Android update
- Thread starter semipenguin
- Start date
sadchild
Dude
Copyrighted brand names?!
IdRatherBeSkiing
Sherbert is NOT and NEVER WILL BE ice cream.
If they ever want to show up again on a google search, they didn't complain.
scotchandcigar
All I wanted was some steak
Believe it or not, I actually have good news to share. But first, a little background.
You're probably familiar with Android Auto (Apple has something similar), which sends a driving-mode configuration to your car's infotainment display. It shows Google maps and navigation, plays music, handles phone calls, and reads/ sends texts. The Google navigation alone is superior to the built-in nav in most cars. And while many cars can read texts, they don't allow voice-to-text replies like Android Auto can. And it can run the streaming music apps you have on your phone (ones that aren't built-in to the car).
The problem is that Android Auto integration only works on newer cars. My 2008 is not compatible. Android Auto used to have the ability to run right on my phone screen, but they got rid of that feature about 3 years ago. It was replaced with Google driving mode, which could be enabled through the Google Navigation settings. It basically worked the same as AA. But that went away too, last fall. Since then, if I wanted to launch SXM when I got in the car, I had to start the car and launch the app. There was no way to have it read texts. The voice commands still worked for making calls and sending texts, but it stopped SXM from running.
So now to the good news. I got the Samsung UI 5 update on my Galaxy S21. And they added this to the settings:
It starts SXM, and will read my texts. I'm not sure why it took them so many years to build this into the phone, but it does what I need it to do.
You're probably familiar with Android Auto (Apple has something similar), which sends a driving-mode configuration to your car's infotainment display. It shows Google maps and navigation, plays music, handles phone calls, and reads/ sends texts. The Google navigation alone is superior to the built-in nav in most cars. And while many cars can read texts, they don't allow voice-to-text replies like Android Auto can. And it can run the streaming music apps you have on your phone (ones that aren't built-in to the car).
The problem is that Android Auto integration only works on newer cars. My 2008 is not compatible. Android Auto used to have the ability to run right on my phone screen, but they got rid of that feature about 3 years ago. It was replaced with Google driving mode, which could be enabled through the Google Navigation settings. It basically worked the same as AA. But that went away too, last fall. Since then, if I wanted to launch SXM when I got in the car, I had to start the car and launch the app. There was no way to have it read texts. The voice commands still worked for making calls and sending texts, but it stopped SXM from running.
So now to the good news. I got the Samsung UI 5 update on my Galaxy S21. And they added this to the settings:
It starts SXM, and will read my texts. I'm not sure why it took them so many years to build this into the phone, but it does what I need it to do.
scotchandcigar
All I wanted was some steak
Not really. Android Auto integrates your phone's capabilities onto your car's info/nav display. This new Samsung UI feature only launches an app on the phone itself. Android Auto has it's own GUI which appears on your car's display. At one time (several years ago), that GUI could display right on your phone screen. But then with so many newer cars being capable of running it on the car display, they decided that for legal (liability) reasons, they no longer wanted to support a "car mode" that displayed right on the phone.
However, I have no choice; I can't run Android Auto into my car's info/nav screen. But all this Samsung feature is doing is 2 things:
1) Detecting bluetooth and launching an app (SiriusXM);
2) Reading incoming texts aloud.
But if you combine this with Google commands (OK Google), I can get my phone to do whatever I need.
For comparison, Android Auto looks like this on a car screen
With the new Samsung UI setting, I don't get a customized screen on my phone. I get a brief notification that it detected my bluetooth device, and that it's launching car mode. And then it just starts the SiriusXM app. If I receive a text, I get a notification, and then it reads the text. If I want to reply, I have to use OK Google to do a voice-to-text. I also have to use OK Google to launch navigation, or change channels on SXM, or check the weather, or make a phone call.
My car does have navigation, but it sucks. Even the 2020 Subaru we had was equipped with a useless nav system. None of the bult-in nav systems have speech and place recognition like Google. On my car, I have to spell things one letter at a time, starting with the state, then city, etc. On the Subaru, you first have to give it a category for what kind of place you want to navigate to. And the speech recognition is bad. None of the cars can do speech-to-text.
scotchandcigar
All I wanted was some steak
The Samsung UI 5 update got pushed through about 2 weeks ago for me. So maybe you'll get it soon?
kingchuck69
Joker! Joker! Joker!
I got mine a few days ago.
IdRatherBeSkiing
Sherbert is NOT and NEVER WILL BE ice cream.
I assume everybody staggers their updates so everybody doesn't hit the download server at once. I know Apple does with their iOS updates.
Kryptonite
Well-Known Member
I just stumbled upon this thread.
Every time I see mentions of early versions of Android, I go back to Ice Cream Sandwich and how monumental that update was. I believe it was Honeycomb that was only for tablets and then ICS synched everything. I don't believe Eclaire even existed for tablets.
It's also kind of crazy to realize the stuff that probably could have been done back then but wasn't. We probably could have had video calling way before we did.
Every time I see mentions of early versions of Android, I go back to Ice Cream Sandwich and how monumental that update was. I believe it was Honeycomb that was only for tablets and then ICS synched everything. I don't believe Eclaire even existed for tablets.
It's also kind of crazy to realize the stuff that probably could have been done back then but wasn't. We probably could have had video calling way before we did.