Review: Honda's Display Audio integration

Until Apple’s CarPlay system or Google’s Android-based Android Auto makes its way Down Under, Honda’s latest Display Audio system is the closest we'll see to a factory-fitted smartphone integration system from the Japanese manufacturer.

Recently teaming up with app developers by opening a support studio in the San Francisco Bay area to encourage code to be produced for in-car applications, it is clear that Honda, like most car manufacturers, sees this technology as a must to attract new customers to its future models.

It is also clear that this kind of approach will help speed smartphone app-style technology into car design at a rate that's more in keeping with consumer expectations.

For now, however, the most sophisticated offering found in Australian Honda vehicles is known as Display Audio.

Found in the CR-V petrol (not diesel), all Jazz, City and Odyssey models as well as the Civic sedan, Display Audio offers some connected options for Apple iPhone owners to enjoy.

Siri hands-free is part of the Honda offering. With a flick of the steering wheel button the familiar Siri tones chime. Asking Siri all the silly questions that we do when at parties and so on — questions that require the digital assistant to do a web lookup — is a bit pointless here as nothing is shown on-screen.

Instead, the Siri system comes into its own as a digitised Yellow Pages — get Siri to locate the closest restaurant, petrol station and so on using voice commands.

The full Display Audio system relies on Bluetooth connectivity to the iPhone, as well as connecting by cable to one of the two HDMI ports (in our test Jazz, the HDMI inputs are paired with USB ports under the centre armrest as well as behind the central storage tray under the air-con controls).

The Belkin dual USB/HDMI Lightning adapter cable we were provided for testing does the job, allowing the iPhone to be connected to the Display Audio system and charged via the USB port at the same time.  

However, if you decide to use the USB connectivity for playing music in iPod mode, the Belkin will not pass through the audio stream unless you disconnect the HDMI joiner. A trap for young players.

The other piece of connectivity puzzle is the requirement to download, install and start the free Honda App Launcher program from the Apple AppStore. This is a region-based middleware program that provides access to other apps you will want to run.

It is understandable that Honda went this way, even in vehicles priced four times as much as the cars sporting Display Audio, since getting a software update into the infotainment system each time Apple releases a new operating system version would be extremely difficult.  Better to control the ecosystem yourself with an app launcher middleware such as this.

Until you get the process down pat, however, it can feel a little clunky — you will need to establish a routine, which may include acknowledging some pop-up messages on your phone, prior to driving off.

The slick 7-inch touch-screen can be configured with a number of different colour themes or indeed you can import up five “wallpaper” images to use as background when the system is essentially in clock mode. This is a nice feature that foreshadows interior personalisation to come.

Entertainment options beyond CD, AM/FM Radio and USB connected playback include Bluetooth or WiFi streaming ability, all of which functions as expected including a somewhat Spartan hands-free phone integration.

Display Audio kicks in with the aforementioned Honda App Launcher. In the Australian region Honda currently allows access to five applications.

StreamS HiFi Radio ($6.50) provides a variety of streaming content such as world-wide internet radio stations.

Stezza ($3.79) and CarMedia Player (Free) provide an in-car interface to access your iTunes music library in a logical way, the former being a functional stylish application on your iPhone as well as while driving while integrated to the Display Audio system.

Mixtrax ($2.50) like Stezza provides a useable in-car interface to your smartphone tunes and also lets you get a bit picky about the randomness of the playlist. Mixtrax will analyse your song collection and create playlists such as the Chill Mix, Beat Mix and so on, grouping similar songs into these categories. It actually works quite well, with one of the best options being the Beats Per Minute song lists, to really tune into your driving mood.

Finally, Honda has its own HondaLink Navigation app ($49.99), providing you with a rather average satellite-navigation system on your car dash screen. It’s OK, and the integration is nice, but we ended up using the Siri invoked navigation via Apple Maps more often.

And that says something: Apple Maps is not the best system by any measure, so putting the $50 towards a dedicated navigation device is a better move.

Essentially, Display Audio connected to an iPhone is a taste of what we will see when Apple CarPlay and Android Auto really become ubiquitous across most manufacturer marques.

The expectation is that this is not too far away, so if you purchase a vehicle with Display Audio today, after a few teething issues it will do enough things to impress the nieces and nephews.

However, we suspect there will be a small pang of tech-envy when the real software engineers get their wares into new vehicles in the-not-too distant future.