Pioneer Releases Wireless CarPlay Systems

[MacRumors]

Pioneer has joined Alpine as the second electronics maker to release wireless CarPlay systems for aftermarket installation.

AVH-W4400NEX​

Introduced at CES 2018 in January, product listings have since confirmed that Pioneer's latest AVH-W4400NEX and AVIC-W8400NEX receivers are capable of not only wired and wireless Android Auto, but also wired and wireless CarPlay, enabling drivers to connect an iPhone to either receiver via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

Receivers with wired implementations require connecting an iPhone with a Lightning to USB cable to access CarPlay functionality.

The lower-end AVH-W4400NEX features a double-DIN design with a seven-inch resistive touchscreen. The receiver has a suggested price of $699.99 in the United States through resellers such as Crutchfield and Sound of Tri-State. It's also available for C$899.99 in Canada via Best Buy's online store.

The higher-end AVH-W8400NEX features a double-DIN design with a seven-inch capacitive touchscreen. The receiver has a suggested price of $1,199.99 in the United States through resellers such as Crutchfield and Sound of Tri-State. It's also available for C$1,399.99 in Canada via Best Buy's online store.

AVH-W8400NEX​

The $500 price difference between the two receivers largely relates to the type of touchscreen used. Capacitive touchscreens--think of an iPhone--rely on the electrical charge of a finger, and are generally considered to be better than resistive touchscreens, which rely on the physical pressure of a finger or stylus.

Both receivers feature CD/DVD drives, AM/FM, HD Radio, SiriusXM compatibility, two rear USB-A ports, SD card readers, and hands-free phone calls and music playback via Bluetooth in standard AppRadio Mode.

Alpine released the first aftermarket wireless CarPlay system in June 2017. Its iLX-107 receiver features a seven-inch capacitive touchscreen and is available for a suggested price of $900 in the United States. Wireless CarPlay is also available in select new vehicles from BMW, and Mercedes-Benz starting soon.

Pioneer has also released some wireless CarPlay receivers in Europe, according to the blog CarPlay Life. Thanks to MacRumors reader Dean Cobb.

Article Link: Pioneer Releases Wireless CarPlay Systems

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

Cool deal but wireless CarPlay is a huge battery drain. You nearly need to plugin your phone to keep up. A wireless charger will allow you to see just a small loss after a drive to work but still won't prevent drain.

Pioneer is known for dropping support and not updating after a short period of time. They stopped issuing firmware updates for the AppRadio 3 just 4 months after release. All future updates to iOS were a crapshoot.

 

[diddl14]

Why on earth do these things still come with cd/dvd drives?

 

[341328]

When is VW rolling this out?!

 

[minimo3]

Dashmount: $12. Plus you get full functionality instead of being limited to Apple maps and a few music apps.

 

[ipedro]

Cool deal but wireless CarPlay is a huge battery drain. You nearly need to plugin your phone to keep up. A wireless charger will allow you to see just a small loss after a drive to work but still won't prevent drain.

Pioneer is known for dropping support and not updating after a short period of time. They stopped issuing firmware updates for the AppRadio 3 just 4 months after release. All future updates to iOS were a crapshoot.

This is where Qi will come in. You won’t need to plug in a wire when you get in your car, just rest it on the Qi charger. For shorter drives, just leave it in your pocket and CarPlay will still work.

 

[QuarterSwede]

Pioneer is known for dropping support and not updating after a short period of time. They stopped issuing firmware updates for the AppRadio 3 just 4 months after release. All future updates to iOS were a crapshoot.

The last firmware update for my 4100NEX released in Mar 15 was in Aug 17, 2 years later. That’s better than most electronics manufacturers.

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

This is where Qi will come in. You won’t need to plug in a wire when you get in your car, just rest it on the Qi charger.

As I said, Qi will not charge the phone as fast as wireless CarPlay will drain it. And plugging a phone in to a cable takes nearly as much effort as setting it out on a Qi charger, the difference is minimal.

Until they can lower the power consumption of wireless CarPlay, it's not a great option for most. Sorry, but I want to not have to remove my phone from my pocket when I get in the car but also get where I'm going without draining my battery.

 

[QuarterSwede]

Dashmount: $12. Plus you get full functionality instead of being limited to Apple maps and a few music apps.

Safety, that’s why CarPlay is so good. My wife and I love using it.

 

[dan9700]

I have z5000dab and its horrible the car play is slow and the firmware isnt even made for ios 11 dont go with pioneer and still a 800x480 screen with dvd it should blu ray and hd screen there a joke now daya

 

[dohspc]

This is where Qi will come in. You won’t need to plug in a wire when you get in your car, just rest it on the Qi charger. For shorter drives, just leave it in your pocket and CarPlay will still work.

I agree with the other poster. I have a Qi car charger in my car for my iPhone X. Even though it supposedly supports fast charging Apple only allows very few chargers to fast charge. The charger barely keeps up when I’m using apps like Waze.

 

[macduke]

The $300 price difference between the two receivers largely relates to the type of touchscreen used.

It's actually a $500 difference: $1199 - $699 = $500. That is a HUGE difference.

It's really disingenuous to charge an extra $500 just so your customers don't have to use a crappy display technology from 12 years ago. You can buy an entire 2018 iPad for less than the upcharge for a capacitive display. And no doubt said displays are probably some really awful 640x480 or 720x480 resolution. They don't even mention the display resolution so I imagine the worst, otherwise they would list it, and in the past displays on these receivers have been pretty awful.

I would buy a separate model for $599:

• Remove the DVD/CD player
• Remove the motor from the "motorized" touch screen
• Remove the satellite radio stuff
• Remove the hardware buttons
• Capacitive touchscreen

Customers buying a modern system like this don't need all that legacy garbage. They want to route their phone through their car and use it as the hub for all data connections and streaming. I think even $599 is kinda overpriced for something that is basically just a big display for your phone but I get it, you guys suck and want to milk people who have older cars. OK. But you don't have to be a jerk and ship a product in 2018 that uses a resistive display. That's just customer hostile.

I think I'm about done with waiting for a CarPlay implementation that doesn't suck. I seriously just want to buy a 2018 iPad and mount that in the middle of my dash. Holy crap. I'm not salty or anything…hah.

 

[Juicy Box]

Capacitive touchscreens--think of an iPhone--rely on the electrical charge of a finger, and are generally considered to be better than resistive touchscreens, which rely on the physical pressure of a finger or stylus.

I understand the appeal of a capacitive touchscreen, but there is a glare issue. One of the Pioneer head units I have is impossible to see when the sun is coming into the car from certain angles.

Many resistive touchscreens have a matted screen that doesn't reflect like the capacitive ones.

 

[oneMadRssn]

I would think OLED screens would be perfect for cars, and at the prices they're charging for these things it doesn't see unreasonable either.

One of the main things I hate about in-car screens is how bright they are at night. With OLED being able to light up only the pixels being used, having a proper night mode would be awesome if 95% of the pixels are off.

Yet as far as I know, no car and no aftermarket headunit come with an OLED screen.

 

[mdelvecchio]

Pioneer is known for dropping support and not updating after a short period of time. They stopped issuing firmware updates for the AppRadio 3 just 4 months after release. All future updates to iOS were a crapshoot.

Yeah I had an AppRadio and they dropped support for it and said it was fixed in the new version. Funk those guys.

 

[Juicy Box]

One thing I like about the two new models is that there are physical buttons. There has been a trend of the aftermarket head units losing physical buttons and knobs for an on-screen buttons.

 

[dan9700]

Appradio still made for iphone 5 screen not even 6 plus optimzed useless they cant even get the app updated for 4 years

 

[jeff275]

Wouldn't a resistive screen potentially be an advantage since you could use it with gloves? I never had a problem with resistive screens back in the day.

 

[Juicy Box]

I would think OLED screens would be perfect for cars, and at the prices they're charging for these things it doesn't see unreasonable either.

t as far as I know, no car and no aftermarket headunit come with an OLED screen.

I am not sure if this will happen anytime soon.

Not too long ago, I was reading about issues with OLED screens in sunlight. One issue, is that they are really hard to see in direct sunlight, but I guess the capacitive screens are too.

A potential problem is sunlight and heat, I read something about OLED screens that were getting damaged by prolonged direct sunlight exposure.

There was also some burn-in issues, this would be a big problem as many head units would display the same image for a very long time.

Maybe these issues have been worked out already, but if not, I doubt OLEDs will make their way to aftermarket headunits.
[doublepost=1527172474][/doublepost]

Wouldn't a resistive screen potentially be an advantage since you could use it with gloves? I never had a problem with resistive screens back in the day.

Both have pros and cons. I think in perfect conditions, I would prefer a capacitive screen, but having used a capacitive screen for years, and having horrible glare issues, I would like my next one to be resistive.

 

[639051]

I've wanted carplay for a long time but at the same time .. I hate apple maps, siri is awful and at that point I just feel like there isn't much use to it. If they were to open it up and allow GOOD apps in place that would be a game changer.

 

[Haynesfr]

Auto radios still have cd/dvd players so old people like me can watch movies in the car while the kids are at practice (redbox). You mean you don’t revert back to your 50 capacity cd case just once in a while when you need to hear a classic and your data is at 90%? Am I the only one with limited data and the free version of Spotify?

 

[Itsedstech]

Auto radios still have cd/dvd players so old people like me can watch movies in the car while the kids are at practice (redbox). You mean you don’t revert back to your 50 capacity cd case just once in a while when you need to hear a classic and your data is at 90%? Am I the only one with limited data and the free version of Spotify?

What is this Cd slot you speak of? I revert back to my 128gb usb stick loaded with a bunch of movies plugged into the second usb cord of the back of my pioneer avic-8200 which is ran into my glove box for easy access.

 

[one more]

I find the pricing of these things in 2018 ridiculous. We can stick a full-sized 9” iPad in the car for 329$ or 459$ (cellular). Who would want to pay 700$ plus for this awkwardness? The ideal solution would be for all the car manufacturers putting some sort of displays in the cars and just mirroring the phones.

 

[dan9700]

Usb 2 . it's so slow
[doublepost=1527173650][/doublepost]So many things wrong i have flagship 2017 z5000dab and the usb 2.0 is mega slow loading songs and layout is all over the place also firmware is months wait and app raido doesn't work and app isnt updated for 4 years biggger screen stay away from pioneer headunits

 

[chrismcdowell25]

If anyone is interested I’d go to Crutchfield and search for Apple CarPlay compatible. Seems like there are a ton of options. No wireless but this thing has capacitive for $300.

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_104BVCP967/Boss-BVCP9675.html