- Nov 14, 2012
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Let me preface by saying that I own a Galaxy S8+ and an iPhone 7 Plus and the Samsung is by far the better phone, in my opinion. I tlooks better, the screen is better, it lasts just as long on one charge and it has many other features that blow my iPhone out of the water.
The only thing keeping me from moving to it full-time from my iPhone is Android Auto.
For reference, my phone always stays stowed in my central bin and I rely on audio cues and voice control entirely whilst driving.
In comparison to Apple CarPlay, which just works seamlessly without any fuss, Android Auto is a complete ballache. No matter what I try, audio notifications will not come through my car. I get the visual banner notification but that is next to useless when I am watching the road, not my screen. When I connect my phone to my car, it enables Do Not Disturb automatically, meaning that no notification sounds come through, regardless of which text or call app I am using. As I spend a large amount of my day in my car, making and receiving business texts and calls, I *need* to receive audio notifications of my incoming messages and calls so I can respond to them promptly. I resorted to using Tasker to turn DND off but that seems to be largely hit-or-miss as to when it works. Being that this isn't a foolproof method, I can't rely on it to notify me.
Also, 'Hey Google' only works about 75% of the time. If it does work, it can't read me messages from specific people, only new messages, which is also not optimal if I need to reply to a message I have already heard but not replied to then and there. Also, no matter how clearly I speak (I am an actor and voice actor with a ton of major titles under my belt, plus thirty years theatre experience, so I know my voice is clear), and how quiet the background is, Google will recognise some words as other words. For instance whenever I say the word 'done', regardless of which accent it is in, Google hears the word 'down'. There are about half a dozen words where Google just cannot discern between what I actually said, and what it thinks I said, and it drives me crazy as I have to edit and rephrase my messages.
When moving between stages of a voice command, like "Hey Google, send a message to John Doe', firstly it asks me 'home or us cell', even though it should already know that the last thing I want to do is send a message to a landline number as those historically can't receive text messages. When I answer, it displays the four coloured 'processing' dots on the screen for maybe up to thirty seconds before it asks me what I want to say. Assuming it hears me correctly first time round (which it fails to do maybe 70% of the time, necessitating an edit), it then displays the four coloured dots again for a minimum of ten seconds before it sends the message.
There must be a way of overcoming these two shortfalls. The pressing issue is incoming notifications and I need to get this sorted out immediately if I want to continue using the S8+. Also, does anyone else experience lag or delay in the voice control interface between issuing commands, or have any advice on how I might rectify this please? I've tried many things, up to an including factory reset to stock apps and no third party apps installed, yet both issues persist on a brand new restored phone.
I've gone back to using my iPhone 7 Plus until I can get these issues fixed as none of these issues arise in Apple Carplay, the system just works flawlessly, just the phone sucks in comparison.
So I either suffer with a sucky phone, or a sucky car interface. Being that the sucky phone doesn't get me frustrated and angry, I went with that option until I can get this rectified. I don't want to have to keep swapping out the sim card whenever I get into or out of my car. That way lies madness.
Any help gratefully appreciated and apologies for the rant.
The only thing keeping me from moving to it full-time from my iPhone is Android Auto.
For reference, my phone always stays stowed in my central bin and I rely on audio cues and voice control entirely whilst driving.
In comparison to Apple CarPlay, which just works seamlessly without any fuss, Android Auto is a complete ballache. No matter what I try, audio notifications will not come through my car. I get the visual banner notification but that is next to useless when I am watching the road, not my screen. When I connect my phone to my car, it enables Do Not Disturb automatically, meaning that no notification sounds come through, regardless of which text or call app I am using. As I spend a large amount of my day in my car, making and receiving business texts and calls, I *need* to receive audio notifications of my incoming messages and calls so I can respond to them promptly. I resorted to using Tasker to turn DND off but that seems to be largely hit-or-miss as to when it works. Being that this isn't a foolproof method, I can't rely on it to notify me.
Also, 'Hey Google' only works about 75% of the time. If it does work, it can't read me messages from specific people, only new messages, which is also not optimal if I need to reply to a message I have already heard but not replied to then and there. Also, no matter how clearly I speak (I am an actor and voice actor with a ton of major titles under my belt, plus thirty years theatre experience, so I know my voice is clear), and how quiet the background is, Google will recognise some words as other words. For instance whenever I say the word 'done', regardless of which accent it is in, Google hears the word 'down'. There are about half a dozen words where Google just cannot discern between what I actually said, and what it thinks I said, and it drives me crazy as I have to edit and rephrase my messages.
When moving between stages of a voice command, like "Hey Google, send a message to John Doe', firstly it asks me 'home or us cell', even though it should already know that the last thing I want to do is send a message to a landline number as those historically can't receive text messages. When I answer, it displays the four coloured 'processing' dots on the screen for maybe up to thirty seconds before it asks me what I want to say. Assuming it hears me correctly first time round (which it fails to do maybe 70% of the time, necessitating an edit), it then displays the four coloured dots again for a minimum of ten seconds before it sends the message.
There must be a way of overcoming these two shortfalls. The pressing issue is incoming notifications and I need to get this sorted out immediately if I want to continue using the S8+. Also, does anyone else experience lag or delay in the voice control interface between issuing commands, or have any advice on how I might rectify this please? I've tried many things, up to an including factory reset to stock apps and no third party apps installed, yet both issues persist on a brand new restored phone.
I've gone back to using my iPhone 7 Plus until I can get these issues fixed as none of these issues arise in Apple Carplay, the system just works flawlessly, just the phone sucks in comparison.
So I either suffer with a sucky phone, or a sucky car interface. Being that the sucky phone doesn't get me frustrated and angry, I went with that option until I can get this rectified. I don't want to have to keep swapping out the sim card whenever I get into or out of my car. That way lies madness.
Any help gratefully appreciated and apologies for the rant.
Last edited:
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