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CarPlay changes
- Thread starter DazzaD
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Had a rental Mazda CX-90 for a week last year that didn't have a touchscreen. There was a knob on the center console in front of the cup holders that rotated left and right to move a highlight box around interactable objects (icons, etc) and pushing down would select.
That's not common, since touch is an intuitive thing, but there is support for non-touch systems.
I generally liked the vehicle but the interior felt a little bit cramped, and I'm small (5'4").
Mazda I think on some models does do touch screen while the car is stationary but they disable it when the car moves, so you have to use the old school rotary selector.
It’s a philosophical thing they have. I don’t agree with it to be honest but that’s what they decided.
It’s a philosophical thing they have. I don’t agree with it to be honest but that’s what they decided.
Make sense. On this one, the screen was inset pretty far into the dash and not easily reached. Designed to be more easily glanced at while driving, I think.
There's nothing wrong with the approach -- just a way of trying to improve safety and minimise draction. I find touch screens easier too but I didn't hate it outright myself.
Some cars might have a four-way keypad with a central button, for all I know. I don't know who else uses non-touch screens, though. At least in the US.
There's nothing wrong with the approach -- just a way of trying to improve safety and minimise draction. I find touch screens easier too but I didn't hate it outright myself.
Some cars might have a four-way keypad with a central button, for all I know. I don't know who else uses non-touch screens, though. At least in the US.
The only thing about carplay on iOS26 I have trouble with is the 'highlighted' icon (funnily enough own a Mazda and most of the time navigate with the scroll wheel) it's grey, which would be fine i can adapt from blue highlights to grey but a lot of the time the grey icons are VERY subtle and have to scroll forward then back to find where the highlighted section is, PLUS it's a bit annoying there are a few icons where it uses the SAME blue as the old highlights.
Now I do like iOS26 the liquid glass appearance its lovely but for use in a car and quick select and go I do think the system needs to be a bit less subtle and glass like and more of a HERE'S YOUR SELECTED ICON CLICK ME!!!
Now I do like iOS26 the liquid glass appearance its lovely but for use in a car and quick select and go I do think the system needs to be a bit less subtle and glass like and more of a HERE'S YOUR SELECTED ICON CLICK ME!!!
Only me or screenshot doesn’t take pic of CarPlay on Beta? It is very useful for me, to save places to update on Waze Editor later at home.
I haven’t had a chance to try it yet as I was traveling (by air, not car
), but the same type of complaints happened, particularly with Maps and CarPlay, when Apple adjusted the color scheme of Maps features, roads, terrain, etc.Contrast was a big issue, but they adjusted during the betas thanks to user feedback and it was corrected/adjusted within the first month of betas if I remember correctly.
It’s off by default now but you can turn it back on in Settings.
Only issue I've seen with CarPlay was sometimes Podcasts (using Apple Podcasts) would stop playing, and I'd have to disconnect the cable and reconnect to get it working again.
There’s an option to enable touch screen on the CX-5 (2024). Not sure what year it was added, but it works while the car is stationary as well as in motion.
I agree that the screen placement was intended to be used with the rotary knob on the console.
While I like the widgets feature, the implementation of it is crap, as the amount shown is dependent on the screen size, one single widget per screen on smaller screens with tons of space left around it is just a bad UI design. So to get to the next one I have to swipe, and swipe and swipe, not great in a car environment.
They could have easily designed this with the ability to fit at least two widgets per screen, even on a smaller screen.
I use an aftermarket Pioneer SPH-DA360DAB with a 6.8" screen, and I'm stuck on one widget, I could have easily shrunk the widgets slightly and had two per screen, and it still would have been very easy to read. I could probably get away with four per screen if I had the ability to make them smaller.
They could have easily designed this with the ability to fit at least two widgets per screen, even on a smaller screen.
I use an aftermarket Pioneer SPH-DA360DAB with a 6.8" screen, and I'm stuck on one widget, I could have easily shrunk the widgets slightly and had two per screen, and it still would have been very easy to read. I could probably get away with four per screen if I had the ability to make them smaller.
