Autoblog tests Android Auto in the 2016 Hyundai Sonata for the 2016 Autoblog Technology of the Year award.
Transcript[MUSIC PLAYING]
ADAM MORATH: Hi. I'm Adam Morath, and we are up north testing the 2016 Technology of the Year finalists for "Autoblog."
PETE BIGELOW: Hi, everybody. I'm Pete Bigelow from "Autoblog" here with you today testing various cars for our Technology of the Year award, and today we're with the 2016 Hyundai Sonata testing Google Android Auto. It basically takes the Android out of your phone and puts it on your infotainment screen in your vehicle.
ADAM MORATH: Android Auto's going to require Android 5.0 or higher. That's Lollipop for the nerds out there. And it's essentially going to mirror some of the functionality from your phone in the nav screen of the car. Let's check it out.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
All right, so I have a Nexus 6 here. It runs on Android. So I'm going to plug it in, and that will enable me to access Android Auto here from the screen. So you just tap this button. I really like that, very simple. Of course, you're not wireless, which is a bit of a pain, but the benefit of that is that there's no clunky pairing settings that you have to deal with or menus you have to go through. You just plug it in, tap Android Auto on the screen, and you're ready to go.
One of the most vital functions in your car is navigation. Press this little traffic sign down there. We're up here in Petoskey, but we want to head back home to Detroit, so let's see how this works. Navigate to Detroit, Michigan.
- Navigating to Detroit.
ADAM MORATH: And there you go. So the voice prompts work really well. Of course, you can turn the navigation up and down. I mean, again, what I really like about this is it's fully integrated with Google Maps.
PETE BIGELOW: As an Apple user, it wasn't particularly intuitive to me. But on the flip side, I thought that it took me relatively little time to learn how to use it. I thought it was relatively intuitive, especially for someone who has an Android device already.
Really thought that the voice activation was one of the better voice-activation systems I've seen in a car. Picked up most of what I said, not all the time, but delivered directions, delivered songs I wanted to hear. Let's show you how that works.
ADAM MORATH: OK, Google, play Modest Mouse.
- Play music.
ADAM MORATH: Cool. Now let's get into phone functionalities. You can check your voicemail. You can dial a number, check your missed calls, your call history, and that about sums it up. I think that gives you a good idea of the functionality that Android Auto adds to your car.
I do wish that the system-- that you didn't have to plug directly in and that it could run over Bluetooth, but Android's no further behind than anyone else. For Apple CarPlay, you also have to plug directly in.
But I think what is really cool and the real potential here is that we're all pretty much pro users on our phones now. We're used to the interface. We know how to operate them really well. But a lot of people don't really know how to make the best use of the infotainment in their car, and this kind of changes that by using the same interface from your phone on your car.
PETE BIGELOW: You know, one of my fears with this isn't necessarily with how it works in the car but lots of questions about what sort of information Google is collecting from my phone from my car, some privacy concerns that go along with using a system like this. Right now, there's more questions than there are answers.
ADAM MORATH: For "Autoblog," I'm Adam Morath.
PETE BIGELOW: For "Autoblog," I'm Pete Bigelow. Thanks for watching.
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