Despite being an**unced just over two years ago, CarPlay is only **w becoming a built-in option in select new 2015 and 2016 vehicles by Chevrolet, Honda, Volkswagen and other car manufacturers. The in-dash system enables drivers to use Siri for hands-free access to Maps, Phone, Messages, Music, Podcasts and third-party apps such as Spotify, Rdio, iHeartRadio and MLB At Bat.
CarPlay touchscreen on dashboard of 2016 Corvette Stingray (Image: WSJ)
With CarPlay starting to become a feature car buyers will be considering, Joanna Stern of The Wall Street Journal has published a timely review of CarPlay after testing the dashboard software inside a 2016 Corvette Stingray on a New York City road trip between midtown Manhattan and Rockaway Beach in Queens. Overall, she offered praise for CarPlay, but **ted the service "isn?t a complete joyride" and Lacks the useful functionality of some Google services.
Stern first **ted a positive experience using Siri to control Apple Music and make requests:
But DJ Siri to the rescue! All week she has accurately taken my requests, playing them via Apple Music (but **t Spotify or any other third-party apps). ?Siri, Play ?Little Red Corvette.? ? ?Siri, play me Madonna?s top songs.? ?Siri, who sings this song?? She does it all?though I wouldn?t object if she were a tad faster.
She also gave high marks to CarPlay's messaging capabilities and Siri's accuracy at transcribing words:
Text-message integration is where CarPlay feels miles ahead of any competition from car makers or even Google. [?] Siri was, surprisingly, better at helping me respond than Google?s built-in voice assistant. Siri accurately transcribed my words nearly every time. (She forgivably struggled a bit when I was driving with the roof down.)
On the contrary, Stern found Apple Maps to be inferior to Google Maps at providing routing based on traffic conditions:
When I got in the car to go to my friend?s baby naming, Apple Maps routed me through midtown Manhattan, showing a blissfully traffic-ig**rant blue line all the way to the destination. Google Maps, however, knew that Park Avenue was closed. It routed me to the FDR Drive, on Manhattan?s east side. Ig**ring Apple, and choosing Google?s route, I got there on time.
The review concluded that Apple's services are "stuck in the slow lane" compared to Google Maps and Google **w:
Siri also struggles when it comes to finding businesses. Sure, she can identify the closest gas stations, and she k**ws mega-retailers like Starbucks and Target. But when I told her to go to my favorite coffee shop in my New Jersey hometown, she found it? in Limerick, Ireland. Google knew what I was talking about right away.
Google **w might have even guessed I wanted to go there, even before I searched. Culling information from your email, calendar and Web searches, Google?s prediction-based assistant swings into action when you plug your Android phone into an Android Auto-equipped car. In addition to displaying core information like weather and reminders, it anticipates your next destination.
Nevertheless, Stern described CarPlay as the future of in-car tech**logy and said that, if she were in the market for a car right **w, she would add Apple's in-car software to her want list. The full-length review is a worthwhile read and provides a side-by-side comparison of CarPlay's maps, messaging, music, voice control and home screen features with Google's rival in-dash system Android Auto.
08-19-2015, 01:20 AM
CarPlay Praised as Wider Rollout Begins, but Lacks Smarts of Google Maps and Google N
CarPlay touchscreen on dashboard of 2016 Corvette Stingray (Image: WSJ) 
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