Photo: Bogdan Popa/autoevolution/reddit user ShowTNTC
Waze has recently been updated with support for Android Auto Coolwalk, and now the application is getting ready to receive another welcome change.
The most recent testing version of Waze on Android includes a new speed indicator for Android Auto. Available as part of version 4.94.0.3, the new speedometer sports a cleaner and more modern look that has just one major shortcoming: it uses the original round design instead of an actual speed limit sign.
Here's precisely why this is such a big deal.
First and foremost, Waze previously used a speed indicator that sported a separate circle around it to specifically show how close you were driving to the speed limit. When the maximum allowed speed was reached, Waze turned the circle to red and triggered a speedometer animation.
In the new version, the text in the speed limit indicator also changes to red.
Other navigation apps use an approach that makes more sense for drivers. Instead of showing the speed limit in a generic shape, such as a circle, they use a speed sign similar to the one you see on the side of the road. As such, drivers can read the speed limit much faster by simply glancing at the screen.
At this point, the new Waze feature is still in the beta stage, and it's not known when the parent company wants to bring it to production devices. Most likely, it wouldn't take more than a few weeks for the new speed limit indicator to make its way to all users, though it would hopefully receive additional polishing by the time this happens.
The Coolwalk support in Waze feels half-baked anyway. While this new speedometer design appears to fix a bug that caused the current speed to be partially out of the screen, Waze still suffers from broken voice commands on Android Auto Coolwalk.
The bug showed up shortly after the Coolwalk support was released, but the Google-owned company has so far remained tight-lipped on everything about it. Downgrading to an earlier release is the only way to restore voice commands in Waze on Android Auto.
The Coolwalk rollout started in January, and apps must be updated to support the split-screen interface. Waze brought this feature to beta users in February and then quietly promoted it to the stable channel a few weeks ago. The latest version of the app allows Waze to run in the navigation card on the Coolwalk screen, though the experience leaves a lot to be desired. Not only is part of the speedometer out of the screen, but certain information, such as the turn-by-turn banners at the top of the screen, is often a waste of space. Switching from Coolwalk to the full-screen mode is also slow, sometimes with a noticeable lag.
Here's precisely why this is such a big deal.
First and foremost, Waze previously used a speed indicator that sported a separate circle around it to specifically show how close you were driving to the speed limit. When the maximum allowed speed was reached, Waze turned the circle to red and triggered a speedometer animation.
In the new version, the text in the speed limit indicator also changes to red.
Other navigation apps use an approach that makes more sense for drivers. Instead of showing the speed limit in a generic shape, such as a circle, they use a speed sign similar to the one you see on the side of the road. As such, drivers can read the speed limit much faster by simply glancing at the screen.
At this point, the new Waze feature is still in the beta stage, and it's not known when the parent company wants to bring it to production devices. Most likely, it wouldn't take more than a few weeks for the new speed limit indicator to make its way to all users, though it would hopefully receive additional polishing by the time this happens.
The Coolwalk support in Waze feels half-baked anyway. While this new speedometer design appears to fix a bug that caused the current speed to be partially out of the screen, Waze still suffers from broken voice commands on Android Auto Coolwalk.
The bug showed up shortly after the Coolwalk support was released, but the Google-owned company has so far remained tight-lipped on everything about it. Downgrading to an earlier release is the only way to restore voice commands in Waze on Android Auto.
The Coolwalk rollout started in January, and apps must be updated to support the split-screen interface. Waze brought this feature to beta users in February and then quietly promoted it to the stable channel a few weeks ago. The latest version of the app allows Waze to run in the navigation card on the Coolwalk screen, though the experience leaves a lot to be desired. Not only is part of the speedometer out of the screen, but certain information, such as the turn-by-turn banners at the top of the screen, is often a waste of space. Switching from Coolwalk to the full-screen mode is also slow, sometimes with a noticeable lag.
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