CarPlay Impressions

[mattaus]

I had a brief play with AndroidAuto again today. With a slightly newer (and beefier) phone, it connected and worked!

It did lock up on me once (had to quit to the Volkswagen home screen to get AA to respond again). It did this when trying to use voice search. It also lost bluetooth audio after every voice search. Basically it'd listen, then respond via the phone's speaker rather than the car. Any music I had playing also continued through the phone rather than the car. It did this without fail so I'm guessing it's a bug (or something wrong with my phone).

Using Spotify was good, but I have found that if I select a play list it starts playing that playlist without letting you select the initial song. I also cannot seem to find a way to actually view the playlist, so if I'm after a particular song I have to hit skip until I find it.

Obviously early days and I need to have a much bigger play with it before passing judgement. Google is having a a big event tomorrow morning to announce new phones, an updated OS, and probably a few other items (including changes to AndroidAuto if rumors are to be believed) so I'm hopeful things will improve.

[Ralfi]

Is there a reason why you're using Bluetooth for audio, whilst Android Auto is functioning via a cabled connection?

[mattaus]

Is there a reason why you're using Bluetooth for audio, whilst Android Auto is functioning via a cabled connection?

I was under the impression a bluetooth connection was required for full AA functionality? I'm home now so would go have a longer play with AA, however I cannot find the air bag fuse so I can't install my S2T paddles. 10 minute install my a*se. Now I've got a headache. Grrr

[Ralfi]

I was under the impression a bluetooth connection was required for full AA functionality? I'm home now so would go have a longer play with AA, however I cannot find the air bag fuse so I can't install my S2T paddles. 10 minute install my a*se. Now I've got a headache. Grrr

With CarPlay, as soon as you connect the cable to the phone, Bluetooth is disabled on that phone (a secondary phone can still be connected via Bluetooth). So it's either App Connect via cable or non-App Connect via Bluetooth.

I thought Android Auto behaved the same as CarPlay?

[Ralfi]

Connection bugs

Noticed a more frequent occurrence of a bug happen yesterday; Non-detection of phone when connecting to Lightning cable.

The App-Connect screen would appear, but with no option to select CarPlay.

Turning MIB & engine off didn't work. Unplugging/reconnecting cable didn't work.

What did work was restarting the iPhone (5).

I could be wrong, but this bug may be triggered by not pausing the music before either unplugging the cable or turning off the engine/opening door (keyless system, where opening door shuts off MIB). It has happened 1 or 2 times previously, & I do remember testing things by not doing what I normally door when stopping the car (pausing music) on at least one of those occasions.

The bugs didn't stop there though; I was playing through an album & paused a track as I wanted to listen to the engine through some curvy roads but then suddenly a track started, but it wasn't the same track as I was listening to earlier - it was the first track listed on my device....the phone decided to start playing all my ~4000 songs. So I needed to find the album again, & start playing from the song it was up to.

It was pretty warm weather yesterday, but I'd be surprised it that contributed (car was chilly with the Aircon blaring ).

[mattaus]

With CarPlay, as soon as you connect the cable to the phone, Bluetooth is disabled on that phone (a secondary phone can still be connected via Bluetooth). So it's either App Connect via cable or non-App Connect via Bluetooth.

I thought Android Auto behaved the same as CarPlay?

Well as you probably will have noticed I'm far from impressed with AA (posted my thoughts in another thread complete with a demo video). They do not appear to behave the same either, as AA still takes the blue tooth connection even when running. Its required for the calls to work. The voice button on the steering wheel doesn't work with Google Now either which is frustrating. Basically I'm giving up on it until it gets a few major updates that are sorely needed.

Never switching to Apple though

[stev99]

Connection bugs

Noticed a more frequent occurrence of a bug happen yesterday; Non-detection of phone when connecting to Lightning cable.

The App-Connect screen would appear, but with no option to select CarPlay.

Turning MIB & engine off didn't work. Unplugging/reconnecting cable didn't work.

What did work was restarting the iPhone (5).

I have the same issue, it occurs for me if I plug in the phone a bit too early, while the MIBII is "booting" up. I find if I wait 5 seconds or so after starting the car it connects properly.

[Ralfi]

I have the same issue, it occurs for me if I plug in the phone a bit too early, while the MIBII is "booting" up. I find if I wait 5 seconds or so after starting the car it connects properly.

Thanks for the tip, Stev.

Had no issues this morning btw. Detected every time & songs continued where they left off.

Any other things you dislike/like about CarPlay? Find any hidden tricks to using it?

Well as you probably will have noticed I'm far from impressed with AA (posted my thoughts in another thread complete with a demo video). They do not appear to behave the same either, as AA still takes the blue tooth connection even when running. Its required for the calls to work. The voice button on the steering wheel doesn't work with Google Now either which is frustrating. Basically I'm giving up on it until it gets a few major updates that are sorely needed.

Never switching to Apple though

Couldn't find other thread, so I'll post here...

I have an Android phone & im sure when first pairing with the car, it asked something like if I wanted to use the phone to stream Audio &/or Calls.

Maybe try & unpair your device, re-pair & deselect the Calls-over-Bluetooth facility if you can.

I was under the impression that if you disabled Bluetooth on your Android, the Phone App in AA would work through the cable...

Also, with Voice (Siri), you need to press & hold the button on the steering wheel for a second to get the command prompt (as you do with iPhone). I notice with Android, you double-tap the Home button on the phone for Google Now.

Try either holding button down, or double -tapping, as tapping once only brings up the VW prompt asking if you'd like to be ripped off by paying for VW's propriety Voice option.....

[stev99]

Any other things you dislike/like about CarPlay? Find any hidden tricks to using it?

I find it mostly "just works", and is pretty great, especially with Apple Music and Siri, e.g."Play songs by xxx" is great when you have access to any artist, streaming from 4G.

I did buy a shorter lighting cable, as the standard one was coiled up like a mess of spaghetti in that little hidey hole where I put the phone.

Other that that I've had to "re-pair" it a couple of times - I suspect after each iOS upgrade it's forgetting the pairing.

[mattaus]

Couldn't find other thread, so I'll post here...

I have an Android phone & im sure when first pairing with the car, it asked something like if I wanted to use the phone to stream Audio &/or Calls.

Maybe try & unpair your device, re-pair & deselect the Calls-over-Bluetooth facility if you can.

I was under the impression that if you disabled Bluetooth on your Android, the Phone App in AA would work through the cable...

Also, with Voice (Siri), you need to press & hold the button on the steering wheel for a second to get the command prompt (as you do with iPhone). I notice with Android, you double-tap the Home button on the phone for Google Now.

Try either holding button down, or double -tapping, as tapping once only brings up the VW prompt asking if you'd like to be ripped off by paying for VW's propriety Voice option.....

This was my other post. Thanks for the tips, I'll give it a try later this afternoon and see if my experience improves!