Hacker News Reader

If I'm buying a premium machine, I don't expect and want to mod it with $3 tape and ¢50 markers. It's like buying a premium car and installing an aftermarket instrument cluster because the OEM one is too bright at its lowest setting.

View on HN

I agree, but reality is often different, even for cars. Sometimes because of incompetence, sometimes because of dark patterns. Many newer cars do have space for putting your phone somewhere on the middle console, but it's arranged in ways to make it impossible to place your phone in a way that would make it usable for navigation. Why? Because they desparately want you to use their own navigation setup (which probably costs extra too).

If we exclude a Dacia which lacked a screen and a radio, all the cars I have rented in the last three years had Android Auto and Apple CarPlay built in. Even though my phone was tucked there somewhere, I always used my phone's maps and other features while driving via the USB cable or wirelessly.

And, that wasn't half bad even. Did phone calls, used maps, listened to some music. Got the job done pretty smoothly.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com