5 Apps That Works Better Than Your In-Car Infotainment Systems

Waze – The app that changed driving

Looking for a reliable route finder whilst avoiding traffic? This could very well be the best online navigation service in the market to date. Waze, the Google-owned crowdsourcing navigation app that uses a complex algorithm and real-time speeds of its users to determine the best driving routes.

The best predictor of your trip today is the trip you took yesterday. It crowd sources its information from the users, which allows for the most up to date traffic information. The software then automatically factors these updates into its directional advice. Waze gives its users the fastest route available, which is highly appreciated in this day and age.

Apart from providing the most up to date travel information, Waze owes much of its accomplishments to its social media component in uniquely connects everyone on the road into one mobile application platform. When people know that they are contributing to others experience and vice versa, they feel empowered.

Clearly, Waze is poised to maintain its level of success in the foreseeable future if it sticks to its core ideas of simplicity, efficiency and customer satisfaction. Recent evidence to its success shows that Ford has announced in late February 2018 at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, that the popular navigation and traffic app will be available to Ford owners with their SYNC3 in-car infotainment system globally from April 2018. (source: Ford Worldwide)

Spotify – Hitting the road? Bring Spotify with you in the car.

Spotify is a digital music streaming service that gives you access to millions of songs, podcasts and videos from artists all over the world.

Queuing up your tunes for a long drive on the wide-open highway may be of paramount importance, but so too is your safety. Luckily for all of us, Spotify understands this and is reportedly testing a special driving mode for some of its users. Driving mode involves an enlarged interface, in which buttons are bigger and therefore easier to touch. In order to activate the Driving Mode, all you have to do is sync your smartphone’s Bluetooth to your car.

It is also immediately appealing because you can access content for free by simply signing up using an email address or by connecting with Facebook. If you're not keen on monthly subscription fees for Spotify Premium, or just want to dip your toe in and test it out, it's easy to get started and there's no commitment.

Drivemode - Making the roads a safer place, one smartphone at a time.

If your car or smartphone doesn't come with the capabilities of connecting to either Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, then try out Drivemode! Everything you ever needed can be found in one place. Whether it is music, navigation, phone and messaging functions, this app is a sure win for you. The innovative company understands the challenges of juggling in between multiple apps while behind the wheel. Drivemode does the legwork to connect all the functions you need, making them available precisely when you need them.

If the thought of having messages come in while driving is a distraction, you can tell Drivemode to silence all of your messages and auto-respond to them with a notification that you’re unavailable and you’ll get back to them as soon as you can, or that you’re driving and will respond when you get to your destination. This takes away the stress and the risks of potential road accidents.

It works with more apps than any other driving app out there. To list a few, it supports Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Spotify, Amazon Music, Waze, Google Maps and many more.

Jomparking - It is simple, secure and quick way to pay for parking

JomParking is a convenient and easy way to pay street parking from the comfort of your own smartphone. It features ‘A click away’ conveniences of the modern street parking transaction that takes just a few seconds, guaranteed secured payment that gives great content and safety that eliminates the need for cash. Also, a smart monitoring mobile payment for modern street parking is streamlined with the wide coverage throughout Klang Valley.

What really benefits us in using Jomparking is that we can easily pay the parking charges using our smartphone, all parking transactions are available via mobile apps, and you don’t need to use the manual pay box, no cash is required, need not to place a receipt on our dashboard, we also receive notification alerts 15 minutes prior to the parking expiry time and we can opt to extend our parking time remotely.

This app can be downloaded for both Android and iOS devices using Google Play and Apple App Store respectively. All it takes to get started is to register your account by following the one-time registration process and top-up your token, a payment method in JomParking that will be used to pay street parking fee.

ParkAideMobile – Convenience simplified

ParkAide is the ultimate parking experience where it combines the convenience of a smartphone application and the task of finding suitable parking space with ease. This app works by enabling the users to access a list of available car parks that supports this particular service. After deciding on the preferred car park and the parking duration, payment can be made through a token method and the registered car can be parked in any one of the reserved bays for the allocated time.

The ParkAide Mobile system uses a fully electronic system that is completely eco-friendly so that drivers can enjoy the full parking experience with nothing to lose. In a nutshell, drivers won’t have to deal with queues, tickets and of course, no hassles in finding a parking space. Of course, it is crucial to remember that using your mobile device is only allowed when conditions are allowed. Always drive safely and don’t let anything distract you while driving.