What is this 1990? What a stupid product.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Spotify Announces the 'Car Thing' as its First Hardware Device
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
And, it might just BE the wrong approach, but they are putting money towards potentially extricating themselves from agreements they see as unfair, which is the right approach if that’s what they really feel. Keep trying things iteration after iteration until they find something that works in the market instead of pouting that Apple is the ONLY company that can win customers with hardware.
I don’t even want my phone screen in my car anymore. I want it all through the bigger integrated screen (preferably CarPlay). I don’t need another device in the car. Specialized GOS devices still exist for some use cases so maybe this will work.
Oh that’s a huge letdown, I thought it was just something that could be always connected to the car and do its own thing like a sort of “Car Play” but only for music. I may as well mount my phone like other people said
Bluetooth radio transmitter. $20 or so at any store. Phone connects to transmitter via Bluetooth, and signal is sent over radio at a certain frequency that you tune your car's FM radio to - I have an old car and this is what I use now. Works really well - I'd love this product so I don't have to fiddle with my phone while driving.
For me, it'd be great. I have an older car and don't like fiddling with my phone when I drive. So to have larger controls that will only be for music and not have texts coming through - and something a passenger could easy access - I think it would work well.
Me, maybe. I generally have my iPhone displaying the map for the route I'm taking. The phone is connected to the car's bluetooth, but at the same time the idea of passing off music control to my passenger appeals to me -- all without moving my phone or taking the map off screen.
If I had one of these, I'd mount it in the middle of the dash where said passenger and I could both see it. The physical control thing also sounds pretty handy.
Anyway, it definitely sounds worth a try to me, and if they give me one for free, all the better.
A lot of people have basically converted their phone into a full-time navigation device, making it awkward and distracting to switch apps to control music playback. I can do basic skipping and volume control of Spotify using my car's built-in controls even if Maps is up on the screen -- but on plenty of occasions I've had to awkwardly hand it over to someone else to put on a specific playlist or whatever.
I get that this isn't a problem if you have CarPlay or whatever, but not everyone does!
You're still missing the point. It requires a phone. Just put a phone clip mount on a vent, plugin in the aux like this thing has (lightning to line-out if newer) and you're good to go. That's already what people with older that don't have CarPlay do, such as myself, although I use a windshield mount because my vents are weird with a built-in wireless charger and connect over bluetooth because my car is new enough to have that but not CarPlay.
How much did this CarPlay head unit cost? And how much time did you spend installing it?
Don't get me wrong, your solution is great, but recognize that a lot of people might just put in an $80 device and call it a day.
Agree that price point is too high given cheap adapters out there - but I would like it as I'd like something that just offers music controls without the distraction of texts and other notifications while I'm driving. DND works - but this would be easier for a passenger to use than grabbing my phone from my bag.
Exactly same boat! Price point is a bit high - but for someone with an older car who doesn't want to take their phone out (and have the inherent distractions it brings), this is potentially great.
I guess that's a fair point, just feels very niche in my eyes. I'd imagine they won't be putting a ton behind the product.
Yeah, I think it's a trial balloon for sure, and definitely niche. But it's a big world and sometimes even a niche thing can be useful to a lot of people.
Although I'm somewhat sceptical, I've decided to give it a go. I just wish it had A2DP and line-out for us with older cars (2011) with only aux-in and no A2DP.
$300 CAD for the head unit ($0.70 USD = $1.00 CAD), $35-140 for the wiring harness and dash kit for each car, anywhere from half an hour to install with the Toyota (most of it soldering and heat shrinking the wiring harness) to a couple of hours with the Mazda (had to remove the centre console and other things to install the head unit). Cheaper than buying a new car and cheaper than $1300-3000 in penalty points plus losing my drivers license for 3 months on repeated offenses (like two of my bosses) for being caught operating a handheld electronic device.
Do you mean why don’t they write it down on a website so that people can read it and come on Macrumors and tell everybody about it...oh wait!
In your scenario that could be a CarPlay-like mode on the phone for easier app navigation restricted to CarPlay apps usable while driving. Seems like a reasonable idea, an iOS "auto" mode instead of a second screen. Unless of course you want a larger screen than the phone.
Yeah that would be great too. I believe AndroidAuto does that. Also the Alexa app recently added a car mode as well that accompany their AlexaAuto device.
I had gotten a deal on that cheap Sony one and, honestly, it works absolutely fine. $200 if you can get it on sale. I freaking love CarPlay, especially with maps.
