Android Auto’s upcoming UI redesign is just looking more and more like Apple CarPlay
Android Autohas seen its fair share of redesigns since its initial launch in 2015. Another potential revision lingering on the horizon will incorporate some fresh and useful features, improving the overall experience while helping you stay focused on the road. It’s been a couple of months sincewe got our first look at the future of Android Auto, but a new leak is giving us some more information on how it’ll look.
Thanks to reports fromAndroidWorldandReddit user u/RegionRat91(viaMishaal Rahman), we’re getting an in-depth look at “coolwalk,” a new UI for Auto users meant to compete directly with Apple CarPlay on iOS. These leaks are also filling us in on what’s to come for the platform as a whole, including improved notification management and a screen mirroring app.
The redesigned navigation screen is the same one spotted last year, combining oval buttons and rounded corners taken from Material You with a new layout that keeps navigation and media playback on display at the same time. In many ways, this is alsoverysimilar to Apple CarPlay’s dash view — the icon in the lower-left takes you to your app drawer, and it also has a very similar distribution. It’s clear Google is grabbing cues from its competitor here while also maintaining the essence of what makes Android Auto great. Meanwhile, notifications now sport larger buttons, so you’re able to easily reject or respond to phone calls or texts.
The original poster on Reddit mentioned that he got the new “coolwalk” interface complete with a rooted phone, editing the phenotype.db file and enabling those respective coolwalk and cakewalk flags. If you’re not comfortable doing this, though, you should wait until the new UI lands for everyone. The overall experience sounds pretty unfinished, and waiting will let you avoid some nasty bugs when you’re driving down the open road.
We also got our first glimpse of Android Auto’s new screen mirroring feature, which seems to have plenty of potential. It covers the redesigned navigation screen completely, so we don’t recommend streaming videos to your dashboard while you’re driving, though there are some scenarios where it could be genuinely useful. They note it doesn’t work with Netflix or, presumably, any other content with DRM. Don’t plan on camping out in your car at night with a built-in TV for streaming your favorite shows and movies.
We’re not sure when this new version of Android Auto will roll out to the masses. While there are clearly some bugs to be sorted out here, with Google I/O likely happening in just a few short months, this version could be ready for primetime before you know it.
The note-taking app I should have used all along
Broader branding hints at wider paid-tier ambitions
A great choice for those looking for value
Keep privacy a priority with the best VPNs
Check your order status!
Not yet, anyway
