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Earlier today, Pioneer kicked off the Paris Motor Show with the announcement it was making CarPlay available to select existing car audio receivers. The manufacturer also was present at the event showcasing CarPlay on its just-announced AppRadio 4 smartphone receiver in an exhibit that was recorded by French blog Mac4Ever.

pioneer_appradio_4_carplay_demo.jpg
At a suggested retail price of $600, the new AppRadio 4 (SPH-DA120) is positioned as the lowest-cost CarPlay system from Pioneer and ships with built-in support for CarPlay and Siri Eyes Free to provide on-dash and hands-free navigation, messaging and more. The AppRadio 4 CarPlay demo is only a minute long, but it shows decent responsiveness of the Apple-driven interface on the receiver's touchscreen display.

Pioneer is among the first car audio manufacturers to add CarPlay support to aftermarket car receivers, allowing users to install the Apple technology into their existing cars. CarPlay also will debut in new automobile models from a variety of automobile makers such as Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, BMW, Ford, Hyundai, GM, Honda and others.

Article Link: Pioneer Demos Latest CarPlay-Enabled Aftermarket Receiver at Paris Auto Show
 
One of these days, these types of kits will come standard in most manufacturer's automobiles. And the question for the consumer will still be: Apple or Android?
 
I don't see the point of that particular model shown. My iphone 6 plus screen is seems bigger than that and is mounted to my dash right next to my radio. I can just do all of that on the phone, what's the point of the screen mirroring?
 
I don't see the point of that particular model shown. My iphone 6 plus screen is seems bigger than that and is mounted to my dash right next to my radio. I can just do all of that on the phone, what's the point of the screen mirroring?

The idea is supposed to be that you keep your phone in your pocket, you can make calls using bt from the car so you don't have to talk loudly for people to hear you. EDIT: nevermind you need to connect the phone to the car anyways. lol

I went for just getting bt in my old suv for cheap ($30) years ago connected to my radio. So I have the phone in my dash and sound comes out of the car.
 
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I don't see the point of that particular model shown. My iphone 6 plus screen is seems bigger than that and is mounted to my dash right next to my radio. I can just do all of that on the phone, what's the point of the screen mirroring?

The interface is different from your phone. All the tap targets are made to be larger and easier to touch which is more important in a car.
 
Seems laggy. I'll stick with a dash mounted phone.

Exactly. I don't see the point in duplicating some of the iPhone's functionality on a small dash-mounted screen that's more dangerous to control than an actual iPhone mounted in one's line of sight. It would have been more impressive to demonstrate Siri controlling the dash, hands-free.
 
I don't see the point of that particular model shown. My iphone 6 plus screen is seems bigger than that and is mounted to my dash right next to my radio. I can just do all of that on the phone, what's the point of the screen mirroring?

Where did you get your special iPhone Plus >7" model?
You best buddies with Jony or something?
 
What's the point?

I don't see the point of that particular model shown. My iphone 6 plus screen is seems bigger than that and is mounted to my dash right next to my radio. I can just do all of that on the phone, what's the point of the screen mirroring?

This is exactly what I am trying to figure out. All we need is a lightning dock that allows access to the car's speakers and microphone and also kicks the iPhone itself into Hands-free or Eyes-free modes. Why do we need another screen? Why do we need to pay $600 for something that can function as just a dock?
 
Carplay, continuity and handoff in ios 8, it is the ultimate iOS experience ever.
Great job Apple!!
 
So this might be off topic but I'm really digging this whole connectivity thing. The other day I got a phone call and my iPhone was at the other end of the room. I was really lazy but sure enough simultaneously the call showed up on my Mac as well. (Yosemite Beta)

I know this is an advertised feature, but it just worked and was fantastic.
 
One of these days, these types of kits will come standard in most manufacturer's automobiles. And the question for the consumer will still be: Apple or Android?

I'm afraid these jerks will never allow us, the user, to consider whatever's in the dash to be user-upgradable. I'm not a big "new car" buying guy, but eventually, the current lot of dash computers with GPS (which ALREADY looks dated) will make it into the used car market at my level, and i'll be stuck with absolute awful interfaces, which I'll end up covering with electrical tape.

If these sorts of in-dash computers were user-upgradable, then I'd feel a lot more comfortable. But, they never will be.
 
The idea is supposed to be that you keep your phone in your pocket, you can make calls using bt from the car so you don't have to talk loudly for people to hear you.

I went for just getting bt in my old suv for cheap ($30) years ago connected to my radio. So I have the phone in my dash and sound comes out of the car.

I might be wrong, but I thought one of the requirements for CarPlay was that the phone has to be connected via cable (which is really lame) ?
 
This is exactly what I am trying to figure out. All we need is a lightning dock that allows access to the car's speakers and microphone and also kicks the iPhone itself into Hands-free or Eyes-free modes. Why do we need another screen? Why do we need to pay $600 for something that can function as just a dock?

I already have a mount with bluetooth, this just seems redundant to me. Now if the screen was the size of what is in the Tesla, then we can talk.
 
Is it just me? Seems like all MacRumors article have a YouTube video of bendgate even on non iPhone bending articles..
 
Where did you get your special iPhone Plus >7" model?
You best buddies with Jony or something?

AppRadio 4 is only a 6.2" screen. The iPhone+ is close enough to this in size where its debatable of the advantages
 
The need for carplay is a bit dampened for me with "hey siri" capability. As long as I have my iPhone plugged in, I can just tell siri what to do. My car already has iPod connectivity as well, so I have steering wheel controls for music.

Its not to say that carplay isn't nice, but i don't think I'm about to spend $600 to get a new receiver to upgrade to it. Maybe my next car... in 10 years...
 
Not sure if I'll update from my AppRadio 3. Bit upset they didn't add CarPlay support to it. The new AppRadio 4 has a smaller screen (6.2" on the 4 vs. 7" on the 3) and costs quite a bit more.
 
The idea is supposed to be that you keep your phone in your pocket, you can make calls using bt from the car so you don't have to talk loudly for people to hear you.

I went for just getting bt in my old suv for cheap ($30) years ago connected to my radio. So I have the phone in my dash and sound comes out of the car.

iPhone must be connected via lightning cable so I don't see how you can easily keep it in your pocket. Good for battery but annoying.
 
Waiting for others

I've been burned by Pioneer enough. Their devices are too complicated for all the wrong reasons. I have a Pioneer now that has so many features that don't make sense - no mute button is the one that kills me.
My home stereo is also a Pioneer. It's so hard to use, I'm afraid to change anything on it. I've actually had to rtfm. Granted, it has a lot of features (why I bought it).

I'm happy that carplay is making it's way to aftermarket, but I'll wait for another (JVC) before I even consider it.
 
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