Enjoy my Coral Vision CarPlay Lite Display Console Review. You can buy this standalone Apple CarPlay display directly for $295 from its maker here Coral Vision CarPlay Lite.
In this video, I take a look at the newly released Coral Vision CarPlay Lite Display Console. This is a standalone display that connects to your own car’s existing stereo speakers via FM transmission or via a cable AUX input if your car interior has one.
Once mounted in your car either via the windscreen or dashboard, using the supplied adhesive glass plate and adjustable mount, you just need to feed it power, using the bundled 12v cable that you connect to your car’s cigarette socket, and carefully channel the spare length of cable around the interior of your vehicle. If you feel adventurous you can pass the cable into air vents or behind car interior panels for that clean look.
Audio options
When mounted and powered, your next step is channelling the audio to your existing car stereo. You can choose from either FM frequency transmission, or hardwired via an AUX cable if your car has one. FM transmission is the cleanest, simplest and likely the most widely supported way to get audio from the CarPlay Lite to your car stereo. You just pick a frequency that’s free from local radio station chatter and dial the CarPlay Lite into that same frequency. Once enabled the static noise will go silent and the CarPlay audio from the display can now be passed into your stereo speakers.
The supplied AUX cable is just as simple if you have that option. Simply plug in the cable into the AUX OUT on the CarPlay Lite and the other end of the cable into the AUX input port of your car interior, and you’ll soon hear nice clean CarPlay audio out of your stereo speakers. The supplied cable is unfortunately short, at around 50cm, so if you require a longer reach, you’ll have to buy a longer cable. Until then, FM can be just as decent, thanks to its noise isolating performance.
Wireless CarPlay
With everything connected, the CarPlay Lite display will behave as you would expect with a dedicated CarPlay enabled stereo or factory system. Navigate with Google Maps and Waze, to stream favourite music playlists from Apple Music or Spotify. All sound will pass either through the built-in speaker on the display itself (which is not advised), FM transmission or AUX.
Android Auto
If you reside in the Google Android camp, your Android smartphone will also work just as well with the CarPlay Lite. With an Android 11 or higher you can connect your Android phone wirelessly to the display, and for anything older, a simple USB-C cable connection is your fallback way to getting Android Auto running on the CarPlay Lite display.
Once connected, all your Google apps will display as intended on the 1024 x 600 resolution ISP display. Its screen display is better than some high-end displays in BMWs and Mercedes vehicles, so rest assured that your content will look great and be just as colourful, bright and responsive thanks to its capacitive touch screen.
Lite, but not cheap!
Being a Lite edition the cost savings are passed to the plastic screen display, instead of the glass display found on the Pro Complete edition of the Coral Vision console. To some, the plastic casing may also look a little cheap looking, but from the front (which is likely where it is going to be mostly viewed from) it looks just as good, with slightly thinner bezels along the top and sides, and without the silver edging helps to make this cheaper unit blend in with its surroundings. Plus, if you plan on leaving it on display in your vehicle whilst parked in some dodgy neighbourhood, then this unit will look much more inconspicuous sitting on your dash.
Mounting
The mounting options allow plenty of scope to place the display where you want it, however, if you source a ball joint air vent mount of a similar size (such as the ESR mount in my video), you can relocate this display, lower, on top of the air vents in your car. Making it much easier to touch, view and likely have fewer cables to run around your car interior. At 274 grams of weight for the display alone, this is light enough to fit on any air vent blades – it’s almost as lite as most iPhones!
Whose this for..?
So if the thought of installing Apple CarPlay in your old vehicle makes you break out in a sweat, or it makes your wallet tremble in fear of the installation cost, then I still think this display device is such a great way to get Apple CarPlay in your car without all the hassle and a hefty price tag. Sure, you can likely get CarPlay aftermarket systems in the $199 range, that’s half the cost of this $295 CarPlay Lite Edition, but think about the hours required to install it yourself, or to pay someone else to do it for you, all the harnesses and modules to buy, and is it going to give you the opportunity to take it between cars, hire cars, boats, caravans, motor homes etc. No. There is that extra advantage too. Save yourself some money, and all the hassle, and maybe take a look at this CarPlay Lite Edition from Coral Vision if you want CarPlay in your existing vehicle, without the pricey upgrade.
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 – Intro
0:16 – Unboxing
1:40 – Comparison to Pro and Original
4:44 – Ports and bootup
6:18 – Settings
8:01 – Wireless CarPlay
10:27 – Siri and Microphone quality
11:17 – Display and processing
11:44 – USB Media playback
13:04 – BT Calling and BT Audio (Android)
14:20 – Android Auto (Wired)
16:12 – Screen Mirroring (iOS)
18:55 – Screen Mirroring (Android)
21:24 – In car install and demo
23:18 – FM transmission audio
26:32 – AUX audio
27:36 – Bluetooth audio inc. wheel controls and CarPlay
29::28 – My Impressions
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