Apple lawyers be at the ready! Samsung has done it again, with a near carbon copy of Apple’s CarPlay platform.
Announced today at the IFA 2015 in Berlin, Germany, Samsung unveiled ‘Car Mode for Galaxy’, a CarPlay service for Samsung’s range of smartphones including their latest Galaxy S6 Edge Plus.
In partnership with Volkswagen, Samsung aims to offer a seamless connected car experience whilst avoiding the dangers of distracted driving. Car Mode for Galaxy will come in the form of an app, allowing its users to use key smartphone features safely in their car.
The app will connect seamlessly between Samsung smartphones and in-vehicele infotainment systems that are powered by MirrorLink. For users without a MirrorLink system in their car, it sounds like the app will also work as a standalone experience on the phone itself.
Car Mode for Galaxy will allow its users to: Take Calls, listen to playlists, get directions to destinations, and read text messages. So it’s pretty much all that CarPlay has to offer, currently, but it is the way Samsung has gone about it that makes me feel Apple might come knocking at their doors soon enough.
From its home screen and similar icons, to its music player layout, Samsung have definitely taken Apple’s clean and simple approach to their in-car user interface experience, rather than Google’s Android Auto – a little too similar!
Having the car-based service as an App allows Samsung to update and bring new features as and when Samsung (Apple) makes them available. Similar to the unofficial jailbroken version of CarPlay. If you excuse the pun, it is a ‘smart move’ on Samsung’s part, as they continue to follow the coat tails of Apple and its hardware and services.
