Android Auto first impressions thread (and ask us anything!)

[SuperTongue]

For those that have the 4100nex installed. Where is the USB cable routed to from the back of the head unit? Glove box? The phone can't be in the glovebox for gps to work right?

I routed my cables to the inside of my center console and GPS works fine. Putting my phone anywhere on the dash (even in front of a vent) tends to cause it to overheat in sunlight anyway.

 

[chomorro]

I routed mine through the center console and out the bottom. When I need them I plug in my phone and put it in the cup holder. Works perfectly

 

[icefloe01]

Like Phil said, the browsing is pretty minimal. You get the basics, like Listen, Playlists, Radio (if you're an All Access subscriber) or Instant Mix (if you're not a subscriber). The idea is that they don't want you doing too much browsing/scrolling/reading. You can use voice to access anything in your library (or All Access). For example, I asked it to "Play Thriller" and it started playing Michael Jackson's Thriller album (the entire album, not just the single track). If a song is also the title of an album, then it defaults to playing the album (if you have it, or if you have All Access).

Well with this being the case, for me Android Auto will be more of a hassle than a benefit. I play my music by genre and with no way to easily pull that up and hit shuffle it won't do me any good. Disappointing.

 

[ddiehl]

Well with this being the case, for me Android Auto will be more of a hassle than a benefit. I play my music by genre and with no way to easily pull that up and hit shuffle it won't do me any good. Disappointing.

Yeah that pretty much was the dealbreaker for me too.. My factory VW RNS 315 allows for full browsing by artist.. Hopefully other apps with more robust browsing might become available, but I'm sure Google will hamstring them in the interest of keeping eyes on the road which is understandable..

 

[Dr Claw]

Well with this being the case, for me Android Auto will be more of a hassle than a benefit. I play my music by genre and with no way to easily pull that up and hit shuffle it won't do me any good. Disappointing.

Yeah, that was designed more for "safety" in place of how people actually listen to music. I use iPod for music strictly because of this reason.

 

[ddiehl]

Hey Phil.. I understand that this unit has an SD card.. Have you tried playing music from that as a source? I'm curious as to whether switching to the Pioneer side allows for better browsing..

 

[BobB67]

Based on the way I see people behaving with phones during my commute every day, I support the way music has been handled. The playlist model works, and even though' you' might be the super responsible person who only browses their music at a complete stop, many other people do not.

 

[Phil Nickinson]

Hey Phil.. I understand that this unit has an SD card.. Have you tried playing music from that as a source? I'm curious as to whether switching to the Pioneer side allows for better browsing..

Good question. I'll stick that on my list of things to do.

 

[ddiehl]

Good question. I'll stick that on my list of things to do.

Thanks.. Oh, and let me know if it plays album tracks in alphabetical order or by track number..

Sent from my XT1095 using Tapatalk

 

[Cant Miss]

Thanks.. Oh, and let me know if it plays album tracks in alphabetical order or by track number..

It does not follow track number metadata. If you want in track order you'll need to prepend the track names with a number. Play lists are also not supported, but I used MixTrax on the PC to import all my music and write it to an SD card. This allows creation of playlists, as well as some default ones based on BPM.

 

[ddiehl]

It does not follow track number metadata. If you want in track order you'll need to prepend the track names with a number. Play lists are also not supported, but I used MixTrax on the PC to import all my music and write it to an SD card. This allows creation of playlists, as well as some default ones based on BPM.

All my files look like this:

##-title..

So I should be good to go then (?)

Also when playing music from another source (like an sd card or thumb drive) does the song info appear on the AA screen?

It may be asking a lot but is there anyway you could take a quick pic of your screen while playing a track from you sd card and post it here?

Like this perhaps?



Thanks..

 

[Phil Nickinson]

Nope, only things going through Android Auto will appear in Android Auto. That is, *apps* that are AA-compatible. The Pioneer apps are totally separate.

 

[Dr Claw]

Hey Phil.. I understand that this unit has an SD card.. Have you tried playing music from that as a source? I'm curious as to whether switching to the Pioneer side allows for better browsing..

I can tell you that Pioneer's browsing as a source is superior. However, with SD cards, much like USB sticks, if you go above 32GB (and use FAT32 formatting) the time it takes for the actual device itself to initialize and index is very long. I'm not sure that it works as well as say, an iPod does. If you keep it within Pioneer's OEM recommendations you might be OK. Their browsing in general is superior to what Android Auto allows (though it doesn't give you the option to browse by voice).

 

[Dr Claw]

I actually got to use my phone on the 4100NEX demo model at a local Best Buy. I don't think they rig their HUs to be "parked", so I was shocked to see Android Auto go through set up when I plugged in. Maybe Google listened and got rid of that annoying "Must Be Parked" requirement in an unseen update?

 

[Marcus Granstroem]

Got Android Auto to finaly work on my Galaxy Note 4 in my VW Golf GT 2016 model after alot of dfficulties
Having problem with Google map, while navigating it only show night mode and that isdifficult to visualize during day, cant recognice the text or the thin roads, do not find any settings and its not night here. One more thing, how to get 3D mode with rotating map since now North is always up on the display and that makes it difficult to follow the map, having to rotate the picture in the brain before intepreting, I have the latest Android Auto build from August 18th.
Reading the Android Auto support page you should be able to reach suggestions and categories by pressing the "turn right" icon (Navigation icon) in the bottom left corner, but nothing hapen when pressing it since I am already "in" navigation, sems that this function have broken and here the settings should be or am I wrong.
I hope Waze will be supported as well.
Realy good work Android Auto team, keep up with it, thanks.

 

[SuperTongue]

Got Android Auto to finaly work on my Galaxy Note 4 in my VW Golf GT 2016 model after alot of dfficulties
Having problem with Google map, while navigating it only show night mode and that isdifficult to visualize during day, cant recognice the text or the thin roads, do not find any settings and its not night here. One more thing, how to get 3D mode with rotating map since now North is always up on the display and that makes it difficult to follow the map, having to rotate the picture in the brain before intepreting, I have the latest Android Auto build from August 18th.
Reading the Android Auto support page you should be able to reach suggestions and categories by pressing the "turn right" icon (Navigation icon) in the bottom left corner, but nothing hapen when pressing it since I am already "in" navigation, sems that this function have broken and here the settings should be or am I wrong.
I hope Waze will be supported as well.
Realy good work Android Auto team, keep up with it, thanks.

Night mode is likely being set by the headunit / car itself. Not sure how the Golf works, but on the Pioneer headunits, you have to go into the actual Pioneer settings and change the dimmer settings to day/night mode. This could also be caused by your headlights being on, etc. AA does not control this at all.

You should be able to pan around in Maps at the least. If you're following navigation, it should just have the top of the map pointed in whatever direction you're driving (assuming you didn't pan around and did not recenter the map on your location afterwards).

If you're looking for location suggestions, there's a hamburger icon in the top left (when using maps) that has all of that listed in the menu.

Hope some of that helps.

 

[Marcus Granstroem]

Night mode is likely being set by the headunit / car itself. Not sure how the Golf works, but on the Pioneer headunits, you have to go into the actual Pioneer settings and change the dimmer settings to day/night mode. This could also be caused by your headlights being on, etc. AA does not control this at all.

You should be able to pan around in Maps at the least. If you're following navigation, it should just have the top of the map pointed in whatever direction you're driving (assuming you didn't pan around and did not recenter the map on your location afterwards).

If you're looking for location suggestions, there's a hamburger icon in the top left (when using maps) that has all of that listed in the menu.

Hope some of that helps.

You were right that the lamp controlled the night mode in the google maps. To bad it is illegal to drive in Sweden (and propably some other countries) without lamps on even during the day, but as you wrote, I found the setting for turning the display from Auto to Day mode in the stereo, Tested a map program in mirrorlink and it did show daymode (they might solved it in some other way or if that one always was daymode). Might be something for AA to Think about and test or for Google Map to add extra option for Day/Night/Auto mode under the "hamburger" Icon. Let me know if you want me to do any test since Sweden is not officialy supported yet. Got the map otherwise to work.

 

[wedgegreene]

I have the NEX and a galaxy 4 running 5.0.1 Android Auto worked great for a week but now it will not connect. What is causing this and how to fix it?

NEX is a fine unit. voice calls are very clear and pausing of music, etc good. When it worked the pausing with navigation was excellent feature. Navigation telling you how much time to save with a alternate route during traffic slowdowns very fine.
My sound is excellent, but the unit is playing through 1500 watts call A to custom speakers.
I have found that the DAC for mp3 off a USB is inferior to playing the same source through a mastered CD. HUM?

 

[Robert Phelan]

Using Pioneer 8100NEX + HTC M8. I bought the Pioneer the week it came out.

Over just the past 2 weeks have I started having this "lag" issue, too. I'll hit the voice button, but it takes several seconds to actually get ready to listen - very frustrating. I think it's a network issue, but unsure.

Also, when I'm dictating a reply to a text (or creating a new one), it seems like if I pause for a brief half second, AA will think I'm done and ask if I want to send. Is there some setting to control that?

My impressions so far:
I was initially very disappointed with the lack of compatibility with other apps. Pioneer's apps were/are terrible and useless. And, I'm actually still disappointed with the dearth of apps - No Audible support? Come on Amazon, really?

My main gripes surround the 6 click restriction on finding a podcast(or anything). That's stupid - why 6 clicks? why not 5 or 7?

So, what i've done is just go back to streaming my podcasts via bluetooth - totally negating the reason I bought a new $1400 head unit.

 

[chomorro]

Using Pioneer 8100NEX + HTC M8. I bought the Pioneer the week it came out.

Over just the past 2 weeks have I started having this "lag" issue, too. I'll hit the voice button, but it takes several seconds to actually get ready to listen - very frustrating. I think it's a network issue, but unsure.

Also, when I'm dictating a reply to a text (or creating a new one), it seems like if I pause for a brief half second, AA will think I'm done and ask if I want to send. Is there some setting to control that?

My impressions so far:
I was initially very disappointed with the lack of compatibility with other apps. Pioneer's apps were/are terrible and useless. And, I'm actually still disappointed with the dearth of apps - No Audible support? Come on Amazon, really?

My main gripes surround the 6 click restriction on finding a podcast(or anything). That's stupid - why 6 clicks? why not 5 or 7?

So, what i've done is just go back to streaming my podcasts via bluetooth - totally negating the reason I bought a new $1400 head unit.

Mine does the same thing with the pioneer 4100NEX and galaxy S4 but somedays its right on point with no lag and others it lags or doesnt work at all. I think its the apps, so far it has been working really well the last week.

Im curious if apple users have a flawless experience.