Entune - what's the point?

[SeattleBrian]

I just purchased my 2012 TE. Love it by the way. I have navigation and entune. I see the point of navigation, but what again is the point of entune? My phone already has the apps, now I can see them on my screen???? Do i really need to check stock prices on my car screen while driving? Why not just use my phone? Plus, entune is free for 3 years, then there is a price? WTF is that?

I have been able to listen to pandora and spotify via the bluetooth connectivity in my VW golf. I would assume I'd be able to do the same in the 4runner and skip entune. Now, if my passengers could watch netflix on the dvd navigation screen while I drive, I am in. Otherwise, I see little point to the thing. Why would I use opentable on my car screen when it's easier on my phone?

 

[mpaquette]

I've often wondered about this myself. Curious to hear what others have to say.

 

[Hardrunner]

What happens to navigation after 3 years and you dont want to pay the monthly fee for this useless thing?

 

[southman_70]

What happens to navigation after 3 years and you dont want to pay the monthly fee for this useless thing?

Navigation is free. Its accessibility of the other services that you have to pay for which doesn't make any sense. I would agree if you did not have to use your phone data for them but hell you have to pay for that too :brick: oh not to forget the safety connect and XM if you use it.

 

[Quentin]

In West Virginia*, it is illegal to be doing anything with your phone while you are driving. Using the voice and onscreen commands, you should be able to search for POIs via Bing on the fly and navigate to them, tell your bluetooth music player what to play, create pandora stations, find restaurants, etc. To me, Entune basically took the abilities of Poynt, a fantastic POI app on the phone, and put them right on the head unit.

The entune subscription covers the traffic portion on the nav. Other system us XM traffic and such for that data via satallite.

I personally use about 800mb of my 2GB data plan per month. I don't see the data usage being a problem. I don't browse all day long, either.

* I think Toyota is just looking ahead and seeing what is coming down the line as far as legislation. Ray LaHood has a vendetta on distracted driving.

 

[Squelch]

I have a 2012 Trail w/o Nav/Entune. I've been enjoying just the XM stations.

Just this past weekend I discovered that the 'Maps' navigation on my phone talks through the bluetooth connection for the voice prompts. Very nice.