All Android users, advice please

[Laurence1982]

FWIW I use the VLC player on my phone through android auto and it works every time.
I also use it for video files ,although since the update I've lost the full screen which is annoying when watching films .

Cool. Again, can't use a lot of apps -they just become unresponsive often (but equally, they sometimes work fine). Possibly to do with my budget phone -maybe just not powerful enough to deal with it? (Not sure if that's possible but wouldn't surprise me)

FWIW I use the VLC player on my phone through android auto and it works every time.
I also use it for video files ,although since the update I've lost the full screen which is annoying when watching films .

Why do you have films on in the car. Is that not highly distracting? (It would distract me). Just for the passengers?

 

[Rolfe]

I believe the car will only play a film while it is in park, not when it's moving.

 

[fred12345]

Something I would like to know more about to keep kids entertained... I know you can play videos from USB stick but would like YouTube and Netflix on as backup when stuck in traffic.

Any (cheap) recommendations?

 

[Ian Key]

Something I would like to know more about to keep kids entertained... I know you can play videos from USB stick but would like YouTube and Netflix on as backup when stuck in traffic.

Any (cheap) recommendations?

If the children have their own phones or tablets why not use the car's wifi hotspot to stream YouTube and Netflix. It'll save a tête-à-tête with the friendly traffic cop.

 

[decrep]

I have a 64GB usbC stick and it also works fine, remembers where it was after a long break. (My wife doesn't like music when she's driving)

 

[Martinonline]

@fred12345 has a ZS according to their profile. Does it have a hotspot like the Trophy?

 

[fred12345]

If the children have their own phones or tablets why not use the car's wifi hotspot to stream YouTube and Netflix. It'll save a tête-à-tête with the friendly traffic cop.

Unfortunately, no hotspot in my car ... I thought it would be allowed playing any device and whatever you want as long as you don't "operate/hold" it and it's not distracting you?

@fred12345 has a ZS according to their profile. Does it have a hotspot like the Trophy?

mine is 2022 ZS Trophy but there is no option for hotspot in the menu, Bluetooth only ...
(got attracted to this forum by Android Auto questions )

 

[NickHeynes]

Cool. Again, can't use a lot of apps -they just become unresponsive often (but equally, they sometimes work fine). Possibly to do with my budget phone -maybe just not powerful enough to deal with it? (Not sure if that's possible but wouldn't surprise me)


Why do you have films on in the car. Is that not highly distracting? (It would distract me). Just for the passengers?

You can't watch anything while moving .The gear selector has to be in P .
I occasionally watch films or t.v while charging.

 

[QLeo]

Cool. Again, can't use a lot of apps -they just become unresponsive often (but equally, they sometimes work fine). Possibly to do with my budget phone -maybe just not powerful enough to deal with it? (Not sure if that's possible but wouldn't surprise me)


Why do you have films on in the car. Is that not highly distracting? (It would distract me). Just for the passengers?

Another +1 for vlc. We install most apps via the f-droid repository, partly because they're all free and partly because they tend to be the full versions of the apps. Works well on our cheapie (almost) no-name phones, and works especially well with voice commands. We have about 30GB of music in opus format, so quite a lot of music/files.
The one bit of additional work I did do was ensure each folder (album) had the correct album-art, so the car displays the familiar cover of the album. The ability to control music via voice commands is really an excellent safety feature.

 

[fred12345]

Another +1 for vlc. We install most apps via the f-droid repository, partly because they're all free and partly because they tend to be the full versions of the apps. Works well on our cheapie (almost) no-name phones, and works especially well with voice commands. We have about 30GB of music in opus format, so quite a lot of music/files.
The one bit of additional work I did do was ensure each folder (album) had the correct album-art, so the car displays the familiar cover of the album. The ability to control music via voice commands is really an excellent safety feature.

so you use VLC to play audio and video via Android Auto and it all works well? I used it on my laptop ages ago but never on my phone... yes, would be nice to have voice command for playing music, is that also in VLC via Android Auto?

 

[QLeo]

so you use VLC to play audio and video via Android Auto and it all works well? I used it on my laptop ages ago but never on my phone... yes, would be nice to have voice command for playing music, is that also in VLC via Android Auto?

Not for video in the car, because of this tedious issue of having to keep your eyes on the road (We do use video quite extensively at home though, on phones and tablets, especially as we have a local streaming live TV unit.) But yes, in the car it works very well indeed.
I was surprised that it came up automatically as an Android Auto app, as google force you into their own playpen so much, but yes, the voice commands "know" that vlc is the music player. The response is something like "Got it. Asking vlc to play <album> by <artist>"