With the redesign of Android Auto Coolwalk, we gained some functionality and animations, but we also lost other things. For example, current temperature data which previously appeared in Android Auto’s status bar does not appear with Coolwalk. Google is aware of the issue and has promised that the time will return to Android Auto. We are still waiting.
While the first weather app supporting Android Auto and Automotive was released recently, many Android Auto users prefer to just view the temperature as before, without having to switch apps. The most curious thing about this is that this is already available in Coolwalk, more or less, but only whether the car screen meets certain conditions
The time is here, but not on all screens
If you want to see the weather in Android Auto in a fairly comfortable and visible way, we have good news and bad news. The good news is that the feature is still present in Android Auto with Coolwalk active. The bad thing is that does not always appear.
Android Auto with Coolwalk adapts to all types of screens as best he can and it’s not easy, because there are screens of all sizes and shapes: vertical, horizontal, square and more or less panoramic. Depending on the screen, the distribution of the taskbar and open applications in the foreground and background varies.
Android Auto “widgets” on a standard format screen
For example, on a standard screen, when we open Android Auto, we will see Google Maps taking up most of the screen and a second column with widgets: one of them is the music player and the other is a changing widget
The funny thing is that when Android Auto is used on a square or vertical screen with sufficient resolution, the map takes up the vast majority of the top half while the widgets go down. The big difference is that then one of the widgets happens to be the weather. There we will see the temperature and the current state, as well as the maximum and minimum for the day
Android Auto “widgets” when the screen is square or vertical (and they are at the bottom)
This widget cannot be closed (it is fixed) and clicking on it Google Assistant will tell us the current temperature, just like when we open the app called Weather in the Android Auto app drawer. Unlike the media widget, you can’t swipe to see more details about the weather forecast, at least for now.
Already having the map ready to use, it is strange that Google won’t let us use it in other screen configurations. There will be those who prefer to keep the current destination suggestions widget or prefer not to display any, but either way it wouldn’t hurt to give users the option to choose which widgets they want to display. For now, Google has promised us that time will return to Android Auto with Coolwalk, so we’ll have to wait and see how things pan out.
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