NEW Kenwood Apple CarPlay Units

Scary but true, Japan owes its existence, like Iceland, the Canaries and even Hawaii, to the volcano and seismic events. Here in Blighty, we get lots of tornadoes and dozens of earthquakes. But unlike Kansas or Kyoto, ours are all so minor that most Brits are not even aware it happens. And the relatively recent earthquake in Japan, seriously held up normal production schedules. So we are particularly delighted to be able to show you the new Android Auto and Apple CarPlay units from Kenwood.
In the past, we have seen consortia of manufacturers getting behind different methods of harnessing that sexy chip in your phone to do stuff on our headunits’s screens and speakers. MirrorLink was the most well known. However, these systems relied on special mobile-for-in-car-use versions of the apps and graphics. And that meant an epic responsibility towards making sure we were not, as a driver, going to be distracted by a detailed handheld version of an application, demanding too much of our attention from driving. It remains a huge issue and one that I get called to talk about on the radio from time to time.
One Japanese car radio maker was a leader in making these apps I think we got to like, five of them, maybe moreit was woefully slow to populate with the MirrorLink apps they hoped would get developed. But all that fearful software development is no longer required by the hardware makers, who can get back to the firmware of pretty graphics and cunning function because the twin ecosystems of Apple and Android have made all that has gone before, obsolete.
Android Auto and Apple CarPlay have been around for some time, my first report on USA units was the year before last at the CES. Yet we require UK specific units and these are gorgeous. As yet, we have the CarPlay offering, we shall bring you news of the Android Auto as soon as we have it.
Kenwood say this of CarPlay: ‘Available on selected Kenwood models, we agree with Apple that ‘˜CarPlay is a smarter, safer way to use your iPhone in the car’. CarPlay lets you use your important iPhone features whilst driving, via our large touch screen displays. Available in 6.2in and 7in’.
Apple CarPlay by Kenwood – Your Ultimate Companion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4zy0CYPjko

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