Toyota Entune Looks Ready for the Road [Video]

Apps! In most cases everywhere-but one place they might add some needed help is inside the car. Toyota’s Entune dashboard puts some old faves-Bing, Pandora, and OpenTable-on wheels. In action, it seems like it may be pretty damn useful.

Making a dinner reservation if you want to dinner sounds good. The Entune dash uses your phone as a kind of modem, pulling in data for its apps via 3G, and then ferrying that to the automobile with Bluetooth. CES is often cell reception hell, but Bing web results (and corresponding map directions) were snappy enough given the grim conditions. Pandora radio is usually a pleasant touch, for when FM is driving you completely insane. Or, whenever you’re within the mood for some local stations, the iheartradio app will pull for your hometown dial.



The screen wasn’t perfectly responsive-whether this was something they’ll be ready to hammer out before it hits assembly lines continues to be seen, but having to continually tap on a touchscreen while driving isn’t a comforting prospect. Entune does, reassuringly, offer some voice recognition support, which should atone for whatever frustration and issues of safety the touch interface presents. The interface itself is mighty clean though-running on proprietary Toyota software-and only required a couple of taps to move from main menu to compelling directions.

Toyota was mum on which models would see the Entune option or how much it is going to cost, but assured me that regular app updates (through your phone) would mean added, car-friendly features someday. [ Toyota ]

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This post is tagged: assembly lines, dinner reservation, pandora radio, touch-interface, voice recognition support