After upgrading from an 8.4" UC4 non-nav, to a 12.1" UC5 nav, I noticed the following:
Pros:
- Wired Apple Carplay is much more responsive - So this may only apply to certain people but, I'm a huge track forward type. I'm always skipping tracks if what comes up is something I'm not in the mood to listen to. On my UC4 system, after about 30 minutes connected, track forward was horribly delayed - So much so that I could skip forward two tracks on the display before the audio would catch up. The UC5 software handles someone like me much better. Push the track forward on the steering wheel, and it instantly changes, every time. No matter how long I'm connected. That was a big deal to me.
- Full screen Carplay is awesome! - Love the fact that I can have what used to be my full size apple maps, plus music and calendar showing on the main screen.
- Screen clarity and overall graphic interface - UC5 seems much more polished and "modern" than the UC4 system. This is purely cosmetic though. Figured it was worth a mention.
Cons:
- Sound quality - Not sure why this would be different, but it seems like my UC4 audio was a lot better than the UC5 I installed. Example - my UC4 system had a loudness setting that you could turn on and off. Off gave a more flat audio curve, which was great for tuning when running amplifiers. With loudness turned on, bass and treble were dramatically increased at lower volumes, but flattened out at higher ones. I always ran with loudness off. The UC5 engineers seemed to have decided that they know what's best, and loudness is constantly on. This is horrible for amp tuning, especially if you're running a sub. Not quite sure why they decided to take a step backwards with a newer system. Really miss the loudness off button.
- Display screen is super touchy - Mostly when hitting the app buttons across the bottom of the screen. Not sure if it's because I'm using a screen protector, but 50% of the time when I press a lower button (trying to go to climate or home), the system thinks I'm trying to move the icon, and I get a huge warning saying something to the affect of "You can't do that while driving...". Super annoying to have to hit OK to that message just to try to do what you wanted to do again.
- Lack of hard buttons for some HVAC features - Really miss my seat and wheel heat hard buttons. Was so much easier in the past to just tap a few buttons to turn them on. Also missing the system off button. Really sucks to have to navigate to the climate page just to turn the system off.
Overall, I'm glad I did the upgrade for the screen real estate, and Carplay functionality. Sound quality issue is still giving me fits, but I'm almost at a point where I'm satisfied with the outcome.
Eric