Photo: Bogdan Popa/autoevolution
Google hasn't said a single thing about Android Auto since January, when it announced the new Coolwalk redesign, but this doesn't mean the company hasn't been working on the app.
The Mountain View-based search giant has been very focused on polishing the Android Auto experience since the Coolwalk announcement, so the most recent app updates introduced little to no new features.
This isn't necessarily bad news, as everybody knows that Android Auto needs additional refinements. That's likely the purpose of version 9.5, which has just started rolling out to the production channel.
Android Auto 9.5 first showed up in the beta stage only a few days, so Google moved pretty fast to promote it to the stable channel. But as per the company's typical approach, the new version comes without a changelog. As such, nobody knows precisely what's new in this latest update.
More information should emerge in the coming days and more people receive the update.
Chances are Android Auto 9.5 polishes the experience with Coolwalk even further. The new Android Auto design introduces several new bugs, one of which caused the lower part of the screen to freeze shortly after launch. The glitch has already become rather widespread, but so far, Google is yet to announce any timing information for a potential patch.
Coolwalk goes live in stages, but most users have already received the new interface.
The main Coolwalk highlight is the dashboard screen. Similar to the CarPlay Dashboard, the Coolwalk screen allows users to run multiple apps side by side. Thanks to this feature, you no longer need to keep just one app in focus, as the card-based interface allows the running of navigation apps and audio players on the same screen. Google Maps and Waze already support the Coolwalk interface, so they can run in the dedicated navigation screen along the likes of Spotify and YouTube Music.
Google also has more things to address in Android Auto Coolwalk. The company removed the weather information from the status bar when the new design was released. In fact, the status bar itself was removed, and all data was moved to the taskbar, minus the weather conditions.
Google added a separate weather card on portrait screens, but devices that use a landscape aspect ratio currently lack this feature. The company previously promised to find a way to bring the weather data back to all devices, but no additional information has been offered since then. Android Auto 9.5 doesn't seem to bring this weather card to landscape media units.
Given the rollout takes place in stages through the Google Play Store, you can download Android Auto 9.5 right now with the dedicated APK installer. The update takes place automatically once you launch the APK file on your Android device.
This isn't necessarily bad news, as everybody knows that Android Auto needs additional refinements. That's likely the purpose of version 9.5, which has just started rolling out to the production channel.
Android Auto 9.5 first showed up in the beta stage only a few days, so Google moved pretty fast to promote it to the stable channel. But as per the company's typical approach, the new version comes without a changelog. As such, nobody knows precisely what's new in this latest update.
More information should emerge in the coming days and more people receive the update.
Chances are Android Auto 9.5 polishes the experience with Coolwalk even further. The new Android Auto design introduces several new bugs, one of which caused the lower part of the screen to freeze shortly after launch. The glitch has already become rather widespread, but so far, Google is yet to announce any timing information for a potential patch.
Coolwalk goes live in stages, but most users have already received the new interface.
The main Coolwalk highlight is the dashboard screen. Similar to the CarPlay Dashboard, the Coolwalk screen allows users to run multiple apps side by side. Thanks to this feature, you no longer need to keep just one app in focus, as the card-based interface allows the running of navigation apps and audio players on the same screen. Google Maps and Waze already support the Coolwalk interface, so they can run in the dedicated navigation screen along the likes of Spotify and YouTube Music.
Google also has more things to address in Android Auto Coolwalk. The company removed the weather information from the status bar when the new design was released. In fact, the status bar itself was removed, and all data was moved to the taskbar, minus the weather conditions.
Google added a separate weather card on portrait screens, but devices that use a landscape aspect ratio currently lack this feature. The company previously promised to find a way to bring the weather data back to all devices, but no additional information has been offered since then. Android Auto 9.5 doesn't seem to bring this weather card to landscape media units.
Given the rollout takes place in stages through the Google Play Store, you can download Android Auto 9.5 right now with the dedicated APK installer. The update takes place automatically once you launch the APK file on your Android device.
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