The internet & Touch2 with go

[BhxTrev]

My son recently purchased a Suzuki Ignis after driving a Toyota Argo for some years. He said he was so impressed with the multimedia on his Suzuki  particularly as he can display the internet especially Google maps which he also uses as his Sat Nav. As he explained to me, he has no trouble updating his Sat Nav because all he has to do is update his iPhone & the maps etc he uses are up to date & free. He has tried & so have I, in vain, to do the same on my Gen4 Prius Excel. Using my iPhone paired with a Touch with Go will take you via the internet, to the apps provided by Toyota most of them costing quite a fee to use. I actually don't find the apps that good so I've never bothered to use them. When I bought the car from new I had 3years of map updates but that will end this year & if I want to update the maps I shall have to pay for the privledge. My son drives a lot of different cars with his job & said that most manufacturers use the Suzuki system allowing you to use the internet directly from your iPhone. He says there's no way he's going to ever but another Toyota if he can't use his mobile to download Google maps info! I must admit although l really like the Prius I think I might consider this matter when I do decide to change my car. Just as a matter of interest am I missing something, - does anyone happen to know how & whether I can use my iPhone 6S to put Google maps on my Touch2 with Go so that using a 4g internet connection to use the maps as a Sat Nav as my son does? 

[Heidfirst]

You can't on yours but hopefully within the next few months you will be able to do so on the current production version of T2wG, MM17 (this is not backwards compatible with your or mine hardware).

I think that you will find that back in 2016 very few manufacturers allowed you to do what your son does (Carplay released mid-2014, Android Auto wasn't released until mid-2015) but with Android Auto & CarPlay that's the way the industry is going. The phone industry moves at a faster pace than the auto industry (it's a lot cheaper to change phones than cars).

[TheProfessor]

If you absolutely must use Google Maps, the only solutions are to buy and install a custom head unit that supports Apple Play or Android Auto, there are a few of them out there, some good, some bad, and some even go so far as to keep other features like the reversing camera with the lines that move with the steering wheel - there are many threads about this over on PriusChat about this for the Gen 4.

Or you can use a phone mount and just use your phone (you can send audio to the car's Speakers via bluetooth of you wish). So you still get your music, and you still get Google Maps with voice navigation, and your phone still charges, but you don't get a big built in screen.

That being said, roads don't change much. Even in the past 30 or so years I've been driving only 2 roads have changed significantly on a 250 mile journey I take a few times a year - The new Queensferry Crossing near Edinburgh, and the A1/A66 roundabout at Scotch corner, for example. In the former case it makes no difference to navigation as you start on the same road and end up on the same road that you would have using the original roads. If you have even mediocre navigation skills, and ability to read road signs, it generally makes no real difference at all having map data that's even 10 years our of date. If you don't have these skills, they're very useful to have. I'm not trying to be condescending, but sat navs do fail, sat navs can be wrong, sat navs can't always adapt to unforeseen closures, sat navs don't always understand the rules of the roads like one way systems or roads you shouldn't travel on. Being occasionally forced to navigate using the traditional methods is a useful reminder.

Furthermore, relating to that, there are issues using internet based navigation. Not everywhere has a 3G or 4G data signal. Specifically, when I travel to the Yorkshire Dales, sometimes the maps just stop working for up to 20 minutes at a time. Sure, you can pre-download a route in Google Maps before you leave, but that's a hassle, AND, if you need to divert significantly off that route due to traffic or accidents or road closures then you're screwed. I once used Google Navigation to travel to the dales and it was great until I turned off the M6 into the Lake District. From then on it was beyond useless.

 

 

[BhxTrev]

Hi Scott, thanks for your reply. I'll stop trying to link the internet with my iPhone on my Touch2 with Go now that I know it just cannot be done. I do find it frustrating that Toyota are so slow to catch up with this technology especially as many other manufacturers offer it already. I do like my Toyota Prius as you know, but I was hoping that they would by now be offering an all electric vehicle because whether we like it or not that's the way we are going, especially as the UK has to move towards zero emission vehicles in the future. However, as you know, even though many other car manufacturers offer all electric vehicles Toyota doesn't. Even if they start to produce an all electric car they are going to be so far behind the tried & tested technology developed by their competition that I just wonder if I should be looking to another car company, which I hasten to add would be have to be Japanese, to purchase my next vehicle when the time comes?

[BhxTrev]

Hi Professor, thanks for your reply & an alternate view on the use of Google maps, which I'll certainly pass on to my son. I guess though that it would be nice to be able to have the choice to use both the fitted Sat Nav & Google maps. I certainly agree that even though the maps  could be out of date, not much does change. I never ever updated the maps on my previous Gen3 Prius but never really encountered a problem when using the Sat Nav throughout the 7 years I owned the car. 

[Heidfirst]

5 hours ago, BhxTrev said:

Hi Scott, thanks for your reply. I'll stop trying to link the internet with my iPhone on my Touch2 with Go now that I know it just cannot be done.

You can link it for traffic alerts (provided by TomTom) via internet.

I do find it frustrating that Toyota are so slow to catch up with this technology especially as many other manufacturers offer it already. I do like my Toyota Prius as you know, but I was hoping that they would by now be offering an all electric vehicle because whether we like it or not that's the way we are going, especially as the UK has to move towards zero emission vehicles in the future. However, as you know, even though many other car manufacturers offer all electric vehicles Toyota doesn't. Even if they start to produce an all electric car they are going to be so far behind the tried & tested technology developed by their competition that I just wonder if I should be looking to another car company, which I hasten to add would be have to be Japanese, to purchase my next vehicle when the time comes?

Yet Toyota have sold millions of hybrids, far more than anybody has sold full EVs... Anyway, Toyota's first full consumer EVs are planned to be launched in China in 2020 iirc ...I think that they still see Hydrogen as a better solution eventually though.

 

[Seamaster73]

On 6/27/2019 at 2:03 AM, Heidfirst said:

You can't on yours but hopefully within the next few months you will be able to do so on the current production version of T2wG, MM17 (this is not backwards compatible with your or mine hardware).

I just want to make sure I understand this?

Are you saying that new Priuses are fitted with a version of T2WG that will in due course support CarPlay?

[FROSTYBALLS]

As far as I'm aware the new Corolla, Rav4 and 2019 facelift Prius are fitted with the updated multimedia unit called MM17.

Toyota are currently looking at Android Auto and Carplay, but may be doubtful whether this will be available on the older Touch 2.

For example Android Auto is available on some versions of the 2018 facelift Aygo, which uses an updated X-touch multimedia unit ( different to the Touch 2). Not compatible with the older X-touch from 2014.

 

[Harters]

I wonder why the US have Apple CarPlay in the new Rav4 and we don't, is it a licensing issue or because they use Entune 3.0 which is different software to what is used in our units?

[Heidfirst]

13 hours ago, Harters said:

I wonder why the US have Apple CarPlay in the new Rav4 and we don't, is it a licensing issue or because they use Entune 3.0 which is different software to what is used in our units?

The infotainment systems (hardware, manufacturers & software) are different. Due to different broadcasting infrastructure the North American infotainment would be of little use in Europe (no DAB) & the European infotainment system would be of little use in North America (no satellite radio) hence why they are different rather than common units.

[Heidfirst]

On 7/3/2019 at 10:12 AM, Seamaster73 said:

are you saying that new Priuses are fitted with a version of T2WG that will in due course support CarPlay?

that seems to be the gist of what Toyota are aiming for but until it is actually done & available they can't say for 100% sure.