Early Apple CarPlay Reviews Cite Ease of Use, Excellent Siri Voice Integration

[SirHaakon]

It's literally running on the iPhone. It's not like these head units are running iOS.

The data is on the iPhone, but the head unit has its own GUI and pulls that data from the phone as requested. Very clearly the head unit does not have the same processing power as the phone; it is indeed laggy and far less responsive than the phone.

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Are they still that bad???

Not at all, people just like to troll.

 

[V.K.]

Gave it several tries, still don't like it. The fact that you can't simply drag the map around while in-route is a huge no go for me, apple map also limit how much you can zoom-out while in-route. Actually you can't really zoom out at all. I don't get their logic behind this.

I feel the same way which is one of the reasons I prefer google maps for navigation. another is live traffic info. In a big city like Toronto with lots of traffic this is very helpful. Google maps will also adjust directions based on current traffic conditions which I don't think Apple maps does. the quality of directions around Toronto is comparable so that's not the deciding issue for me.

I have the AVIC-5000NEX in my wife's Sienna, and we updated the firmware last night, and I have to say that the carplay experience is very nice. It's very responsive, and uses the screen pretty well. There are, however, a few things that are drawbacks:

• Using the Maps application, the directions take too much space on the screen. I would prefer more realestate to be allocated to the Map.
• Moving from one screen to the next is not as intuitive as I would have expected. This may just take some time, but it doesn't have the overall Apple polish to it
• Must have the phone plugged in to use carplay. Would be nice if there was a way for them to drive this tech with bluetooth only
• Album art is not easily seen. It presents behind the song controls, and at the angle the Pioneer HU is mounted in the car, the album art gets washed out and is not recognizable due to the viewing angle.

Controls are responsive, map is fluid. It's integration with the music app on the phone is top notch, and it does allow direct access to iTunes radio.

Thanks for sharing your impressions. one comment about bluetooth. I suspect some future carplay compatible units will have this option but you have to keep in mind that using your phone for navigation drains the battery like crazy. I always plug in my 5S when I use it for directions unless it's a really short trip.

Pioneer AppRadio 4 SPH-DA120 Vs. AVH-4000NEX... Which One Should You Buy?

Check Out Our Ultimate NEX Receiver Comparison Table [Exclusive]

thanks for the links. looks like I'll be going for AppRadio 4 (once it becomes available in Canada that is).

 

[Makosuke]

Hey, Pioneer--put a damn physical volume knob on the thing and I'll buy one.

I realize that they want to use as much of the available space for the screen as possible, but the fact is that when I'm driving I need to adjust the volume with some regularity, and a knob you can easily adjust by feel is vastly superior to the little edge-mounted volume buttons on these models (or having to look at the touchscreen).

Heck, sell a little stick-on volume knob add-on so it doesn't eat up panel space. I'd slap one of those on the console somewhere--like the old Harman-Kardon iPod controllers.

It's not a coincidence that pretty much every factory system on the market, however fancy or high tech, includes a volume knob of some kind. I'm still using a crusty old Pioneer GPS unit because it was pretty much the last model they made with a volume knob.

 

[EdT]

My take on Apple Maps...

My wife and I will both enter an address when we are using map apps while driving. She will use Google Maps, I use Apple Maps. We then compare which gave us the most accurate directions. Apple Maps is around 85%, 90 if you count being within a block as close enough. Google is around 70% using the same criteria. We live in "flyover country", and are probably in the 'not updated frequently' category for most mapping companies.

I own a 2012 Camry, which has Toyota's Entune navigation and entertainment system. It was (is?) a joke. I quit using it because it uses your phone for data, if you are using voice recognition it still uses data, even to play music stored on your phone, is inaccurate as hell with voice recognition which makes trying to tell it to play a song/album/artist an amusing trick to show your friends but an aggravation if you are seriously trying to use that feature. It also can only run 3 or 4 apps total, and certainly NOT a different map system. The Toyota nav system is DVD based, and costs over $300 to update, and being stored on a DVD it is obsolete from day one.

Now as I said, I haven't used it in over 18 months, so things may have improved, although if there are updates I have not been notified, and as I get lots of texts and e-mails directed at me by Toyota because I own the car, if there is an update you think they could notify me.

So I am interested in this system (won't say I would buy it without trying it however) and I would like to know more about the system and what cars it can be added to.

 

[akatsuki]

I would much rather use a mounted iPhone than Carplay.

1. Non-retina displays look disgusting
2. The Carplay interface looks laggy as hell compared to a snappy iPhone. It feels like you're using Android.
3. You're limited to Carplay enabled navigation apps, whereas the iPhone can use any app you want, like Waze.
4. Even if you're okay with using Apple Maps via Carplay, the non-retina display and laggy interface would make it awful to use.
5. Can you call w/ Facetime Audio on Carplay? It seems like the calls are all normal audio, which sounds awful compared to FT audio.

Where is the video of it being laggy, the couple I have seen have been quite smooth

 

[ProwlingTiger]

Complete opposite of my review on SYNC. SYNC is complete and total ****. There is no, not a single more concise way to put SYNC into one word. Added bonus: keeping the same number of letters. This is not me hating on Microsoft, it's me using SYNC for 2 years.

 

[840quadra]

But the point of this is to keep your eyes on the road, Sync is able to play a song off my iPod with voice commands without a network connection and so should Siri.

Actually your iPhone can be used for voice commands without Siri, problem is, you need to disable Siri to use it.

With Siri disabled, you can use the old style voice control last found on the iPhone 4. It is somewhat limited, but you can play by song, playlist, artist, and do a few other handy internet free commands.

I have submitted a feature request to "Allow local voice control when Siri is unavailable" for quite some time now.

 

[Karma*Police]

Too bad it uses Apple Maps...

I don't know where you live, but where I am, it works great. And unlike Google maps, I don't need a PHd to figure out the UI.

 

[Col4bin]

Siri sucks on my phone. Why would I want that in my car?? No thanks.

 

[groovyd]

doesn't look like anything on crutchfield is CarPlay ready and seems I would lose all the car settings that can be made through the console?

 

[Spankey]

Carplay is very quick in the car. Much better at scrolling through iTunes than having the head unit translate. For the most part, it is completely what I expected so here are the negatives and things I hope Apple changes or updates.

1. Album artwork is very dim and almost invisible on screen, especially in daylight.

2. Maps needs a night mode to it is not so glaring when driving at night.

3. Have to manually unlock phone before using Carplay.

4. Not an Apple issue, but the Spotify app is completely broken and does not work with Carplay even though it was just updated.

For the most part, Carplay is great. It definitely could use some tweaking and I'm sure there will be refinements. The potential is huge.

 

[Chrisxenofontos]

Can I use it with touch interface (not siri) to choise song, write msg, etc?

 

[Poob Bubes]

Are there any Carplay features that are locked out while the car is in motion? I plan on getting the AppRadio 4 but wasn't sure if I needed a bypass for any features.

 

[donnaw]

Complete opposite of my review on SYNC. SYNC is complete and total ****. There is no, not a single more concise way to put SYNC into one word. Added bonus: keeping the same number of letters. This is not me hating on Microsoft, it's me using SYNC for 2 years.

Really? I have SYNC in my 2012 Edge and I love it. I was eyeing up CarPlay and can't find one thing it does that my SYNC system doesn't do. Plus mine just automatically connects via Bluetooth when I turn on the car. I suppose one difference is I have to push a button vs saying 'Hey Siri' but that's not really an issue. (In fact it probably works better especially when my grandkids are arguing in the backseat. I can simply press the button and call their dad.) Plus no plugging anything in, doesn't use my phone data......Frankly I love SYNC.


However, if I had a car without some sort of hands free built in I would spec this out.

 

[Muscle Master]

A lot if people fail to realize that Google maps got some years in... I been using it since I had my BlackBerry Tour 9630 lol, like others it just like I'm used to

If a bunch of people wasn't stubborn, they give Android a second chance

Lets quit the banter on that....

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My wife and I will both enter an address when we are using map apps while driving. She will use Google Maps, I use Apple Maps. We then compare which gave us the most accurate directions. Apple Maps is around 85%, 90 if you count being within a block as close enough. Google is around 70% using the same criteria. We live in "flyover country", and are probably in the 'not updated frequently' category for most mapping companies.

I own a 2012 Camry, which has Toyota's Entune navigation and entertainment system. It was (is?) a joke. I quit using it because it uses your phone for data, if you are using voice recognition it still uses data, even to play music stored on your phone, is inaccurate as hell with voice recognition which makes trying to tell it to play a song/album/artist an amusing trick to show your friends but an aggravation if you are seriously trying to use that feature. It also can only run 3 or 4 apps total, and certainly NOT a different map system. The Toyota nav system is DVD based, and costs over $300 to update, and being stored on a DVD it is obsolete from day one.

Now as I said, I haven't used it in over 18 months, so things may have improved, although if there are updates I have not been notified, and as I get lots of texts and e-mails directed at me by Toyota because I own the car, if there is an update you think they could notify me.

So I am interested in this system (won't say I would buy it without trying it however) and I would like to know more about the system and what cars it can be added to.

Before I bought my Chevy Cruze, I was gonna get a lightly used 2012 Camry SE with the same system... and I wasnt gonna get that car unless I knew I can replace it with the NEX system... Do yourself a favor and do it!

 

[ToddJ]

Does anyone have any video or photos of Carplay's Maps in night mode? I saw a little bit from the Volvo video and it seems that it looks different than the one that is on the iPhone (as far as color.)

 

[ProwlingTiger]

Really? I have SYNC in my 2012 Edge and I love it. I was eyeing up CarPlay and can't find one thing it does that my SYNC system doesn't do. Plus mine just automatically connects via Bluetooth when I turn on the car. I suppose one difference is I have to push a button vs saying 'Hey Siri' but that's not really an issue. (In fact it probably works better especially when my grandkids are arguing in the backseat. I can simply press the button and call their dad.) Plus no plugging anything in, doesn't use my phone data......Frankly I love SYNC.


However, if I had a car without some sort of hands free built in I would spec this out.

The voice recognition is hit or miss - not just for me, but my whole family has trouble with it. The mobile apps integration has also never worked. And this is with the basic SYNC, not with the navigation screen. I can't imagine how much difficulty I would've had with the navigation and sending GPS directions from my computer to my car (not sure how this feature works now, but it used to be you could somehow, supposedly - again I never had the equipment for it, send directions from, say Google maps on your computer, to your car).

I had SYNC in my 2013 and 2014 Mustangs. The only, and I mean, ONLY good thing about it was that I could play audio via bluetooth and that, for 95% of the time, worked well. Handing the kids in the backseat my iPhone to choose songs was great.

 

[Ronlap]

Please Toyota, tell us that you can do a firmware update to your crappy Entune system and shoehorn CarPlay into your dashboard units.

 

[EdT]

Before I bought my Chevy Cruze, I was gonna get a lightly used 2012 Camry SE with the same system... and I wasnt gonna get that car unless I knew I can replace it with the NEX system... Do yourself a favor and do it!

I have not heard of this system. I will take a look.

Please Toyota, tell us that you can do a firmware update to your crappy Entune system and shoehorn CarPlay into your dashboard units.

From what I have heard, and I might be wrong, OnStar, Sync and EnTune are all collaborations with Microsoft. If I was going to pick a company to design an easy to use entertainment/info systems in a car Microsoft would not be my first choice. Or my second, third or fourth. Apple, Google and Samsung all have much better track records for designing competent systems, and the car dealers should have used one, or more, of them. As far as which one of those three is better, I prefer how Apple manages their software/hardware, but other people could be just as happy with Google or Samsung, for reasons that make sense to them, and I'm not here to start a flame war.

 

[briankeith513]

Too bad it uses Apple Maps...

Yeah, this is my only issue. I wish I could use Google Maps instead.

 

[s.hasan546]

Lol you guys are comparing sync, one of the worst car systems, to CarPlay? It's not even a competition

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Yeah, this is my only issue. I wish I could use Google Maps instead.

I'd bet waze will come to CarPlay pretty quickly. Waze is much better than both Google maps and apple maps

 

[eldervovichka]

I love CarPlay on my 8000-NEX, I have an iPhone 6+ and Siri is working better than on my 5s. Even my co-worker was impressed at how well the system worked.

I do you have a question, how can we change the "you are over the speed limit" range on CarPlay? Everyone speeds. I just don't need the reminder until I am 10% over the limit. I know I can do that on the stock Pioneer Nav system. Any help would be great.

Jeff

 

[donnaw]

The voice recognition is hit or miss - not just for me, but my whole family has trouble with it. The mobile apps integration has also never worked. And this is with the basic SYNC, not with the navigation screen. I can't imagine how much difficulty I would've had with the navigation and sending GPS directions from my computer to my car (not sure how this feature works now, but it used to be you could somehow, supposedly - again I never had the equipment for it, send directions from, say Google maps on your computer, to your car).

I had SYNC in my 2013 and 2014 Mustangs. The only, and I mean, ONLY good thing about it was that I could play audio via bluetooth and that, for 95% of the time, worked well. Handing the kids in the backseat my iPhone to choose songs was great.

I have the nav system. It took me a couple of months to figure out you need to put in the street name before the number. It seems a bit quirky. Of course I never read the directions. I guess that's why I didn't know I could send directions from my computer. I did use it in conjunction with my iPad and HERE maps on my phone and it performed flawlessly.

Never had any issues with voice recognition. It understands my Texas drawl and my husband's PA accent fine. But I did read where some people had issues.

Since this was my first car with this sort of capabilities I'm probably easily impressed.

 

[Mago]

Just saying, the Garmin based navigation system on the Grand Cherokee still the best on any vehicle I've drove (which includes Mercedes, Tesla, almost every Asian SUV), Google maps navigation compared with Garmin just looks pathetic, Apple maps still worse, if I really would depend on gps navigation if I can't get an grand Cherokee I'll pick an portable Garmin Nuvi.

P.D. I still unknown: BMW, Rolls Royce, Bugatti, Audi, BMW integrated Nav with HUD seems promising, same is for the new s class Mercedes (I didn't test yet).

 

[el-toro]

Pretty damn slick

I installed a new AVH-4000NEX unit earlier today in my 2009 Honda Accord and spent a good deal of time using the unit and CarPlay with my iPhone 6 Plus. I gotta say, it is pretty damn cool. The speed of the unit and CarPlay is good. I didn't experience really any lag at all and I was surprised by that actually. The touchscreen of the 4000NEX is good. Matte finish and responds to light touches. The iPhone screen is probably a little more sensitive but this is very good too.

Many people have commented that they wouldn't need CarPlay because of the new Hey Siri feature. However, what makes CarPlay great is that it's SAFER. First off, all of the fonts are very large on the screen so if you HAVE to look at the screen, you're not wasting time away from the road focusing on smaller icons and print - that's something to consider even if you're using the 6 Plus. When playing music, you've got a huge screen and fonts showing you the Now Playing details.

When messages come in, they come through as a banner just like on the iPhone and it's really easy to be able to tap that large banner and have Siri read your messages back to you. Creating messages is very easy. You can't see any of the texts...Siri reads them back to you. You CAN see your messages list, but the messages can only be read back to you.

My main concern on this unit was going to be the microphone and how it picked up my voice and how I sounded to others. I'm happy to report that it's great. No issues there at all and Hey Siri works wonderfully. Maps works great and it looks awesome on the big screen. And enough with the Apple Maps haters. Apple surely had issues upon launch but it's VERY good now. I travel frequently in Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and everywhere in between and Apple Maps hasn't steered me wrong except maybe in the first few months after launch. Since then it's been perfect. And Apple Maps looks and feels great in this unit. I prefer Apple Maps over anything offered in the unit by Pioneer, Alpine, etc. It's a familiar interface and all of your bookmarks are already there!

I think the biggest thing I like about CarPlay is that I know it's going to make me a safer driver. That's the whole point about CarPlay. Others on this thread will say they can get by with just Hey Siri and their iPhone but CarPlay is a MUCU safer option. I was driving most of today and was replying to messages over hands free all day. It was awesome and I never had to take my eyes off of the road. WAHOO!