OEM multimedia VW Taos: all about VW Play and stereo

VW Play multimedia and other Taos magnetos mysteries

Exposing a clone of the Czech Karok, the Germans have taken care of the maximum “breeding” of twins in the model range under the signboard Volkswagen. One of the factors of creation of impression of absolutely different automobile became multimedia, the radio recorder on Taos can stand two kinds, each with its own riddles, none of which the owner will like:

Composition Media, with a 6.5-inch screen, only on the entry-level package;
The latest, “innovative” VW play multimedia with a 10″ display.

Frankly speaking, the first one is a frankly budget variant with the minimum of functionality and serious incomprehension; the second one, if to take out of brackets Yandex Navigator, is nothing at all. But first things first.

Composition Media

In principle, it’s not a bad Polish multimedia. It used to be about 5 years ago. It had excellent characteristics for its time. And here begins a mystery: the modern generation, MIB3, should go with an 8″ screen, but in the specification Taos size of the display is indicated as 6.5 inches, corresponding to the 2nd generation.

There is a question whether it is a misprint or VW on a background of “crisis of components” has dug out its reserves from good times, to put something on the car and to sell it to the buyer? True, we should not say that it is so bad. Their functional in many respects coincides, the third generation has implemented contactless scrolling on the screen, but the second generation had a CD-player in the basic unit. In view of the modular design the pinout is irrelevant.

Note: the pictures show already “hacked” head unit.

AndroidAuto;
AppleCarplay;
Mirrorlink;
FM/AM radio;
Bluetooth (no microphone);
1 slot for SD-card;
USB and AUX;
support for parking sensors and rear camera;
display of audio covers, radio station logos;
it is possible to display a number of parameters on the dashboard (OEM dashboard in the initial configuration of Taos does not support this function, but after modification of the connection is theoretically possible);
voice control in Russian (Russian is included in the set of languages for the global model, but is almost always blocked).

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This is the basic functionality, there are other things, such as a compass, but it needs a connection to satellites, etc. The main advantage of this car radio is that it is well studied by specialists, for it are known methods of solving the problem of “component protection” and to open the blocked features (and Volkswagen loves to block a lot of functionality, giving privarok their dealers) is possible even by independent experts.

Because of this, Composition Media has become quite a popular replacement option instead of outdated car stereos. The disadvantage is the lack of its own navigation, but this issue can be solved by outputting a picture from your phone, or its full mirroring. In this case, there are pitfalls, depending on the model, the screen of the smartphone itself can be blocked, and the system navigation panel is not displayed on the screen of the radio.

VW Play

The word “innovative” in relation to the radio is in quotes, as the novelties here is the Android operating system and the ability to download applications from a proprietary store VW Play Apps, but so a set of features the standard.

It seems to be new, but these novelties are, shall we say, for the third world. In Europe, Volkswagen has started to implement a really revolutionary technology called Car2X, in which cars with the VW logo communicate with each other without the Internet, creating their own decentralized network through powerful built-in car routers with a range of up to 800 meters.

It is clear that no one will create multimedia specifically for Russia, and VW Play was borrowed from the Brazilian branch of WAG, along the way they removed preinstalled applications for South America and reduced functionality (even in comparison with the “developing” as they like to call politically correct representatives of the “civilized” world).

As a result, Russian buyers of Taos received only three applications:

Yandex Navigator;
Internet Radio;
Waze.

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The latter was the South American equivalent of Yandex road services, did not work in Russia and, according to the latest information, has already been “cut out” of the application store. Internet radio here and there, but the Navigator is really useful and many would like to get it.

Volkswagen promises to expand the number of applications in its store over time. The official sites of VW in South America have invitations for developers to offer their products for VW Play and a list of requirements for them. The Germans do not seem to trust Russian specialists. Or they are afraid…

The procedure for authorization and downloading applications is described in detail on the official website of Volkswagen in Russia, we will not dwell on it, but it is worth mentioning the silent part.

Since the multimedia for the Russian Federation was adapted “randomly” and on the residual principle, during the activation there are often problems associated with the “dampness” of the software. So far several typical ones have been revealed:

On the Taos mag, I can’t get into the app store account via the VW ID. After typing and entering the password, a white screen appears. The reason is a defect in the SMS code check page. So far found a temporary solution, from a laptop or phone to turn off the 2-factor authentication in the personal account on the website of Volkswagen.
Another option to solve the white screen problem is to reconnect to another access point.
Problem with authorization in Yandex after loading the Navigator. The system does not recognize the correct password and constantly generates an error. The reason is that an old version of the Navigator is unshared in the store. Only VW is able to solve this issue, the user has to bypass the problem: reset the old password and set a new one directly from the application running in the head unit.

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Bottom line and conclusions

Both boomboxes obviously are going to give their owners surprises, but at least the old one is definitely amenable to “fine-tuning with a file”, after which it gives quite decent functionality.

Manual Activation of VW Play Apps store, installation of applications on the head unit VW Play

In the new Volkswagen Taos with the new VW Play multimedia, you need to activate the application store to use Yandex Services and other applications. To activate the store and download apps, follow these steps: 1. Connect multimedia to an available Wi-Fi source (see Appendix 1 for alternative ways of connection) Activate Wi-Fi connection on the mobile phone/transportable modem or make sure that there is access to a third-party Wi-Fi connection Click on the icon of deactivated Wi-Fi connection

Activate Wi-Fi connection search

Select a network (enter a password if necessary) and connect to it

Activating the VW Play Apps store Make sure your multimedia device is connected to the Wi-Fi network, click on the App Store icon, then “Browse VW Play Apps

Once registered, access to the app store will open, you need to click on the app to download

Appendix 1: Wi-Fi Alternatives (2) How to connect to a Wi-Fi network Activate Wi-Fi on your mobile phone/transportable modem or make sure you have access to a third-party Wi-Fi connection Click on the Settings icon

Then click on the Connections icon

Activate Wi-Fi connection search

Select a network (enter a password if necessary) and connect to it

(3) How do I connect to a Wi-Fi network? Check your mobile phone/transportable modem for Wi-Fi coverage or make sure you have access to a third-party Wi-Fi connection Click the Phone icon