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This is why everyone hates in-car navigation systems

This is why everyone hates in-car navigation systems

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Subaru recently posted a YouTube video touting Starlink, the company's in-house navigation and entertainment system. You'd think they'd make it look good; companies are typically in the business of making their products seem like pure, unfiltered magic. Not Subaru, which is apparently content to let its in-dash electronics trainwreck over the course of one minute, 43 seconds.

Starlink

"Tablet-like"? What kind of jacked-up tablet are you using, Subaru?

Let's unpack what just happened here. A gentleman — a paid spokesperson in an official Subaru video — tried to zoom in on a map. Starlink eventually got around to zooming in at something like three frames per second. If this happened on your iPhone, your Galaxy S5, your Moto X, or what have you, you'd say "something is seriously wrong" and you'd reboot or close some apps or go to Geek Squad or place your phone in a garbage disposal and flip the switch.

There's more!

Starlink

Why is this okay on a shipping product in 2015? (It's not.) Put a giant, steam-powered processor in your car, Subaru. Just throw more horsepower at this nonsense. Or, you know, just turn your electronics over to Apple and Google, who are doing good things with CarPlay and Android Auto.

Starlink

Sir, don't look so satisfied with the experience you just had. You deserve better.

Apart from some rare exceptions like Hyundai — which is offering a CarPlay- and Android Auto-only dash option — car companies are still trying to own the experience. They're not consumer electronics companies, and they're not generally good at it. It's so painfully obvious and so widely accepted, sadly, that Subaru isn't even trying to hide it.

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