Hooked this up today for the first time and I am underwhelmed.

 

Gives you google maps - already have satnav so not required.

Links you to your telephone - already have bluetooth phone so not required

It plays the music on your phone-  already have sd card and cd player so not required.

 

Thought it would link up to other apps like whattsapp etc...

 

Am I missing something?

Perhaps googlemaps is pretty well always upto date and other members like WAZE (pretty much the same as google, with the ability to update traffic yourself.

what I was playing about with was Mirrorlink, this pretty much duplicates and runs other apps on your phone. A much better system I think. Got it to run with Samsung S5 & S7....

lots of info on this on youtube. Again posted several times a good usb cable is required! 

Not all phones work with MirrorLink though! 

3 hours ago, Mickey43 said:

Hooked this up today for the first time and I am underwhelmed.

 

Gives you google maps - already have satnav so not required.

Links you to your telephone - already have bluetooth phone so not required

It plays the music on your phone-  already have sd card and cd player so not required.

 

Thought it would link up to other apps like whattsapp etc...

 

Am I missing something?

 

Indeed you can find the functionalities of Android Auto ("AA") in your media system, the added value of AA for me:

Waze - online police warning (driving a 280HP Superb, it is a must...)

Music - did you try "Google play music", sync all your music library to the cloud (all...) and listen to it in the car, no need for to sync sd cards, or usb sticks.

Whatsapp - works by voice, not perfect but working, the risk of texting while driving tempting, AA just prevents it.

 

As AA is backed by Google, you can expect it to develop and become a versatile tool that your media system can not be.

 

In the future apps like Torque, TripAdvisor, online shares price information and others will integrate into AA, making it much better. 

 

Eventually the sophisticated media system you have now will become redundant.

You can also listen to podcasts as well, I use Pocket Casts to save various genres of Podcasts to listen to when I fancy something different. 

Simple - I can't live without google maps and the live traffic information!  Its saved me so many times on my long journey to work by routing me around accidents that would have delayed me for hours.

 

Until built in satnavs are this reliable, I won't be using them. 

 

2 minutes ago, Lee_M said:

Until built in satnavs are this reliable, I won't be using them. 

+1

 

Try Waze!

https://www.youtube.com/user/WazeGPS1

I've got waze installed, but it is missing a feature that I keep going back to maps for...  Which is that on the homepage of maps it shows you a list of recent destinations and the time it will take to drive there (green for clear, orange for slow and red for issue).

 

With waze you have to start navigation to know whether there is an issue on your route.  With maps, its right there when you switch on.

 

If waze added that, I'd probably switch.

I have used Android Auto since day 1 and never use the either the inbuilt Sat nav or Bluetooth media options.

 

It's clean, simple, easy to use, voice control friendly and because you are hard wired you get a better quality of audio than over BT. 

 

The trick is to put Android Auto into developer mode and you can tinker around with various settings. 

 

You know that underwhelming resolution... You can change it to HD  720p. Looks so much better 

 

 

I've got AA in dev mode with 720p but has anyone else found Waze to be still not as clear a display as Google Maps?

4 hours ago, Zenbasses said:

The trick is to put Android Auto into developer mode and you can tinker around with various settings. 

 

You know that underwhelming resolution... You can change it to HD  720p. Looks so much better 

 

 

 

I did this last week - certainly looks better, more crisp and clean.

On 9/29/2017 at 20:05, Zenbasses said:

The trick is to put Android Auto into developer mode and you can tinker around with various settings. 

 

You know that underwhelming resolution... You can change it to HD  720p. Looks so much better 

 

Very happy with Waze in Android Auto especially now that the speed display and limits are working.

 

But if you can improve it for free it has to be tried.

 

So I went into developer mode and changed it to HD 720p and to be totally honest both myself and the wife cannot see any difference at all.

 

So why all the posts about what a huge difference it makes.

 

FYI I have an 18 month old Moto G3 with Android Marshmallow. Not expensive but a highly rated phone when i bought it.

Edited 5 October, 20178 yr by skidpan

Spotify for us is the big advantage

For the life of me I cant figure out how to get it in developer mode

Try this

 

Android Auto (AA) open on phone

 

Tap the 3 horizontal bars top left corner

 

Tap About

 

Then on the top of the AA screen (below phones staus bar) you should see Left pointing arrow, About Android Auto Text, and cog

 

Tap the text About Android Auto TEN TIMES, you should then see a popup stating Dev mode enabled AND now to the right of the cog you should have three vertical dots - this is where the magic is

 

Good luck

Sorted cheers

On 10/5/2017 at 17:43, skidpan said:

 

 

So I went into developer mode and changed it to HD 720p and to be totally honest both myself and the wife cannot see any difference at all.

 

So why all the posts about what a huge difference it makes.

 

FYI I have an 18 month old Moto G3 with Android Marshmallow. Not expensive but a highly rated phone when i bought it.

 

Its more than likely the Moto G3 does not support 720p output through the data connection via the Micro USB port..

 

I use a Nexus 6P and it defo increased the resolution

 

However, even without the 720p output Dev Mode has certain features I like...such as I always have mine in 'night mode' which I think is cool and for me makes google more more clear abut its to everyone's tastes

 

For me the biggest draw is the voice commands that really work once you've worked out all its tricks and restraints.     

Android auto now supports  connection over WiFi.. So no more cable needed 

 

Anyone know of its supported on the superb?... Mines got WiFi, not that I ever figured out any use for it.  But being able to connect without a cable would be awesome on my nexus phone. 

I like using Waze for live traffic, but it frustrates me that the directions don't come through the car speakers, but still uses the phone speaker, so can be hard to hear sometimes.

1 minute ago, CoolC said:

I like using Waze for live traffic, but it frustrates me that the directions don't come through the car speakers, but still uses the phone speaker, so can be hard to hear sometimes.

Must be a setting in your app.. Mine plays through the car speakers fine 

Checked my waze settings... Make sure you have play sound to phone turned off

 

6 hours ago, Winterwolf said:

Android auto now supports  connection over WiFi.. So no more cable needed 

 

Anyone know of its supported on the superb?... Mines got WiFi, not that I ever figured out any use for it.  But being able to connect without a cable would be awesome on my nexus phone. 

 

Where did u see/read that?

 

As far as I know, only BMW have headunits that are capable of Wireless CarPlay or AndroidAuto.

 

I personally would prefer wireless too, but I don't know if this can b done on the Superb 

 

My phone did update AndroidAuto a few hours ago - will c trow if there is anything different.......

3 hours ago, Winterwolf said:

Checked my waze settings... Make sure you have play sound to phone turned off

 

 

@Winterwolf, your phone needs charging .....

 

I might be mistaken but your cars head unit must also be capable for wireles Android Auto. I know it's so with CarPlay. 

Edited 13 July, 20187 yr by alf.onso

Yes reading more it seems you need a Google phone (pixel or nexus) which I do...  BUT  you also need the head unit to support it, which at the moment there's no cars on the assembly line with them.  Only really expensive after markets. 

 

 

But this loos interesting, someone is working on a workaround and have it working... Just need them to develop it more and release as a product. 

 

https://www.neowin.net/news/this-mod-allows-wired-android-auto-head-units-to-connect-wirelessly-to-handsets

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  , 

Lol my phone always needs charging!