[phil0909]

I have experienced the following problems:

1. When I use AA to dial a phone call, it appears to dial, but immediately gives a "Call Ended" message. This happens very frequently. Calls work fine on the phone without AA.
2. Big orange screen on my phone saying I had incompatible versions of AA on phone and car. This happened several times on one drive, and the phone worked normally when disconnected. After rebooting both devices (the car, mainly), the message went away and AA worked normally as before. I have a newish phone and the very latest Android version.
3. Driving off the dealer lot on the day I took delivery, I was trying to make a call, and experienced problem #1 above. When I tried restarting the call, the Bolt screen went black and rebooted as if I had just started the car, though I was driving at the time. This was a little disturbing as I had just paid for the car, but it has not recurred (I have not tried to make it recur).

Anyone else having AA problems, or is it just me?

 

[bro1999]

I have experienced the following problems:

1. When I use AA to dial a phone call, it appears to dial, but immediately gives a "Call Ended" message. This happens very frequently. Calls work fine on the phone without AA.
2. Big orange screen on my phone saying I had incompatible versions of AA on phone and car. This happened several times on one drive, and the phone worked normally when disconnected. After rebooting both devices (the car, mainly), the message went away and AA worked normally as before. I have a newish phone and the very latest Android version.
3. Driving off the dealer lot on the day I took delivery, I was trying to make a call, and experienced problem #1 above. When I tried restarting the call, the Bolt screen went black and rebooted as if I had just started the car, though I was driving at the time. This was a little disturbing as I had just paid for the car, but it has not recurred (I have not tried to make it recur).

Anyone else having AA problems, or is it just me?

I have the shrunken display issue, but not with actual connectivity.
What kind of USB cable are you using? Could be it is flaky. Also, posting your exact model phone may help troubleshoot.

btw, about the shrunk display issue, I found this on the Google forums:

Chris - Android Auto Team said:


"Still in the Developer Options.

Android Auto -> About -> <initiate developer mode> -> <three dots aka overflow menu> -> Developer Settings -> Allow 720p video output"

https://productforums.google.com/for...m/android-auto

I swear I tried this last night with no luck, but I'll give it another go today.

 

[Henry_FL]

What make / model phone and what is the android version on the phone?

 

[bro1999]

This forum is probably worth a read regardless: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!forum/android-auto

 

[phil0909]

Thanks. I've tried multiple USB Type C cables, and had phone problems with each. I have a Google Nexus phone, the 6p, running, as I said, the current version of android (which is 7, named Nougat). I'll take a look at the developer options and the forum you suggested.

 

[Henry_FL]

(which is 7, named Nougat)

That could be your issue, Android Auto is listed to work with Android Lollipop V6, no mention of V7. Being bleeding edge isn't always fun. Nougat isn't released yet to the OEM's

 

[phil0909]

That could be your issue, Android Auto is listed to work with Android Lollipop V6, no mention of V7. Being bleeding edge isn't always fun. Nougat isn't released yet to the OEM's

Thanks Henry, but this does not sound right. Lollipop is actually V5 of Android, Marshmallow V6, and Nougat V7. The Android Auto home page indicates compatibility with Lollipop or higher, and the google play store specifically indicates compatibility for my device and android version.

 

[Henry_FL]

It is impossible for software in the car, which may not ever be updated, to be guaranteed to work with any version of software from future Android OS release. I would suggest you find another phone to try to see if its the phone or the head unit in the car.

 

[nik.taylor]

I have experienced the following problems:

1. When I use AA to dial a phone call, it appears to dial, but immediately gives a "Call Ended" message. This happens very frequently. Calls work fine on the phone without AA.
2. Big orange screen on my phone saying I had incompatible versions of AA on phone and car. This happened several times on one drive, and the phone worked normally when disconnected. After rebooting both devices (the car, mainly), the message went away and AA worked normally as before. I have a newish phone and the very latest Android version.
3. Driving off the dealer lot on the day I took delivery, I was trying to make a call, and experienced problem #1 above. When I tried restarting the call, the Bolt screen went black and rebooted as if I had just started the car, though I was driving at the time. This was a little disturbing as I had just paid for the car, but it has not recurred (I have not tried to make it recur).

Anyone else having AA problems, or is it just me?

This may be a Bluetooth issue. There are known issues with 7.1.1 Bluetooth with car head units on nexus devices: http://phandroid.com/2017/01/19/nexus-6p-5x-in-car-bluetooth-issue/

Having said that I have reported upwards of 10 bugs to GM with the infotainment system software, so who knows.

 

[phil0909]

This may be a Bluetooth issue.

Seems unlikely, since Android Auto does not use Bluetooth, but rather a wired connection to the car. But as you say, who knows? Thanks,

 

[nik.taylor]

Seems unlikely, since Android Auto does not use Bluetooth, but rather a wired connection to the car. But as you say, who knows? Thanks,

True, but once the phone connect request is sent, it may do a handshake to Bluetooth and hand over. That's when it could get dropped. I'm pretty confident when you choose a music track to play on android auto, it actually plays over Bluetooth a2dp. I'm pretty sure I disconnected Bluetooth when music was playing on android auto and it paused for a sec and came back at a lower volume and lower quality. Again, I could be wrong with all of this but I could imagine them reserving the usb for video and the BT for audio.

 

[ChiVolt]

I'd suggest experimentally running Android Auto in phone-only mode - with absolutely NO connectivity to the Bolt. If Android Auto similarly errors, then you'll know the problem is between Android Auto and your phone.

Conversely, if Android Auto performs flawlessly in phone-only mode, then there's a problem with either your phone or AA itself interfacing to the Bolt.

 

[bro1999]

Bleh, so I was just told by a GM source that Google will need to address the display issue, since they dictate what resolutions AA displays at. Since the Bolt's display doesn't conform to one of the preset resolutions Google chose, we get the black margins.

 

[Sean Nelson]

Bleh, so I was just told by a GM source that Google will need to address the display issue, since they dictate what resolutions AA displays at. Since the Bolt's display doesn't conform to one of the preset resolutions Google chose, we get the black margins.

So GM chose a resolution for the screen that's not in the AA specs and they're blaming Google?

 

[ChiVolt]

Disappointing GM would offer AA, while failing such a basic AA spec.

 

[Henry_FL]

Disappointing GM would offer AA, while failing such a basic AA spec.

The Bolt screen primary use is for the car, not Android. The 720P ratio is not suited as if one uses 720P that becomes long and short, the Bolt needs the height. It is trivial for Google to support other resolutions and the ball really is in their court. How it works now is fine, and all but the most techie types will never notice. People deal with this every day watching movies, bars top and bottom as the ratio for theaters is not 720P either

 

[bro1999]

Eh, still is annoying though.
All AA-using Bolt owners! Start peppering Google with AA fix requests for the Bolt!

 

[Neromanceres]

So GM chose a resolution for the screen that's not in the AA specs and they're blaming Google?

So your saying GM should have intentionally made the screen smaller for a different aspect ratio to accommodate Android Auto's limited comparability for certain aspect ratio's?

I'm sure it will be fixed in a future software update. Likely OTA.

 

[Sean Nelson]

So your saying GM should have intentionally made the screen smaller for a different aspect ratio to accommodate Android Auto's limited comparability for certain aspect ratio's?

Instead of shrinking the width they could just as easily have enlarged it at the top and bottom to get the correct aspect ratio.

I actually think this whole thing is a bit of a tempest in a teapot and that neither GM nor Google is really to "blame". It's rather like people complaining that old Standard Definition TV shows with a 4:3 aspect ratio don't fill the screens of their 16:9 HD televisions. Hey guys, it's just the way things are, deal with it.

 

[phil0909]

I'd suggest experimentally running Android Auto in phone-only mode - with absolutely NO connectivity to the Bolt. If Android Auto similarly errors, then you'll know the problem is between Android Auto and your phone.

Thank you, ChiVolt, this idea was most helpful! At least for the immediate hangups, it appears that the Bolt is innocent and Google is at fault. Apparently, Android Auto is unable to handle one of my Google Voice settings, the one that asks which phone number to use (that is, my Google Voice number or my Verizon number) each time I place a call. It works fine in regular Android Nougat, but not in AA. When I changed this setting, the immediate hangups went away.

As for the other problems - the intermittent Bolt re-boot and intermittent AA incompatibility warning - I still don't know what could have caused them. Both seem to be rare so far, so I won't worry about them unless they recur.