Smart Link AMA (ask me anything)

[Iamholam]

Ok, as one of the perspective owners of a car with smartlink in the next coming months I'm going to start a thread to see who is getting a car with one and what phone they are hoping to get to work with it.

There is lots of conflicting information on what is coming for MY16 (not to mention smarrlink) cars so let's see how we get on!

My car/phone combo:

MY16 vRS

Free Amundsen + Smartlink (smartlink not free)

Nexus5 & iPhone5s (wifes)

Expected delivery end of July

Edited 5 June, 2015 by Iamholam

[Bailer]

MY16 VRS

Bolero + Canton

iPhone 6+ & 6 ( personal + work) & wife's 5s

Hoping I can pair 2 phones at the same time and set a primary like my current Parrott system

Expecting delivery end of August or start of September

Edited 5 June, 2015 by Bailer

[Rodge]

MY16 SE

Bolero + Smartlink

Nexus 4 running CyanogenMod

Expected delivery second half of July

If CyanogenMod 12 isn't out by then I may have to restore the phone to stock Lollipop. I might get my wife a Moto E, as she needs the satnav more than I do.

Edited 5 June, 2015 by Rodge

[EoinM]

MY16 VRS

Bolero and Smartlink

Galaxy Note 4

Should be here the end of July, start of August.

Tried it in a Passat with nav pro today (columbus essentially) and mirror link fired up right away. Couldn't get Android Auto running but i don't think it's installed on this car.

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

[domhnall]

MY16 SEL 

Amundsen and Smart Link

Samsung Galaxy S4 (running Lollipop) / Motorola MotoG 4G (running KitKat)

Should be here late June early July

[steve_beds]

MY16 SE L

Amundsen with Smart Link

iPhone 6+ and Nexus 4

Delivery expected mid July

[GAFF]

MY16 VRS

Bolero and Smartlink

Samsung Galaxy S4 (hoping it will work when Lollipop update comes)

Should be here in July

[domhnall]

Erm, my s4 got lollipop a couple of months ago. Maybe time to check the update settings?

Sent from my XT1039 using Tapatalk

[GAFF]

Im with Three in Ireland.....shall we say things go a little slower over here. Lol

IIRC SWMBO phone has an update on her S4....she is with Vodafone Ireland.

[Bailer]

Im with Three in Ireland.....shall we say things go a little slower over here. Lol

IIRC SWMBO phone has an update on her S4....she is with Vodafone Ireland.

 

Thats a prime example of one of the issues with droid, you buy an operator locked phone and unless you are tech savvy enough to jailbreak it or flash a custom firmware etc you are at the behest of your SP to allow your handset be up to date. I just hope the smart link implementation is tied correctly to the relevant standards (mirrorlink, smartlink, carplay, android auto) to allow all of us to utilise it regardless of handset etc.

[Iamholam]

Reading the Android central forums there have been a couple of issues where some popular phones are currently not working properly (even when they are on lollipop) the Galaxy s5 being one of them (but apparently the s6 works)

[EoinM]

Thats a prime example of one of the issues with droid, you buy an operator locked phone and unless you are tech savvy enough to jailbreak it or flash a custom firmware etc you are at the behest of your SP to allow your handset be up to date. I just hope the smart link implementation is tied correctly to the relevant standards (mirrorlink, smartlink, carplay, android auto) to allow all of us to utilise it regardless of handset etc.

Not true at all. Especially with Samsung. It's a matter of downloading the software on your laptop, installing it from there with odin (about 5 clicks of a mouse) and job done. Even my pensioner dad managed it on his own.

And I'm not a fanboy either - BB Passport, Note 4 and IPhone 5s are my current weapons of choice depending on my mood.

Either way phones are updated so regularly I wouldn't worry about many not being on lollipop or later. The majority on earlier versions probably won't have access to a car with it anyway - emerging markets with non-branded units etc.

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

Edited 6 June, 2015 by EoinM

[Bailer]

Even my pensioner dad managed it on his own.

 

 

Must be your excellent tutelage as mine can barely slide to answer and thats after putting on his glasses to see who's ringing him 

[Gabbo]

Thats a prime example of one of the issues with droid, you buy an operator locked phone and unless you are tech savvy enough to jailbreak it or flash a custom firmware etc you are at the behest of your SP to allow your handset be up to date.

 

+1

Especially if you have a Samsung as it takes them years to release any kind of updates or a Google Nexus device as the updates will render your device unuseable with no easy way to go back.

[borchgrevink]

Still no info anywhere on possible update with SL on MIB1 Columbus?

[Iamholam]

Finally got confirmation from skoda UK that MY16 Amundsen and Bolero will be 6.5" (and therefore high resolution) screens! UK Brochures are wrong but skoda auto website is right.

[andyvee]

Still no info anywhere on possible update with SL on MIB1 Columbus?

Nope.

[borchgrevink]

According to Skoda Norway,it is not possible to get SL on MIB1 Columbus.

[domhnall]

OK, now I have a car with smart link sitting outside I can contribute something more than speculation to this thread.

 

Picked up the car yesterday and tried with both my work and my personal phone (Samsung S4 and Moto G 4G). Inconsistent would be the best way to describe the experience. The Samsung connected fine but any audio played via the phone not the head unit (not quite the point of the exercise). The Moto G connected sometimes, but then dropped and when I tried to reconnect it said it did not support mirror link. Gave up on fiddling in the end and went to work. 

 

Today, I had to go out and when I turned on the ignition there was a message saying "starting smart link" (yesterday I had to select it first), so I plugged in the samsung and hey presto, everything worked perfectly, I used google  maps to navigate where I was going as it picked up where I was going from my calendar on the phone and asked if I would like nav guidance. I also played a podcast and listened to the DAB radio all while google maps was doing its thing. 

 

On the way back I used the motorola, again no problems connecting. I was listening to the budget on the way home and Osborne made some reference to his friend the member for Uxbridge. It got loads of laughs in Parliament so I pressed the voice button and said "who is the MP for Uxbridge", google interrupted the radio to inform me of the current and last three MPs for Uxbridge. 

 

All in all, it works brilliantly.  I'm just putting last night's connection issues down to first night nerves  (the car not me) :-)

 

Hope this is useful.

[EoinM]

Excellent write up. I have a question, is there an option on the MFD to see smartlink information on it and if there is what does it show?

[domhnall]

thanks Eoin, what sort of info do you mean? there's a smart link icon and when you press that it will take you into whichever system you have - android auto or apple car play. I guess if you have a windows phone or blackberry then it might just use mirror link but I'm all android here. 

 

I did a video showing what it looks like yesterday, suppose I should post that here too :-)

 

 

 

Domhnall

 

 

 

[domhnall]

Eoin hopefully this shows you how it works and what info there is

 

my phone decided to reboot itself at the end as the phone holder was squeezing the power button and that screwed up smartlink

 

http://youtu.be/T2mGFxrGRUk

[EoinM]

Thanks for the videos.

I'm talking about the maxidot display - does that show any information when smartlink is used?

[Iamholam]

I think Eoin means the screen in between the dials. Wouldn't imagine it would though as the whole point of these new systems is to try and limit the amount of time a driver is looking at screens.

Would be good if driving directions appeared which I believe it does on the little screen with Amundsen.

[domhnall]

aha! Do you know I never looked! 

 

I'll have a look later on after work. Amundsen does show nav on the maxidot, not sure about google maps.  Can't emphasise enough how impressed I am with the whole car. I'm not new to the Octavia I have had two Mk1s and Three Mk IIs in the past but this is a whole heap better than either of those ever was. I loved the yeti too but this is just so much more refined. I'm impressed that things have moved on so much in the last 4 years since I bought the yeti.