My thoughts on some of the comments...again I'm not being paid by them to say this but this is my honest opinion (I think over the years you all know I'm unashamed to say it how it is lol).
DoN_BLaZe34 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 21, 2018 8:34 am
Man Ilya, you have me really thinking about getting one...
If though I use an iPhone, as I mentioned previously I really want this for the ability to have Google maps and NOT have to use/drain my phone by using the app on it...this sounds like it'll enable me to do so, even if I don't use the CarPlay the module has..
At some point down the line I plan on getting the refreshed Q70...the coolest thing about this investment is you should be able to use it in there as well..
I can't comment on the iPhone/CarPlay bit as I don't have an iPhone, I just know my iPod worked fine in the Apple iTunes app they have.
As for moving to a Q70...I have the same plan (probably get the last model year before the next refresh once they start coming in off leases in like 2022) and I also agree even though they don't necessarily list all of the M or Q years, this should be plug'n'play in all of em as long as you have touch screen navigation.
satown210 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 21, 2018 9:51 pm
Well I got my Grom in and....... I don't like it. I find it very cool but not very useful or efficient. Every app is different on how to get back to the Home screen. Some you hit the menu bar and then back to home. Some you have to touch the bottom of the screen and minimize and then hit a Home key. Others require lots of navigating just to get back to home. Carplay does not work. Grom doesn't offer support for it since it isn't supposed to be there. Spotify keeps crashing giving me weird error messages. Bluetooth audio is very buggy. Sometimes no audio. I downloaded updates and current apps instead of the weird pre-installed ones. But the final kicker for me was the reduction in sound quality. Spotify now has about half the treble and a third of the bass it had when I just USB in with the factory setup.
I see a lot of potential but I don't like the cumbersome nature and how much I have to take my eyes off the road to navigate screens and menus. The sound quality is a deal breaker for me. PLus with the $600 price tag plus now having an additional tether cost it's a no-go for me.
I guess to each their own. IMO, I do remember that issue of some apps having to exit a different way but those were only with the apps that had the "DashlinQ" logo. If I used the 'built-in' Google Play Music, it behaved that way. But after I downloaded the 'official' Google Play Music app off the playstore, it exits (with the back button in the top left corner) just like any other app.
I can't comment on CarPlay and honestly you people should just switch to Android. It's better.
As for sound quality, I 1000% disagree but again, to each his own...but it's subjective. Granted, I didn't try Spotify as I don't have an account, but my Google Play Music, BT Audio and even Internet Radio (via RadioGarden app that I downloaded) is 100% identical to how it is if I stream it via BT directly from my phone. The ONLY thing I don't like is that I can't root the VLine and install Magisk/Viper4Android to have a truly powerful EQ. Audio from WatchESPN and Plex is the same for me as well.
I consider myself an audiophile and have professional music training (8 years of music school + nearly 20 years of singing in the church choir and various other church groups). I have ZERO complaints about the audio provided by the VLine.
armybrat wrote: ↑Sat Dec 22, 2018 8:11 am
satown210 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 21, 2018 9:51 pm
Well I got my Grom in and....... I don't like it. I find it very cool but not very useful or efficient. Every app is different on how to get back to the Home screen. Some you hit the menu bar and then back to home. Some you have to touch the bottom of the screen and minimize and then hit a Home key. Others require lots of navigating just to get back to home. Carplay does not work. Grom doesn't offer support for it since it isn't supposed to be there. Spotify keeps crashing giving me weird error messages. Bluetooth audio is very buggy. Sometimes no audio. I downloaded updates and current apps instead of the weird pre-installed ones. But the final kicker for me was the reduction in sound quality. Spotify now has about half the treble and a third of the bass it had when I just USB in with the factory setup.
I see a lot of potential but I don't like the cumbersome nature and how much I have to take my eyes off the road to navigate screens and menus. The sound quality is a deal breaker for me. PLus with the $600 price tag plus now having an additional tether cost it's a no-go for me.
Interesting...the tethering was a dealbreaker for me...I used to root my phone and turn the tethering on without going through Verizon, but now I am running a stock OS. That's why I was interested in the other Grom VLite phone mirroring unit. I don't think you have to have tethering since you're just mirroring your phone. You do need the Chromecast dongle to make it happen though, but it's just $35 extra.
Yeah, that's what I did (root + unlocked tethering). I can see that as being an issue vs $30/mo or $35 one time for Chromecast. I hear ya on that.
satown210 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 22, 2018 8:34 am
Mirroring personally doesn't interest me. Literally just duplicates whatever is on your phone is on your dash. You still have to control it through the phone.
If the Vline was somewhere around $300 or less I'd keep it and use it on occasion. But for $600 and it being kinda complicated, no thanks. I find Apple and iOS boring but it is standardized. I guess that what irks me about the android experience. You have the android OS, then whatever skin that lay on top of it. Then you have the apps that all choose how they want to operate in Android.
I noticed with the Grom when trying to tweak it to sound better or adjust settings to get it to work better; sometimes hitting Settings would take me to the OS settings, sometimes it would take me to the app's settings. Sometimes it was a different setting page for what I assume is the software they running to host all the apps. Very inconsistent. If I was in a Google app (Youtube or Maps) I had a circle to the left to pretty easily return to the home screen. Spotify meant I had to click on the screen to get it it to it's default fullscreen, then hit the bottom to move a menu, then click to the left, then click a home. That's a lot of taking my eyes off the road to try and get to a map. You can press the Back button on the dash to move back screens which I found helpful but found sometimes it would take me back to a home screen and sometimes it wouldn't.
It doesn't help that in our cars the screen is a reach. I usually just use the scrollwheel on the dash instead of leaning forward to reach the screen. In cars like the Lexus IS with a much smaller dash and setup, the screen is right in front of the shifter and easier to reach.
As I mentioned above, it sounds like you're using the 'default' spotify app. Did you try downloading the one from the Playstore? It should have the same circle in the top left to go home. I saw the exact same thing with their GPM app and the Play store GPM app.
I do agree that the screen is too far back...but that's what we get for trying to 'retrofit' modern tech into a car that wasn't designed to be used that way. Infiniti never thought someone would do this lol.