New Car Infotainment System

#1

Unusual question. Just bought new car without ever using a dashboard display infotainment system. Decided at dealership didn’t want any monthly fees related to system connection. No Sirius. I also have never connected my Phonak power aides to CarPlay via Apple or other android connection.

So how deep do I want to get into question? I currently have a iPhone 7 Plus which I’ve found out will not work with new car display system. I need to have a phone with IOS 13 or above. Or shall we just say my current phone does not have IOS 13.

So here are following questions

Should I replace my current phone which is working perfectly fine with a more expensive iPhone so I have connection with car display system?

I don’t want to pay monthly system fee for any display navigation system, but hope I can use system driving map for free. For any car experts out there I just bought a Camry XSE that has
hands free phone capability and music streaming via BT wireless technology. Wireless Apple CarPlay, S.

At my age I don’t want to stare at small iPhone screen trying to determine where I am, especially while driving. I also from a hearing standpoint am not sure I want to try to connect aids with Blue Tooth car connection or CarPlay. My hearing loss is severe and not sure if quality of connection is worth programming aids. We are not taking a mild to mid range loss here.

There are a lot of drivers over 65 with normal hearing that don’t want anything to do with vehicle dash display screen. Maybe even younger drivers? I’m not in that category. But I’m certainly not going to use while driving and not sure if I want to spend say $600 plus on a new iPhone when my iPhone 7 Plus is working fine. If by chance I’m forced to pay monthly fee for system navigation system I’ll probably pass on whole matter.

Seriously something is wrong when you buy a new car, truck, EV, etc. and infotainment system manual is almost same size as the vehicle general operation manual.

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#2

My 2016 BMW has a pretty basic infotainment system, which doesn’t include Apply Carplay or its Android equivalent I’ve kept the connections minimal. I have a USB dongle with all my music on it (no need for phone). The basic Satnav is adequate, but usable, with no cost. I’ve connected the phone to the system for calls, so I can choose whether to take calls on the car system, or direct to the hearing aids. Finally I bought a “Brodit Dashboard Mount” for the phone. These mounts cause no damage, as they fit in seams, and hold the phone extremely well. The screensize is about the same size as the infotainment screen, and I use a free SatNav programme on it.
Peter

#3

I have a 2019 Jeep Grand Cherokee and we love the entertainment center and the navigation package. My wife and I both have android phones. I wear Oticon Real1 aids which are paired to my phone. But I don’t have my phone paired to the Jeep’s entertainment center because it doesn’t play nice with my aids. My wife doesn’t wear aids and has her phone paired to the entertainment center for phone calls and text messages. I set my phone to do not disturb while driving. I can hear the sound system in the jeep just fine. We tow a RV and travel and enjoy having the entertainment system and the fact it doesn’t matter where we are at we can listen to our favorite channel. It isn’t like the old days when we had to continuely scan for a channel we wanted to listen to.

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#4

My experience with CarPlay has been short but very frustrating. We rented a car for almost a week on a trip a year ago. The system wants to grab and “display” your phone both visually and audibly. I had a hard time with the sound side of this. I wasn’t able to come to a peaceful solution. Our solution was to use my wife’s phone for the nav app. I couldn’t find a way to coax the phone to do audio through the HA BT.

My sense is that these systems sink audio, they won’t source it. Meaning they will play music off your phone or other device, but they won’t send the radio output to your HAs. I may be wrong, as I only struggled with it for about a week.

WH

#5

I have CarPlay in all of my cars. It’s simply amazing. Works every time. It uses your phone for navigation. Forget the factory navigation you don’t need it. Maps and direction are great, and you can pick from Apple or Google maps. Plus it plays music through your phone from any of the music services.

You need a new iPhone. Your iPhone is so old it doesn’t get any of the new frequencies that have been widely deployed it the last few years. You’ll have better signal and in more places.

Connect Apple CarPlay then on your iPhone pull down from the top right corner tap the icon in the top right of the box and select your hearing aids. Now all the CarPlay audio routers to your ears.

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#6

I have a 2014 Avalon with the sound system. It connects with my wife’s iPhone and my Samsung A52 android phone and my Phonak hearing aids. Don’t understand why you would need a an Apple phone. We had Sirius but did not use it enough to warrant having it so it was cancelled. However, even 10 years on, it sounds really nice.

Correction/Clarification The hearing aids do not connect to the auto sound system. Only the phones or other Bluetooth players or wired players do.

#7

Without an iPhone you don’t have CarPlay. Once you have used it you’ll never go back.

I added a 3rd party CarPlay screen in my Tesla. I can’t drive without it

#8

I am someone that is old school, when i am driving my phone is set to do not disturb.

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#9

I also bought a $40 chinese car display, but use it instead with Android Auto (these things can ofc use both AA and Apple Carplay), picking up Magic Earth (maps) and another free app for music from my Android phone (no track number limits, with albumart). Yes- these things work great, no longer need to regularly pay Peugeot for pricy map updates for their outdated entertainment system. Moreover, Magic Earth will show you when you exceed speed limits and produce audible (and customizable!) alerts.
My Phonaks connect to my phone all day, but as soon as I step into the car that system takes over my phone, including call handling- which is OK with me.

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#10

My display will show an incoming call, but if I click a hearing aid button, the call goes to the hearing aids :grinning:

#11

I have a 2017 Kona Highlander with apple car play. I don’t pay anything to connect to my display.
I connect my iphone to the GPS all the time so I can pick up speed camera placements.
Once my phone has been connected manually through accessibility in my settings for the first time. Phone calls then automatically come through the entertainment system directly to my ears.
It’s a shame that your phone is to old to connect.
Good luck with this conundrum.

#12

The iPhone 7 Plus supports up to IOS 15 software. I had a 22 XSE. Nice car. I never use the vehicles software for maps because they never get updated unless you pay for it. I do use google maps while in the car. If you update your software CarPlay will work fine for you. I wouldn’t be without CarPlay again, particularly the wireless version. iOS - CarPlay - Apple

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#13

No disrespect, but I wouldn’t touch a French car with a barge pole, especially a Pigeot :face_vomiting:

#14

Et pourtant ça roule… My 208 is especially cost-effective when sitting in a traffic jam, which is how I spend most of my time in it, staring at even sadder, far more expensive and oversized cars that are stuck just like me. If I were to spend more on my car I would prioritize a better speaker system… All considerations for a different forum, though…

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#15

I usually use Google maps on my phone and have the turn by turn directions going to my hearing aids. I dont have my phone even paired with my 2016 Toyota Tundra. Any/all music comes from my phone also.

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#16

But that refers to just using your phone on your dashboard, no? In my experience, when using one of these displays (see picture) it totally hijacks all your phone connections.

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