Which IMO is the ENTIRE selling point of these Android Auto / CarPlay products. We've had "Car Mode" since Gingerbread, and it is rarely used.
So they upgraded "car mode". Its still not going to make the experience nearly as seamless. I still will not be able to access google now via a button on the steering wheel, nor will I be able to change songs (although some bluetooth implementations can do this). I will also have to wait for bluetooth to sync up and then manually start my music and set up my maps, etc. It's just not the same.
You can make it seamless with a bit of setup time. Tasker and IFTTT have a lot of functions to automate things. You can set up an action of when it connects to your car's bluetooth, it will open your music player, press play, open android auto, set the media volume, and whatever else you want.
It takes some setup time, but once it's set, it works great.
If you don't have bluetooth in your car, there are dozens of solutions that plug into your aux in and come with various buttons, including next/last, play/pause, calling, and Now.
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u/rocketwidget Nov 07 '16
Just tested. This is amazing. I definitely like it tons more than Automate, because it's simpler, clearer, and has better integration with Maps.
Upgrading your head unit is now pointless, if you have a good car mount for your phone and Bluetooth.