Spotify’s ‘Car Thing’

Speaking of Spotify, today they released Car Thing — a $90 phone-sized touchscreen tablet that does nothing except act as a Bluetooth remote for the Spotify app on your phone. I like new hardware ideas; it’s no fun to think that the phone is the last device we’re going to need. But I can’t see why anyone would want this. At least when Amazon and Facebook tried making their own branded phones, they were actually phones that did everything we expect a modern phone to do. Who wants a phone-sized remote control for their phone?

And as a dedicated device mounted on your car dashboard, how is it not an invitation to be stolen? It looks like a phone that was left in the car.

★ Tuesday, 22 February 2022