Sync 3 Delete - Thinking into the Future

[dsiggi]

I have a 2019 350R. As I plant to keep this for some time, the sync 3 and Nav will become dated and probably a bit of an eye sore.

This is probably 10-15 years down the road but does anyone know if its easy to do a swap to the base delete plate?

Sponsored

 

[GilmourD]

Sync3 supports Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. I don't have a ton of experience with Apple's support of third-party stuff but Android history of supporting stuff for stupendously long times is pretty good. They both update their apps fairly regularly and the interfaces have evolved over the past few years. That makes me not worry about my Sync3 setup since I basically use it as a means to using Android Auto via my phone.

What version of the Sync3 firmware is installed in your car?

 

[dsiggi]

Sync3 supports Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. I don't have a ton of experience with Apple's support of third-party stuff but Android history of supporting stuff for stupendously long times is pretty good. They both update their apps fairly regularly and the interfaces have evolved over the past few years. That makes me not worry about my Sync3 setup since I basically use it as a means to using Android Auto via my phone.

What version of the Sync3 firmware is installed in your car?

Im talking about 15 years down the road when its just an old outdated system, pulling the unit and putting a blockoff plate there like base R....

 

[GilmourD]

Im talking about 15 years down the road when its just an old outdated system, pulling the unit and putting a blockoff plate there like base R....

Well, as long as it's still working and we haven't transcended beyond iOS and Android one of them will possibly still support it. As somebody that works in technology it's kind of amazing how little of it is actually bleeding edge and how much stuff is still running on stuff that was introduced years if not decades ago. The processor that the original Apple II computers used is still manufactured and in use today for embedded stuff, so Sync3 still being supported in 15 years for AA and CarPlay won't shock me.

 

[spankybranch]

it looks like you would be paying a lot to have that plastic panel with the fancy R … there is a complete panel with the HVAC and Start/switches for $2700 … there is also just the plastic “R” panel for $900 (but unsure how it would attach.

there are multiple offerings for a black close-out panel like you would use in a racecar for around $100

Another option would be getting something 3D printed and could have any logo you wanted on it.

 

[NPTR]

Would imagine if you can pull the radio, you can do this pretty easily. Only thing I’d say…I’ve had many 15-20 year old cars I wanted to bring up to more modern spec when it comes to radio/nav. Many aftermarket options that look OEM and significantly updated the feel and capability of the system…sure that will be an option for these cars as it’s the same radio configuration as base GT and there’s a HUGE aftermarket for them and always will be.

Example for me was an MK4 R32, nav/radio super dated so bought a “double din” unit, dropped it in and had something that looked stock but operated 100% modern.

So even if they stop supporting this interface, think you’ll have options. And if not, and you don’t wanna swap the head unit, keep an old android or iPhone and just use it as an MP3 player

 

[MrMike]

Well, as long as it's still working and we haven't transcended beyond iOS and Android one of them will possibly still support it. As somebody that works in technology it's kind of amazing how little of it is actually bleeding edge and how much stuff is still running on stuff that was introduced years if not decades ago. The processor that the original Apple II computers used is still manufactured and in use today for embedded stuff, so Sync3 still being supported in 15 years for AA and CarPlay won't shock me.

+1, Android and iOS are not going anywhere.

I'm more surprised when I see anyone talking about actually using Sync 3. I disabled WiFi and Bluetooth on mine and just use Carplay.

 

[WItoTX]

+1, Android and iOS are not going anywhere.

I'm more surprised when I see anyone talking about actually using Sync 3. I disabled WiFi and Bluetooth on mine and just use Carplay.

Ford Toyota and GM both have stated they want to get away from Android auto and carplay.

Carplay and AA have requirements for USB placement because AA and carplay don't want any lag. Which is stupid because everyone has the cheapest 10' USB cable which negates any lag reduction by putting the USB port close to the radio. This is what my R&D buddy from Toyota told me.

In 10 years they will be gone. If I was OP, I'd just wait until the next thing comes out.

 

[MrMike]

Ford Toyota and GM both have stated they want to get away from Android auto and carplay.

Carplay and AA have requirements for USB placement because AA and carplay don't want any lag. Which is stupid because everyone has the cheapest 10' USB cable which negates any lag reduction by putting the USB port close to the radio. This is what my R&D buddy from Toyota told me.

In 10 years they will be gone. If I was OP, I'd just wait until the next thing comes out.

There is absolutely no chance that the Android Auto app and interface go completely unsupported. The open source community would continue to support it along with basic functionality.

GM has only said that for electric vehicles, and it has been received as one of their worst decisions.

Toyota has no idea what they are doing in the tech segment. They were one of the last to support Android Auto.

Ford's actions suggest the opposite. They have moved to Android Automotive which seamlessly integrates your phone.

I work in tech, and will still be working in tech 10 years from now. This technology isn't leaving, it's advancing.

 

[Bikeman315]

Time is a funny thing. 15 years seems so far away yet go back to 2009 and it seems like yesterday. Ask anyone with a S197 Mustang. Also 2009 was the first year Sync was made available although it was a dealer installed option. So enjoy your car now and in the future. And find something else to concern yourself with. Your Sync 3 will be just fine in 2039.

 

[GilmourD]

+1, Android and iOS are not going anywhere.

I'm more surprised when I see anyone talking about actually using Sync 3. I disabled WiFi and Bluetooth on mine and just use Carplay.

Yeah, when I bought my GT/CS a couple weeks ago I couldn't get it to update past 3.0 so I had to go the CyanLabs route to get it up to 3.4 so I could actually use Android Auto. I had no choice but to do that with my last car since the previous owner retrofitted Sync3 into a '15 300a car, which would never have had it to begin with, but also never programmed everything correctly with ForSCAN, so I learned a bit. LOL Bluetooth gets auto-paired by AA, though, but I turned off WiFi.

 

[GilmourD]

Ford Toyota and GM both have stated they want to get away from Android auto and carplay.

Carplay and AA have requirements for USB placement because AA and carplay don't want any lag. Which is stupid because everyone has the cheapest 10' USB cable which negates any lag reduction by putting the USB port close to the radio. This is what my R&D buddy from Toyota told me.

In 10 years they will be gone. If I was OP, I'd just wait until the next thing comes out.

GM is already doing their own thing and apparently it's biting them in the arse in some ways. I'm also not sure why they want that because Android Auto and CarPlay are already very well supported and honestly makes life easier for the auto manufacturers. Rolling their own systems just complicates everything since they then have to have a larger software development team and have to do their own support.

With regards to the cables, though, devices have gotten good at figuring out when a cable doesn't work right and just disconnecting. I've got a braided Anker cable (cost me about $15 on Amazon) in my car going from the center console, up along between the transmission tunnel and passenger seat, and up the dash to a mount by the central vents. I've had zero issues.

 

[VoR]

Does the OP really just want his car to "look" like a super rare Base R at Cars and Coffee?
It seems dumb to think the infotainment system will be completely obsolete and an "eyesore". It will not be an eyesore, it will look exactly like every other non-base 350r

 

[WItoTX]

GM is already doing their own thing and apparently it's biting them in the arse in some ways. I'm also not sure why they want that because Android Auto and CarPlay are already very well supported and honestly makes life easier for the auto manufacturers. Rolling their own systems just complicates everything since they then have to have a larger software development team and have to do their own support.

With regards to the cables, though, devices have gotten good at figuring out when a cable doesn't work right and just disconnecting. I've got a braided Anker cable (cost me about $15 on Amazon) in my car going from the center console, up along between the transmission tunnel and passenger seat, and up the dash to a mount by the central vents. I've had zero issues.

It's not an issue of quality of cables. AA and Carplay have lag requirements. Moving a USB port to somewhere convenient is often too far for the spec. So they put the USB port somewhere stupid or obnoxious, like at the bottom of the center stack, tucked into an obstructed area.

Then, someone sticks a 10' long cheap (IE lots of lag) USB cord to connect to that port. Thereby negating any benefit to the cars own USB port.

AA and Carplay will always be around. But it will go the way of CD players and cassette decks. This is just how progress works. 10-15 years, I'd bet they have gone the way of CD players.

 

[GilmourD]

It's not an issue of quality of cables. AA and Carplay have lag requirements. Moving a USB port to somewhere convenient is often too far for the spec. So they put the USB port somewhere stupid or obnoxious, like at the bottom of the center stack, tucked into an obstructed area.

Then, someone sticks a 10' long cheap (IE lots of lag) USB cord to connect to that port. Thereby negating any benefit to the cars own USB port.

AA and Carplay will always be around. But it will go the way of CD players and cassette decks. This is just how progress works. 10-15 years, I'd bet they have gone the way of CD players.

Oh, I'm quite familiar with latency via a conductor, but AA and CarPlay aren't DDR5 DIMM modules running at 8000MT/s needing to be within millimeters of a CPU socket.

Every foot of USB cable introduces a latency of about 1 nanosecond, or a billionth of a second, so a 10-foot cable would be approximately 10 nanoseconds, or a 100,000,000th of a second. That sort of latency would cause bit collisions in computer memory beyond a certain speed, but what Android Auto and CarPlay are doing doesn't have the parallel data bus issues requiring everything being in sync like that. Hell, it's not close to saturing the USB 2.0 spec (which was the only option on an iPhone until last year) let alone coming close to the speed and latency capabilities of USB 3 or USB 4 (which no mobile devices have, yet), but that doesn't matter because the cars only come with USB 2.0 spec ports.

Consider this, though... Both AA and CarPlay can also work wirelessly, which introduces A LOT more latency than that, measuring anywhere from 1.5 to 15 milliseconds!

I'd honestly be more worried about the longevity of a cable because cheap cables are likely to kink and have connectivity issues within their conductors. That's why I went with a six-foot Anker USB A to USB C cable and a quality right-angle connector. I connect mine to the port in the center console, like I said above.

I'd love to know what the supposed latency requirements for AA and CP are that latency times in that range are a concern. A cabled connection would leave the APIM in a wait-state for times imperceptible by human senses. There would have to be a lot of instructions piling up on that wait-state before the human eye can notice any lag (which I'm now using that word since it is different than latency) since the threshold for that is roughly, on average (but not as a rule, see: competitive gamers), 13ms.

Sponsored