![]() ![]() The control panel looks and feels nice, and I had no trouble using "Hey, Spotify” commands to search for music. In other words, the Car Thing acts only as a control panel for the Spotify app on your phone. ![]() Your phone handles all of the audio, from receiving it through the Spotify app to sending it to your car’s speakers. If you’ve been paying attention to the setup process, you might have noticed that the Car Thing connects only to your phone, not to the car itself. My phone then connected to my car over Bluetooth, which it was already set up to do. With these steps complete, the Car Thing successfully linked to my Spotify account it automatically turned on and connected to my phone every time I started my car. I opted for the former method, because you don't get a cable in the box and the iPhone 12 I used for testing doesn’t have a headphone jack. It then told me to connect my phone to my car’s sound system over another Bluetooth connection or with an aux cable. The code launched the Spotify app and walked me through pairing the Car Thing with my phone over Bluetooth. It powered on and prompted me to scan a QR code on the screen with my phone. To get started using the Car Thing, I placed it on its mount and plugged it into my car’s USB port. Easy Setupįirst off, you need a Spotify account to use the Car Thing, so if you don't already have one, you'll need to create one. You can also power the Car Thing directly if your car has a USB port it worked with the one in my vehicle without issue. In addition to the mounting accessories, the Car Thing comes with a cigarette lighter adapter with two USB ports, a USB-A-to-USB-C cable, and two small adhesive cable clips to prevent the wire from dangling. The magnetic holder clipped in securely and the Car Thing stayed put in testing, despite remaining easy to remove. My Honda Fit doesn’t have a CD player, and the adhesive mount didn’t stick too well to the textured surface of my dashboard, but the vent clip stayed in place despite my nonstandard air vents. There’s a vent clip with two sets of flexible prongs, a CD mount with a flat insert that fits inside any slot-loading CD player, and an adhesive mount with a sticky strip that attaches to the dashboard. You get several different mounts with the Car Thing, in addition to the magnetic holder that snaps into all of them. The Car Thing comes with several mount options This protrusion includes a USB-C port for power, and has a metal panel behind the plastic casing that facilitates the connection to the magnetic puck-shaped holder. The back is mostly flat, with a raised section that takes up about a third of the space. A tiny rubber tag with the Spotify logo extends from the left edge. The top edge of the device has a series of five buttons (four for presets and one for settings), as well as four pinhole microphones. A 4-inch, 800-by-480-pixel touch screen sits on the front, with a large rubberized dial and a smaller black plastic button on the right. The Car Thing looks a bit like a small smartphone: It’s a black device with a plastic body and a glass front panel that measures about 3 by 5 by 1 inches (HWD). For far less money, a simple car phone mount brings similar utility to your vehicle using your existing handset. While the Car Thing is easy to use and nice to look at, it relies relies heavily on your smartphone, lacks a navigation mode, and doesn't offer any voice features you can't already get via the Spotify app. ![]() If you don't have access to easy connectivity options and still want to stream music as you drive, you might be tempted by Spotify's $89.99 Car Thing accessory, which clips to your dashboard and features both a color touch screen and a dial for controlling Spotify playback. And generally speaking, it’s easier than ever to hook your phone up to your car in a safe and useful way (I swear by my Honda Fit’s Android Auto and Apple CarPlay integrations). Best Hosted Endpoint Protection and Security Softwareīetween streaming audio and providing turn-by-turn directions, smartphones have become essential for most drivers.
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