A simple way to bring your old car into the digital age, the Laser Navig8r Wireless 7-inch Apple CarPlay and Android Auto touchscreen lets your smart assistant ride shotgun when you’re behind the wheel.
Smartphones are very handy travel companions on the road, making it easy to listen to music, talk to someone on the phone, dictate messages and take advantage of satellite navigation to get from A to B. Of course, the law is pretty strict about not touching your phone while you’re driving.
Initially, the answer was to place your phone in a cradle attached to the dashboard or windscreen, so you can use the phone hands-free and still see the screen while you’re driving. Today, most new cars have a built-in touchscreen and support for Apple CarPlay and/or Android Auto, so you can easily tap into all your phone’s features on a much larger display. If you’re keen, it’s also possible to use Amazon’s Alexa on the road.
Unfortunately, we can’t all afford to drive a new car. If you’re keen to take advantage of Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, one option is to upgrade your car stereo with a new head unit. Another easier and more affordable option is to stick the Laser Navig8r Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto touchscreen on your dashboard.
Laser wireless CarPlay & Android Auto touchscreen review
First impressions
The Laser Navig8r Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto touchscreen is very easy to install in your car. It attaches to your windscreen or dashboard with a suction cup similar to a smartphone cradle, with an adjustable arm so you can position the screen exactly where you want it.
The flexible arm is important, because the large 7-inch screen is more bulky than a smartphone, which means it can be tricky to find the perfect spot depending on the design of your dashboard. I’ve always favoured the right bottom corner of the windscreen, between the steering wheel and the driver’s door. Here, the smartphone or smart screen is not blocking your view, but is still easy to see without taking your eyes off the road (unlike a built-in screen in the centre console).
The Laser screen is designed to be mounted sideways in landscape mode, with a hood across the top to shade it from the sun, so you don’t get too much glare on a bright day. Like smartphone cradles, the joints in the arm might work loose after a while – so it’s best to have the bottom of the unit resting on the dash to help take the weight.
The screen draws power from your car’s 12V cigarette lighter, via a supplied USB-C cable. Frustratingly, the cigarette lighter power adaptor doesn’t feature a second USB slot, in case you want to charge another device at the same time.
The good news is that the screen features one USB-A port on the side, which can power a device and also supports wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connections. Alternatively, you can connect your smartphone to the screen wirelessly.
Connecting the Laser Navig8r touchscreen to your car is very simple. It features an FM transmitter with the ability to adjust the frequency, so you can tune into the broadcast with your car radio. There’s also a 3.5 mm audio output, which is handy if your car’s stereo has a 3.5 mm auxiliary input – and you’ll probably get slightly better sound quality this way.
Alternatively, the unit has a built-in speaker, but it’s not overly loud or clear, so you wouldn’t want to depend on it. There’s also a USB and micro-SD slot for playing stored music rather than streaming from your phone, plus an AV input for connecting Laser’s optional $29.95 reversing camera.
Laser Wireless Apple CarPlay & Android Auto touchscreen specifications
| Display size | 7-inch |
| Display resolution | 1204 x 600 pixels |
| Display technology | IPS |
| Compatibility | Apple CarPlay and Android Auto |
| Connectivity | FM transmitter 3.5mm aux output AV in for optional reversing camera Bluetooth 5.0 |
| External storage | USB-A and microSD |
| Power | USB-C via supplied 12V car cigarette lighter adaptor |
| Dimensions | 18.97 x 11.16 x 4.05 cm |
| Weight | 300 gm |
| Price (RRP) | $169 |
| Warranty | 1 year |
| Official website | Laser Australia |
Features
Connecting your smartphone to the Laser Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto touchscreen is very simple, just start the car, wait for the screen to power up, tap on PhoneLink and then follow the supplied instructions.
Wireless is easiest, making a Bluetooth connection, although in the background it also takes advantage of Wi-Fi to support the extra bandwidth of the full CarPlay or Android Auto experience. Your phone will automatically reconnect wireless whenever you start the car, although it can take a while for it to finish connecting.
At this point, you’ve got the full smartphone experience at your fingertips, as if it was running on a touchscreen built into the car. Keep in mind that now you have all these fancy features at your disposal, you’ll likely start chewing through more mobile data on your smartphone.
If you’re used to running sat-nav on your smartphone in a cradle in portrait mode, switching to a big 7-inch landscape display really opens up your view of the world. The larger text can make it easy to read street names and directions while driving, while the larger icons make it easier to access the other features of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
One downside is that it’s now easy to get distracted by easier access to all the advanced features on your phone. There’s an adjustment period and it takes a little self-control to ensure you’re still safe behind the wheel.
While most people would be happy to spend all their time in the Apple CarPlay or Android Auto interface, it’s also possible to switch back to the Laser screen’s own menus. This is useful if you want to play music from the onboard storage rather than your phone if you don’t have your phone with you. Frustratingly, but perhaps understandably, if you play music from USB and then switch back to Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, the music cuts out.
It also supports AirPlay or Miracast for screen mirroring from your phone directly to the screen when not driving. In theory, you could use this for in-car entertainment, but it doesn’t seem very practical considering the size and location of the screen in the car.
Quality
In terms of build quality, the Laser Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto touchscreen feels a bit cheap, but thankfully it still seems to be fairly robust. The large suction cup gets a good grip on the windscreen, which is also important to ensure it stays put.
The 1024 × 600 7-inch touchscreen isn’t nearly as impressive as modern smartphone screens. Realistically though, that’s not a big deal when you just need to glance at it while driving. It’s large, and reasonably clear, although the colours are a little muted compared to what you might get from a smartphone or high-end in-car display.
It would also benefit from being a bit brighter with better contrast. It’s fine when looking at the large driving-friendly menus and clear sat-nav instructions, but it’s a bit hard too see the finer details in Apple Maps when not in navigation mode (which is partly Apple’s fault for using a lot of grey on white).
Perhaps the biggest disappointment is the quality of the microphone for hands-free calling, with people on the other end commenting on the poor sound quality.
Apart from that, judging its quality is more about judging the experience of Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. In some ways the Laser screen is just a dumb terminal, letting your smartphone do the heavy lifting, which isn’t a bad thing.
Who is the Laser Wireless Apple CarPlay & Android Auto touchscreen for?
The Laser Navig8r Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto touchscreen is the perfect solution for anyone who isn’t in a position to buy a new car or upgrade their existing car’s stereo. To be honest, I initially had my doubts considering the low price tag, but it really does punch above its weight and would make for a great co-pilot on daily commutes or summer road trips.
If you’re primarily interested in it for making hands-free calls, the disappointing microphone means you should look elsewhere. But realistically, most people wouldn’t be making or recieveing too many calls while behind the wheel.
While you can get a smartphone car mount for less than $50, I’d say it’s certainly worth spending the extra for this smart touchscreen so you can safely take full advantage of Apple CarPlay or Android Auto while you’re behind the wheel.
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