Columbus Head Unit Questions

[Ajmorris]

Hi All,

Finally picked up my MY17 octavia on Friday and of course took it for a drive and have been playing around with its features (huge upgrade from my 2000 commodore). I've hit a roadblock on a couple of things for the columbus head unit (tech pack).
Firstly, is it possible to use bluetooth/wifi for android auto or mirror link? It seems absurd that i should have to connect the usb cable unless i was wanting to charge my phone simultaneously.
Secondly, I am wanting to import POI's for speed cameras. I have seen plenty of threads on this, but what i can't really find is current POI files for it. The free ones are all reasonably outdated, and i dont want to pay for any and then find out that they are also outdated. Garman/TomTom etc would be a good resource for these, but cant find if its possible to buy/download these without owning the gps unit itself.

Cheers.

[Spinifex]

I'd be interested to know the answer to these as well.
There's a function to import POIs, but I've not played around with where to get those files from. Fixed speed cameras would be very handy.

And having carplay/android auto was one box ticked when selecting the car for me.... even though I didn't know much about it, I figured it would be a good thing to have - but I've connected my iPhone once since having the car, as it's a massive PITA to have cables dangling around when plugged in and there's very little functionality of the carplay system. Not sure if android devices have more apps available for use when connected.

[pjam73]

Hi All,
Firstly, is it possible to use bluetooth/wifi for android auto or mirror link? It seems absurd that i should have to connect the usb cable unless i was wanting to charge my phone simultaneously.

Not that I'm aware, at least for Apple Carplay. Carplay does support wifi connections but the first car to provide it will be next year's BMW 5 series.

I must admit, despite Carplay being quite high on my requirements when I got my new car last month I really only use it on longer journeys for Apple Music and when I'm expecting text messages (I've finally got a car with Bluetooth and now no one ever calls, only texts!!). It's partly due to the hassle of plugging in, but mostly because the car's satnav system is so good, particularly if you do the simple VCDS/OBDEleven tweak to enable live traffic updates in the maps. I'm starting to load MP4/AAC files of my favourite albums onto the in-built hard drive as a source of music. I have noticed that you really only get the most out of the Canton sound system when you give it a good quality source - FM and some streaming services just don't cut it.

Out of interest, what version of software does you car have, and when was it built?

Go to Menu->Setup->System Information to see the version number. Mine was built in the last week of April and has HW 50, SW 0318. Newer cars seem to have SW 0702, and there's talk of 0848 floating around (based on the Kodiaq's system) that has been hacked into Octavias by an enterprising German/Russian team! 0848 looks graphically quite different, but I'm not sure what 0702 is like. I'm a software engineer/tech geek so I tend to want to get the latest version of everything, this car may frustrate me

[pjam73]

as it's a massive PITA to have cables dangling around when plugged in and there's very little functionality of the carplay system.

I use this coiled (like an 80s phone) cable from Yellowknife: MFI iPhone 6S 5 Portable Travel Flex Spring Coiled ios9 Lightning USB Data Cable

It helps somewhat, but it's still fiddly trying to get my iPhone 6 in a position in the tray in front of the centre console buttons without obstructing any of them. Incidentally, if your wife happens to press the ESC button when you're on the Hume on your first day of ownership the alarm sound, red message in the Maxidot and the ACC cancelling can give you quite a fright!

[Spinifex]

........Out of interest, what version of software does you car have, and when was it built?

I'll check mine on my lunch break.

[Mysticality]

I heard somewhere that the next gen of CarPlay will support Bluetooth (don't know any more info; I don't have an iPhone)

If CarPlay is active, the phone will be awake - CPU ramped up using power; data and GPS radios active and working; BT radio working overtime - the phone battery would drain so quickly it wouldn't be worth it.
We live in an underpowered world; battery-wise!

I know I, for one, would rather have the thing plugged in so at least it would get some power from the USB port!


EDIT: WiFi would probably be better than bluetooth, due to data transfer rates, power consumption and overhead...

[woofy]

Carplay actually supported bluetooth before it was even on the Skodas, but of course no car manufacturer is going to bother to enable it. I had vainly hoped that by the time this year kicked around they might have done a software update to support it, but alas. You can pretty much figure it would just be software but oh well.

[Jondalar]

I don't have any trouble with my 7 plus obstructing the buttons, I lay it sideways with the bottom nearest the USB port, it doesn't quite fit across but it's well out of the way, just sits at a slight angle. I've been using a standard cable, the flat 10cm one I bought off ebay wasn't as MFI as it claimed. Might give the coiled one a go.

I use this coiled (like an 80s phone) cable from Yellowknife: MFI iPhone 6S 5 Portable Travel Flex Spring Coiled ios9 Lightning USB Data Cable

It helps somewhat, but it's still fiddly trying to get my iPhone 6 in a position in the tray in front of the centre console buttons without obstructing any of them. Incidentally, if your wife happens to press the ESC button when you're on the Hume on your first day of ownership the alarm sound, red message in the Maxidot and the ACC cancelling can give you quite a fright!

[woofy]

I imported pois for speed cameras and it drive me nuts beeping every intersection they were on. So disabled them. I live in one of the most camera riddled areas of Melb. if not australia and they have now put in even more.

[Spinifex]

I imported pois for speed cameras ..........

Thankfully Brisbane only has a few (that I'm aware of at least).... but I plan on doing some interstate trips in the future and won't have a clue where they are.

Where do you download the POI files from?

[woofy]

There ae a number of free POI sites in australia, i just googled. They all output into various formats as well.

[pologti18t]

The point of Carplay/Android Auto is to reduce distractions. So all they provide is whats already on a decent infotainments system. Music, maps and text to voice.

Personally... people "need" to have these products doesn't match the way people use them. Manufacturers have been giving us opportunities to not even take phone out of your pocket. Some provide the app on their system (Spotify, Pandora etc). Easy as pie.

Now we are expected to go backwards and connect our phones to the car to get this functionality? LOL

[Spinifex]

+1 to this ^^^

[pjam73]

There ae a number of free POI sites in australia, i just googled. They all output into various formats as well.

There's actually a thread about safety camera POI downloads on this very forum: http://www.vwwatercooled.com/forums/...ii-109269.html

[Spinifex]

Thanks pjam - will check that out.

I totally forgot to do this over the weekend!
Was too busy messing about with the speed sign recognition thing.