freezing intermittently  and displaying the loading circle, and wouldn't enter the navigiation page. This was despite complaining to the mazda dealer, who said software updates should fix it, which it didn't. Eventually after complaining to head office, they told me told me that there was a known  problem had did replace the part, which fixed it. But still there are so many map errors, and speed limits are wrong, and the first year of freezing really made me hate it. I guess the option to use another navigation package is definitely an advantage, but maybe cheaper just to buy a dedicated GPS

Also I dislike that you can't view any audio information when on the navigation apart from volume. They could have had two screens, designed the interface better to split screen it.

Hopefully it is provided to existing customers at an affordable price for future goodwill.

mudguard:

 

josephhinvest: Picks up where I left off on Bluetooth speaker or headphones etc.

 

Don't nearly all cars with bluetooth do this?

 

Oh Holdens don't. It drives me insane. 

 

Depends on the phone. My old samsung would always open the useless bundled "music" app which would start to play my call recordings until they started to put the nomedia file into the call recordings folder, then it would start to play random apps notification sounds.

Bluetooth on android is a piece of crap, needs other apps to decide what to open on connection etc, sometimes still doesnt work, and what genius ever thought I would want to ring the last person I ever called from the stereos controls?

Dunnersfella:

I really like my Mazda's infotainment system - I've driven quite a few vehicles with CarPlay and frankly I don't believe a touch screen is suited to vehicles as it's more disruptive than using the jog-wheel on the Mazda.

However...

I will be dropping past my Mazda dealer to see how they implement CarPlay and will make my decision from there... I spend a lot of time in my car so it would be something I'd most likely see a lot of value out of.

I cant see any bad issues. Radio has dominated cars forever, now there is more choice, and given how phones these days are an exception of a persons arm, makes sense. Plus the two platforms are standard across car brands. Its tech, its more choice, I dont see any issue. 

With regard to navigation in your car, would you prefer to use Android Auto with a smart phone, or for the vehicle to have a built-in navigation system that doesn't require the use of a smart phone?

What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of each of these systems?

frednz:

 

With regard to navigation in your car, would you prefer to use Android Auto with a smart phone, or for the vehicle to have a built-in navigation system that doesn't require the use of a smart phone?

 

What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of each of these systems?

 

I'd come back with, what is your preferred NAV system? Forget if its the car or phone, its about what is available and how its works. Generally thats TomTom, Garmin, Apple, Android, and whats in the car. Choose the best one.Its not about the car one vs the non car one, its about what is the best one. 

frednz:

 

With regard to navigation in your car, would you prefer to use Android Auto with a smart phone, or for the vehicle to have a built-in navigation system that doesn't require the use of a smart phone?

 

What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of each of these systems?

 

Google maps is the best navigation software,  best real time updates and very accurate predictive ETA. So, carplay with google maps would be good in that respect.  

Car manufactured systems just don't have the same level of AI, and can be laggy. Our USA ford edge rental GPS was OK, but when we wanted better routing/info, would swap to the phones google maps.   

An advantage of car navigation is that they receive vehicle telemetry information which can supplant gps data when reception is patchy. eg, driving through a tunnel the inbuilt gps can estimate position using the vehicle speed data. Maybe even the wheel direction if that is digitised, which i bet it is.

In general car manufacturers cannot get their control systems right. It started with that stupid bmw 7 series with the central rotating knob controlling everything.

The best control system for heating controls are knobs and sliders which can be operated eyes closed.  My older toyota beach car has easier controls than the new car. 

tdgeek:

 

frednz:

 

With regard to navigation in your car, would you prefer to use Android Auto with a smart phone, or for the vehicle to have a built-in navigation system that doesn't require the use of a smart phone?

 

What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of each of these systems?

 

 

I'd come back with, what is your preferred NAV system? Forget if its the car or phone, its about what is available and how its works. Generally thats TomTom, Garmin, Apple, Android, and whats in the car. Choose the best one.Its not about the car one vs the non car one, its about what is the best one. 

 

Good point, but if your preferred navigation system is, say, a Garmin car GPS, then you may be faced with having to install it yourself and this isn't always practical, depending on the layout of the car's dash etc.

If it's an Android Auto system, your smart phone automatically projects your Google Maps on to the screen, and if it's a built-in navigation system, it's already up and running.

Some car sales people who sell cars which don't have any nav systems say it's quite easy to attach a GPS, but I think it's far better to have one built-in.