Anyone else much prefer just mounting your phone on the dash, instead of a separate carplay system? Bonus points if the mount has wireless charging. This way there’s no new UI to learn, and you never are stuck using a subpar carplay-variant UI (looking at you, Gaia)
I'm finding myself in the odd position of desiring an older car to not put up with the bullshit. I don't need OnStar, I don't need lane assist, I don't need self driving. I don't need my fucking car to brake for me when it thinks I'm in danger. Just let me drive. Now they're trying to monetize heated seats and connecting my phone. It never ends. I don't need cars as a service. I just need a car.
The joy of seeing car bro gearheads with their LS swaps get humiliated by normies in Teslas wasn't worth it. Take me back.
Yep, that's why I drive a 20 year old truck. Interestingly, I've driven 60k+ miles in this truck (and others like it) and maybe 1-2k in all other vehicles, including those with auto breaking/etc. The only times I've been in incidents where auto breaking was needed was when I had it. No clue why, perhaps something about all the features lulled me into a false sense of security where I took my eyes off the road for much longer than I would in my truck.
Nope, for me using a phone is a much worse experience.
1) Small screen hard to read with ageing eyes from that distance, or to operate touch controls precisely. This alone is a deal breaker, anything that requires more focus or concentration is A safety hazard and a no go.
2) unsightly charging cables hanging around.
3) no backing camera support. Also a safety hazard.
4) no handsfree support i.e control volume, skip songs without looking or lifting hands from the steering wheel
> 3) no backing camera support. Also a safety hazard.
You wouldn't even want the phone to show the backup camera; you said it's too small for your eyes. The car has to be able to show the backup camera in the console anyway.
> 4) no handsfree support i.e control volume, skip songs without looking or lifting hands from the steering wheel
I have disabled bluetooth in my cars because it's a worse experience than wired CarPlay, but if I had to, I could just go back to it and my cars support controlling the music from the physical car controls (including the ones on the steering wheel), just like when it's connected by CarPlay. This has worked for ~15 years at least.
> Small screen hard to read with ageing eyes from that distance, or to operate touch controls precisely. This alone is a deal breaker, anything that requires more focus or concentration is A safety hazard and a no go.
I could see this being an issue for some eyes. For me though the phone's touch screen is actually far easier to operate due to its location next to the steering wheel/driver's side support column. Rather than hovering my hand in the air at full reach to interact with a central unit, I keep my hand braced against either the wheel or the handle on the column and have full support when interacting with the phone.
> unsightly charging cables hanging around.
Guilty as charged. I did wire the cable to my wireless charger behind the trim in an appealing way, but my new phone doesn't even support wireless charging so I have a dangling wire now.
> no backing camera support.
My vehicle doesn't have a camera, but I've never really needed it. It comes from the time when the rear windows were large enough to clearly see everything going on out the back. This is before regulations shifted to make the rear columns massive, block all your visibility, and force you to use the camera rather than your own sense and intuition. If I had a tiny child I might reconsider.
> no handsfree support i.e control volume, skip songs without looking or lifting hands from the steering wheel
I installed a device (USA Spec BT45-TOY) that allows my phone's bluetooth to connect to the stock head unit with full support for steering wheel controls. All the magic of bluetooth with 0 LCD screens shining at me (so long as my phone screen is off).
For long trios that's what I do. I wear headphones to listen to music and audio books so I don't disturb my family. There's no way to tell Android Auto to only use my headphones, despite it being asked.
I’m rocking a 4.7” screen but still have no problems with size. I prefer a small screen with just the critical information right in my prime field of view versus a large screen with a bunch of junk on it that I have to turn my head to look at.
I suppose it’s fine if you don’t mind the voice control. I hate it so I prefer to not text and just drive. When conditions permit I dedicate my full focus to the phone/messaging.
