Ram 1500 Uconnect Infotainment System Review

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Reviewing the top-of-the-line vertically oriented touchscreen infotainment system in the Ram 1500.

Video Transcript

- I'm in the 2021 RAM 1500, and specifically, the TRX. But rather than going 150 through the desert or jumping a gorge, I'm going to talk about the infotainment system. Sorry, but whether it's the TRX or any of the RAM 1500, this is one of the best features in it, and although there are a number of touchscreens available, this is the top of the line one.

Easy to see why. It is very large and very vertically oriented, and unlike other vertically oriented touch screens, this one actually does improve on functionality. Let's talk about some of the reasons why that is.

Now, for starters, there are still physical buttons for the climate controls, including such, you know, basic things as recirculation and defroster. Now, that might seem, well, kind of like it should be included, but in other vertically oriented screens, you have to fiddle with the touch screen itself.

The other thing I like about this screen in general is the black background. It's really nice because it blends in better with the black trim, especially during the day, and it's not incredibly bright, which is really great during night driving. So many screens, of which there are many in cars now, they just basically blind you at night, and you have to turn down the brightness. This one, because the black background, it's better. It's also very easily read.

One of the things I like about this is that you can choose as you can say-- see here, "Select Bottom Card." Now you can choose what you want on each side. So if you want nav, you can do that. If you want, say, here's an extended view of your climate settings, you can do that there.

You can also press that button, and it swaps them. Let's do that. I, personally, like having my audio settings up here.

And if you just want the entire screen devoted to something, say to audio, there you go. That entire screen is devoted to audio. You can very clearly see that Paul McCartney is on the radio, and then you still have your radio presets very clearly labeled very high on the screen, easy to reach and see.

This is well executed. I don't know. A lot of people don't listen to the radio anymore, and they don't sign up for XM, but if you do, I really like this setup. It is one of the best.

Now, like most cars today this comes with Apple CarPlay, so let's plug that in. There you go. And if you press down here-- now, with Apple CarPlay, perhaps there's a way to do it, but I haven't found it, is Apple CarPlay, when you're in the home screen, is docked always at the top. And actually, you can see here, because Apple CarPlay plate does not go to dim, you can see the difference here between the two and how this might be a little bright compared to this. Easier read down here.

Anywho, if we just go out of here, and one thing again I like about this is that the Function buttons are always lined up at the bottom. You don't have to go back and forth. And specifically with CarPlay, this is great because a lot of cars, CarPlay takes over the entire screen. Some people like this. I do not because I would still like to, say, if you're using the map for Apple CarPlay, you can still have your radio functions down here.

And there you go. You go select what you want to see. Again, I really like that functionality. And you can go to the full screen again. You can get rid of Apple CarPlay.

Now, again, there are a number of different things you can do with this screen, you know, more in depth. All your seat controls, various options there and here. You can get different apps for UConnect, of which there's not really loaded, but again, they're kind of quick access stuff here.

Here's your surround view camera. See your different views around the house. There you go. And then there's a bed cam, or that-- sorry, that's the backup camera.

So again, there's a lot of things that this system can do. Just as a lot of touch screens, there's a lot of things that these things can do, but the fact of the matter is, most people don't use those things. They never know they're there, let alone dig into it deep enough to actually appreciate them. This does the basics really well, and specifically, with this vertically oriented touch screen, it's not just to show off. It actually does increase usability, and it makes it one of the best, and possibly the best, infotainment systems on the market.