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Smartlink - worthwhile or worthless?

nicka62
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nicka62 Explorer

nicka62

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My Mk 3 Octavia doesn't have Smartlink enabled ... but what would it do for me?  Is it worth the £150 enabling fee?

It would be good to have google maps on the main screen (the built-in satnav being so poor) rather than keep the phone in a mount on the windscreen ... but other than that?  £150 is a lot for a slightly improved satnav.

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SashaGrace Experienced

SashaGrace

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You also get full control of music streaming, google assistant or siri, text support and WhatsApp etc with it. I use it all the time as the ability to pick the material I want to listen to on Spotify on the move alone is worth it to me.

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nicka62 Explorer

nicka62

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2 hours ago, TMac88 said:

Usable voice control

 

Good point!  I think my Octi only speaks Czech, as it doesn't understand a word I say.

 

I don't use spotify (so far) but have TunedIn radio running on my phone and playing through the car via bluetooth.  Though now I've found the DAB radio DOES work if you unplug the USB charging thingy from the 12V socket ( thanks to this very forum).. that gets less use.

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Kenai Rising Star

Kenai

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6 minutes ago, TheWanderer said:

Thought it was being discontinued. Along with Android Auto and several other motoring apps.

Skoda OneApp got discontinued and absorbed into Connect so Skoda now only have 43567 different apps to figure out instead of 43568 but that's all I've heard about. 

 

Where did you hear Android Auto itself is getting canned? 

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TheWanderer Experienced

TheWanderer

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Just bear in mind that you need a decent data allowance and phone tariff, plus more often than not a 4G phone signal to take full benefit of Google Maps or Waze.

 

Also the infotainment system can be picky about your mobile phone, it doesn't like my Samsung S20+ very much, it thinks about letting it connect and transferring the contacts et al, when it does eventually allow it, it's OK.

 

Skoda needs to sort out their firmware and software updates for the infotainment system TBQH and stop charging for things like Smartlink.

 

Good luck with it if you have a new or recent Android/Apple device.

Edited by TheWanderer
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MarkyG82 Experienced

MarkyG82

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1 hour ago, TheWanderer said:

Just bear in mind that you need a decent data allowance and phone tariff, plus more often than not a 4G phone signal to take full benefit of Google Maps or Waze.

 

Also the infotainment system can be picky about your mobile phone, it doesn't like my Samsung S20+ very much, it thinks about letting it connect and transferring the contacts et al, when it does eventually allow it, it's OK.

 

Skoda needs to sort out their firmware and software updates for the infotainment system TBQH and stop charging for things like Smartlink.

 

Good luck with it if you have a new or recent Android/Apple device.

 

Not entirely true on the first point. You can download areas of maps which I did for most of the bottom half of the UK for a couple hundred mb of storage on the phone. If you stay online then the only data that maps use is for traffic. Also most streaming apps allow downloading when on WiFi so no issue with that. In fact I did my honeymoon Canada road trip on no data and using android auto in the hire car.

 

On the Samsung thing, they seem to have an issue as they insist on trying to use mirror link. I think they had a hand in making it or something. Huawei are similar. Most other phone makes should be fine.

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Kenai Rising Star

Kenai

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I'm not even sure it's a Samsung thing so much as an S20+ thing potentially - my S10 has been faultless and my S8 was only problematic until I picked all the compacted dust out of the USB-C port so the cable connected more reliably. No software or compatibility issues of any kind in my experience with it.

 

Apart from Skoda's own apps, i've found Android Auto to work very well all round. The only thing that stops me using it much is that when driving for work I want to have two phones connected via bluetooth but the Amundsen system can't support the second phone on bluetooth if one is connected via SmartLink USB. Colombus can though I think.

 

As for Skoda charging, they pretty much only charge the onward licence cost usually and there was only about 6 months worth of cars produced that are capable but weren't enabled from factory. If you want an example of **** taking, look at how BMW charged for Car Play to start with. 

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MarkyG82 Experienced

MarkyG82

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20 minutes ago, Kenai said:

 

 

Apart from Skoda's own apps, i've found Android Auto to work very well all round. The only thing that stops me using it much is that when driving for work I want to have two phones connected via bluetooth but the Amundsen system can't support the second phone on bluetooth if one is connected via SmartLink USB. Colombus can though I think.

 

 

 

I think this is because calls are handled by the Bluetooth where the display and media is usb.

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TheWanderer Experienced

TheWanderer

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I had issues with an S8+ which was plugged into the USB port of the car to allow it to connect up with Google Maps (which kept trying to make me do routes I didn't want to) and the whole thing went blank!

 

Do I dare trust it with a new S20+? I don't think so. I most certainly won't be parting with anymore cash for this car, other than what is absolutely necessary. Contemptible piece of 💩.

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TheWanderer Experienced

TheWanderer

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The heated seats, windscreen wipers, heated screens, seat belts, air conditioning and lighting... Well manual lighting. If it's automatic headlights, nah.

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MarkyG82 Experienced

MarkyG82

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2 hours ago, Towelie said:

Mine works great with S10 so not sure where the Samsung problem is coming from... more likely to be the firmware on that individual car having problems 

 

I've seen it reported on other sites and experienced it first hand on different car makes so it's definitely a thing. It's not reliably bad though which makes it very hard to identify. It often gets fixed by Samsung only to be broken again in a further update.

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gm73 Community Regular

gm73

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My car is a March 2015 build and just missed out on Smart Link and Android Auto. It has the Bolero unit.

 

Could mine get the upgrade? And does it work with iPhone?

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ExSEAT Proficient

ExSEAT

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My S20+ works fine with my Android Auto, my older S9 could be hit and miss with connecting first time round but no problems with S20+ so far. Others experiences may differ but there has to be some rhyme or reason to it 🤣

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TDIum Rising Star

TDIum

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Another AA user here.

Live traffic from Google navigation is a life saver for me, living and working as I do in the BTDZ (Bristol Traffic Disaster Zone).

Playing podcasts all the time. 

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nicka62 Explorer

nicka62

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Well my Octi is just back from the garage with its new key programmed and smartlink enabled ... £350 all told... plus the inevitable main dealer "safety check" decided I needed new tyres.  So £620 later ...

 

Works fine with my weird dutch smart phone (an FP2 running android 7) but the nav screen is a bit clunky with directions taking up half the low resolution map space (the built Skoda Nav has a better screen - it's the routing software, poor traffic info and out of date maps that are poor).  Other than that, plays internet radio and google play over the car audio system (erm, actually, it did that via bluetooth to an extent) also operates the phone properly.  Not sure I need it to read out Whatsapp messages though (especially the ones that are in Dutch with google's attempt at pronunciation - quite funny that) .

 

It would be better with more integration ... the multi-function steering wheel doesn't navigate around the android auto screen so you're reaching out to touch buttons the same way as touching a phone in a holster and of course the multi-dot display doesn't repeat the google.maps directions.

 

Seems a bit thin for £179; still, it's a fraction of what I paid for the car and less than I just paid for the new tyres!  See how it goes.

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TheWanderer Experienced

TheWanderer

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Be careful with what you leave on your phone. I forgot to remove all traces of a visit to an "Adult Entertainment Shop" you know the sort that sells toys for after 9pm, which is a good distance from where I live and the first thing it did was when I reestablished the link was offer me directions to it in front of a mate. 😳

 

One of the few times that it has worked perfectly and I wish that it hadn't. 

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