GolfGTIforum.co.uk
Model specific boards => Golf mk7 => Topic started by: Bigbeemer on 07 February 2018, 19:30
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Just setup Apple car play to my mk7.5 GTi and must say I am very impressed. Does anybody know if you can add any additional apps to the main menu or any other cool things it can do?
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I had it in my 7.5 Golf R. I hope it’s going to be in my new GTI when I collect in March.
The R had the large Nav with gesture control, my GTI has got the standard Nav.
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Yes, Apple car play / Android auto and mirrorlink is standard from SE models upwards.
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My personal view of CarPlay is that it looks nice on the screen but generally speaking the native phone (Bluetooth) integration beats it in most departments.
In the Golf it only works when you have the phone connected via usb. When connected, it disables Bluetooth. Some of the steering wheel buttons that you’d otherwise use to handle phone calls / music, etc then don’t work either. The MFD doesn’t show anything other than “CarPlay”.
I mostly used it for Podcasts and Spotify. However I found Spotify very buggy on it. Sometimes requiring disconnect / reconnect 2-3 times in order to get it to work.
The apps you can use on it are totally controlled by Apple. Only last week WhatsApp finally began working on it. But like with native messages, it’s a bit limited. You can’t read messages, you have to rely on Siri to read new messages to you and for dictating new messages. And I personally hate voice control interfaces. They rarely work (for me!).
So at the moment I think CarPlay is a nice to have rather than an essential. Until manufacturers improve the integration of it with their own native setups, it’s too compromised.
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I also find Spotify on CarPlay very hit and miss, to the point where I don't really use CarPlay now.
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The fact you have to be connected via usb is pretty crap, is this the same for all cars with CarPlay? I use it maybe once or twice a week, generally on the way home if I need to give my phone a charge.
And yes, not great that it disconnects Bluetooth as I have 2 phones connected normally so then my work phone won't be able to take calls.
I've also had issues with Spotify. I have to select the album or playlist from phone, won't let me do it from the media screen.
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No, several manufacturers have adopted wireless CarPlay. VW haven’t, not even in the 7.5 or any other model afaik.
Wireless or not though, the same other issues that I posted apply though. It’s just not the real deal yet imo. When they figure out how to more seamlessly integrate it with the car’s other tech, then it’ll be more worthwhile. Right now, it’s a gimmick imo.
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I know you probably don't want to hear it but Android functionality is far better. Apple behind the curve....
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I know you probably don't want to hear it but Android functionality is far better. Apple behind the curve....
:shocked: We've been duped.... :grin:
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I know you probably don't want to hear it but Android functionality is far better. Apple behind the curve....
And then some Fred, but with Apple car play you get to change your screen into something that a two year old would play with.
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TBH, I have a love / hate relationship with Apple Car play (ACP). From a speed and just "working" point of view, it's much better than Android auto (IMO). Loading of it after attaching the USB cable is pretty much instant (once the Nav unit has fully booted), and streaming from say Tune-In radio starts very quickly. Conversely with Android Auto (AA), it can take up to 10-15 seconds (usually about 10 secs) for it to start then you have to acknowledge a nag screen, and streaming from Tune-In seems to take longer to achieve a connection. Also, I've found that ACP seems to always work 1st time every time, whereas occasionally AA either won't start or crashes (not that often to be fair but enough), requiring either the phone to be unplugged or the Nav unit re-booting.
AA is great when you are doing quite a lengthy journey and you only need to connect once at the start of your drive, but if you need to stop a few times, it can get really annoying waiting for AA to start up (although it does seem a lot of the time is the Nav Pro unit waiting to start the app connect service on engine re-start.)
For me though the big turn off on ACP is the screen design, which whilst I know it's supposed to be safe and easy to read when driving, looks like it was designed by a 2 year old. God knows why they thought to have album art behind the next as it blurred to such a point as being totally worthless. Then you have the Apple ring fence on apps, which can be a good or bad thing. Good in that only apps that have been fully tested are allowed though, bad in that it only shows you what Apple deems you need.
AA on the other hand being is much more flexible and just plain looks better on screen. When I play Tune-In or Spotify, I get a really nicely presented screen with cover art (displayed properly) and easy to read text that isn't 6" tall - and yet it's all still perfectly readable at a glance, and therefore just as safe as ACP.
Add to that some of the other apps you can get such as Google maps and Waze (and other not officially supported apps as well is you allow you phone to go into developer mode). For me, the real bugger however with both these apps is that they both disable Bluetooth when connected. So if like me you have two phones (one Iphone - Work and one Android Personal) connected at the same time to the head unit, you will loose connect to the other one when the respective app has loaded (so when ACP is loaded, my Iphone still receives calls in the car, but my Galaxy S7 doesn't, and vice-versa.) So it sun it up for me ACP has the speed and stability, and AA has the looks and features. If we could combine the best of both, what an App we would have !
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My personal view of CarPlay is that it looks nice on the screen but generally speaking the native phone (Bluetooth) integration beats it in most departments.
In the Golf it only works when you have the phone connected via usb. When connected, it disables Bluetooth. Some of the steering wheel buttons that you’d otherwise use to handle phone calls / music, etc then don’t work either. The MFD doesn’t show anything other than “CarPlay”.
I mostly used it for Podcasts and Spotify. However I found Spotify very buggy on it. Sometimes requiring disconnect / reconnect 2-3 times in order to get it to work.
The apps you can use on it are totally controlled by Apple. Only last week WhatsApp finally began working on it. But like with native messages, it’s a bit limited. You can’t read messages, you have to rely on Siri to read new messages to you and for dictating new messages. And I personally hate voice control interfaces. They rarely work (for me!).
So at the moment I think CarPlay is a nice to have rather than an essential. Until manufacturers improve the integration of it with their own native setups, it’s too compromised.
To be fair, I think the fact you can't read messages and they are dictated to you is a safety feature and I for one prefer not having the temptation to read a message and having it dictated for you (and knowing that others don't too!). That said, I don't like the fact it doesn't read back a text you've dictated before sending...
I have Amazon music which is also a bit buggy whereas Apple Music seems to work just fine... Hmm, funny that...
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Android reads the text back to you before you send...
Definitely the no text display is deliberate, I haven't read the ACP application specs but the AA ones are quite clear about the app not displaying anything more than is absolutely necessary and not distracting the driver with too much text.
AA should launch pretty much immediately, the VW nag screen is a bit random though (warning you about data usage) - sometimes it appears sometimes it doesn't. No discernible pattern as far as I can see...
The biggest problem with AA is the same problem ALL Android apps suffer from - constant development and releases randomly break things. One day its working, next day its not. Obviously doesn't matter to the developers, because they fix and re-release.
Biggest pain I have encountered is that Google changed AA to use Google Assistant recently. Which meant that the voice command set changed over night. Nice.
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I find it amazing they don't allow you to read the text (not that I'd want to) but VW will allow you to read the news on the go via car net all on a small font at that!!!
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When you go into car net doesn't it say stuff like "don't read this while driving or you will die"?
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When you go into car net doesn't it say stuff like "don't read this while driving or you will die"?
Possibly but it still allows you to watch it.
Its the same with Video in motion. I totally get why thats not allowed yet they allow you to read on the go which would require a lot more looking at the screen than a movie.
Its crazy!!
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Video is specifically illegal though.. Text can't be because lots of things (car systems) display text... But video is definitely illegal
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I got a text on my iPhone while driving and the text came up on the screen (via Bluetooth), (on the facelift all the menu’s are available while driving (not blocked in the 5f module)
Also there’s a jailbreak tweak that allows you to put any app on the CarPlay screen, even games 😂
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Anyone know why VW have opted not to display music details on the Active Info Display, unlike Audi Virtual Cockpit?
Any plans for VW to update the AID?
Its a bit of a turn off just having the word Carplay bounced back at you from the cluster.
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If your iPhone is jail broken then you can add more programs like Facebook and messenger on to carplay