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They've also doubled down on their refusal to not include Carplay/Android Auto. They're putting something called "SmartDeviceLink" which is yet another MirrorLink 1.1 clone I just do...not...get this. In what alternate reality do they live that would cause them to think "this time will be different"? History has shown time and again that your proprietary special snowflake platform is not going to cause app writers to flock to you when there's something like CarPlay/Android Auto available. I mean, MirrorLink was a pretty good idea, didn't have any real competitors at the time, and it still sold like dog shit sandwiches. Save everyone some time and money, suck it up, swallow your pride, and just put CarPlay/Android Auto on there. Because as I've said elsewhere in this thread, not only will I not buy your proprietary infotainment system, I won't even buy your car. Even I, a long-time geek who will endure a lot of pain to get something working, cringes at the thought of the hoops I'd have to jump through to get "SmartDeviceLink" to an even minimally useful state. My CarPlay head unit also has MirrorLink, and while I was waiting for Pioneer to update the firmware to include CarPlay, I thought I'd give MirrorLink a whirl. First, I apparently needed to go get a special cable. Yeah, fuck that, you exceeded my tolerance for friction in the first sentence of your user manual. CarPlay? Plugged my iPhone in, waited to see what Apple's special version of frictional hell would be and...it just worked. There's your competition, car makers, and if takes more than just plugging my phone in I'm not buying it. |