A couple of weeks ago I had a nasty shunt in my car so I've had to send it to the garage for repairs.
In the meantime, I've been renting a truly terrible Opel Corsa 1.4. While it drives like a dog and has less puff than my desk fan, it does have some interesting interior options including CarPlay.
I've never used CarPlay before so this was quite exciting for me and I thought I'd review it based on my experiences.
So, to cut to the chase, it's terrible - No really.....it is, and let me tell you why.
The interface
Obviously it's very iOS like and that's good. I like iOS, but there are barely any apps or functions available. Simple things like the outside temperature would be nice to have, (visible when you leave the CarPlay interface), and this is the big problem.
You have to continuously leave the CarPlay interface to change car settings or simply view trip information which isn't available in CarPlay. It's incredibly annoying switching between interfaces and sometimes dangerous too, which brings me to my next point.
Usability
Shocking is the word I'd use. No, really. It is.
I challenge you to use a touch screen display while driving along at 120km/h. Landing your finger on the correct point is hit and miss and at one point, I found myself swerving slightly so I instantly gave up.
When I slowed down and moved onto a quiet road, I had another go, but the slightest road bump moved my finger away. Just so annoying. I tried to steady my fingers against the side of the display but accidentally switched on my seat heaters which is not good when the outside temperature is 36C (I found that out by leaving CarPlay of course).
And then switching between interfaces was just ridiculous. It's like having Windows installed on a Mac and juggling between the two while driving. Not good.
So what is a good interface, I hear you ask me.
I don't think touch while driving is a good idea. There's too much going on and it's difficult to tap on the correct part of the screen. Try scrolling and getting the correct list on Spotify for example. Near impossible without taking your eyes off the road and really focusing on the display. Seriously dangerous.
My choice is iDrive which I have on my BMW. It doesn't require me to reach forward and once you get the hang of the interface, it's very quick to use the iDrive controller. Others may have another view on this however.
Apps
Again very basic but they do the job (if they don't hang). Spotify was just an endless stream of lists, and TuneIn was very similar. The apps also don't interact with the phone very well either so when my passengers decided to change apps through the phone, the CarPlay interface would throw a fit.
There's also not much choice and you're forced to use the Apple Maps navigation which is truly awful where I live in the South of Spain. My BMW navigation, Google, TomTom and Sygic all give me the shortest route.
Apple however is obsessed with taking me home the longest way possible and throws a tantrum when I choose to ignore it, finally giving me the correct way about 500m from my doorstep.
CarPlay really must allow other navigation suppliers to integrate with it's product.
Reliability
Poor. Really poor. I'm connected via my USB to lightning cable and Spotify, TuneIn and Apple Music often hang. The only solution to unplug and connect again in the hope that it will work.
Very frustrating and pretty poor. Perhaps it's a software update? Who knows, but as this is a rental car, I'm not going to be trying any updates.
Phone Functions
Just like using your phone and it works well. The biggest downside is the number entry. It's that sodding touch interface again. Try dialling a number a 120km/h safely! I suggest however trying on a closed road with plenty of run-off as it's not safe.
Siri
Very hit and miss. I've never been a big fan of Siri. I often get the wrong result and it frustrates me so I usually ignore it.
However, Siri is the only safe way to use CarPlay but this is very much dependent on if you get the correct result and if you have internet. 4G/3G comes and goes while driving so the moment you lose signal, you get an error.
I also ended up interacting with the display to get the result I wanted which was very frustrating at times (and dangerous).
I genuinely think Siri works best if you have an American accent, but sadly for a Brit like myself, it's very unreliable.
Weirdly however, my voice control built into my BMW works a charm and rarely gives me errors. I also found BlackBerry devices understand me well and so does my wife's Parrot. Maybe it's just me!
Overall
There's plenty of potential in CarPlay but there needs to be a physical dial or something to interact with the system safely.
Additionally, the integration needs to be 100% including car controls and the basic stuff you get in a car UI. CarPlay must support:
- Trip Computers
- Car settings
- Basics like temperature / date, etc....
Basically just one interface!
Otherwise it's just a gimmick and a poor one at that.
I'm planning on buying a new BMW next year and while CarPlay will be an option available to me, it won't be one that I will select on my options sheet.
2/10 - Very Poor
In the meantime, I've been renting a truly terrible Opel Corsa 1.4. While it drives like a dog and has less puff than my desk fan, it does have some interesting interior options including CarPlay.
I've never used CarPlay before so this was quite exciting for me and I thought I'd review it based on my experiences.
So, to cut to the chase, it's terrible - No really.....it is, and let me tell you why.
The interface
Obviously it's very iOS like and that's good. I like iOS, but there are barely any apps or functions available. Simple things like the outside temperature would be nice to have, (visible when you leave the CarPlay interface), and this is the big problem.
You have to continuously leave the CarPlay interface to change car settings or simply view trip information which isn't available in CarPlay. It's incredibly annoying switching between interfaces and sometimes dangerous too, which brings me to my next point.
Usability
Shocking is the word I'd use. No, really. It is.
I challenge you to use a touch screen display while driving along at 120km/h. Landing your finger on the correct point is hit and miss and at one point, I found myself swerving slightly so I instantly gave up.
When I slowed down and moved onto a quiet road, I had another go, but the slightest road bump moved my finger away. Just so annoying. I tried to steady my fingers against the side of the display but accidentally switched on my seat heaters which is not good when the outside temperature is 36C (I found that out by leaving CarPlay of course).
And then switching between interfaces was just ridiculous. It's like having Windows installed on a Mac and juggling between the two while driving. Not good.
So what is a good interface, I hear you ask me.
I don't think touch while driving is a good idea. There's too much going on and it's difficult to tap on the correct part of the screen. Try scrolling and getting the correct list on Spotify for example. Near impossible without taking your eyes off the road and really focusing on the display. Seriously dangerous.
My choice is iDrive which I have on my BMW. It doesn't require me to reach forward and once you get the hang of the interface, it's very quick to use the iDrive controller. Others may have another view on this however.
Apps
Again very basic but they do the job (if they don't hang). Spotify was just an endless stream of lists, and TuneIn was very similar. The apps also don't interact with the phone very well either so when my passengers decided to change apps through the phone, the CarPlay interface would throw a fit.
There's also not much choice and you're forced to use the Apple Maps navigation which is truly awful where I live in the South of Spain. My BMW navigation, Google, TomTom and Sygic all give me the shortest route.
Apple however is obsessed with taking me home the longest way possible and throws a tantrum when I choose to ignore it, finally giving me the correct way about 500m from my doorstep.
CarPlay really must allow other navigation suppliers to integrate with it's product.
Reliability
Poor. Really poor. I'm connected via my USB to lightning cable and Spotify, TuneIn and Apple Music often hang. The only solution to unplug and connect again in the hope that it will work.
Very frustrating and pretty poor. Perhaps it's a software update? Who knows, but as this is a rental car, I'm not going to be trying any updates.
Phone Functions
Just like using your phone and it works well. The biggest downside is the number entry. It's that sodding touch interface again. Try dialling a number a 120km/h safely! I suggest however trying on a closed road with plenty of run-off as it's not safe.
Siri
Very hit and miss. I've never been a big fan of Siri. I often get the wrong result and it frustrates me so I usually ignore it.
However, Siri is the only safe way to use CarPlay but this is very much dependent on if you get the correct result and if you have internet. 4G/3G comes and goes while driving so the moment you lose signal, you get an error.
I also ended up interacting with the display to get the result I wanted which was very frustrating at times (and dangerous).
I genuinely think Siri works best if you have an American accent, but sadly for a Brit like myself, it's very unreliable.
Weirdly however, my voice control built into my BMW works a charm and rarely gives me errors. I also found BlackBerry devices understand me well and so does my wife's Parrot. Maybe it's just me!
Overall
There's plenty of potential in CarPlay but there needs to be a physical dial or something to interact with the system safely.
Additionally, the integration needs to be 100% including car controls and the basic stuff you get in a car UI. CarPlay must support:
- Trip Computers
- Car settings
- Basics like temperature / date, etc....
Basically just one interface!
Otherwise it's just a gimmick and a poor one at that.
I'm planning on buying a new BMW next year and while CarPlay will be an option available to me, it won't be one that I will select on my options sheet.
2/10 - Very Poor
