Sat Nav / Android Auto =awesome!

[whiteswan]

Hi

We went in January and had a Hyundai Santa Fe from Alamo - only booked cheapest suv but once again there was so many different types of car in the row that nobody seemed to bother - same every year :-)

Anyway the Santa Fe did not have a sat nav - BUT it did have an Android Auto widget on the car display screen - my phone has Android Auto on it (I also have mobile data out there as I am on the 3 network and its free to use calls/data over there) - so I plugged my phone into the car (just used the usb charging lead) - and voila - instant sat nav on the large screen in the hire car.

It was 99 percent better than any sat nav I have used previously and it was all voice driven (powered by google) - all you say is "Google - Navigate to... " - and it not only takes you but also tells you the opening/closing times and informs you of any traffic delays in real time.

It even reads out any text messages you receive whilst driving - not only that but you can reply to the text messages whilst driving by just speaking a reply to the car !

Best part was - it's all free (apart from data charges - but if your on 3 network with the sim that works in usa - then this is free as well)

If you don't have android auto on your phone download from play store.

Hope this helps somebody :-)

Dave

[ARAR]

Originally Posted by whiteswan

Hi

We went in January and had a Hyundai Santa Fe from Alamo - only booked cheapest suv but once again there was so many different types of car in the row that nobody seemed to bother - same every year :-)

Anyway the Santa Fe did not have a sat nav - BUT it did have an Android Auto widget on the car display screen - my phone has Android Auto on it (I also have mobile data out there as I am on the 3 network and its free to use calls/data over there) - so I plugged my phone into the car (just used the usb charging lead) - and voila - instant sat nav on the large screen in the hire car.

It was 99 percent better than any sat nav I have used previously and it was all voice driven (powered by google) - all you say is "Google - Navigate to... " - and it not only takes you but also tells you the opening/closing times and informs you of any traffic delays in real time.

It even reads out any text messages you receive whilst driving - not only that but you can reply to the text messages whilst driving by just speaking a reply to the car !

Best part was - it's all free (apart from data charges - but if your on 3 network with the sim that works in usa - then this is free as well)

If you don't have android auto on your phone download from play store.

Hope this helps somebody :-)

Dave

See more...

Thank you Dave.

That's very useful.

I was looking out for a cost effective sim card to use for my next Florida trip, so that's helpful to know.

Out of interest, how good or bad was the general mobile signal during your trip?

[djy]

I had no problem with 3 on a drive from Atlanta to the 192. Used Waze for directions and had a good signal all the way. Even let me know about a police presence up ahead. Sure enough a patrol car using a speed radar . Also no problems in the Kissimmee area.
Whiteswam will download that app for my next trip cheers

[whiteswan]

Hi

To be honest my 3 sim never missed a beat whilst out there for the whole 7 weeks.

I even connected the android auto when I didn't need the sat nav as it would advise of any traffic congestion ahead.

My son had POKEMON GO on my phone endlessly - and my photos backed up to google photos immediately - all using 3 data.

I didn't try to stream any Netflix or anything - but for everyday use it was brilliant !

Dave

[RickT]

I use AA here and its great -

For Florida - Im on Vodafone (no international discount plan) and downloaded the google offline maps - even through the offline maps work via AA, it does not allow for navigation of new POI's or addresses without an network connection so useless - however the Tahoe had factory sat nav...

The car also had an active 4g trail which i enabled so i was able to connect my phone to the hotspot for data and still use AA, google maps, Amazon music etc..

[FloridaDave]

I just asked you if you used this on the other thread then saw you’d written a post about it.

I’ll be using Apple Car Play if we end up with a Santa Fe but they have that too (and I’m on Three also).

Cheers

Dave

[fredflintstone]

My AVIS Hyundai intermediate also had it last April but my old android phone did not support it

[RobertWestwood]

I've got it on my car at home and it is very good. However on mine at least, you need a decent cable to connect the phone to the car, it just wouldn't work with a cheaper cable, so bear that in mind if planning to use it

[FloridaDave]

Originally Posted by RobertWestwood

I've got it on my car at home and it is very good. However on mine at least, you need a decent cable to connect the phone to the car, it just wouldn't work with a cheaper cable, so bear that in mind if planning to use it

See more...

Found that with other systems in other cars too. My missus Fiat500c would not connect her iPod & iPhone on a non-official Apple cable but an official one it connected to it OK.

So its a good tip to bring an official cable (for iPod/iPhone) with you on holiday