Those who in these days go to the dealer to buy a new car, will find, especially on the most recent models, they will find the option to have a car radio system with touchscreen like a tablet, with applications and the possibility to connect the mobile phone . Today's smartphones can be synchronized with our entertainment system to browse applications, receive calls, listen to music, use the satellite navigator and much more.
As for the smartphone world, the market sector of modern computerized car radio systems is also dominated by two main models: Apple CarPlay and Android Auto .
It therefore becomes interesting to find out which of the two systems is better and why choose CarPlay instead of Android Auto or vice versa (if it is possible to choose).
First of all, let's talk about the availability of the two systems .
Apple's CarPlay was released in 2014, a year before Android Auto.
While initially they were available for different models and brands of cars depending on the partnership and the agreements between Apple and Google with the automakers, today both systems are available for almost every model, although, always based on specific commercial agreements, it may be that one is proposed rather than another.
To date, almost all cars released in 2016 and subsequent years can mount both CarPlay and Android Auto.
Just to name a few, an "In-car entertainment" system can be installed on cars Audi, Citroen, Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Mercedes, Mitsubishi, Opel, Peugeot, Fiat, Volkswagen and many others.
To get a list of the cars that fit or are compatible with the installation of one system or another, you can look at the page of the official site of Apple CarPlay and that of Android Auto.
If there is a possibility to choose which of the two systems to mount (this choice in many cases cannot be done and depends on the manufacturer or the dealer), the main discriminant is the type of smartphone that is used .
This is because CarPlay works only with iPhone while Android Auto only works with an Android smartphone, whatever brand it is, Samsung, Huawei, Motorola etc.
As for old cars or incompatible models, there is still the possibility to use Android Auto.
Google, in fact, allows you to use Android Auto as a phone app which, positioned on the dashboard, works in the same way as an integrated system.
In practice, it means that you can download the application, insert the phone in a dashboard mount, connect the phone to the stereo system via Bluetooth (and even if there were not you can buy a bluetooth support for a few tens of Euros) and use the application in the same way as if it were an in-car system.
The application starts automatically when it detects the Bluetooth connection in the car and the screen changes immediately to replicate the in-car version of the system.
We have seen, in another article, how to connect the smartphone in the car .
All this is not possible, however, with Apple's CarPlay which must be integrated into the car.
However, some car radios have recently come out that carry CarPlay on other machines, such as the Pioneer that can be mounted on any car.
The two systems use very different approaches for their user interface .
Android Auto is practically a modified and simplified version of Android on the car radio system screen, with a horizontal navigation bar at the bottom made of 5 buttons.
By default, these buttons are the home button, the one for opening the navigator, the one for making calls, the one for music and the one with applications.
If you install an external app, it can replace one of the main buttons.
The home screen works with Google Now to provide the updated traffic situation, weather and possible routes to get home or to a recent destination.
CarPlay is derived from iOS and it looks like an enlarged and simplified version of the home screen of an iPhone, with square application icons and a home button.
CarPlay is certainly very functional, but much less pleasant to the eye than Android Auto and without those useful real-time updates on traffic and road travel times.
The navigator function is the main one for both systems.
Android Auto relies on Google Maps to give directions and update the user on traffic in real time, always finding the best route.
The Apple CarPlay system, on the other hand, uses Apple Maps, which works well, but is significantly lower than Google Maps, both for giving directions and for detecting traffic.
From 2018 it is also possible to use Google Maps with CarPlay.
The second important function of a system like CarPlay and Android Auto is then the voice control, based on the two voice assistants Apple and Google.
To activate Android Auto you must therefore say " Ok Google " while to use Carplay you must say aloud " Hey Siri ".
You can then speak to the system of the machine to ask to play a song, to call someone, to find indications for a certain place, to read the messages received.
Both systems also allow you to dictate messages using your voice, although even in this Android Auto it is much more flexible, supporting apps such as WhatsApp, Skype and Telegram, in addition to the SMS supported by CarPlay.
As for listening to music, both systems support Spotify, then Android Auto also allows you to integrate with other apps such as Google Play Music, Deezer, TuneIn Radio, Audible and others.
CarPlay instead supports Apple Music and a few other apps.
The main functions of these systems, therefore, are the convenience of being able to access directions quickly and then being able to use the speakerphone with voice commands.
Personally I believe that buying a new car just to have one or the other system in the on-board computer is not worth the effort, also because the various basic functions can be easily obtained even in a normal car radio, as seen above.
If we want to give a preference at the moment, there is no doubt that Android Auto is better than CarPlay, even if both Apple and Google are working hard on improving the two systems, also in collaboration with the car manufacturers.
The main advantage of Android Auto is compatibility with multiple types of smartphones and not with one, the iPhone, such as CarPlay.
