I agree. I wish there were bare-bare-bones options with a radio and ac/heat. I will use my phone otherwise.
I can do most things without interacting with the touch screen at all.
Physical knobs and these systems def. do exist.
Well, shit.
Fine, give me bluetooth or give me death!
I have a car with just aux, and I bought a $37 aux to bluetooth adapter [1] that works perfectly. It is a small puck shaped thing you can attach on the dash, with physical buttons for play/pause/prev/next, a good-enough microphone and you can answer/end calls with the play button.
If they release Bluetooth 6.0 or whatever with cool new features, then in a couple of years when I've bought a phone that supports this, I can just buy a new Bluetooth adapter.
[1] https://www.ebay.com/itm/185493363534?hash=item2b30441b4e:g:...
Good to know they work quite well! Thank you.
I've had rentals with Carplay/Android Auto and they're kinda neat when they aren't a pain in the ass to set up (probably due to the cheap head units' software). But I already see nav and hear directions/music/podcasts/calls through the car's stereo.
I thought about upgrading the head unit from stock, but then I realized I was looking at a few hundred bucks at least. I don't spend enough time in my car to need a slightly bigger screen when I already have one right in front of me, sitting in its mount.
Not as if I'd rip the thing out if I got a car with Carplay/AA built=in. I just don't see it as a huge selling point.