CarPlay Impressions

[Ralfi]

Thought I'd kick start a thread on the discussion of CarPlay, as I see it (& it's equivalent Android Auto/Mirrorlink) as something of significance in cars now & in future.

Maps...

In the lead up to receiving my MY16, id switched over from Google maps to Apple maps in my work vehicle, just to get a feel for the Apple variant again. It still has its issues - mainly inaccurate estimated travel times being ~10 minutes longer than Google, lack of suggesting faster routes whilst travelling & a weaker representation of traffic.

Despite those flaws, it still works very well & is very driver-friendly in the way you can find all your saved destinations by a name you've assigned to them (which Google surprisingly hasn't implemented yet).

Its smooth-panning 3D view is uncluttered on the 6.5" screen, with the directions on a left panel - one touch of this panel mutes the voice guidance & you can adjust the volume of the voice guidance by tapping the volume buttons on the steering wheel whilst voice guidance is talking (same way as with the VW NAV).

Music...

A big step forward - navigating around your collection is as seamless & easy as it is on your phone. Big buttons are key here - think those chunky home light switches for elderly people...makes things MUCH easier to select, unlike on my iPhone 5 Music App, where buttons are cluttered & less distinct from each other. Music does remember where it left off between engine cut offs & it doesn't default to REPEAT, as MIB I infuriatingly did over Bluetooth.

It is a USB connection now though, which for me is good as I get the best sound with constant charging. I can understand the inconvenience with those who like to get in/out of vehicle with minimal plug in/out duties to perform (having keyless entry also makes me sympathise with them).

CarPlay's Music App also brings back the track "1/12" indication - something which was taken away from the iPhone version in the latest IOS (yes, I noticed Apple!!).

You still can't see a full track list of the album you're playing - not via a button on the 'Now Playing' screen anyway, which is what I liked about the iPhone App two IOS's ago (the current IOS made this worse too).

I also wish I could customise the header menu options to bring 'Albums' or whatever to the first screen. Tipping future updates will implement this, as they did on the iPhone. Then again, they took those headings away in the latest IOS.....STOP RUINING THE MUSIC APP ON IPHONE APPLE..

Siri...

A revelation in the car - I've so far used it to find Maps locations/directions & make phone calls.....whilst doing 100km (higher cabin noise), there was little delay in Siri acknowledging the commands & performing them.

Haven't made the most of Siri yet, but I can already tell it's going to make life easier for drivers - forget the cars default voice controls (which aren't free & are reportedly shidouse). Instead make use of holding the Voice button on the steering wheel, talk to Siri & have much more confidence in your command getting done.

Gotto go for a drive now in glorious weather....might try the recommended Arundle road..

Stay tuned for thread updates. Any questions, just drop them in.

[WallySimmonds]

Thanks for the writeup. The inclusion of this in the MY16 range really is swaying me to get a MY16 car instead of one the runouts..

[SIRIoz]

I did some siri test in the showroom. Truly impressive so good to hear it works at high speed. Apple carplay was the clincher for me to move to VW

[SunnyCoast_GTi]

Impressed with AirPlay in my MY16 Polo GTi. Works brilliantly and Apple maps is great, especially with the live traffic.

[mattaus]

Definitely looking forward to AndroidAuto impressions. Just spent a few hours re-flashing my phone so that it was AndroidAuto capable. I'm ready to rock when I get my car.

[Ralfi]

Man, my spelling was shocking in the OP. I'll blame auto-correct.

Thanks for the writeup. The inclusion of this in the MY16 range really is swaying me to get a MY16 car instead of one the runouts..

No worries.

It was so high on my want list, I changed over a GTI bought in April to one built in June for it + the other vehicle additions I was angry I missed out on.

I did some siri test in the showroom. Truly impressive so good the hear it works at high speed. Apple carplay was the clincher for me to move to VW

Yeah, after seeing MANY reviews on YT, I noticed some delays, & expected them myself. They may've been older units with slightly different software + the accent of that region of the globe may not have been implemented as well at this stage.

I'm not saying it's going to be responsive every time, but so far so good.

Impressed with AirPlay in my MY16 Polo GTi. Works brilliantly and Apple maps is great, especially with the live traffic.

Can't say I've noticed live traffic indicators on Apple Maps NAV screen, though, I haven't hit heavy traffic yet. I've noticed it on the overview screen (scattered dots here & there), but not on the actual NAV guidance screen.

Google Maps traffic is more prominent on both the overview & NAV screen I find.

Definitely looking forward to AndroidAuto impressions. Just spent a few hours re-flashing my phone so that it was AndroidAuto capable. I'm ready to rock when I get my car.

Cool. Android Auto should be just as good. I have a Samsung work phone (a now slow GS4) which I can test. Let me know if you have any queries & I'll plug it in.....been meaning to do this, just to compare.

Great thing about the VW App Connect system is it gives you a choice between Apple, Android, Windows.

[gh172]

Unfortunately you need Android 5.0 or higher for it to work. I have a Samsung Galaxy S4 so I'm **** out of luck!

[mattaus]

Unfortunately you need Android 5.0 or higher for it to work. I have a Samsung Galaxy S4 so I'm **** out of luck!

Re-flash your phone to run Cyanogenmod. My Galaxy S3 is running Android 5.1.1 thanks to those guys.

Of course you need to know what you're doing otherwise you could brick your phone...It's not as hard as it seems though!

[gh172]

Good tip, cheers!

[stefcio007]

Straying out of MK3 territory, but I'll go out on a limb here.
I installed the aftermarket Sony MEX-N5050BT quite a while back just because it had Siri "Eyes Free" support.
Makes a world of difference using the phone via voice. Sure, I don't get the fancy CarPlay display that does look cool, but voice is enough for me. And I actually think for most people Siri will be enough, so hoping it might be given at least as a base feature on low end models.
Oh, forgot to mention, naturally it all works over bluetooth.
Anyway, my 2c.

[AJW]

I read with Android Auto it has the ability to use the cars GPS antenna. So I’m guessing it must mix the map data from the phone with the GPS data from the car. It might be possible to see if the GPS location symbol on the phone is turned off when it’s running maps to prove this. I’ve also read that some of the CAN-Bus data is feed back to the phone, so for example if the car is moving you can’t use the on-screen keyboard but when in park you can. Also if you try to use voice control with the Aircon fan on high it can lower the fan speed.
Wondering if you’ve noticed any of this with Carplay?

Still got another month until I get my GTI-PP and can try it out with my Nexus 5.

[Ralfi]

Not sure about the fan speed lowering. I'll find out & get back.

Spotify...

It seemed buggy at first - menus taking their time to load & the App even froze CarPlay, requiring me to unplug the phone & re-plugging it in to fix the issue.

I tried it again today & seemed to play nicely for the ~5 songs I used it for. Navigating was smooth & no significant delay in loading up songs whilst I utilised a secondary mobiles's wifi hotspot (on the wifi hotspot, I'm yet to work out if MIB II has a SIM slot which turns the car into a wifi hotspot).

Also noticed the Spotify ads appear to be the ones which end with "now enjoy 30 minutes of uninterrupted music" which is good for us on the free Spotify account - no ads every 3 songs.

There was no search function in Spotify's car App though, which is a bummer - needed to search for specific tracks on the phone beforehand.

[mattaus]

There was no search function in Spotify's car App though, which is a bummer - needed to search for specific tracks on the phone beforehand.

Spotify is probably the number one thing I care about. I'm a premium subscriber and spend (easily) over an hour a day
listening to music through the app in my car. No search could be an issue. I wonder if it'll be different for AndroidAuto? A work colleague is going to bring is MY16 Scirocco to work tomorrow and I'm going to plug my phone in and see what happens.

[Ralfi]

Also if you try to use voice control with the Aircon fan on high it can lower the fan speed.
Wondering if you’ve noticed any of this with Carplay?
.

Siri didn't have an impact on the Max A/C airflow fyi.

Spotify is probably the number one thing I care about. I'm a premium subscriber and spend (easily) over an hour a day
listening to music through the app in my car. No search could be an issue. I wonder if it'll be different for AndroidAuto? A work colleague is going to bring is MY16 Scirocco to work tomorrow and I'm going to plug my phone in and see what happens.

Had another decent run with Spotify today. Just one glitch, but it didn't freeze CarPlay - I was able to return to the Home screen, restart Spotify & it worked.

Not being able to search for songs whilst using Spotify in CarPlay is a surprising omission.....

[mattaus]

Not being able to search for songs whilst using Spotify in CarPlay is a surprising omission.....

I'll know more myself tomorrow, but can you at least browse and select your own playlists? Turn shuffle on and off etc? I might do some digging and see if I can find a review somewhere.