kagete

I bought a Civic hatch for work-week commuting and Android Auto is definitely a game-changer. My wife and I can argue over what restaurant to eat dinner at, and read some yelp reviews on the phone or PC. Once we hop into the car, the home screen will have the last 3 searched restaurants suggested and two taps will have google or waze navigation automatically started.

If you have calendar appointments at locations such as a flight then the navigation to the airport will be auto-suggested at the home screen on startup as well. Home and Work daily routes are also presented which is great for knowing if you need to take an alternate route because of a crash somewhere.

Apple carplay offers a similar experience as well. These two companies continually iterate their touchscreen UIs plus we are so embedded into their respective phone, app, mail, and calendar ecosystems that the integration with their car-UI interfaces is fantastic.

I told my wife that we are not getting another new car that doesn't at least have these or at least a significantly better native infotainment system.

JDR76

^^ Does the Android Auto in your Civic require you to plug the phone in via USB? My sister and brother in law have a Civic and use Apple CarPlay but they hate it. They don't like that it has to be plugged in to work and they don't like that you can't get a map without it. I haven't checked to see if there is some user error or not, but they are not happy with it at all.

situman

So will it still work when the vehicle is in D? Last I checked, if my BT drops and I'm moving, I will have to stop in the middle of the highway to reconnect.

kagete

Hi, yes, unfortunately that is how the screen mirroring gets displayed onscreen. It's a small price to pay and arguably almost required anyway to ensure your phone doesn't die while using your cell data and showing your progress on google maps. Most everyone I know that uses Apple carplay is in love with it. Maybe not related but they also have Apple watches, which might mean that they are really immersed in the ecosystem and may be more willing to forgive minor inconveniences for the integration.

Yes, it will keep working while driving. If you want to say something to Google or Siri, you can use the existing steering wheel controls or even just speak out loud "Hey Google" that your phone will pick up. A good quick one is "Hey Google find a gas station" which will automatically suggest two to three gas stations that can be added as detours to your existing route.

JDR76

Thanks for the reply and explanation, kagete.

ydooby

The only thing Alexa has over Google Assistant is in the support it enjoys from third-party home automation devices, which is a non-factor in a car. With the decision to go with Alexa Toyota/Lexus apparently continues to be fully committed to having the worst infotainment system in business.

SoCalRX

Toys4RJill

ABC

I 100% agree with everything you said. It's expensive, it's risky (wheel controls, etc.), speakers, etc... But IMO, well worth it if one is keeping the vehicle for at least a few years.

spwolf

likely reason for that is that Amazon likely signed an agreement with them on how they use Alexa data, while Google and Apple wont.

Alexa has the best ecosystem for smart/automated home by far, so it is definitely very interesting and nice addition... I consider it a way for them to put pressure on Google/Apple as well.

I am sure you will have to set it up first to use it.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

The Apple contract in regards to data collection has been negotiated, accepted, and signed by Lexus. 2019 ES is supposedly the first Lexus with CarPlay.

kagete

I felt the same way and it was a big factor in getting the Civic hatchback. I was thinking about an IS but our 2 year old NX's infotainment already feels ancient compared to Android auto. I will enjoy the lower payments for now and cross my fingers and hope that the next gen IS will eventually have Android auto as well.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

spwolf

thats good to know

spwolf

i wish it was that simple - my friend bought an Suzuki Vitara with Android Auto and none of our Android phones would work fine... I tried with two samsungs, my op3 and an sony.

If they signed agreement with Amazon and Apple, I am sure google will follow soon.