Do you know what I dislike most about using systems like Android Auto and Apple CarPlay? That these systems almost never work without a wire in a car. As a result, you buy yourself a car with a good audio system, the possibility of keyless entry and a beautiful interior, and as a result you get confused in these ugly wires, which must either be rolled up and removed every time, or left lying in the cabin. Both options are so-so, which is why I used these systems about two or three times in a year. Once to play around, and once or twice to give the system a second chance. With the release of the new Android 11, everything should change. If this does happen, then we can only thank Google, but for now, just wait.
Android Auto is nice and useful
New feature Android 11
When Android 11 comes out next month, the number of wireless devices Android Auto will increase to … all. Yes exactly. All devices that can potentially connect like this will begin to do so.
According to Google's recently updated FAQ page, all devices on Android 11 will support wireless Android Auto.
However, there is one small clarification, which, however, should not somehow greatly affect the result. It is important to keep in mind that the phone must support 5 GHz Wi-Fi. Considering that even inexpensive models got them several years ago, this should hardly be a significant problem. As a result, this will be virtually every phone released in the past few years. Especially considering that Android 11 simply won't install on very old devices.
There is also a second, slightly less pleasant moment. In addition to the fact that your smartphone should work with Android Auto, the acoustic system of your car should also have this capability. Here it will be a little more difficult.
Currently, only a few manufacturers can make car head units that support wireless connectivity via Android Auto. First of all, these include Pioneer and JVC Kenwood. You can consider this a minus and say “everything is clear, we disagree”, but not everything is so simple.
When a car has Android Auto, it almost turns into a smartphone.
You yourself understand that manufacturers are lazy and careful. They will not do anything just like that, if it is not in demand so much that, according to the law of large numbers, it will bring them at least some amount of money. Now, remember that on the phone side, wireless connectivity was limited to almost a few devices. Now the picture will change, and this suggests that music system manufacturers will also catch up so as not to lose customers. It is even possible that some models can be simply updated by software to get this opportunity.
If we talk about car manufacturers and their standard head units (possibly in some trim levels), then some have already announced that they will work in this direction and will make support Android Auto a basic function. Among such manufacturers one can name Ford and BMW, which, by all appearances, are generally “for any movement”.
Initially Android Auto was launched back in 2018. The beginning of the work of such a function was told at the Google I / O developers conference. The introduction of wireless Android Auto is quite slow so far. Most likely because it requires a lot of hardware changes. To make it work properly. But most of all questions are about software. Manufacturers clearly do not want to release a raw product quickly and do not want to spend a lot of time and money on development for the sake of “two and a half users”
The presence of 5GHz Wi-Fi in our time is not a problem at all and only smart home gadgets of some kind stubbornly refuse to build it in (even expensive ones and those that are powered from an outlet). Such Wi-Fi is needed because Bluetooth simply cannot provide the bandwidth that is needed for Android Auto to work. Otherwise, things could have been a little easier.
Whoever used it wants to do it again, but the wire spoils everything.
Disadvantages of Wireless Android Auto
There is a fly in the ointment in the honey barrel, which we are talking about now. A significant disadvantage of using wireless Android Auto is that the phone will sit down while driving. At the same time, faster than he would have done it while in standby mode. Of course, some cars have built-in wireless charging and you can completely avoid wires using it, but the fact remains – the phone sits down. Android Auto is demanding on energy and you can get into trouble. Especially if you have a Google Pixel 4.
All the same, even taking into account all the “but”, the news is good and the appearance of another useful function for Android, all the more so important, is always nice. Now you can tell us in our Telegram chat what you think about it.