Kia software update surprises

Kia software

I’ve been driving the Kia Niro for nearly a year and was sitting on a Kia software update because the car had refused to accept it. I thought that I would head to a dealer at some point and get them to handle it.

however, a few months ago, the company managed to clear the previous owner’s information and email address connection allowing me access to the Kia app. So it occurred to me that maybe the update might take.

It did!

The update was essentially a map update only, which was not so relevant to me since I rely almost exclusively on Android Auto. But, I thought there might be other subtle changes as well.

Well, there was one.

Below is the original look of Android Auto. I hadn’t snapped a picture of mine, so I grabbed this one from the web, which is exactly the look of the Android screen. A full 30% is wasted on the Android Auto name and logo.

But the update produced the result below. A far more satisfying full screen view of Android Auto. Sorry about the reflections.

I had wrongly assumed that the view was controlled by the Android software. The Kia update produced a far better result.

For the record, even in its original form, I found it far more useful that the screen arrangement used in the Polestar 2, primarily as it relates to the media use. Despite the Polestar infotainment center using Android Auto as its base, the interface design required a screen change to just to change a radio station, or at least to see what you were changing to.

Kia does it better…

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