[JRRF]

I've not used Android Auto at all, so know nothing about this interface. What is the difference between using AA for your nav needs vs. the built in nav?

1) How easy is one to use vs the other?
2) Are the AA connections easily made via bluetooth?
3) How much juice does this pull from your phone?
4) Can you manipulate the "nav" display similarly with AA or the builtin system?
5) Are there any other irregular integration issues with the remainder of the system using AA vs the builtin system?

Thanks.

 

[firehawk72]

I've not used Android Auto at all, so know nothing about this interface. What is the difference between using AA for your nav needs vs. the built in nav?

1) How easy is one to use vs the other?
2) Are the AA connections easily made via bluetooth?
3) How much juice does this pull from your phone?
4) Can you manipulate the "nav" display similarly with AA or the builtin system?
5) Are there any other irregular integration issues with the remainder of the system using AA vs the builtin system?

Thanks.

I won't bother to answer every question, but I will say this. Android Auto is AWESOME! It is just like using google. Say, "Directions to X" "Where is Red Lobster" it is great. You just use a USB cable for it.

 

[buddhra]

1) How easy is one to use vs the other? If you're used to Google Maps on a phone, using it on Android Auto is very intuitive, maybe even easier since they've simplified it to remove distractions. I haven't used the built-in nav much, but it seems to work fine compared to others which are equally ugly, outdated, and clunky. One more thing, the built-in voice control is horrendous. My wife tried to tell it to call me and it started playing music. It is truly pathetic. Voice control on AA works as well as on the phone, which is pretty decent.

2) Are the AA connections easily made via bluetooth? Android Auto works over usb, though when you connect a phone for the first time it does also connect over bluetooth for phone functions. When you first connect, you need to make sure Android Auto is enabled in the car and the Android Auto app is installed on the phone. When you connect the projection icon on the screen will change to Android Auto. Tap it, Android Auto launches on the phone, and you'll have to tap through a few confirmations to give Android Auto access to your information and such. After that, just plug in and it works.

3) How much juice does this pull from your phone? Ehh, negative 2.5W. The Volt supplies your phone 500mA to charge, which is on the slow side, but with the screen off my phone charges fine.

4) Can you manipulate the "nav" display similarly with AA or the builtin system? AA has pinch to zoom while the built-in uses + and - buttons. Built-in is far less attractive and doesn't show traffic.

5) Are there any other irregular integration issues with the remainder of the system using AA vs the builtin system? So far so good, if I'm listening to the radio AA navigation still comes through no problem and I can access other screens with no issues while using AA. I like to set the driver's display behind the steering wheel to show audio information so no matter which source I'm using or screen the mylink system is on, I can always see song info and change tracks using the steering wheel up and down buttons.

 

[JRRF]

1) How easy is one to use vs the other? If you're used to Google Maps on a phone, using it on Android Auto is very intuitive, maybe even easier since they've simplified it to remove distractions. I haven't used the built-in nav much, but it seems to work fine compared to others which are equally ugly, outdated, and clunky. One more thing, the built-in voice control is horrendous. My wife tried to tell it to call me and it started playing music. It is truly pathetic. Voice control on AA works as well as on the phone, which is pretty decent.

2) Are the AA connections easily made via bluetooth? Android Auto works over usb, though when you connect a phone for the first time it does also connect over bluetooth for phone functions. When you first connect, you need to make sure Android Auto is enabled in the car and the Android Auto app is installed on the phone. When you connect the projection icon on the screen will change to Android Auto. Tap it, Android Auto launches on the phone, and you'll have to tap through a few confirmations to give Android Auto access to your information and such. After that, just plug in and it works.

3) How much juice does this pull from your phone? Ehh, negative 2.5W. The Volt supplies your phone 500mA to charge, which is on the slow side, but with the screen off my phone charges fine.

4) Can you manipulate the "nav" display similarly with AA or the builtin system? AA has pinch to zoom while the built-in uses + and - buttons. Built-in is far less attractive and doesn't show traffic.

5) Are there any other irregular integration issues with the remainder of the system using AA vs the builtin system? So far so good, if I'm listening to the radio AA navigation still comes through no problem and I can access other screens with no issues while using AA. I like to set the driver's display behind the steering wheel to show audio information so no matter which source I'm using or screen the mylink system is on, I can always see song info and change tracks using the steering wheel up and down buttons.

This is great, thanks. It sounds like the only incovenience is pugging and unplugging your phone each time.

 

[snic]

This is great, thanks. It sounds like the only incovenience is pugging and unplugging your phone each time.

Yeah, that and the occasional crashes. Every few days, my phone spontaneously reboots, which happens only when plugged into the Volt and using Android Auto. Or, AA just freezes (no responsivity to screen or voice input). This might be very dependent on your phone and even your cable, and it's gotten better over time as Google has updated AA.

 

[wws]

...4) Can you manipulate the "nav" display similarly with AA or the builtin system? AA has pinch to zoom while the built-in uses + and - buttons. Built-in is far less attractive and doesn't show traffic...

Built-in does show traffic and can offer re-routing suggestions on the fly based on changing traffic situations. However it requires a XM/Traffic subscription. This also makes the Weather app work.

 

[JRRF]

Built-in does show traffic and can offer re-routing suggestions on the fly based on changing traffic situations. However it requires a XM/Traffic subscription. This also makes the Weather app work.

How long is the included XM/Traffic subscription for? On my last car, while XM radio expired in about 6 months, the Traffic and Weather was good for 5 years.

 

[Bacardi]

It's reported to use wireless CP/AA, it needs to be integrated with wifi and Bluetooth...Some aftermarket versions exist but so far only harman kardon equipped BMW supports wireless CP/AA...Most GM vehicles have wifi via OnStar but I'd take a Vegas bet there won't a software update instead you'll need new hardware aka a newer Volt...

Someone posted that the Volt's USB is 1.5a, like anything it depends on the phone itself, if it's older it's not going to hold a charge as well as a newer model and also depends what you do with it...With my 6 month old iPhone using Waze and the Volt UBS, I drove for 3 hours and gained 5% on my battery...There are adapters which have not been confirmed to work but it adds a second UBS input so you can charge from a faster source, such as a 2.1a 12v to USB adapter...

 

[bakedpatato]

It's reported to use wireless CP/AA...so far only harman kardon equipped BMW supports wireless CP/AA...Most GM vehicles have wifi via OnStar but I'd take a Vegas bet there won't a software update instead you'll need new hardware aka a newer Volt...

Someone posted that the Volt's USB is 1.5a

Yep,I highly doubt GM will pay Bosch to update current units to support wireless carplay(I haven't even seen aftermarket AA units) when we're already up poop creek in regards to Mylink 8 being unreliable with not much response from GM...I guess they didn't learn Ford's lesson of how outsourcing your infotainment can be a recipe for disaster

Your phone will charge at 1.5a rates when using Android Auto because Google mandates charging rates that meet USB Battery Charging rev1.2 rates,and 1.5 is the highest rate allowed

 

[MetaOrbit]

Yeah, that and the occasional crashes. Every few days, my phone spontaneously reboots, which happens only when plugged into the Volt and using Android Auto. Or, AA just freezes (no responsivity to screen or voice input). This might be very dependent on your phone and even your cable, and it's gotten better over time as Google has updated AA.

Pretty sure it's phone dependent. My dearly departed Nexus 6 was struggling (speed wise) in day to day tasks and as a result my Android auto performance suffered. Just upgraded to a newer, faster phone and the Android auto experience has been lightning quick and flawless.

 

[JRRF]

Pretty sure it's phone dependent. My dearly departed Nexus 6 was struggling (speed wise) in day to day tasks and as a result my Android auto performance suffered. Just upgraded to a newer, faster phone and the Android auto experience has been lightning quick and flawless.

My old Samsung S4 suffers from the same slow disease. I thought only Windows machines suffered from that. Everyone tells me that Android does such a good job of resource management, but apparently that's not the case.

 

[snic]

Pretty sure it's phone dependent. My dearly departed Nexus 6 was struggling (speed wise) in day to day tasks and as a result my Android auto performance suffered. Just upgraded to a newer, faster phone and the Android auto experience has been lightning quick and flawless.

Right, my phone (Moto X) is >2 years old... but other than the occasional AA glitch it's working flawlessly and fast, no lag problems at all. I *think* the crashes are due to notifications that Google insists on providing me with regarding traffic, which I've finally figured out how to turn off (I think). Time will tell if it helps.

On the whole, though, the problems are fairly infrequent and I'm pretty happy with AA.

(The cable could be the problem, but I've tried several and the one I'm using is pretty solid: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019Q05AMW.)

My old Samsung S4 suffers from the same slow disease. I thought only Windows machines suffered from that. Everyone tells me that Android does such a good job of resource management, but apparently that's not the case.

With a slow processor, all the resource management in the world won't help. As apps are developed to take advantage of faster processors and other efficiencies in newer hardware, any computer (including smartphones) gets slower and slower when trying to run those apps.

 

[ripegraph]

How long is the included XM/Traffic subscription for? On my last car, while XM radio expired in about 6 months, the Traffic and Weather was good for 5 years.

It's 3 months (OnStar + XM + 4G LTE), OnStar representative says I can renew 4G LTE independently of OnStar subscription.

My 2013 Equinox also had 6 months trial period rather than 3 months.

 

[ripegraph]

My Pixel works perfectly with Android Auto, especially with the Google Assistant. I can just talk to my phone, never had to touch the phone again while driving. However AA does require you to plug in USB every time, which I find a little troublesome getting the phone out of my pocket.

 

[thetoad]

So I've only had my volt for a week or 2, and I love android auto, but I've had at least on situation where it just died and refused to reconnect as android auto until I stopped and restarted the car. The head unit still worked otherwise, just wouldn't go from projection to android auto. I'd expect in those cases I'd have been happier if I had built in nav. Otherwise, prefer android auto.

the other thing I wish android auto could do was integrate into the console display with more than just audio, i.e. there's a nav screen on the console, it have been nice if android auto's nav also integrated there.

 

[JRRF]

the other thing I wish android auto could do was integrate into the console display with more than just audio, i.e. there's a nav screen on the console, it have been nice if android auto's nav also integrated there.

This really is a shame. Given you have to connect it via a USB cable, the bandwidth is there.

 

[snic]

the other thing I wish android auto could do was integrate into the console display with more than just audio, i.e. there's a nav screen on the console, it have been nice if android auto's nav also integrated there.

I keep re-reading your post because I'm not sure I understand. Are you saying that when you connect your phone running Android Auto to the car, the infotainment screen on the Volt only shows audio and not the Google navigation map? That is NOT the way mine (or, AFAIK, anyone else's) system works! There are separate screens for audio, nav, and recent events (e.g., text messages and phone calls).

 

[thetoad]

no. android auto has a few modes. nav, audio, phone.

the audio portion is mirrored to the driver dash screen (whatever its called, where you see mph). so can get the info of whatever is playing there.

There's also an option to put it in nav mode to get nav directions for built in nav (I assume, don't have it) android auto's google map's nav directions dont go there. so you get a nice big map on the screen in the middle, but not anything directly in front of you.

 

[snic]

There's also an option to put it in nav mode to get nav directions for built in nav (I assume, don't have it) android auto's google map's nav directions dont go there. so you get a nice big map on the screen in the middle, but not anything directly in front of you.

Ah, I see. That makes sense. So, I just do the opposite - have the nav info on the big console screen, and the audio info on the speedometer screen in front of me. I like it that way because there's not enough room for the map on the speedometer screen. (Actually there's barely enough for song titles, so I'm not sure how useful it would be for nav info.)

 

[Tomt]

The XM traffic is vastly inferior to the AA traffic: It is well behind real-time, and only shows traffic on major roads...

Built-in does show traffic and can offer re-routing suggestions on the fly based on changing traffic situations. However it requires a XM/Traffic subscription.