Android Auto / Music from Phone

D

dnb

Active Member
Been using the free months of XM but it cuts out randomly which is annoying as I live in a hilly area.

What do you guys use?

I didn't realize that android auto requires plugging in your phone which is annoying (even though its USB C at least), as blue tooth is way easier...

What services do you use for music?

I was thinking of signing up for Amazon Music Unlimited since they have a 4 month trial, or maybe Spotify / Pandora (never used either) or google play music.

How well does the audio searching and such work from the wheel? Does it work well if just using bluetooth or do you need to use android auto for voice commands
 
Even though I have unlimited data on my phone (work) I still prefer XM. I use Pandora otherwise. But I only pay $30 for 6 months. Call threaten to cancel and in 2 minutes they renew you for another 6 months at $30.
 
I get a good signal from T-Mobile everywhere so I just use my phone. Amazon Music (via Prime, not the extra subscription) via Bluetooth, or Pandora via the app in the car. When the phone is plugged in, Pandora through Android Auto.

XM is stupid IMNSHO. It has less than one actual classical station. I don't give a crap about sports. I can stream NPR on my phone, or find an actual NPR station nearly everywhere if I want news. Plus the price is ridiculous, especially if you want to listen outside the car. Pandora I can listen to in the car, at work, on my "smart" Blu-ray, on my Echos, etc., and they don't try to charge me triple the price to do so.
 
We keep our whole music library on a USB stick. Voice searching works well sometimes, not always.

It's the Garmin based GPS where I find voice commands don't work worth a darn. It's okay for things like asking for the brightness to be increased but forget trying to enter an address with voice commands. I swear I spent 15 minutes one day trying to ask the GPS to find Sacramento Airport, or for that matter anything with Sacramento in the name. I never did get it to work. I finally just used my android phone which took 20 seconds.
 
MPower said:
You are making me happy that I didn't spring for the Touring just to get the GPS.
Click to expand...
We've used Garmin for years. They actually work quite well. However all of our GPS devices of the past were not built into the car so we could program them while the car was moving. We like to ask the GPS to find rest stops along the highway, or gas stations. It's such a bother that we can't do that with the Garmin built into the Clarity.

Once programmed the Garmin works quite well. However it has a very bad search engine. Garmin could do well to use the Google search. It also has a limited set of Points Of Interest. Overall Google Maps just works better. But I don't like to tie up the phone just doing maps so we try to pre-program the Clarity GPS before the tires start to roll.
 
jdonalds said:
We've used Garmin for years. They actually work quite well. However all of our GPS devices of the past were not built into the car so we could program them while the car was moving. We like to ask the GPS to find rest stops along the highway, or gas stations. It's such a bother that we can't do that with the Garmin built into the Clarity.

Once programmed the Garmin works quite well. However it has a very bad search engine. Garmin could do well to use the Google search. It also has a limited set of Points Of Interest. Overall Google Maps just works better. But I don't like to tie up the phone just doing maps so we try to pre-program the Clarity GPS before the tires start to roll.
Click to expand...

We bought the touring but not for the SatNav. It was the power seats and seat memory we wanted.
 
jdonalds said:
We've used Garmin for years. They actually work quite well. However all of our GPS devices of the past were not built into the car so we could program them while the car was moving. We like to ask the GPS to find rest stops along the highway, or gas stations. It's such a bother that we can't do that with the Garmin built into the Clarity.

Once programmed the Garmin works quite well. However it has a very bad search engine. Garmin could do well to use the Google search. It also has a limited set of Points Of Interest. Overall Google Maps just works better. But I don't like to tie up the phone just doing maps so we try to pre-program the Clarity GPS before the tires start to roll.
Click to expand...
The navigation on the Touring is still completely functional while moving. The voice recognition for names of streets, cities, and stores is really bad though. I put in all the places I go to as favorites so I can get to them easily via the screen without typing anything.
 
I initially used Android Auto connected to a Pixel 2 with Waze and Spotify for all of my trips. I don't recall when it began but, at some point, the reduction in volume while Waze guidance vocalized the navigation instructions would cause the volume to remain in a reduced state. Restarting the track or skip track would be required for the music to return to normal volume. Needless to say, this quickly became an annoyance so I no longer utilize Android Auto. Utilizing audio through Bluetooth is fine but the navigation doesn't display on the main screen. It doesn't bother me as much as having to reset the track each time Waze speaks.
 
I believe that you need to remain plugged in to use android auto. Some cars have wireless android auto capability but I don't think the Clarity does. I have used Android Auto and Bluetooth, and I think that AA is better. I agree that the plugging in is annoying but I've set up my cable so that it's a 3 second procedure and is nice and neatly tucked away. I like seeing the map directly in my console rather than on the phone. I also think the voice commands work rather well especially once you set it up on your android phone to work well. I don't like the way AA forces you to not touch the screen especially when I'm in situations where it is safe to do so. Some phones allow AA to work with a "swipe lockscreen away" capability (ie: you simply swipe up and you have access to your phone's main screen. For some reason, on my Note 5 I cannot do this and once I start AA I'm literally locked into a dead black screen which can't be removed until I unplug (or do other manipulations). That's annoying!
 
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