A: Make sure you are using a mirrorlink compatible device such as the Sony Xperia Z or Galaxy S3 (requires drivelink app installed from samsung apps). Connect compatible mirrorlink device into USB port 2 (bottom port) on the rear of the SPH-DA120 with CD-MU200 cable We will see over many days, months and years, Apple’s CarPlay experience continually evolving via regular iOS updates. The same can be said with CarPlay compatible applications on your iOS device, these too will have intermittent updates from its developers that will usher new features, improvements and functionality to their CarPlay experience. Without a CD/DVD drive, you’re limited to radio and media over USB or HDMI, but by simply connecting your smartphone to the AppRadio 4, it will bring new life into the headunit, with the possibility of feeding it a variety of your own content, not only through Apple’s CarPlay platform or MirrorLInk, but with your device connected, applications such as Apple Music, Spotify or Pandora can be played through the receivers own audio player. This is great if you find CarPlay’s crashing a real burden from time to time, and it’s a nice way to have something a bit more stable to use until Apple iron out all the niggles that its CarPlay platform can bring! Wireless Bluetooth Audio When you power up the device (without turning on CarPlay), you are taken to the Pioneer Home screen, that features quite a lot of menus and navigation options and might feel like a complex maze, especially for users accustomed to iPhone’s sophisticated, simple interfaces.

Pioneer has made it easier to create new Pandora stations while the app is in use with the Pandora Station Creation feature. Both iPhone and select Android users can simply press and hold a button on the receiver to create a new Pandora station dynamically from the currently playing song or artist. Powering up the Pioneer you’re taken to its main home screen. In today’s age of digital displays and tough-screens, I think it is now time for Pioneer to heavily invest some time in this area. For me, their current menu screens feel somewhat archaic. It’s practically ancient now, in its design, and it oozes that ‘boy racer’ style and doesn’t carry the sophistication that Apple has ushered into our lives and will be something iOS owners will be accustomed to. Navigating through the menus can feel you’re physically running through a mental mind maze, regularly finding yourself taking the wrong turn and ending up at a dead end. Interface & Apple CarPlayFor audiophiles, the AppRadio 4 offers a number of features and modes to cater for your critical ears. Pre-set and customisable equalisers allow you achieve the type of sound you want, however if you’re on the lazy side, you can plug in a microphone and let the Auto EQ measure your vehicle’s acoustics and adjust the receiver’s audio levels automatically to suit your car’s interior.

You want wireless CarPlay connectivity, because this head unit does not support Bluetooth CarPlay. (This shouldn’t be a big deal for most people though. It doesn’t take ages to plug in a phone, does it?) There are better Pioneer head units out there, but if you are mainly interested in CarPlay, then this unit has way more than what you need, that too at such a low price point. The AppRadio 4’s interface features menus, upon menus; a sea of buttons and options litter the front screen from the very start, all begging for your attention, and with no clear winner. Thankfully, with an iOS device connected, a ‘CarPlay’ option sits prominently in to top corner of the front screen, so Apple users can dive right in and feel right at home with Apple’s ‘clean and simple’ user interface. MirrorLink is also here, should you have a non-Apple device. The AppRadio 4 features Apple CarPlay, the smarter, safer and more fun way to use your iPhone® in the car. Apple CarPlay gives iPhone users an incredibly intuitive way to make calls, use Maps, listen to music, and access messages with just a word or a touch.

Connect the phone using a CD-MU200 Mirrorlink cable, connected to USB port 2 (bottom) on the rear of the unit. My instant reaction, when turning on the Pioneer, was that the screen felt lower in quality. The pixels on CarPlay icons looked more pixelated than on the Alpine, even though both displays share the same resolution of 800×480, and the Alpine’s display is bigger. But the only problem is – even though most car manufacturers are all licensing CarPlay in their latest models, many older models do not have CarPlay support. Your love for sound doesn't have to stay on dry land. Amplify your boating adventure and experience the sound quality you've come to enjoy from Pioneer with our Marine products. It is worth highlighting that CarPlay is an evolving software platform that lives on your Apple iOS device, not in the receiver itself. So whichever aftermarket receiver you choose to install in your vehicle, the OS experience will be the same throughout – Don’t let any dealer tell you otherwise!