Topic: Auto Tech: Advanced Smartphone Tech Delivers More Connectivity and Control

[Autos_Editor]

The latest in telematics and communication technologies keep drivers connected to the world around them ' and to their ride.

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[jamesautos]

GM remotelink is rubbish...
the app only works if you have OnStar subscription, too expensive for basic functions such as checking tire pressure lock and unlock (but the app is broken)
slow to connect, slow to response, when you want to check error codes or tire pressure you have to "sync" the app with the car and it works 1 out of 5 times and it took 10-15 min in general...same with unlocking, it took 15 min between using the app and the car actually unlock itself with a 20% success rate!
Send to car navigation is via bing map, basically you look for a location in the in-app bing plugin (slow and it wont recognize the address unless you are very very specific) and it send to the car via OnStar which gives you voice prompt...

bottomline is if you have OnStar subscrption, you can simply call in and perform the same function with a fraction of time and you get to talk to a real person who is smarter than this app

[Ex-airbalancer]

"Everyone has a smartphone"

You would be amazed the number of people who do not , or those who do not have a data plan

Even on this forum , I bet there are people who not have a smart phone

[Trainman]

"Everyone has a smartphone"

You would be amazed the number of people who do not , or those who do not have a data plan

Even on this forum , I bet there are people who not have a smart phone

My wife is not a techno gal, what she wants from a phone is something that she uses to call people with, and now a bit more, text.  And our dataplan would be dead in short order if we needed to use it for navigation or any streaming of other information/entertainment.  Not to mention that cell service is spotty or non-existent outside of major highway corridors in BC.

I do use Navfree on my BalckBerry Z30, no data required as the maps are downloaded to the phone.  I also still use my Garmin GPS a fair bit as it has a better/bigger screen than the BB for this kind of use, especially the no-glare part.

[nlm]

Most non-iPhone smartphone nowadays offer offline data for their navigation apps and have a real gps built-in so you don't use your data plan when navigating.

Just to round out the info in the article on the windows platform side Cortana, the equivalent to Siri but with more personality, can be accessed via bluetooth via a dedicated number and thus perform all the same functions (and more) than Siri handsfree.