Android Auto

[Denis O]

dave_s13 said:

Can someone explain how a different cable matters. A bit like hdmi, doesn't it either work, or not?

I've got AA in a ford with sync3 and a fairly powerful Xiaomi phone. When it works it's fine but it can be buggy as hell sometimes and even causes the phone to lock up. Not great if you're relying on the nav to get you somewhere.

I could update my head unit software actually so could try that. Intrigued about differing cables though.

Not sure why the change of cable worked on mine, but it did. Prior to change it would drop out every few minutes. Since I changed the cable it's worked fine since. Maybe 6 months.

[rdjohn]

I had a SPH DA 230 DAB fitted to my Boxster and am very underwhelmed with AA. My MOTO G6 phone is old and so AA is not part of the OS. My wife’s iPhone 7 works a treat.

It just does not want to Plug-and-Play. Generally works the fist time, but call for fuel or a bit of shopping and its a fight to re-start. By far the worst app on the phone.

In March / April I was having big problems and reloaded both the phone and head unit. New cable etc etc. and then after a few days it just decided to work again.

I did not find either Google, or their forum particularly helpful and for once, even PH let me down.

[ajprice]

ShinyPsyduck said:

ajprice said:

Android Auto is getting an update in the summer, with better fit for different size and proportion car screens, and split screen to show nav, media and messages at the same time.

https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/12/android-auto-is-...

The Mazda range currently supports this on there new models. Its pretty sweet but I have found that Waze doesnt work on the small side of the split screen but google maps is working.

The update has finally come through to my phone this week. Not all apps work with the new split screen layout yet, Waze doesn't, but there's a notification on it to say an update is coming, Google Maps does work with the split screen, I had Maps on the main panel, then YouTube Music and recent places from Maps on the 2 side panels. There is a weather panel, but because reasons it doesn't show on landscape proportion screens yet. When I pressed the weather icon in the apps list, it opened the assistant and spoke the weather forecast. I haven't worked out how to change which panels show on the split screen yet.

[untakenname]

My seven year old cheap Chinese Redmi phone got the Coolwalk update to Android Auto back in December but my Pixel 6 Pro which is my daily is still on the old version and it's now February ffs

dave_s13 said:

Can someone explain how a different cable matters. A bit like hdmi, doesn't it either work, or not?

I've got AA in a ford with sync3 and a fairly powerful Xiaomi phone. When it works it's fine but it can be buggy as hell sometimes and even causes the phone to lock up. Not great if you're relying on the nav to get you somewhere.

I could update my head unit software actually so could try that. Intrigued about differing cables though.

Cables aren't all made the same, cheap ones will use lesser gauge wire and also have less shielding so more susceptible to interference.
Best advice is to use a decent cable that's designed for data transfer and make sure it's the shortest length that's available whilst still being useful.

Android Auto apparently has a check cable quality test but I've never used it
https://www.reviewgeek.com/112623/android-auto-can...

[youngricharduk]

Seen as this thread has been resurrected, to give an update I've now got a mk7 golf and the android auto works so much better even with the same phone. I agree with the quality of the cable making a difference as well. Need one with a good data transfer rating.

[dave_s13]

untakenname said:

My seven year old cheap Chinese Redmi phone got the Coolwalk update to Android Auto back in December but my Pixel 6 Pro which is my daily is still on the old version and it's now February ffs

dave_s13 said:

Can someone explain how a different cable matters. A bit like hdmi, doesn't it either work, or not?

I've got AA in a ford with sync3 and a fairly powerful Xiaomi phone. When it works it's fine but it can be buggy as hell sometimes and even causes the phone to lock up. Not great if you're relying on the nav to get you somewhere.

I could update my head unit software actually so could try that. Intrigued about differing cables though.

Cables aren't all made the same, cheap ones will use lesser gauge wire and also have less shielding so more susceptible to interference.
Best advice is to use a decent cable that's designed for data transfer and make sure it's the shortest length that's available whilst still being useful.

Android Auto apparently has a check cable quality test but I've never used it
https://www.reviewgeek.com/112623/android-auto-can...

Cheers...just bought a USB-IF rated cable, it'll be interesting to see if it cures my intermittent android auto funkyness.

[ch37]

I've gone through about 7 cables in my Swift and none have been perfect, intermittent drop outs (if it connects at all), seems to be a common problem.

Weird thing is the wired connection exists to make it more stable, yet Bluetooth is way more consistent and reliable than I've ever found a wired connection in any car to be!

Apparently the usual extreme cost cutting when making cars at scale can be the issue, a few pennies saved on a lower spec USB port in the car adds up after hundreds of thousands of vehicles. I can't think of another device, even cheap tat, that has as many issues as in-car USB ports.

I've just bought a Carsifi to see if that cures my issues.

Edited by ch37 on Saturday 4th February 22:33