Android Auto. Any happy users?

[steve101]

Has anyone had this installed after purchase? What are your impressions? Is it worth £300.00? I haven't included Apple Play in my post as I am long term antiApple. I much prefer the freedom and choice of Android, and the much lower price for the same spec products.

[Gus]

Yup very happy, google maps are way better than the Mazda ones and the traffic info even on back roads excellent.
Voice control “navigate to ab12 3cd” works a treat,
Worked out downloading the maps over Wi-fi and saving them greatly reduces data requirements.

[steve101]

Thanks for the reply and info Gus. Good idea about downloading the maps. Do you connect your phone via bluetooth or cable?

[p38cyq]

AA only works via cable.

[Fangface]

I spent the £300 and am very glad I did.  Using Google Maps or Waze is many times better than the in built GPS especially with the real time updates.  I use Amazon Music so I can use this in the car now easily and use Google Assistant to control by just asking for an artist.  Messaging from Whatsapp etc is supported as well so much easier to keep up to date with communications and Google Assistant generally is a big help for setting reminders etc assuming your phone supports it.

I had been considering changing my CX-5 in 6 months at 4 years old but now I have the Android Auto fitted i can see me hanging onto the car for another year until it hits 5 years old anyway as it was the one thing missing that I wanted on any new vehicle I bought.

[Gus]

I spent the £300 and am very glad I did.  Using Google Maps or Waze is many times better than the in built GPS especially with the real time updates.  I use Amazon Music so I can use this in the car now easily and use Google Assistant to control by just asking for an artist.  Messaging from Whatsapp etc is supported as well so much easier to keep up to date with communications and Google Assistant generally is a big help for setting reminders etc assuming your phone supports it.

I had been considering changing my CX-5 in 6 months at 4 years old but now I have the Android Auto fitted i can see me hanging onto the car for another year until it hits 5 years old anyway as it was the one thing missing that I wanted on any new vehicle I bought.

Stupid question time  how do you get on with Waze? I struggle with the colour scheme when you are making a choice it highlights the option with blue on a blue background, so when driving it is unusable, I haven’t found a way of altering the colour scheme so use google maps pretty much all of the time. Any tips to make it usable would be most appreciated.

[Fangface]

Stupid question time  how do you get on with Waze? I struggle with the colour scheme when you are making a choice it highlights the option with blue on a blue background, so when driving it is unusable, I haven’t found a way of altering the colour scheme so use google maps pretty much all of the time. Any tips to make it usable would be most appreciated.

Yes, I know what you mean.  It is pretty difficult to see which icon is illuminated on Waze but I played around with the contrast and brightness and can manage to see it now although it is far from clear and could do with a stronger contrast against the background.

[BigAl]

Don't know if this would work across android auto, but I always use Waze with the screen in night mode. I find it clearer and it drains the battery less.

Alan