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If your car predates the ubiquity of factory-installed, smartphone-connected entertainment systems, the easiest way to upgrade your driving experience is with an after-market screen that supports CarPlay and Android Auto. There are lots of different options available, but the best options combine beautiful screens, dual dash cams, and flexible connectivity.
The Hajomel Apple CarPlay Screen is on sale for $80 at Amazon, 38% off its $130 list price. It comes with a full complement of cables and adapters along with a backup camera and a memory card. It’s a particularly good deal considering the size of the screen and the inclusion of the dual dash camera, which most CarPlay screens don’t offer.
The touchscreen is a 10.26-inch IPS model with 1600 by 600 resolution and a 170-degree viewing angle. It shows either CarPlay or Android Auto interfaces for a seamless connection to the apps on your smartphone, all of which are almost certainly better than whatever’s loaded on your car’s preinstalled entertainment system. It mounts easily on top of your dashboard and puts out video via a built-in speaker, FM transmitter, aux cord, or Bluetooth. It’s powered by the included car outlet power adapter and can record video via a dash cam on the back of the screen and a rear-mounted backup camera that helps immensely with parallel parking.
Related: Amazon Has a ‘Clear and Responsive’ Wireless CarPlay Screen on Sale for $49
One shopper wrote that the “wireless connection with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto is fast and stable, with no lag,” a common problem in these screens, particularly those that connect wirelessly to smartphones. On top of that, “the Bluetooth audio is crisp and clear, the GPS is accurate, and the screen mirroring works perfectly.”
Other shoppers wrote that this product “works perfectly,” is “easy to use,” and has a screen with “beautiful image quality.”
The Hajomel Apple CarPlay Screen offers a fantastic upgrade to the driving experience, a full-featured navigation and entertainment system that’s simply better than what car companies were making before these standards came around. For $80, it’s also a great value whether you’re upgrading your own car or buying a gift for a loved one they’ll use and enjoy every day.
