Samsung has today announced an app for use while driving to make driving and mobile phone use safe. The exact opposite of what driving and texting/calling is, this app Drive Link, is said to conform to Japanese Automotive Manufacturers Association, one of the world’s strictest driver’s safety regulation standards. Drive Link was developed to make listening to music, hands-free talking and navigation easy and safe. The app UI is straight to the point, with big buttons so the driver doesnt need to lose attention while trying to use it. Naturally you would need a car dock to position it whare you will best on your car(or borrowed car) while driving. Drive Link navigation is set using the smartphone GPS features, so a user can select preset, recent or favourite destinations, you can also search for a specific destination. If you receive a text message with address information, a link is displayed and set directly as the destination. Once you load the app you are presented with current location weather information, applointments in the S Calendar are also displayed in the app, complete with a link to the destination if they contain an address. Saves you from asking for directions to an event venue, huh?
The app, Drive Link can connect to the in-vehicle infotainment systems via MirrorLink, a standard connectivity protocol between a smartphone and vehicle, supported by GM, Toyota, Honda, Volkswagen, Daimler, and Hyundai.That makes every music file stores in the smartphone to be played in the car speaker system and with the app you can also go to TuneIn, a global Internet Radio app that will present you with 70,000 stations and 2 million on-demand programs streaming from every continent. All user contacts in the phone are loaded to the app so users will just dial directly on the keypad, Drive Link also has text to speech feature, so all texts and notifications will be read out loud. Just make sure you are alone incase it reads erotic messages from your girlfriend if you have the wrong passengers. Availability of the app is on the Samsung Galaxy S III and later on others running Android Ice cream Sandwich, abit later. Countries where it’s already available include Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Ukraine, and United Kingdom.The whole list is 21 countries.
