What We Love About Our Ram 1500 Laramie's Giant Uconnect Screen
Ram’s big screen meets our big expectations.
We've left the time when trucks were merely implements of work far in the rearview, and as such, any review of one needs to include an evaluation of the big, fat touchscreen smack in the middle of it. Forget any philosophizing about whether screens belong in trucks or what trucks are "supposed" to be used for. That horse is out of the barn. Our 2019 Ram 1500 has the biggest screen of all, so let's talk about it.
The optional 12.0-inch Uconnect screen offered by Ram helped put this truck over the top when it won our 2019 Truck of the Year award. All trucks offer touchscreens at this point, and some don't even sell a trim level without one. Ram, and its parent company FCA, have long been leaders in terms of the software on the screen, but the 2019 Ram 1500 brought the hardware, too.
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Installing a massive, portrait-oriented screen in the dash gave Ram a lot of opportunities to address the inherent drawbacks of screens. First and foremost, larger screens can fit larger text, buttons, and images on them if you program them right. This makes whatever's on the screen easier to read at a glance. It makes it easier to find and press the virtual button you're looking for. It means less time with your eyes off the road.
Such an advantage isn't appreciated until it's taken away. Using the same excellent Uconnect software in other FCA products after having gotten used to the big screen is a disappointing eye-opener. The 8.0-inch screen in many other FCA products is the industry average size, but every line of text and virtual button is smaller and crammed up closer to other things on the screen. Finding the information you need takes more concentration, as does hitting the right virtual button. Once you've been spoiled by the big screen, little ones feel inadequate.
Of course, you wouldn't have to spend any time at all looking for virtual buttons if there were real, tangible, physical buttons and knobs you could find with muscle memory and your sense of touch. Ram's got you there, too. Lining either side of the screen are hard buttons for the driver and passenger's climate controls and knobs for radio volume and tuning. And if you'd prefer not to take your hands off the wheel no matter what the interface, there are buttons on the back sides of the steering wheel spokes at nine and three for volume and tuning controls, or you could use voice commands.
The latter are a mixed bag. Recognizing natural speech is difficult enough for a computer before you consider dialects, syntax, and background noise. Ram's system does pretty well understanding clear, concise commands, but it's not like talking to Siri, Alexa, or Google. You don't ask for things, you give it orders.
Good thing, then, that plugging in your phone brings Siri and Google along for the ride. Holding the voice command button will activate your phone's digital assistant, which you can then ask for whatever you want. Apple CarPlay or Android Auto will handle the rest (depending on your signal strength, of course).
Integrating those outside technologies is the real triumph here. Some automakers have trouble even doing that, but Ram has hit it out of the park with the mega screen. See, on any normal, landscape-oriented screen, CarPlay or Android Auto take over the whole screen. Now, you have to switch back and forth between user interfaces, one for the smart phone functions and one for the vehicle functions. Not the Ram. CarPlay or Android Auto is simply assigned one of the two "cards," the upper or lower half of the screen (you can swap cards with the push of a virtual button). The other card can be whatever other primary system you want: audio, climate controls, navigation, phone, or Sirius XM Travel Link services.
Even when you're not using CarPlay or Android Auto, Ram's card system is a brilliant bit of customization. Want to be able to pick and choose between your radio presets without losing the navigation? Put 'em on two different cards. Need the map up high so you don't miss a turn? Put it on top until you get out of the city, then swap it to the bottom when you're out on the highway with miles to go before the next instruction. Or make any card full screen for more detail.
Of course, no software is completely free of bugs, or you wouldn't have to update the apps on your phone every week. The big screen on our long-term Ram wasn't free of them, either. As we reported in an earlier update, ours had an issue with the backup camera, which takes over the upper card when the truck is in reverse (the lower card is replaced at the same time by seat heating/cooling controls, a nice touch when you're getting ready to back out of the driveway in the morning). We had an intermittent issue with the camera image refusing to go away when the truck was shifted out of reverse, but a software update at the dealer during a normal service took care of it.
Read more about our long-term 2019 Ram 1500 Laramie:
- Arrival
- Update 1:How We Put Our Truck of the Year Straight to Work
- Update 2:4 Electronic Aids We'd Like to Reprogram
- Update 3: Our2019 Ram 1500 LaramieHelped Evacuate Animals in Harm's Way
- Update 4: 2 Fixes That Would Make Hauling With our2019 Ram 1500 Laramie Better
- Update 5: It's Time to Talk About Our Long-Term2019 Ram 1500 Laramie'sFuel Economy
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