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My new Tacoma has a hybrid system called Scout GPS. The idea is that you run the app on your phone, and it does all the heavy lifting WRT GPS, computing routes,

My new Tacoma has a hybrid system called Scout GPS. The idea is that you run the app on your phone, and it does all the heavy lifting WRT GPS, computing routes, etc., and the dashboard display is basically a moderately dumb UI that displays maps on the screen. In theory, it's a best of both worlds situation; the UI doesn't really need to change very often; what is most important is the maps/POI information, which can be downloaded either in-app or via an update. Practically, the UI is just irritating enough that I end up using Google Maps anyway, and just letting the voice directions get me where I'm going. (edit: punctuation, because my inner copyeditor won't shut up)

kbenson 10y ago
I've often wondered, while using the somewhat substandard media navigation of my bluetooth enabled car stereo which has a touch screen, why there isn't some standard for specifying a very simple, somewhat static visual interface for bluetooth touchscreens (or screens with a set number of external buttons). A very constrained HTML, perhaps, that apps could choose to supply to provide better control through external interfaces. For example, let Android or iOS supply an interface to view my contacts based on the reported dimensions of the screen and capabilities. Let Pocket Casts present a list of podcasts to choose from. Let Pandora show my thumbs up/down stored for the song, and register my new preference. If I'm at my desk, and I'm using one of these apps, there's no reason a simple app that provides the same interface couldn't provide me info about the connected phone through bluetooth, to let me know who is calling me, let me stream my podcasts through my desktop speakers, etc. Does this exist, and I just don't know about it (or it isn't implemented by anyone)?
- eric_the_read 10y ago
  I think that is more or less exactly the idea behind Android Auto and CarPlay for iOS. The problem is that many manufacturers still don't support it, and customer demand isn't high enough (yet) to force them to. I went ahead and bought the Taco, even though it didn't have Android Auto, because it was otherwise a good truck, and the bluetooth support was Good Enough™. Until enough people don't behave like me, support is likely to lag.
  - kbenson 10y ago
    Thanks for the heads up. Interestingly, Android has the Desktop Head Unit for displaying Android Auto stuff on the desktop, but it's presented as a developer debugging tool. I'm not sure, but it looks like the actual car head unit is supposed to be using android, which I sort of understand from their point of view of wanting a good implementation not left up to the car manufacturers (and their history of poor software quality and updating), and also to increase marketshare. I imagine CarPlay is similar. That's a shame, because I think they missed out on a real opportunity to attempt to define a standard that could have been useful for more than a closed ecosystem, and more than just cars. I'm sure it would be less featureful than what they came up with, but I think that would have been justified with the expanded scope. Imagine, if you will, if your phone could just as easily export controls to some virtual/augmented reality device you are wearing, without having to run the Android Auto operating system on that device. Such a shame.
audleman 10y ago
If any Mazda employees are here, take note. This is all I want: let me set a route on my smartphone, you project it on my in-dash screen and it talks through the stereo. The built-in system is garbage and I gave up after 2 weeks. I'm currently looking for a good dash-holder for my phone so I can use it to navigate

kbenson 10y ago

I've often wondered, while using the somewhat substandard media navigation of my bluetooth enabled car stereo which has a touch screen, why there isn't some standard for specifying a very simple, somewhat static visual interface for bluetooth touchscreens (or screens with a set number of external buttons). A very constrained HTML, perhaps, that apps could choose to supply to provide better control through external interfaces. For example, let Android or iOS supply an interface to view my contacts based on the reported dimensions of the screen and capabilities. Let Pocket Casts present a list of podcasts to choose from. Let Pandora show my thumbs up/down stored for the song, and register my new preference. If I'm at my desk, and I'm using one of these apps, there's no reason a simple app that provides the same interface couldn't provide me info about the connected phone through bluetooth, to let me know who is calling me, let me stream my podcasts through my desktop speakers, etc. Does this exist, and I just don't know about it (or it isn't implemented by anyone)?

eric_the_read 10y ago
I think that is more or less exactly the idea behind Android Auto and CarPlay for iOS. The problem is that many manufacturers still don't support it, and customer demand isn't high enough (yet) to force them to. I went ahead and bought the Taco, even though it didn't have Android Auto, because it was otherwise a good truck, and the bluetooth support was Good Enough™. Until enough people don't behave like me, support is likely to lag.
- kbenson 10y ago
  Thanks for the heads up. Interestingly, Android has the Desktop Head Unit for displaying Android Auto stuff on the desktop, but it's presented as a developer debugging tool. I'm not sure, but it looks like the actual car head unit is supposed to be using android, which I sort of understand from their point of view of wanting a good implementation not left up to the car manufacturers (and their history of poor software quality and updating), and also to increase marketshare. I imagine CarPlay is similar. That's a shame, because I think they missed out on a real opportunity to attempt to define a standard that could have been useful for more than a closed ecosystem, and more than just cars. I'm sure it would be less featureful than what they came up with, but I think that would have been justified with the expanded scope. Imagine, if you will, if your phone could just as easily export controls to some virtual/augmented reality device you are wearing, without having to run the Android Auto operating system on that device. Such a shame.

audleman 10y ago

If any Mazda employees are here, take note. This is all I want: let me set a route on my smartphone, you project it on my in-dash screen and it talks through the stereo. The built-in system is garbage and I gave up after 2 weeks. I'm currently looking for a good dash-holder for my phone so I can use it to navigate