Apple CarPlay and Android Auto: worth the extra?

[Silly Goose On The Loose]

Looking at upgrading the stereo in my 08 Mazda2 and I've got a ~£100 Pioneer MVH-X580DAB that I'm shortly going to fit just because I'm sick of the factory stereo.

The new stereo may only be temporary as I was considering getting a double-DIN headunit with Android Auto/CarPlay built-in.

What is the general consensus on these two additions? They make the headunits quite a lot more expensive (I was looking at the Pioneer F88DAB as it's the only one I can find with DAB and a capacitive touchscreen - I have always hated resistive touchscreens but have they improved now?) but it's quite expensive at around the £800 mark.

A touchscreen headunit without CarPlay/Android Auto is around half at £400.

Is the extra cost worth it?

 

[Lustral]

Not for those prices to be honest.

On the Apple side , there are not many apps that have been opened up to use CarPlay yet , the only app that will make it worth while is getting Waze on CarPlay / Android Auto.

Im in the Waze beta for the Android side , and they are about to release a test version shortly.

 

[Steedie]

I used Apple CarPlay for 2 weeks when I had a hire car. Was absolute garbage, made me feel a lot better as being an Apple fanboy, I was always a little peeved that I didn't have it on the BMW. But after those 2 weeks I really wouldn't want it.

First off, if it's not the wireless implementation, you'll need to plug it in with a lightning cable, which if you're like me and hate wires, it will bug you. Second, the UI is nice but it wants you to use Siri for everything. Go to make a call or read your texts and Siri first asks who you want to call or text, which is a faff sometimes as it will say "Sorry, I didn't catch that" when you didn't say anything at all and trying to skip past that step.

The maps are nice, but the way they've implemented the UI for it isn't that great, and I hate the colour scheme.

Only things I liked was how easy it was to navigate your music, and the fact that the podcasts app is separate like on the phone, so easy to use

 

[Rilot]

I really like both of them. I had them in a merc E-class rental I had last year and found it worked really well. I had both an iPhone and an Android device at the time and I tried both. I preferred Android Auto mainly because it uses Google Maps rather than Apple Maps.

 

[Rimsy]

Android auto works on your phone without the need for a separate head unit so if you have a phone with a decent sized screen and a car mount... Good way to save money and retain the functionality!

And it's very good aside from browsing for music is pretty awful.

 

[adolf hamster]

if your gonna be dropping that kind of cash on a double din, i'd rather take a built in satnav over a phone linked unit.

when it comes to music plain ol' bluetooth with a link to google's voice control (and presumably siri for apple) is handy enough, unless you listen to some strangely named bands then its easy enough to tell it to change track.

 

[paradigm]

I've tried both, once, in my S3.

Really don't see what the fuss is about, disabled both so I can charge my phones without the car trying to launch carplay/android auto now.

 

[sesevans]

Android Auto and Apple Car Play are beginning to dominate infotainment systems with users dependent on these services almost entirely in many cases.

"Strategy Analytics surveyed a group of people, finding that most users who own a car with either service use them for essentially all of their tasks. The study found that 34 percent of CarPlay use Apple’s system for “all” of their use of media in-car, while 32 percent use Apple CarPlay for all of their navigation. Meanwhile, 27 percent of users rely on Android Auto for media and 33 percentage for navigation."

The report speculates that users rely on CarPlay or Auto because they has a better and more fluid User Interfaces than typical in-car systems, however some users are turned away because of how difficult it is to navigate between functions or access Siri or Google Assistant.

What is your experience?

 

[ShivP]

Android auto is great. Waze maps integrated into head unit? Count me in. Beats any in built sat nav system any day of the week (yes idrive fan boys its better ). Voice commands are perfect too much better than crappy siri which requires 10 attempts (or used to). Google assistant works bang on every time

Hopefully if google continue updating android auto this will future proof sat nav systems for years into the future, unless they launch something dumb like android auto 2 so car manufacturers can take more of our money

 

[On Holiday]

I'd not buy another head unit without Android Auto or a responsive mirror link.

Android Auto is awesome.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

I used car play in a rental for 3 weeks and the pool cars at work. I was pretty happy with it. It certainly beats using a phone mount.

Sure Apple maps is not as good as Waze but its good enough IMO.

 

[Antony101]

I've used Android Auto in a few Audi's I've driven and although the navigation in my F10 is wonderful I'd much rather have Android Auto. The voice commands are perfect and it's a very slick looking interface.

 

[Jonny L]

I use Apple CarPlay every day in my a3, I would hate to be without it now. So much snappier than the standard Bluetooth phone menus etc. Also great for using Apple maps, music and audible.

 

[NewGamer11]

I use Car Play all the time in my car. Great interface. My phone plug in is in the armrest so the wires aren't a problem.

It's good but not worth £800. It was free in my car, I find it funny that 'premium' manufacturers like Volvo charge extra for it.

 

[ShivP]

I use Car Play all the time in my car. Great interface. My phone plug in is in the armrest so the wires aren't a problem.

It's good but not worth £800. It was free in my car, I find it funny that 'premium' manufacturers like Volvo charge extra for it.

Ferrari charge something stupid like £3000 for it

 

[Parsley]

Android auto works on your phone without the need for a separate head unit so if you have a phone with a decent sized screen and a car mount... Good way to save money and retain the functionality!

And it's very good aside from browsing for music is pretty awful.

Rocket Player solves the music problem!

 

[Vertigo]

I've tried both, once, in my S3.

Really don't see what the fuss is about, disabled both so I can charge my phones without the car trying to launch carplay/android auto now.

Same. I think the only real use for them is if you want to stream audio via Spotify or whatever.

I've only used CarPlay as I have an iPhone but I've heard Android Auto is better. Tried using it to dictate messages via Siri and it was appalling and barely recognised anything I said when travelling at speed due to background noise, whereas Audi's own voice commands never have any problems.

Didn't realise you could disable it completely, that's useful to know.

 

[Silly Goose On The Loose]

Getting it as standard in my new car.

Had to remove my Pioneer F88DAB from my current car as it would crash so often it was useless.

 

[Phemo]

I had CarPlay support on the head unit in my old car and I certainly don't miss not having it now. I found I didn't really make use of it anyway because the app selection is so limited. I did however make use of it in a hire car in the US last year and I found myself pretty surprised at how good a job Apple Maps did out there. Since then though, I haven't had a need for it. I have no experience with Android Auto but I suspect it's going to be better and more open than CarPlay. I guess it depends what you're looking to get out of it though. For me all I'm really bothered about is a decent UI for music which I just play off USB/via BT anyway.

 

[Mr Jack]

My car has it but I've never used it. Make of that what you will.