5 ms·

1.) Audio+GPS+Charging in non-Bluetooth Car. Is your car older than 3 years? If not, what prevents you from listening to audio via USB?

dogshoes 10y ago
Yes, lots of cars don't have Bluetooth or USB. A quick Google search shows the average age of cars on American roads has reached 11.5 years. My personal car is 14 years old and runs fine, but I need to use the aux input on the radio to listen to my phone.
DigitalJack 10y ago
I only just got a car that has an AUX jack. Cars are expensive. I pay mine off and keep it for 10 or more years.
- Dylan16807 10y ago
  And thankfully before aux jacks there were tape decks.
- pvdebbe 10y ago
  The funny thing is that updating the radio on a 20-year old car is cheap, but updating the radio on a 10-year-old can be prohibitely expensive, given the audio systems have been increasinly integrated.
acdha 10y ago
In addition to the question of cars which don't have it, software quality a huge problem and cars don't get software updates. I've rented a fair number of cars while traveling in the last year and hit a number of problems: * Everything Ford makes has a bug where the car's computer will lock for a minute or two and either crash / decide the phone doesn't exist or display a blocking modal dialog telling you that you have too many tracks on your phone if you connect it using USB. I have ~11K tracks (iTunes Match) and that's apparently more than they tested with. Toyota had a similar failure with USB. * Bluetooth is more miss than hit: pairing is usually buried in the UI, slow, and reconnects are unreliable so you might have to try a couple of times before anything connects. * None of the cars have a UI designed for more than a handful of tracks so while you can get something to play eventually, the experience is terrible. * Not everyone supplies enough power to charge over USB or does so inconsistently, so you may arrive with 10% battery if you used the GPS. 100% of vehicles with AUX in lines work perfectly every time without any fussing. I want something like Bluetooth to work but there's this massive market failure where almost nobody seems to have a QA team or a support process where updates actually happen (BMW suggested that a friend buy a newer car to fix their bugs). I'll give Subaru an honorable mention for having reliable software but they desperately need to hire some UX specialists.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- mixedCase 10y ago
  >* Everything Ford makes has a bug where the car's computer will lock for a minute or two and either crash / decide the phone doesn't exist or display a blocking modal dialog telling you that you have too many tracks on your phone if you connect it using USB. I have ~11K tracks (iTunes Match) and that's apparently more than they tested with. Toyota had a similar failure with USB. >* Bluetooth is more miss than hit: pairing is usually buried in the UI, slow, and reconnects are unreliable so you might have to try a couple of times before anything connects. Bluetooth pairing seems to work just fine on my family's Ford Fiesta 2016 (using the simpler version of Ford Audio). Once done for the first time, it only takes a few seconds after I turn the key and they're working together. Occasionally sound cuts off for a sec or two if I have the phone in my pocket but I blame it on my ole' Galaxy S3 and CyanogenMod drivers.
  - acdha 10y ago
    Have you tried it with USB? That's what I had all of the failures with but I've heard that was a problem with the older Microsoft stack they reportedly weren't happy with. The cars I rented were either 2014 or 2015 model years.
    - mixedCase 10y ago
      I have not tried it, but honestly, I wouldn't want to. Creating a playlist would be extremely tedious navigating through dozens of albums with such an interface.
dagw 10y ago
My car is a 2014 model and has neither bluetooth nor USB.
- anthonybsd 10y ago
  Out of curiosity, what car is it?

dogshoes 10y ago

Yes, lots of cars don't have Bluetooth or USB. A quick Google search shows the average age of cars on American roads has reached 11.5 years. My personal car is 14 years old and runs fine, but I need to use the aux input on the radio to listen to my phone.

DigitalJack 10y ago

I only just got a car that has an AUX jack. Cars are expensive. I pay mine off and keep it for 10 or more years.

Dylan16807 10y ago
And thankfully before aux jacks there were tape decks.
pvdebbe 10y ago
The funny thing is that updating the radio on a 20-year old car is cheap, but updating the radio on a 10-year-old can be prohibitely expensive, given the audio systems have been increasinly integrated.

acdha 10y ago

In addition to the question of cars which don't have it, software quality a huge problem and cars don't get software updates. I've rented a fair number of cars while traveling in the last year and hit a number of problems: * Everything Ford makes has a bug where the car's computer will lock for a minute or two and either crash / decide the phone doesn't exist or display a blocking modal dialog telling you that you have too many tracks on your phone if you connect it using USB. I have ~11K tracks (iTunes Match) and that's apparently more than they tested with. Toyota had a similar failure with USB. * Bluetooth is more miss than hit: pairing is usually buried in the UI, slow, and reconnects are unreliable so you might have to try a couple of times before anything connects. * None of the cars have a UI designed for more than a handful of tracks so while you can get something to play eventually, the experience is terrible. * Not everyone supplies enough power to charge over USB or does so inconsistently, so you may arrive with 10% battery if you used the GPS. 100% of vehicles with AUX in lines work perfectly every time without any fussing. I want something like Bluetooth to work but there's this massive market failure where almost nobody seems to have a QA team or a support process where updates actually happen (BMW suggested that a friend buy a newer car to fix their bugs). I'll give Subaru an honorable mention for having reliable software but they desperately need to hire some UX specialists.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
mixedCase 10y ago
>* Everything Ford makes has a bug where the car's computer will lock for a minute or two and either crash / decide the phone doesn't exist or display a blocking modal dialog telling you that you have too many tracks on your phone if you connect it using USB. I have ~11K tracks (iTunes Match) and that's apparently more than they tested with. Toyota had a similar failure with USB. >* Bluetooth is more miss than hit: pairing is usually buried in the UI, slow, and reconnects are unreliable so you might have to try a couple of times before anything connects. Bluetooth pairing seems to work just fine on my family's Ford Fiesta 2016 (using the simpler version of Ford Audio). Once done for the first time, it only takes a few seconds after I turn the key and they're working together. Occasionally sound cuts off for a sec or two if I have the phone in my pocket but I blame it on my ole' Galaxy S3 and CyanogenMod drivers.
- acdha 10y ago
  Have you tried it with USB? That's what I had all of the failures with but I've heard that was a problem with the older Microsoft stack they reportedly weren't happy with. The cars I rented were either 2014 or 2015 model years.
  - mixedCase 10y ago
    I have not tried it, but honestly, I wouldn't want to. Creating a playlist would be extremely tedious navigating through dozens of albums with such an interface.

dagw 10y ago

My car is a 2014 model and has neither bluetooth nor USB.

anthonybsd 10y ago
Out of curiosity, what car is it?