Car entertainment system for S3 - impossible :-/

[GeoffT]

Can you give examples please?

MP3 player screen.

1) Only shows one line for track playing. When the time is appended to this line it actually show less data than for the tracks not playing. There is plenty of real estate to have shown artist and title on seperate lines for track playing.

2) Track list does not move up until track playing line is at the bottom of the list,then it moves up a whole screen. So sometimes you can see 6 previous tracks but not the next one

3) My pet hate - the text is orange, which looks crap in a red lit dash. No option to change.

Radio.

1) Default screen is not the presets list as it should logically be.


Phone

1) Default screen is the manually dial number screen. To get to the phonebook takes several button presses.

2) If you use the MFSW to access the phone, the RNS-E does not show the telephone interface.

Nav.

1) Without touchscreen, even if you add SDS, this is incredibly clunky to use by comparison to a £100 tomtom.

2) No ability to add custom POI.

There were more this is just what I can remember of the top of my head.

 

[Staz]

etc etc

All very valid points and stuff I have already found since owning RNS-e for less than 24hrs but I think I can live with them to be honest.

Just trying out the MP3 player. I don't really use MP3s so going back to my old folders I've found I have to rename every track as they're all Track number_track name_artist_album. Very annoying!

 

[GeoffT]

All very valid points and stuff I have already found since owning RNS-e for less than 24hrs but I think I can live with them to be honest.

I guess I could have lived with them, but I found the little faults really did niggle -especially as most of them could be cured by any competent programmer in 10 minutes.

 

[Staz]

I guess I could have lived with them, but I found the little faults really did niggle -especially as most of them could be cured by any competent programmer in 10 minutes.

I'm sure they could! Hopefully another update will sort it. But I think the benefits of the system outweigh the negatives. Especially compared to an aftermarket system. Yes they're great at what they do but they don't interface with the DIS or MFSW in most cases. And that OEM look does add a bit of class.

By the way, anyone looking at getting RNS-e fitted to to a car with single DIN, be wary of companies who try to use your existing climate control pack. They basically saw the sides off so it'll fit at the bottom of the console! It looks crap.

 

[GeoffT]

I'm sure they could! Hopefully another update will sort it. But I think the benefits of the system outweigh the negatives. Especially compared to an aftermarket system. Yes they're great at what they do but they don't interface with the DIS or MFSW in most cases. And that OEM look does add a bit of class.
.

I totally agree that it looks great. Nothing can beat it from that point.

I wouldn't hold your breath on a firmware update though. There have been loads of updates but the inherent basic problems have not been touched. It took until that last one to sort out the MIX bug that had been there from day 1. Also with it now being very much old technology I can't see them putting to much effort into improving it.

 

[Pavius]

Pavius, Have you looked at the new Kenwood DNX 8220BT?

Indeed. I have read about it and actually commented on it in this thread. In terms of feature-list it looks nice except for the lack of divx/xvid playback. The problem is that there is no way to play around with it - there are no UI simulators online and no one i know has it here. I wouldn't want to buy something so pricey and then find out it has a million small annoyances like the ones on your list.

 

[Staz]

I wouldn't hold your breath on a firmware update though.

Lol I wasn't to be honest!

 

[GeoffT]

Indeed. I have read about it and actually commented on it in this thread. In terms of feature-list it looks nice except for the lack of divx/xvid playback. The problem is that there is no way to play around with it - there are no UI simulators online and no one i know has it here. I wouldn't want to buy something so pricey and then find out it has a million small annoyances like the ones on your list.

Sorry, must have missed your reference to it.

Yes its a real problem to evaluate these types of devices when so much depends on the firmware. You can read all of the specs, but nothing can tell you how well it will actually work in day to day use. What they need to do is produce a web-based simulator of the product that you can try out before you buy. Trouble is it would highlight flawed firmware and possibly reduce sales so I don't see anyone doing it anytime soon. Open source firmware would be the ultimate, but I can't see that happening either.

 

[Staz]

MP3 player screen.

1) Only shows one line for track playing. When the time is appended to this line it actually show less data than for the tracks not playing. There is plenty of real estate to have shown artist and title on seperate lines for track playing.

I just found that by pressing MP3 Ctrl (bottom left) and then name it displays the full details for a track and stays on that screen whilst skipping back and forth.

 

[GeoffT]

I just found that by pressing MP3 Ctrl (bottom left) and then name it displays the full details for a track and stays on that screen whilst skipping back and forth.

I did sometimes use that feature, but I thought it reverted to the normal display when it went to the next track? It certainly doesn't remember that you were in that mode when you switch off, so you would have to select it every time you start up again. I think that is one of the things that annoyed me. You could set various things like that in each of the various modes, but it always went back to the default when it started up again. It really needs a "save settings" feature so that you can get every mode exactly how you want (MP3 on track data, Radio on preset, Phone on phonebook etc) and it starts up with each one in that setting.

 

[Staz]

I did sometimes use that feature, but I thought it reverted to the normal display when it went to the next track? It certainly doesn't remember that you were in that mode when you switch off, so you would have to select it every time you start up again. I think that is one of the things that annoyed me. You could set various things like that in each of the various modes, but it always went back to the default when it started up again. It really needs a "save settings" feature so that you can get every mode exactly how you want (MP3 on track data, Radio on preset, Phone on phonebook etc) and it starts up with each one in that setting.

Yes it stays in that display until you switch off. In the same way as the Nav only defaults to the map, once set, until you swtch off.

I don't think I'd use that feature anyway.

 

[Pavius]

GeoffT understands my point. Even if the feature list is great and seemingly covers all bases, pressing 10 buttons to call a contact on my list would render the unit useless (hypothetical situation). Some people don't mind a clunky interface but it drives me insane. This is why a CarPC would be so perfect - if you don't like something, change the front end or write something yourself.