BRZ Navigation Audio Run Through
 

Went to the dealership to check out what the Nav/Audio System would be like in the BRZ. I focused more on audio portion since I prefer navigating using my phone rather than a typical satnav.




Overall the system works pretty well, is generally responsive, has good iPod integration, and features some more advanced settings like time correction and 7-band EQ. The speakers sound good too, but I suspect the Impreza has more deadening than the BRZ will. Navigation worked well enough.

Some things I did not like was
-the low resolution of the display,
-Couldn't return to the current playlist to select a different song.
-To select a song at the end of a playlist, you had scroll down through the list using the down arrow on the vertical slider. It's a fairly small button to keep pressing and you couldn't press up to jump to the end. It goes down 5 songs at a time.
-Doesn't seem like you can touch drag to move through a playlist.

I apologize in advance for the shakiness of the video. Despite my username I did not have a tripod in my pocket, hah

Thanks for the post! :thanks:

You just need to paste the YouTube link without anything after the video id

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6hAn6Ru590"]Subaru Impreza Navigation iPod Test.mp4 - YouTube[/ame]

so... does it not play videos?

Now we know where you live!!!!

Muahahahahahha

Thanks for this video. Now I know for certain I won't be getting this system :-)

The manual said it can but I did not have any Divx media on hand. With the low resolution, low contrast screen I do not have high hopes for video

lol... Zelda song while looking up directions is pretty epic.

which dealership was this at?

God that's what I hated about my last touchscreen headunit. Having to constantly tap the down arrow 5 songs at a time and not being able to slide/scroll with your finger. Just look at what apple did with their touchscreen ipod/iphone... Can you control the songs being played with the iPod if you wanted? It really would of been something special if you could use the screen as an external monitor for the ipod to play videos and such.

Warning, this turned into a rant in the middle of writing this:

It's my belief that the good programmers do the obvious and go to companies that develop computer software. So head unit interfaces tend to get designed by engineers and programmers that didn't make the cut. It's the only explanation I can come up with why head units are so unintuitive and user-unfriendly. Especially these days with hardware that's really cheap and really powerful.

Aha and Bespoke are Licensed Technologies! They aren't even all that spectacular, yet Car Audio companies need to go out of house to get something that's only a marginal improvement. It boggles my mind that companies like Pioneer and Alpine and Clarion don't think the interface between their product and their customer is important enough to develop.

Hell, the Clarion unit in my STI requires me to hold a button in for THREE SECONDS just to read the next chunk of a track title. And I don't have an option to make it auto scroll. What person thought it was a good idea for the driver to hold a button down for three seconds while driving just to read a few more characters??

And I still can't figure out why these companies aren't just throwing Android on the head units. Seems like a no-brainer to me. Honestly, the phones in people's pockets make most automotive head units look down right pitiful.

Think about it. Take your favorite head unit and imagine it's controls and interface as the audio app on your smartphone or iPod. Tell me you wouldn't immediately go searching for a better audio app.

I have always been disappointed by the lack of intuitive programming in car head units, and my disappointment only grows as technology increases but the car audio companies keep their heads in the sand.

My ideal head unit?

Full size Double-Din touch screen with Android that uses bluetooth, wifi, and/or a custom app to connect wirelessly with my phone and use it's on-board songs and internet connection. Give me google Maps and Pandora in my car. Literally make the screen in my car into another screen for my phone that happens to have an amp, speakers, and FM antenna connected to it. It shouldn't be difficult.

Sorry, this kind of got away from me.

Don't be sorry, you're spot on. The UI design of car audio systems is beyond retarded measured against today's possibilities. I can't wait for Apple or any of the Android tablet builders to release a 7" with a matching double din docking. Massive new business, waiting to be picked up.

Thanks for sharing this.

For some reason I thought this would have some kind of streaming audio like Pandora or Iheartradio.

Does anyone know if its easy enough for a vendor to feed a video input from an obd2 scan gauge onto the screen? Something like the Nissan GTR but not as fancy.

I was surprised the nav was so laggy but playing Zelda was awesome.