Everything Apple does, is quickly reviewed in tech news. The media world is now aflutter with reviews of Apples' CarPlay infotainment system intergration with iPhone5/5S/5C, coming in 2014 in Mercedes, Ferrari and Volvo. Reviews ranged from glowing, to gloating to groaning.
Chris Davies at SlashGear wrote "CarPlay still feels like a Beta, it's merely a video feed, or overlay." First impressions have been mixed under the title "The CarPlay Compromise."
The Verge noted that in a video of CarPlay on a Volvo the CarPlay apps on the Volvo do not run as fast as they on an iPhone. There is a lag time for the apps to launch. Mesagging is completely reliant on voice control.
In another video, Fortune noticed that order to activate Siri, you hold a long press on the screen or press the steering wheel button.
The National Safety Council found CarPlay for iPhone to be dangerous. "We're very, very concerned about it," said David Teater, senior director at the nonprofit National Safety Council. "
Jonathan Geller at BGR came to defense of Apple's CarPlay calling all present infotainment systems "terribly designed" and "downright horrible". He noted that CarPlay sits on top of present infotainment systems. Apple has been using QNX for iPod integration since the mid-2000S. CarPlay will only work the way the system is designed, if there is no touchscreen it works with the knobs.
In an interview with AUTO Connected car, Michael O'Shea CEO of Ablata Technologies said, "We're in the Connected Car 1.0 phase. Apple's announcement is a step forward and exciting...but it will be expensive." Yup, so far no one has mentioned how expensive it will be connected your iPhone 5/5S/5c to your iPhone.
Molly Wood at the New York Times, wrote that although CarPlay is step in the right direction,"there is absolutely no way I would buy one of these CarPlay add-ons,'' after a bad experience with a BMX X3 with an Apple iPod dock in glove compartment that was not compatible with her iPhone 3G." She pointed out that CarPlay only works with iPhone 5/5s/5c with Lightning connectors. In a few years there may a different kind of connectors.
Popular Mechanics liked the easy of use when plugging in an iOS device, but found knob controls tedious. It noted that "CarPlay will soon become ubiquitous among carmakers.. delivering Apple’s famously slick interface through the familiarity of the vehicle’s nav screen."
CNET's Brian Cooley at the Geneva Auto Show showed that basic Apple iPhone functions. He reported that it remain parallel with Mercedes System. Volvo's CarPlay will use a touchscreen.
AAA will be updating its studies to see if CarPlay helps convenience or is dangerous. An AAA spokesman told MarketWatch "Drivers should not be allowed to use these technologies to read and respond to emails or interact with social media.”
Businessweek noted that Pandora is "conspicuously" missing form Apple's iPhone CarPlay.
Geek reported "Apple has tuned their UI to fit the vehicle experience, and given Siri a few new tricks to help users while they drive."
Several outlets reported that the Ferrari's has a resistive touchscreen required a very hard touch, making it difficult to operate.
Enterpreneur pointed out that CarPlay does not play nice with Google Maps.
Alan Ewing, president of the Connected Car Consortium told ComputerWorld that MirrorLink systems have been doing the same thing as CarPlay for two years. While iHS Automotive analyst, Mark Boyadjis, said, "There's not going to be a single automaker just choosing CarPlay. It's short-sighted to do that."