When did Mirrorlink or Smartlink come in?

[Noz]

Should a 2014 Octavia 1.4Tsi SE have either either of these technologies? The sales man mentioned "mobile-phone screen sharing".

Skoda's website says "If my car was built prior to the 25 May 2015, am I able to upgrade my MirrorLink system to SmartLink? - Unfortunately it is not possible to upgrade the MirrorLink system on existing cars to incorporate SmartLink."

 

That implies it can't possibly have Smartlink but might have Mirrorlink?

[uchuff]

AFAIK there was a brief period where some Skodas (like the Fabia III) came with Mirrorlink but not the full SmartLink+ that also includes Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, I think that is what the quote is referencing.

 

I don't think the Octavia III ever got those early MirrorLink only systems, pretty sure it went straight from the MIB1 unit in your 2014 with no MirrorLink/SmartLink+ to the MIB2 units in MY16/65 Plate that have SmartLink+ able to be activated for a fee, to Facelift where SmartLink+ is included in all cars from the factory. 

 

It is possible (but non trivial) to retrofit a newer MIB2 unit or an aftermarket head unit to get Carplay / Android Auto.

Edited 26 April, 2018 by uchuff

[SashaGrace]

Exactly as above. There’s no phone interface on the O3 pre MY16. The MIB1 system on these cars doesn’t have MirrorLink, only the MIB2 has the SmartLink package for Android Auto/Apple CarPlay/MirrorLink. I’ve fitted a MIB2 in my car and I love the added functionality, better sound quality and faster processor as well as the slightly updated UI. 

[Noz]

That's a shame. Appears the salesman has misled me then

[RickW]

It's more likely he didn't know what he was talking about unfortunately.

 

I've come across this when buying a new Citigo;often the sales people are more interested in the finance that the specifics of the cars,which seem to be of secondary interest to them.

[Noz]

Someone please tell me it's a terrible system that I won't miss!

 

I was looking forward to that, sounded like a good feature.

[Lordch]

7 hours ago, Noz said:

Someone please tell me it's a terrible system that I won't miss!

 

I was looking forward to that, sounded like a good feature.

 

I never use it. Can’t be bothered to keep plugging my phone in. I just use the built  in features quite happily :^]

[norsko]

I paid for Smartlink and Smartgate when I bought my car new in 2016, and dont use it. 

In my opinion it is just a sales gimmick.

The only thing you need is Bluetooth

[SashaGrace]

I went to the trouble of fitting the newer stereo just to get SmartLink. I love Apple CarPlay and the full integration really finishes the car off IMO. It’s one of those things that you either really like or don’t see the point of. If you don’t use a music streaming service and you have (and are OK with using) the factory nav then I would agree it doesn’t make sense to have it. Even Apple maps is superior to the Skoda nav, Google Maps and Waze are better still. I have a lot of music streamed over Amazon Music and the integration of this service (or Apple Music/Spotify/Deezer or many other streaming services) is worth having for me. If, however you listen to the radio and have a collection of music stored on an SD card, I wouldn’t spend the money.

[KevC_Derby]

CarPlay is the Dogs Danglers.

The ability to switch between Radio/PodCasts/Spotify/Audible/Stored Music and listen to Messages and make calls with the phone out of sight is superb and definitely not a gimmick.

Can't wait to be able to play Golf Clash while driving tho'!*

 

 

 

 

*This is a joke.

[seanbrady49]

Had this in my 2016 Rapid, missed it badly when I got my 2015 vRS so much so I’m getting an MIB II , like Sasha says it’s about you’re preference, I for one hate the sat nav on MIB’s and would use Apple maps all day long, also use Spotify and with a little tinkering you can watch movies etc, not whilst driving of course but when waiting for the missus to finish shopping it was a god send!

[logiclee]

I have a car with Smartlink and two without.

 

One of the without cars has full Columbus.

 

The only thing I miss is Googlemaps, I would happily pay the £150 fee to get that functionality as Googlemaps make the Skoda Nav appear a decade behind, especially for search, destination entry and traffic.

 

For Music and phone I can live with the Skoda set up especially with the Columbus having two SD Slots, a USB slot, an internal hard drive, CD/DVD and Bluetooth audio.

 

Lee

[Noz]

I'll see how I get on without it for a while

 

If I wanted to upgrade the unit, what are the options and how easy is it? E.g. I notice people selling Columbus's and Amundsens on ebay

[seanbrady49]

29 minutes ago, Noz said:

I'll see how I get on without it for a while

 

If I wanted to upgrade the unit, what are the options and how easy is it? E.g. I notice people selling Columbus's and Amundsens on ebay

There's a chap on here that can get you a unit with no component protection (CP) and smartlink activated, as for the screen, breakers are the best place, ebay sell them too but are very expensive , check @SashaGrace Vrs thread (she doe a great job on the retro fit) and also PM @pab567 and he should be able to help.

[norsko]

Calls, messages, Spotify and some other music streaming services works well with Bluetooth.

I have Columbus and has lossless files (Flac) on the internal harddrive, MP3's on memorycard and USB, 25+ channels on DAB and ability to play CD and DVD, so I dont use streaming services that much.

 

I must admit that I have never understood why many dont fancy Skoda's navigation, I actually like it better than Google.

Maybe Apple Carplay has better functionality than Android auto.

 

When I bought my car the seller said that a hole lot of apps and stuff would be released before 2017 for Smartlink and Smartgate.

I havent seen it yet..........

 

[Rodge]

I delayed ordering my car so that I could specify Smartlink. It was a fraction of the price of the built in satnav and Google maps is much better.

[logiclee]

19 minutes ago, norsko said:

 

 

I must admit that I have never understood why many dont fancy Skoda's navigation, I actually like it better than Google.

 

 

In the UK's congested, roadwork infested road network Googlemaps live traffic is way ahead of Skoda's. I use googlemaps even when I know exactly where I'm going, saves me hours stuck in traffic every week.

 

And for Google you can just say Navigate to Nags Head Nottingham and it will take you there, you don't even need an address or postcode for most businesses far easier.

 

Lee

[SashaGrace]

1 hour ago, norsko said:

Maybe Apple Carplay has better functionality than Android auto.

My friend is an Android user and uses Android Auto in his car and I could not get to grips with it. I much prefer the CarPlay interface as it is very much like the phone. The symbols are all the same as the phone and it is easy to use at a glance. It’s a shame you can’t do much with it though and Apple have restricted the platform but here’s hoping for proper redevelopment with iOS 12.

[logiclee]

Android Auto ia really aimed at voice control. It's limited as a touch screen interface for safety reasons. 

And it really needs a high end phone to drive it smoothly. 

With something like an Galaxy S8 or S9 it's supersnooth. With a cheap Android phone of ebay or Amazon it's virtually unuseable.

[SashaGrace]

The integration with Google Assistant was uncanny. I can see the benefits behind the setup, the phone my friend has is a Galaxy S9+ and it did work very well. It annoys me that CarPlay doesn’t have the option to display any weather data like Android Auto. One up for Android there IMO. Visually I think CarPlay is more like an iPhone simplified with nice big buttons but there is one oversight I have that, if fixed, would finish it off for me and that’s incorporating Alxea in Amazon Music like Siri is incorporated in the Apple Music. It’s on the phone, but not on CarPlay, shame.

[logiclee]

I see a lot posted on other forums about Android Auto but some of the problems I read about are down to the Handsets in my experience. 

 

Apple has around 13% of market share and Android 86%.  Apple only sell high end products but you can pay anything from £40 to £900 for an Android phone and anything in-between. The performance of Android handsets and how they work with Android Auto varies considerably depending on the chipsets and the version of Android they are running.

 

Lee

 

 

[SashaGrace]

Exactly, for an even comparison, one needs to compare something like a flagship Galaxy to a contemporary iPhone. I see a lot of slagging off Android because some dope bought a £60 phone and it wasn’t as nice as a secondhand iPhone. That’s not a proper comparison!!

[skippy41]

Anyone worked out how to get smart link enabled without going to the dealers

[seanbrady49]

22 minutes ago, skippy41 said:

Anyone worked out how to get smart link enabled without going to the dealers

@pab567

[Rodge]

13 hours ago, logiclee said:

Android Auto ia really aimed at voice control. It's limited as a touch screen interface for safety reasons. 

And it really needs a high end phone to drive it smoothly. 

With something like an Galaxy S8 or S9 it's supersnooth. With a cheap Android phone of ebay or Amazon it's virtually unuseable.

It works okay with my five year old Nexus 4, which was not an expensive phone when it was new. A new one would probably be smoother, but it's perfectly usable. I never use the voice control either.

My main complaint is the road colours that Google maps uses. Most of them are white on a light grey background, with a few being orange. It's good for automatic navigation but hopeless for looking at any road on the map apart from motorways. Unfortunately OpenStreetMap has adopted a similar useless colour scheme.