Apple CarPlay – Review and Test Report
MUSIC
However, in playing music, CarPlay is unparalleled and deserving of the “play” in its name. Siri would play anything I wanted and had no problem understanding my command to play all Cro songs, even though many legacy car systems seem to have trouble with understanding “Cro.”
CarPlay provides excellent support for third-party apps although it needs some improvements to make them actually functional. My favorite, Tune-In, appeared on the car’s home screen without any intervention on my part but refused to play the entire time I had the CTS.
MESSAGING
As a somewhat habitual user of the Messages app and the iMessage service, I was glad to see full support in CarPlay. Incoming message alerts appear as a banner on the central display with the sender’s name. One tap and Siri reads the alert. I quickly realized that I should keep my replies short, as a few that I later reviewed were lacking punctuation and sounded like a section out of Jabberwocky.
When I needed to send a message, one tap on Messages and Siri would ask whom I wished to send one to. She never failed to get my dictated messages right and they actually began to make sense to the recipients.
“Hey Siri!”
“Yes Jonathan?”
“Do you like Apple CarPlay?”
“Well, perhaps I’m biased, but I prefer all things Apple.”
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
