Android Auto phone upgrade

[georgef]

Ok - I bought a Samsung A3 (2017) model. 4.7 inch screen. 2GB Ram, 16GB internal storage and capacity for a 256GB SD card. Should do me. The screen is nice and sharp and it works with Android Auto. I am getting used to the Google Maps (not as good as Here Maps on windows) but as Windows isn't compatible with the car, beggars can't be choosers. Thanks for all your help. I will give flac files a go.

[denno]

I have a Huawei P9 lite and although I can download android auto to my phone, it does not link to my new Octavia , which makes it as useful a chocolate teapot.  Googling it reveals this is an issue with Huawei, not Skoda. Got another year of my phone contract to run, irritatingly, but I won't get another Huawei although I like the phone itself, for this reason

[vc-10]

For what it's worth now this thread has been bumped, I had my S7 Edge stolen back in April. Replaced it with a OnePlus 3T, it works even better with Android Auto than the Samsung did. Much slicker, and the phone was cheaper to buy! I'd recommend OnePlus to anyone, great phones for the money. 

[RickW]

Does it have a micro SD slot?

 

My contract is up next month and I'm looking to change. I've been using a Motorola E but google maps can be intermittent in low signal areas. Mid Shropshire was a nightmare recently.

 

I guess I'm asking if anyone has never had issues with Google maps on Android Auto with their phone?

Edited 7 November, 2017 by RickW

[sparckzero]

1 hour ago, RickW said:

I guess I'm asking if anyone has never had issues with Google maps on Android Auto with their phone?

 

I've only been driving a Fabia for just over 2 months, but always use Android Auto with my O2 Samsung S7 and have never had any problems. I use Waze rather than Google Maps, and it works fine every time. One slight irritation is that the default Waze map colour scheme looks a little bit "washed out" on the car display, but otherwise it's all fine.

[RickW]

Thanks for that. I'm on o2 as well and considering the S7.

Does steering wheel voice control work with music (Google play,Spotify,Amazon) on the S7?

[sparckzero]

8 hours ago, RickW said:

Does steering wheel voice control work with music (Google play,Spotify,Amazon) on the S7?

 

They certainly do with Spotify, and I'll test the other services next time I'm in the car (in Germany this week and won't be home until the weekend). 

 

Voice commands also work with Spotify and Waze (e.g. "OK Google, navigate to <destination> / play <album>".

[vc-10]

Yup, it's a long-press of the button on the steering wheel. That's standard Android Auto behaviour, not linked to the phone.

 

The OnePlus doesn't have expandable storage, but mine has 128GB internal anyway (and cost me £440, SIM-free). 

 

I've not had too many issues with Google Maps. You can download fairly large sections on Google Maps to your phone, so the actual map is stored on the phone not the cloud. This saves on data use and also means that it works even if you don't have a network connection, although of course things like traffic alerts aren't available. 

 

You open Maps on the phone (not while plugged into the car), hit the three bar menu icon (hamburger icon) at the top in the search bar. The menu comes in from the side, Offline Maps is partway down. You can then select areas. I have a bunch. It's good for going abroad too as you can download it over WiFi (it won't download over mobile data unless you enable it in settings) while you're at home, and you can then use it without data charges.

 

I agree re Waze's maps looking washed out. But I find they are better at night than Google Maps, as with Google the side roads are too close in colour to the black background. 

 

Edit: It's worth pointing out too that the OnePlus phones have the new USB-C connector, not the Micro-USB that your Motorola and the S7 have. It's the new standard and it's becoming harder to find phones with Micro-USB, and USB-C is being used on all sorts of things (the new Apple laptops only have USB-C connectors and a headphone jack, for example). But of course that means that you'll have to buy new USB leads for your car. I bought a pack of 5 off Amazon, which included a nice short one for the car and a nice long one that would reach the sofa from the plug in my living room!

Edited 8 November, 2017 by vc-10

[RickW]

Thank you,very helpful.

[abaday789]

Always use AA on my car more so that probably the radio it's self. 

I also use waze myself but find there appears to be a bit of a weird issue with it when it makes the marking for the route you're meant to be following really large in comparison to the road its self. This only happens though if you set waze up to go before plugging it in. If you plug in your phone then setup waze once running on the car you don't get the what I call "big road" issue and the UI looks perfectly fine.

[RickW]

On 08/11/2017 at 06:16, sparckzero said:

 

They certainly do with Spotify, and I'll test the other services next time I'm in the car (in Germany this week and won't be home until the weekend). 

 

Voice commands also work with Spotify and Waze (e.g. "OK Google, navigate to <destination> / play <album>".

Any updates please ? 

[vc-10]

The voice button on the steering wheel just connects through with a long-press to the Android Auto voice control. Anything that works through Google's voice control works through AA- I often ask about the football so I can avoid areas around Old Trafford on game nights! You can dictate texts, tell it to call people, basically anything that you can ask your phone directly with the 'OK Google' command.

[RickW]

Well I finally made a decision and got an S7 edge and used it a number of times in the car with Android Auto with no problems up to now.

 

Got 3 months Google play music for 99p and that works well too.

 

The only problem will be the amount of data it'll be using.

 

Anyone found a good value service provider for quite high data usage?

[abaday789]

if looking for sim only data. Good value options are ID Mobile, Giffgaff and Three. The first two both do 1 month rolling contracts so you're not tied down for 1-2 years. I have recently moved to EE though due to wanting better coverage where I am at work. Which appears to be a bit of a black hole for most other network provider bandwidths. EE is reasonably value for data as well depending on what else you want. Have a look Here on compare the market they allow you to compare sim only tariffs with a decent range of options.

[vc-10]

It's worth pointing out that all those small operators use other companies networks. This Wikipedia page tells you which network they're actually using- for example, PlusNet use EE's network.

 

Also- I've just upgraded to the latest OnePlus phone, the 5T, as O2 offered me an early upgrade. Continues to work flawlessly with Android Auto!

[RickW]

For those of you using a fair bit of data on maps and music in your cars,do you think 20GB per month is adequate?

[vc-10]

I was on 5GB and that was fine... 

 

Download your music and the maps to the phone and you'll be OK with 3GB I'd reckon. I have 12GB as 5GB was getting a little tight and at upgrade time they were offering a quadruple data deal, so the old 3GB became 12GB. 

[RickW]

Thanks,but the thing is I've got Google play music and I like the fact I can ask for anything anytime ie keep playing Deep Purple for example or that obscure album I remembered from 1982 that I liked etc.

I also like live traffic on Google maps.

[vc-10]

I have live traffic, I've just downloaded most of the country to my phone which helps a lot.

 

Music wise, I will sometimes stream but I download the stuff I listen to the most, and Spotify updates the curated playlists over wifi when they change. Maybe see how much data you're using now and go from there? The networks are always happy for you to up your data allowance later anyway, as they get more money, but generally don't like you downgrading if you're paying for 20GB and using 8.