Hacker News Reader

Comment by jdc0589 | Hacker News Reader

Too bad Toyota is still putting frickin Entune in their cars with no Android Auto or CarPlay support.

I wouldn't be quite as annoyed by it if the damn navigation wasn't missing the address I need to enter damn near 50% of the time (in major cities too, in a 2016 model year car). One day I noticed they had a mobile app and assumed there'd be some easier way to enter navigation addresses from contacts, google maps, etc.. but no...its barely even functional.

But hey, I can check my stocks. so there's that?

Edit: I went on a little rant tangent there... Great work Waze team. I can't wait to be able to use this.

View on HN

Mazda owner here. Still waiting for they mythical CarPlay/Android auto update that will supposedly come to 2014 and up models. They are using the same infotainment system in 2017 models so I'm still holding out hope.

Bought a Toyota SUV few years ago, they promised CarPlay update as well. Not that I believed that it would ever come, but still :|

Good luck. Perhaps this?

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2017/07/gm-to-offer-ota-softwar...

I got to try out Android Auto on a rental Ford Focus last week and now I can't drive my 2015 Mazda 3 without hating it a little.

I'm sure you know that there is an unofficial Android Auto installation available on certain Mazda forums. Unfortunately, they still haven't managed to fix a serious issue with Bluetooth calling.

But tread lightly. Mazda has caught on to the AIO/tweaker scripts and are invalidating warranties on the Connect units if they have been modified.

I used Mazda AIO Tweaks to get Android Auto support (along with other changes) in my 2017 Mazda 3. I am pretty sure they support older/other models as well. Very easy, took about 20 minutes from downloading to updating the car.

https://mazdatweaks.com/

You can't do this any more if you're stuck with the very latest infotainment firmware version. It locks out the tweaks. Even if you don't have it yet, be careful because your dealer might "helpfully" install it on there for you when you come in for service or warranty work. Once this version is installed, you can't downgrade to the older tweakable versions. Very disappointing.

In addition, if they find you've tweaked the software, they won't honor any warranty claims concerning the infotainment system.

The idea alone that car companies would even try to provide their own navigation system that's built into the car is infuriating to me. I will have my car for way over ten years. By that time anything computer related that came with the car might as well have seen the thirty year war. In that same time I will have gone through three phones easily. The navigation and entertainment system needs to be as dumb as possible and as easily swapped out as possible. Anything else is ridiculous.

Oh god, don't get me started on Toyota's infotainment system. It is absolutely horrible. Clunky and slow interface, unnecessary restrictions.

Don't forget the completely broken speech recognition.

I also love how, in our 2014 Prius V, if the Bluetooth gets disconnected and there's another device in range, it won't let me reconnect to the original device until the car is stopped and put into park... Because no vehicle has a front seat passenger?

> Because no vehicle has a front seat passenger?

Which also happens to be the scenario which is most likely to cause this problem!

agreed; they definitely have the worst infotainment system out there. it looks and feels like a 2007 beta product

I bought my Toyota for the motor, so I didn't pay a lot of attention at the time of purchase. I wish I had though. Entune is absolutely terrible. I'm still mind boggled that a quality manufacturer like Toyota would allow such a terrible piece of engineering in their vehicles.

Panasonic makes them, which made it click for me. Both Japanese companies, both titans. No betting on scrappy startups.

But I agree, I bought mine for the motor as well, and really that's what's important to me. Would I like a better head unit, sure, but I'd make the same choice again.

When they announced that it DRAMATICALLY sped up the car search I was doing at the time. No CarPlay? I'm not buying a Toyota.

Today I think the direction Toyota is going in extremely ugly (too angular/aggressive for me).

I'm not buying another car without CarPlay. It's too nice.

Don't feel too bad about this - Android Auto is nice, but it still has a lot of drawbacks and deficiencies. I just switched to a car without it and realized I don't miss it at all.

My 2016 Mercedes GLA was supposed to have support for Android Auto but the car arrived without it. Mercedes was working on the update for over a year now, and just few days ago I received an official reply from Mercedes Benz customer service saying that the technical department won't release such update, it was cancelled. It sucks to have such a modern car without support for it - and my partner's tiny volkswagen Polo supports both android auto and apple car play.

I assume you didn't realize you can install the Android Auto app directly on any Android phone running 5.0 or higher?

You don't need a built-in system, and in fact I find my phone [$130 Moto E4] coupled with a magnetic dash mount works far better.

I am aware, but I really like having gps directions right in front of me on my screen in the gauge cluster. I'll probably figure out a dash mount solution at some point, but it would be so much nicer if everything just played nice together.

Since Android Auto runs on phones now, and it can be set to launch automatically when it connects to your car's bluetooth, I jerry-rigged a phone cradle that sits in front of my car's infotainment screen and mainly use that.

Are there any Japanese cars with CarPlay or Android Auto support?

I just wish Waze would come to CarPlay as well and Navdy.

I guess anyone wishing for Android Auto and CarPlay support will have to go the aftermarket route.

Honda has both CarPlay and Android Auto.

The new 2017 Subarus have support for both.

Did you mean 2018 subarus? I have a 2017 outback and I don't have any of these...

Yes, my 2017 Subaru Impreza has it. However I find it very clunky... the screen is not terribly responsive at all. Not sure if its my phone (an aging iPhone 6), firmware in the head unit that can be fixed, or a poorly engineered hardware in the head unit.

My 2017 Nissan has both

Reply on news.ycombinator.com