Physical buttons have nothing to do with my love for CarPlay/Android Auto. I don't like CarPlay or Android Auto because they "are better at touchscreens", and have never heard anyone else make...
Physical buttons have nothing to do with my love for CarPlay/Android Auto. I don't like CarPlay or Android Auto because they "are better at touchscreens", and have never heard anyone else make this comment.
Mazda makes their CarPlay/Android Auto systems fully controllable from physical buttons, and the UX is incredible. My podcast that was playing in the walk up to the car is playing on the car itself seamlessly. No one can access any of my accounts by merely using my car: it is a peripheral for my phone. The idea of signing into Spotify, Signal, or email on my car itself is insane. Also, if someone wants to take over the entertainment center in the car, merely disconnect my phone, connect theirs, and all of their apps work. Swap from YouTube Music, to Spotify, to podcasts without issues.
I will never buy a vehicle that lacks CarPlay/Android Auto, and will always prefer a vehicle who's CarPlay is fully operational with physical controls.
Additionally, where car infotainment systems get abandoned by manufacturers all the time, people upgrade their phones fairly frequently. This means that between two cars with touchscreens built in...
Additionally, where car infotainment systems get abandoned by manufacturers all the time, people upgrade their phones fairly frequently. This means that between two cars with touchscreens built in 2019, one with CarPlay and Android Auto and the other without, the former will be much more usable than a latter in a few years.
Meh, other than up-to-date maps, I've found that having bluetooth audio solves like 99% of what I used Android Auto for. The only thing it really offers over that is being able to switch audio...
Meh, other than up-to-date maps, I've found that having bluetooth audio solves like 99% of what I used Android Auto for.
The only thing it really offers over that is being able to switch audio apps, but that's an easily solved problem by preplanning and sticking with it.
Switching between apps/playlists/podcasts and having multiple apps open is nice. Waze has a really good experience (showing hazards and cops), and Waze turn-by-turn show up on Mazda's HUD.
Switching between apps/playlists/podcasts and having multiple apps open is nice. Waze has a really good experience (showing hazards and cops), and Waze turn-by-turn show up on Mazda's HUD.
Next to music I also like that it reads messages out loud and lets me reply in speech to text. The navigation also works well with speech recognition. It really lets me be handsfree also for music...
Next to music I also like that it reads messages out loud and lets me reply in speech to text. The navigation also works well with speech recognition. It really lets me be handsfree also for music selection which you can't do with Bluetooth only.
Maybe it's just my old age talking, but I don't care about texts until I'm parked. Texts were always meant to be async and I treat them that way. I'll answer a bluetooth call though for emergencies.
Maybe it's just my old age talking, but I don't care about texts until I'm parked. Texts were always meant to be async and I treat them that way.
I'll answer a bluetooth call though for emergencies.
No, that's actually part of why I stopped using it. It only has wired, but the UI is kinda janky compared to my old wireless aftermarket one. In the end, much like ditching the Google Homes strewn...
No, that's actually part of why I stopped using it. It only has wired, but the UI is kinda janky compared to my old wireless aftermarket one.
In the end, much like ditching the Google Homes strewn about my house, I don't really miss it once I got past the period of initial adjustment. I just listen to the radio (got a local high school station that doesn't do ads), or I pick a playlist before I start driving. Helps that I also have a 1GB data plan so I have to plan my downloads ahead of time anyhow.
The only time I bother with Android Auto anymore is if I need up-to-date map accuracy or accident alerts. Otherwise the built-in offline nav system does just fine.
Yeah physical buttons are such an odd thing to be omitted. Sure, for the briefest of moments in the very first Tesla cars, it felt sci-fi, but it only took that one generation for people to...
Yeah physical buttons are such an odd thing to be omitted. Sure, for the briefest of moments in the very first Tesla cars, it felt sci-fi, but it only took that one generation for people to realize how bad touchscreen controls are in a system where you're supposed to not look at the input device.
Eh, the UI for Mazda's non-touch CarPlay is serviceable, but I wouldn't go as far as to say it's incredible. It's fundamentally solid, but the UI was not designed for the Mazda-style rotary knob...
Eh, the UI for Mazda's non-touch CarPlay is serviceable, but I wouldn't go as far as to say it's incredible. It's fundamentally solid, but the UI was not designed for the Mazda-style rotary knob and it shows. The latest version of CarPlay has a terrible colorscheme for showing which button element is selected. The default buttons that are selected in apps like Maps is not great either; there's not enough predictability and also navigating to the one you want can require way too many turns.
If you're using Maps and switch into Music, half a second later a banner will pop up showing you the directions that you have already just seen, and also putting your knob focus onto the button that returns you to Maps. Stealing focus is bad; stealing focus on a delay is bad; stealing focus to navigate you back to an app you just made a conscious decision to leave is mind mindbogglingly bad. You can tell no one at Apple actually dailies a car with a knob based UI.
Lastly, the Music app itself is frustrating. If you want to scroll your queue, it will only load X songs. Sometimes it loads X+Y songs, but then the OS remembers it's only supposed to show X songs, so it then removes the Y songs from the UI. Why..? And if you pick the last song in a queue, have fun going back to the queue and starting at the bottom of the list, because for some reason no one at Apple has figured out that selecting a song at the bottom of the queue means that you necessarily haven't seen the new songs populating your queue. Maintaining position in a list when the list changes based on your choice is stupid.
I share your frustration with the stupid direction notification focus issue. I'd like to join you and vent my frustration with Spotify's ridiculous "Smart Shuffle" implementation in CarPlay which...
I share your frustration with the stupid direction notification focus issue.
I'd like to join you and vent my frustration with Spotify's ridiculous "Smart Shuffle" implementation in CarPlay which requires you to click through the shuffle button twice in order to turn off the regular shuffle mode (with a lag between presses for god knows what reason). Mazda's implementation then exacerbates this by losing my current focus between presses and requiring a re-targeting of the shuffle button with the knob each time.
The limited lists also drive me insane. Presumably this was done to stop people from spending too much time "browsing" in CarPlay instead of looking at the road. But when I want to put on a playlist (which siri is rarely able to parse) and CarPlay refuses to show it in the list for me, I have to pick up my damn phone. It's bad UI that realistically makes more people use their phones while driving, it just shifts the liability away from Apple. Don't even get me started on Spotify's complete lack of Siri support or their own voice command to be able to queue a song instead of completely changing what you're listening to.
Spotify seems generally bad at integration with any third party products that aren’t part of their own programs (Spotify Connect). As for the shuffle button lagging and causing loss of focus when...
Spotify seems generally bad at integration with any third party products that aren’t part of their own programs (Spotify Connect).
As for the shuffle button lagging and causing loss of focus when pressed, it sounds like it’s reloading the whole screen which probably isn’t necessary. Not really surprising though because their client apps on all platforms have some dodgy engineering in them.
To me it’s a wonder they’re as popular as they are.
Ironically enough, CatPlay already supports physical interactions. My Chevy Bolt has CarPlay AND physical buttons. You can use a rotary knob to move through the CarPlay interface and select...
Ironically enough, CatPlay already supports physical interactions. My Chevy Bolt has CarPlay AND physical buttons. You can use a rotary knob to move through the CarPlay interface and select things. I use it all the time to skip music tracks, etc.
That's UX navigation, Android supports that as well. What they don't support, as far as I know, is connecting a physical button or knob to a specific action, like adjusting the fan speed of the A/C.
That's UX navigation, Android supports that as well. What they don't support, as far as I know, is connecting a physical button or knob to a specific action, like adjusting the fan speed of the A/C.
Why would Android Auto or Carplay interact with vehicle hardware at all? My 2021 car has physical buttons for all car functions and the touchscreen which supports carplay (with rotary knob for UX...
Why would Android Auto or Carplay interact with vehicle hardware at all? My 2021 car has physical buttons for all car functions and the touchscreen which supports carplay (with rotary knob for UX navigation) strictly controls media. I assume if i go into idrive I can change some car settings, but I don't need to because there are physical buttons to do it.
True. But the point is that they already have a way to have physical controls in the car interact with CarPlay. I have to imagine that Apple/Google engineers were smart enough to make that a two...
True. But the point is that they already have a way to have physical controls in the car interact with CarPlay. I have to imagine that Apple/Google engineers were smart enough to make that a two way street. So it would just be up to the car makers to enable access to the required systems so they can be controlled from within CarPlay.
My take is that Apple want full control over the entire dashboard. They want CarPlay to be the entire experience. That was the point the sample render in the article. Apple doesn't want to be...
My take is that Apple want full control over the entire dashboard. They want CarPlay to be the entire experience. That was the point the sample render in the article. Apple doesn't want to be relegated to the Map and Music part. They want control of the A/C, speedometer, the heated seats, everything. Map and Music was their entry point, but now they are pushing for it to be the entire experience, which is why GM is dropping them. If Apple has full control over the UX of the driver and passengers, then the brands loose their distinctiveness.
The thing is though, distinct is not always good. Most car infotainment sits somewhere between terrible and barely passable, and that’s for the short window of time in which they’re properly...
The thing is though, distinct is not always good. Most car infotainment sits somewhere between terrible and barely passable, and that’s for the short window of time in which they’re properly supported… all of them age like milk.
For cars like that it’s a significant value add to be able to ignore the junky infotainment and let your phone take over and do a better job.
Throw some of those buttons and knobs that have programmable OLED screens on them and a screen for navigation , radio, status and that gives you the best of both worlds.
Throw some of those buttons and knobs that have programmable OLED screens on them and a screen for navigation , radio, status and that gives you the best of both worlds.
Physical buttons have nothing to do with my love for CarPlay/Android Auto. I don't like CarPlay or Android Auto because they "are better at touchscreens", and have never heard anyone else make this comment.
Mazda makes their CarPlay/Android Auto systems fully controllable from physical buttons, and the UX is incredible. My podcast that was playing in the walk up to the car is playing on the car itself seamlessly. No one can access any of my accounts by merely using my car: it is a peripheral for my phone. The idea of signing into Spotify, Signal, or email on my car itself is insane. Also, if someone wants to take over the entertainment center in the car, merely disconnect my phone, connect theirs, and all of their apps work. Swap from YouTube Music, to Spotify, to podcasts without issues.
I will never buy a vehicle that lacks CarPlay/Android Auto, and will always prefer a vehicle who's CarPlay is fully operational with physical controls.
Additionally, where car infotainment systems get abandoned by manufacturers all the time, people upgrade their phones fairly frequently. This means that between two cars with touchscreens built in 2019, one with CarPlay and Android Auto and the other without, the former will be much more usable than a latter in a few years.
Meh, other than up-to-date maps, I've found that having bluetooth audio solves like 99% of what I used Android Auto for.
The only thing it really offers over that is being able to switch audio apps, but that's an easily solved problem by preplanning and sticking with it.
Switching between apps/playlists/podcasts and having multiple apps open is nice. Waze has a really good experience (showing hazards and cops), and Waze turn-by-turn show up on Mazda's HUD.
Next to music I also like that it reads messages out loud and lets me reply in speech to text. The navigation also works well with speech recognition. It really lets me be handsfree also for music selection which you can't do with Bluetooth only.
Maybe it's just my old age talking, but I don't care about texts until I'm parked. Texts were always meant to be async and I treat them that way.
I'll answer a bluetooth call though for emergencies.
Does your current vehicle have wireless android auto?
No, that's actually part of why I stopped using it. It only has wired, but the UI is kinda janky compared to my old wireless aftermarket one.
In the end, much like ditching the Google Homes strewn about my house, I don't really miss it once I got past the period of initial adjustment. I just listen to the radio (got a local high school station that doesn't do ads), or I pick a playlist before I start driving. Helps that I also have a 1GB data plan so I have to plan my downloads ahead of time anyhow.
The only time I bother with Android Auto anymore is if I need up-to-date map accuracy or accident alerts. Otherwise the built-in offline nav system does just fine.
Yeah physical buttons are such an odd thing to be omitted. Sure, for the briefest of moments in the very first Tesla cars, it felt sci-fi, but it only took that one generation for people to realize how bad touchscreen controls are in a system where you're supposed to not look at the input device.
Eh, the UI for Mazda's non-touch CarPlay is serviceable, but I wouldn't go as far as to say it's incredible. It's fundamentally solid, but the UI was not designed for the Mazda-style rotary knob and it shows. The latest version of CarPlay has a terrible colorscheme for showing which button element is selected. The default buttons that are selected in apps like Maps is not great either; there's not enough predictability and also navigating to the one you want can require way too many turns.
If you're using Maps and switch into Music, half a second later a banner will pop up showing you the directions that you have already just seen, and also putting your knob focus onto the button that returns you to Maps. Stealing focus is bad; stealing focus on a delay is bad; stealing focus to navigate you back to an app you just made a conscious decision to leave is mind mindbogglingly bad. You can tell no one at Apple actually dailies a car with a knob based UI.
Lastly, the Music app itself is frustrating. If you want to scroll your queue, it will only load X songs. Sometimes it loads X+Y songs, but then the OS remembers it's only supposed to show X songs, so it then removes the Y songs from the UI. Why..? And if you pick the last song in a queue, have fun going back to the queue and starting at the bottom of the list, because for some reason no one at Apple has figured out that selecting a song at the bottom of the queue means that you necessarily haven't seen the new songs populating your queue. Maintaining position in a list when the list changes based on your choice is stupid.
I share your frustration with the stupid direction notification focus issue.
I'd like to join you and vent my frustration with Spotify's ridiculous "Smart Shuffle" implementation in CarPlay which requires you to click through the shuffle button twice in order to turn off the regular shuffle mode (with a lag between presses for god knows what reason). Mazda's implementation then exacerbates this by losing my current focus between presses and requiring a re-targeting of the shuffle button with the knob each time.
The limited lists also drive me insane. Presumably this was done to stop people from spending too much time "browsing" in CarPlay instead of looking at the road. But when I want to put on a playlist (which siri is rarely able to parse) and CarPlay refuses to show it in the list for me, I have to pick up my damn phone. It's bad UI that realistically makes more people use their phones while driving, it just shifts the liability away from Apple. Don't even get me started on Spotify's complete lack of Siri support or their own voice command to be able to queue a song instead of completely changing what you're listening to.
Spotify seems generally bad at integration with any third party products that aren’t part of their own programs (Spotify Connect).
As for the shuffle button lagging and causing loss of focus when pressed, it sounds like it’s reloading the whole screen which probably isn’t necessary. Not really surprising though because their client apps on all platforms have some dodgy engineering in them.
To me it’s a wonder they’re as popular as they are.
Ironically enough, CatPlay already supports physical interactions. My Chevy Bolt has CarPlay AND physical buttons. You can use a rotary knob to move through the CarPlay interface and select things. I use it all the time to skip music tracks, etc.
That's UX navigation, Android supports that as well. What they don't support, as far as I know, is connecting a physical button or knob to a specific action, like adjusting the fan speed of the A/C.
Why would Android Auto or Carplay interact with vehicle hardware at all? My 2021 car has physical buttons for all car functions and the touchscreen which supports carplay (with rotary knob for UX navigation) strictly controls media. I assume if i go into idrive I can change some car settings, but I don't need to because there are physical buttons to do it.
True. But the point is that they already have a way to have physical controls in the car interact with CarPlay. I have to imagine that Apple/Google engineers were smart enough to make that a two way street. So it would just be up to the car makers to enable access to the required systems so they can be controlled from within CarPlay.
My take is that Apple want full control over the entire dashboard. They want CarPlay to be the entire experience. That was the point the sample render in the article. Apple doesn't want to be relegated to the Map and Music part. They want control of the A/C, speedometer, the heated seats, everything. Map and Music was their entry point, but now they are pushing for it to be the entire experience, which is why GM is dropping them. If Apple has full control over the UX of the driver and passengers, then the brands loose their distinctiveness.
The thing is though, distinct is not always good. Most car infotainment sits somewhere between terrible and barely passable, and that’s for the short window of time in which they’re properly supported… all of them age like milk.
For cars like that it’s a significant value add to be able to ignore the junky infotainment and let your phone take over and do a better job.
I think you meant age like milk. Some of the best cheese varieties are aged.
Ahh yeah, fixed.
Give us both. I love buttons, but I will not give up CarPlay in exchange for buttons. They aren't worth paying an extra subscription fee.
Throw some of those buttons and knobs that have programmable OLED screens on them and a screen for navigation , radio, status and that gives you the best of both worlds.