Google is updating Android Auto to fit all screen sizes!

[g00fy]

I also get very excited about this every time I see something pop up, thinking perhaps Ram has gotten off their rear to launch this. The finger-pointing is exceptionally annoying.

The finger pointing is the worst... And idk how ram can point the finger at anyone but their own software partner uconnect.

Google did their part and released the update this thread was created about to allow scaling for every screen size almost 2 years ago, they can't point the finger at Google anymore.

 

[2019_Ram]

It would be real nice if Ram would support full screen Android Auto on their flagship trucks with the 12" screen. I'm my experience Android Auto hides many of the shortcomings and bugs in Uconnect. I mean after all, they do have plenty of time to introduce useless features like games and geocaching...

 

[g00fy]

I've been reading on some of the 1500 & TRX forums that some guys have had luck using AI boxes that I guess spoof a car play signal to the Uconnect, but then display Android Auto.

I have yet to see any pics to back up this claim.

 

[daemonic3]

I've been reading on some of the 1500 & TRX forums that some guys have had luck using AI boxes that I guess spoof a car play signal to the Uconnect, but then display Android Auto.

I have yet to see any pics to back up this claim.

I would absolutely be interested in this. I am letting my nav trial expire so I'll only have the half screen android auto available. But I gotta admit the built in nav is nice with the huge map (just like carplay), it just sucks at real time traffic. If one of the ottocast or other devices can simply spoof android auto to carplay I'd try it out for less than $100

 

[g00fy]

Supposedly a TRX owner in Dubai used this box to get full screen AA.

Carlinkit Tbox Max Android 13.0 Wireless Carplay Multimedia Video Box

✅The Ultimate 3-in-1 Wireless Carplay Android Auto AI Box. Carlinkit Tbox Led also known as Carlinkit Tbox Max. It can help you seamlessly switch between CarPlay, Android Auto, and Android system functionality. Experience wireless connectivity and access your favorite apps, navigation, and media...

carlinkitcarplay.com

 

[2019_Ram]

@g00fy I've seen those too. They actually initiate an Apple Car play connection to Uconnect, then play Android Auto in that wrapper. Since Uconnect 5 supports full screen Car play, you get an emulated full screen Android Auto experience, mostly.

I'm not sure how secure these devices are, as they all are from companies overseas... Here are the two I've seen referenced. The first is more basic but I've seen many people talk about audio issues with it. The second I haven't seen to much about, but appears to give you a more standard android experience where apps can be downloaded and run similar to your smartphone. This one raises more security concerns for me as you would likely have to log into get all the features.

Carlinkit 4.0 - https://carlinkitcarplay.com/products/carlinkit-wireless-adapter-for-factory-carplay

Carlinkit Tbox max - https://carlinkitcarplay.com/produc...id-13-0-wireless-carplay-multimedia-video-box

 

[daemonic3]

Hello all, so I bit the bullet and will test out 2 devices, and send back the one that doesn't work or works "less good" (perhaps laggy, or some other quality). Both are under $70.

First one is the Carlinkit 4.0. It needs to be the 4.0 because the 5.0 will only do wired carplay to wireless, or wired AA to wireless. The 5.0 will not do wired carplay to wireless AA, so we have to use this older model. This device is ONLY Carplay or AA, it does not have a separate Android option, meaning it is a "2 in 1" solution. I don't really care about the whole separate Android OS as I won't be using it to stream videos while parked or whatever.

Second one is this thing (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0D91NLXN8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1). This one is a "4 in 1" solution, meaning it also has an Android OS (version 11 only but I don't care) and I believe it can mirror an iphone screen, which I also don't care about. The key is that it still is ONLY wired Carplay as the connection. Most of the modern 2024 quad-core versions of these things will do native wired AA which we don't want for our Rams because we already have a nerfed half-screen version of it. This one has a Qualcomm quad-core CPU which I hope will be better than the Allwinner CPUs that the other ones were using (like the Play2Video versions).

Of all the online images and reviews of these devices I have never seen one show a portrait mode layout like our Rams. So I have no idea how this will go. Maybe it will still only give half a screen, not sure. My phone has latest AA with coolwalk I know for a fact because it worked with tiles on large screens on 2 different Fords we had (Mach E 17" portrait and F150 14" landscape).

 

[daemonic3]

Well, this is interesting. I am not an apple owner so I don't know how full screen carplay *should* work, but I feel like it should be easy...

The carlinkit 4.0 arrived today. Super easy setup, it shows up in the phone list as a carplay device. Connected as carplay, it displays a full (portrait mode) screen that gives the Bluetooth name for the phone to connect to. Connected phone and voila! Android auto but.... (see pic1)

It appears as a new home screen, but my in the top half, and worst of all, my android auto is y-axis stretched to tall aspect, but screen only shows top half. It started in maps and I cannot pan down to the android auto buttons to try other apps, tile, or anything. I tried touching the screen in the "phantom" area where the buttons should appear and it interacts with uconnect instead.
So I thought, ok, I just need to add a new home screen in uconnect, but choose full screen carplay as I could swear I've seen a video where someone did that. But... (see pic2)
There is no option for a new homescreen with full tall carplay. I'm thinking maybe the version embedded in the carlinkit is an older carplay that doesn't understand portrait aspects?? IPhone users, does your Ram automatically give a full carplay screen option?

This one is going back in the box. I'll report on the other device tomorrow when it arrives.

 

[Shawn686]

Did you have your phone forget your uconnect connection as someone else said before? It looks like it is full screen as the location pin is cut off, but something is telling uconnect to run in AA mode. IF that makes sense, just a guess based off the pic. I really hope you can get this to work as I use android

Shawn

 

[2019_Ram]

Here is a view of a 2022 with Uconnect 5 and an iPhone attached. It easily loaded as soon as I disconnected my android phone.

 

[daemonic3]

It is definitely in Carplay mode, as indicated in the icons across the bottom. This Carlinkit is barely configurable using an app called Autokitools (3rd pic). I tried forcing a portrait mode aspect but it only has landscapes and auto. I did try every ratio. All of them want to stretch the y-axis pixels, yet still only display half of them, if that makes sense. What's even stranger? Say I use 1280x720 (1st pic). Even though the map and UI displayed over the bottom half of the screen, the touches still registered as Uconnect touches. It thought I was touching a widget any time I touched the bottom half of the screen.

Side note, the very first initial setup screen (where it gives the Bluetooth name to connect to) is the only full portrait screen using carplay with full coverage and no stretched pixels (2nd Pic, Auto resolution). All the other forced ratios messed that screen up as well. But on "Auto" it fills it perfectly as a full screen carplay device. All they needed to do was keep that resolution the whole time after AA connects

 

[daemonic3]

Here is a view of a 2022 with Uconnect 5 and an iPhone attached. It easily loaded as soon as I disconnected my android phone.

View attachment 75359

Since I don't have an iphone to test with, if you try to add another home screen, can you show the layout options? I'm wondering if you have 1 that is full height as an option, or that is the "default" carplay one, so the only extra options they give you are half screen options (like the attachment I showed).

 

[jsalbre]

When I had a Home Screen that had half screen CarPlay on it it caused the full screen CarPlay to rarely function correctly. Deleting any half screen CarPlay pages fixed it. Might work for you.

 

[g00fy]

It is definitely in Carplay mode, as indicated in the icons across the bottom. This Carlinkit is barely configurable using an app called Autokitools (3rd pic). I tried forcing a portrait mode aspect but it only has landscapes and auto. I did try every ratio. All of them want to stretch the y-axis pixels, yet still only display half of them, if that makes sense. What's even stranger? Say I use 1280x720 (1st pic). Even though the map and UI displayed over the bottom half of the screen, the touches still registered as Uconnect touches. It thought I was touching a widget any time I touched the bottom half of the screen.

Side note, the very first initial setup screen (where it gives the Bluetooth name to connect to) is the only full portrait screen using carplay with full coverage and no stretched pixels (2nd Pic, Auto resolution). All the other forced ratios messed that screen up as well. But on "Auto" it fills it perfectly as a full screen carplay device. All they needed to do was keep that resolution the whole time after AA connects

This is encouraging, hopefully the right china box will do what we're hoping it'll do.

 

[UglyViking]

@RamCares Friendly ping that people are spending money on different ways to try and do what Ram just can't find the time for. Can you tell us if this is on the roadmap, if so a rough timeline, or even if it's just not going to happen. The main benefit to the 12" screen is having the large screen, and some owners like myself have hard requirements to use android for personal or business reasons which means we get a second class experience.

 

[daemonic3]

So far, not looking good for the 2nd AI box... I'll look for display settings but it's doing an OTA update currently. The bottom half of the screen is unused, not full screen carplay at first boot

 

[daemonic3]

Update time... Encouraging! Including some pics. The layout is the exact portrait mode layout used in our Mach E. You get maps full screen, or square map plus 2 mini tiles, or split apps. Maps is always the top portion.

Here's the WEIRD part and step by step thus far. At first, it used top half only, and touch coordinates worked correctly (meaning it registered a touch exactly at my finger). I couldn't figure out any display settings so I was ready to give up then decided to join my wifi and look for updates. It found an entire OTA update and I installed it.

After the OTA update, it still displayed only landscape on the top half. But the touch coordinates used the entire screen. Basically the Y axis physical location was twice that of where the touch was registered in the software. This was even worse than the first bootup. I learned to touch in the right places to poke around but still couldn't find any useful settings. Then the Ram turned off because I spent too long in accessory mode.

The whole truck had to start again, then it found the carplay box and switched to it first and some text in green said "restart to display calibration" but no buttons to press or anything. After rebooting IT WAS FULL SCREEN AND TOUCHES REGISTERED CORRECTLY. I'm IN, boys

CAUTION: Google maps seemed to be unresponsive. I couldn't touch, pinch, pan, search, nothing. Every other app I tested (Audible, Sirius, YT Music) seemed fine. I tested RV Life that has full screen nav and that WORKED. On my phone if I tried to open Google maps it said "phone too hot to open maps" so I really really hope that's why it didn't work. Will test again later...

 

[UglyViking]

Not gonna lie, if this thing works I'm gonna be even more pissed that Ram hasn't spent the 1 SWE week time to get this working.

You mention that maps is always the top portion, is that correct even after the OTA? It would be great to have a split screen for say on-x on top and spotify on bottom. Is it just any "mapping" app or specific ones or only google maps?

 

[Shawn686]

Thanks for the update, and taking the time and money to test this.

Any chance you have the on x offroad app? If you can get that one full screen I am definitely buying this.

Thanks

Shawn

 

[daemonic3]

Hi team, I have never heard of On x before. Right now I'm struggling with google maps. I tested the adapter as carplay and wireless AA to it on our Mach E (portrait mode) and Google maps works correctly. You DO lose pinch zoom/twist, but you can use the +/- buttons to zoom and pan with one finger. That's in the Mach E as a carplay interposer (pics attached).

I tested again in my Ram, the device rebooted twice (3 boots total) to "restart to screen calibration". The 3rd time it was all correct again. That's going to be annoying eventually. Anyway, Google maps still doesn't respond on the screen. I can pull up a search and nav on the phone and the nav shows on screen but no touches work. I will test Waze next. I think the top half is always a nav app, not any random app. At least that's how our mach E works...

First 2 pics are the Mach E using the AI box and Google maps working properly. 3rd pic is the Ram where I can't interact with the map