I have just changed my 14 plate 1.6 elegance for a 66 plate 1.6 SEL. The screen menu says that an activation code is required for smart link. Does this mean it is actually fitted or is it a default message throughout the range. How can I find out if it is fitted? The dealer seemed a bit non commital when I asked.

It means that you need to pay the dealer about £136 for them to activate the smartlink on there,  I have the same message on my 16 plate 1.6 SE L,  in not that bothered about it tbh,  plenty of other toys on the car,  enjoy! 

You sure you don't mean Mirrorlink?

 

Either way, Smartlink-like features can be had with a much cheaper Bluetooth dongle and phone app...

The electronics are already built-in for Smartlink (on a 66 plate), it just needs to be activated by the dealer for some££.

 

I just had my Smartlink enabled on my 66 plate to work with my Android phone with AndroidAuto. I am still playing with it to get the apps to work well. There are things that are a little frustrating. One is that you have to plug the phone in. Two the Android Auto apps (and probably CarPlay) do not use the little 'Driver infor' screen between the Speedo and Rev Counter. When you just see "Android Auto" displayed as one of the screens when you scroll through on the Driver Info screen.

 

I quite like seeing the extra info from built-in Skoda Sat Nav and Media player. You wont get that with SmartLink unfortunately.  But the ability to use google voice control (with the steering wheel button) is very nice. With Android Auto, if you have Amazon Music, Spotify, Deezer, or Google Play accounts, you can say "listen to ..." and it goes and finds 'stuff' and plays it. This is what I am messing about with right now.

Edited 23 March, 20179 yr by WWorx

37 minutes ago, WWorx said:

 

I quite like seeing the extra info from built-in Skoda Sat Nav and Media player. You wont get that with SmartLink unfortunately.  But the ability to use google voice control (with the steering wheel button) is very nice. With Android Auto, if you have Amazon Music, Spotify, Deezer, or Google Play accounts, you can say "listen to ..." and it goes and finds 'stuff' and plays it. This is what I am messing about with right now.

 

You can also set it up to respond to "OK Google" without have to press anything.  Try it, it's cool.

I paid £150 to have this activated on my car and don't think it was worth the cost. It's very temperamental and disconnects from CarPlay often. Most of the time now I disable it and use the standard car stereo interface instead.

smartlink ≠ mirrorlink

 

Mirrorlink is (somehow...) connected to Android Auto and Apple Car play

Smartlink (to my understanding) needs extra HW to be added to the car and will allow you to get diagnostics from the engine, talk to ECu, etc in a manner similar to what you would get from the OBD port.

...and... correcting myself, it seems Skoda renamed Mirrorlink to Smartlink -- the product I was talking about is called "Smartgate"

 

http://www.skoda-auto.com/en/experience/product-features/connectivity

Edited 23 March, 20179 yr by Jaco2k
correcting typo

21 minutes ago, Jaco2k said:

...and... correcting myself, it seems Skoda renamed Mirrorlink to Smartlink -- the product I was talking about is called "Smartgate"

 

http://www.skoda-auto.com/en/experience/product-features/connectivity

That's right.  Smartlink allows smartphones to connect to the infotainment using Android Auto, Apple Carplay or Mirrorlink (which some Android phones support).

I have it... would i pay for it again? hmmm not sure. it's a long way from perfect. Most of the time if you select Spotify from the app list and try and play an album or playlist for example it doesn't work. you have to open the app on your phone start the album/playlist first, then it works properly from then on.

 

unless I'm missing something and someone knows a way round this? It may well be an apple thing though because as soon as you plug the phone in (which is another pain the ass) it defaults to playing the same track from your phone every time (even though I never use anything but spotify)

 

its a nice to have but, so far at least, not worth paying £130 for IMO

Edited 23 March, 20179 yr by NikEd

6 minutes ago, NikEd said:

I have it... would i pay for it again? hmmm not sure. it's a long way from perfect. Most of the time if you select Spotify from the app list and try and play an album or playlist for example it doesn't work. you have to open the app on your phone start the album/playlist first, then it works properly from then on.

 

unless I'm missing something and someone knows a way round this? It may well be an apple thing though because as soon as you plug the phone in (which is another pain the ass) it defaults to playing the same track from your phone every time (even though I never use anything but spotify)

 

its a nice to have but, so far at least, not worth paying £130 for IMO

 

Not wanting to start a mobile OS war but I've not have much issue with Android Auto.  Voice control works fine, the phone always connects.  The only issue I had was the notification tone playing continuously whenever I got a text.  Changing notification tone fixed that somehow.

Both Carplay and Android Auto are works in progress so we can only hope that things will improve with time.  Maybe we'll get Waze (come on Google!).

I do suspect its an apple thing in this case tbh... something to do with the way their own music app auto plays when plugged in preventing spotify from starting correctly

3 hours ago, Jaco2k said:

You sure you don't mean Mirrorlink?

 

Either way, Smartlink-like features can be had with a much cheaper Bluetooth dongle and phone app...

I like the idea of this, have you got any more information on what's needed and where to get it from? 

 

I was thinking about phoning the dealer today to enquire about getting this set up on my 65 plate SE L but I'm liking the sound of saving a buck or two

54 minutes ago, Stonker said:

I like the idea of this, have you got any more information on what's needed and where to get it from? 

 

I was thinking about phoning the dealer today to enquire about getting this set up on my 65 plate SE L but I'm liking the sound of saving a buck or two

 

Depends on what phone have - if it is Android, then either OBDeleven (that would allow you to do quite a few things more...)

...or a generic Chinese OBD Bluetooth dongle and the Android "Torque" app.

Is it really worth it if you have standard nav, bluetooth calls and music, usb socket or sd card for music?

 

Maybe if you hate the standard nav, or want to stream music from an app?

 

 

its quite useful to be able to control Spotify directly from the touch screen... but very expensive just for that

1 hour ago, NikEd said:

its quite useful to be able to control Spotify directly from the touch screen... but very expensive just for that

That's the main reason to have this functionality tbh. As my other post in this section, I'm currently using the Bluetooth connection, if I'm not having issues with it. I thought the idea of plugging in the phone via the USB was a better method providing it works seemlesly?

 

I've had a quick look at the obdeleven device and as of yet I've not ordered one. I have thought about getting a copy of vcds but I'm not sure if I'd get enough out of it? I'm not looking to boost the performance or modify the car, more looking to enhance the features, as i spend between 3 and 4 hour's a day in it.

 

My phone is android Google Nexus 5

 

Thanks all for your comments and suggestions, I'm on my mobile and couldn't figure out how to reply to multiple posts.

Edited 23 March, 20179 yr by Stonker
Added detail.

5 hours ago, glosrich said:

Is it really worth it if you have standard nav, bluetooth calls and music, usb socket or sd card for music?

 

Maybe if you hate the standard nav, or want to stream music from an app?

 

 

I've got a Columbus and I find I use Google maps more as it has live traffic. Plus it's way more intuitive.

 

Fingers crossed they'll be announcing Waze support for android auto at this year's IO event.

 

I use Google play music quite extensively too ... I like being able to ask Google to play an album without having to mess around :-)

8 hours ago, NikEd said:

unless I'm missing something and someone knows a way round this? It may well be an apple thing though because as soon as you plug the phone in (which is another pain the ass) it defaults to playing the same track from your phone every time (even though I never use anything but spotify)

 

its a nice to have but, so far at least, not worth paying £130 for IMO

 

I have this problem too. CarPlay defaults to the one track I have on Apple Music, unfortunately I use Google Play Music on my iPhone which isn't supported in CarPlay. Amazon Music is now supported as of today so I'm hoping Google will maybe add the functionality to the iOS app, probably unlikely.

 

My other issue with CarPlay is the ringtone volume as it is deafening. I wish you could store this setting independently of the voice volume but that's not a option. I'd also like a quick way to activate a do not disturb setting via the Amundsen for when I don't want bothered by calls.

Edited 23 March, 20179 yr by sneeks