[sloheim]

So, this morning I decided to play with the Starlink apps a bit. In summary... I was very underwhelmed.

The Magellan navigation took forever to start up, the UI feels ancient, would not let you key anything into it while driving (which I get), and had no voice recognition. I think that my TomTom standalone unit from 20 years ago was more robust.

The News apps exist to allow you to READ news? Who sits in their car, with their phone attached via bluetooth, and reads news on the infotainment display? If I was sitting there and wanted to read news, I'd do it on my phone, not my the car display (which only shows a few lines of text at a time). I expected the app to READ ME the news outloud. At first I couldn't believe navigation around the app was locked down while moving, but once I realized that I need to do the reading, it made sense.

I guess IHeartRadio worked ok (if not a bit slow), but now that radio stations are getting segmented between IHeartRadio, TuneInRadio, and Radio.com ... one app for out-of-town radio listening doesn't cut it anymore.

The rest of them didn't seem like they'd add any value in-car. Apps like Yelp or EventSeeker probably have better phone experiences. I'm not sure who would ever use Glympse.

Does anyone truly get any value out of these apps?

DOn't get me wrong... Android Auto / Apple Carplay are the best things since sliced bread. The future is here, and that is it. I'm not sure why Subaru is even investing the standalone Starlink apps at this point.

Am I missing something??

 

[crowdc]

Who knows, it's a waste of space. I avoid it at all costs. I will use AA for the future. I tried the TomTom built in navigation and was left lack luster. They missed a turn for me and that was it; never again. I dont think there are many that use them anymore

 

[rockthebeef]

I played with the Startlink app suite once, then one more time to see if it was really as bad as I first thought. It was.

 

[Jason]

So, this morning I decided to play with the Starlink apps a bit. In summary... I was very underwhelmed.

The Magellan navigation took forever to start up, the UI feels ancient, would not let you key anything into it while driving (which I get), and had no voice recognition. I think that my TomTom standalone unit from 20 years ago was more robust.

The News apps exist to allow you to READ news? Who sits in their car, with their phone attached via bluetooth, and reads news on the infotainment display? If I was sitting there and wanted to read news, I'd do it on my phone, not my the car display (which only shows a few lines of text at a time). I expected the app to READ ME the news outloud. At first I couldn't believe navigation around the app was locked down while moving, but once I realized that I need to do the reading, it made sense.

I guess IHeartRadio worked ok (if not a bit slow), but now that radio stations are getting segmented between IHeartRadio, TuneInRadio, and Radio.com ... one app for out-of-town radio listening doesn't cut it anymore.

The rest of them didn't seem like they'd add any value in-car. Apps like Yelp or EventSeeker probably have better phone experiences. I'm not sure who would ever use Glympse.

Does anyone truly get any value out of these apps?

DOn't get me wrong... Android Auto / Apple Carplay are the best things since sliced bread. The future is here, and that is it. I'm not sure why Subaru is even investing the standalone Starlink apps at this point.

Am I missing something??

MySubaru is nice if you get the remote start - The actual Starlink app is pointless and Subaru knows this. I'd be surprised if we see it stick around longer than another year or two.

 

[zulater]

My biggest complaint (posted it here already in the past but it's a big complaint so again!) is that they talk about starlink for subscription to start your car. But the starlink app does not start your car! WTF MATE? Like for real WTF MATE?

 

[Kevin Williams]

Starlink was created before they had Android Auto support. And yes they are just a few old apps tacked together! AA has replaced the need for these apps for sure.

I don't think any automakers actually have good apps in their cars.

I have a Garmin with the 7" screen and I really love the UI and the way it navigates. But with the new Ascent and AA, it's "good enough" that I'll probably sell my Garmin so I have one less thing on the dash/plugged in.

 

[ThickRichard]

I have a general question and this seems like the closest thread.

Am I to understand that the tools available under the "actual Starlink app" - can not be customized in any way? I've spent a few hours now trying to run down instructions either in the owner's manual or online on how to get rid of some of that crud. I like ebird - and might play with a few of the apps available - but I want to customize the list that gets displayed.

It appears that the answer is "no can do" - is this correct?

 

[scipio11111]

Agree on all fronts that the Starlink apps are the pits.

Are there any worthwhile Android apps besides AA that work with the Ascent?

 

[dj4uofa]

Subaru (or any other carmaker for that matter, including Tesla) will never be as good at making software as companies whose entire business is built on software, like Apple and Google. But no carmaker wants to give that much power to an outside company like Apple or Google, so they all make their own terrible versions of their apps and software. The best case scenario would be a long-term partnership deal between a Subaru and an Apple, for instance, where software and the car hardware are integrated together, and car companies can focus on making the best hardware cars available. But the likelihood of that is small, since Apple and Google are racing to make cars (autonomous ones, it seems) before they are looking to partner in the way I'm describing.

 

[Kevin Williams]

Subaru (or any other carmaker for that matter, including Tesla) will never be as good at making software as companies whose entire business is built on software, like Apple and Google. But no carmaker wants to give that much power to an outside company like Apple or Google, so they all make their own terrible versions of their apps and software. The best case scenario would be a long-term partnership deal between a Subaru and an Apple, for instance, where software and the car hardware are integrated together, and car companies can focus on making the best hardware cars available. But the likelihood of that is small, since Apple and Google are racing to make cars (autonomous ones, it seems) before they are looking to partner in the way I'm describing.

The biggest thing is the cost of top-end software. Us programmer types are not cheap, especially for the good ones. To pay another company to write high quality apps would be $$$$ and currently they are all bad, so it's not a differentiator. Now with Android Auto and CarPlay they've kicked the ball down the field a bit and allowing things like Waze to take over.

That said, we test drove a Tesla 3 the other day and the software in their display is quite good. It's a native Android tablet and was responsive and pretty well thought out. Even climate controls were pretty slick. Instead of adjustable vents on the dashboard they had a swipe/pinch mechanism for changing the airflow that worked really well. (Yes, physical buttons/knobs are easier to change while driving). Hopefully in a few months my girlfriend will own one and I'll know better how well it really works day to day!

 

[Kevin Williams]

I have a general question and this seems like the closest thread.

Am I to understand that the tools available under the "actual Starlink app" - can not be customized in any way? I've spent a few hours now trying to run down instructions either in the owner's manual or online on how to get rid of some of that crud. I like ebird - and might play with a few of the apps available - but I want to customize the list that gets displayed.

It appears that the answer is "no can do" - is this correct?

I thought there was some way to customize it in the starlink app on the phone, but it's been so long since I've played with it that I can't be sure!