Vodafone Smart Ultra 6 and Andriod Auto Compatability

[psheraton]

So I popped into my local Halfords to take a look at there car steros.  As I am looking for one that has Andriod Auto on it.

The one I looked at was the Pioneer AVH-X8700BT

Which supports Andriod Auto.

So I install the Andriod Auto App..and plug in the usb cable.

Then wait ..any nothing 

Can someone from Vodafone advise if this phone supports Andriod Auto??

Cheers

Paul S

[hrym]

There's not a huge amount of information, but the official webpage is here.   It rather suggests that compatibility is OS (Lollipop 5.0 or higher) rather than device-specifc.

Does the connection have to be physical, or is there a Bluetooth option?   The other possibility would be to have a look at the USB options in the main Settings menu.  I have a feeling there are two protocols and you may need to swap them.

[psheraton]

I have already run the Andriod Auto Compatability Check on the phone and it says it should work.  

I think this just another example of Andriod being a bit rubbish... 

[hrym]

Channel 5's The Gadget Show did a piece on in-car technology last week (it's probably still on 5OD) and Android Auto came out best by far.   Have a look at that I suggested: check the USB settings in the main menu.  I've seen a few threads which suggest that the default setting on some Vodafone devices connects them as a camera rather than mass storage and this may be the problem.   As far as I know, there are two settings and you should just need to switch to the other one.

Alo, did you try Bluetooth?

[psheraton]

The phone was and still is set to MTP I don't want to connect via Bluetooth as its a drain on battery resources. I am amazed that Andriod Auto came out on top of Apple Car Play.  My guess is they where using the major bran Andriod phones like HTC and Samsung. 

I am disapointed a technology that is desinged to bring devices together does not work with this phone. 

[hrym]

You don't need to use Bluetooth on a permanent basis, just as a trial.   When you're using the phone in the car with Android Auto, I assume there's be quite a battery drain on that and that plugging it into a charger would be desirable.   In that case, power use by BT wouldn't matter.

The other thing you could try would be to connect the phone to a computer by cable.   If that doesn't work either, then it's a USB issue.   This has arisen before (on this board, I think) and as far as I'm aware was resolved, so have a look round.