HTC Car app arrives on the Play Store, but it’s still exclusive to certain phones

While those of us living at the bleeding edge of technology (aka Uber) may not have a use for this, HTC knows that many people still drive and need a safe way to get information while keeping their eyes on the road. That’s why they today released a previously HTC One-exclusive Android app called HTC Car, which turns your smartphone into an in-car dashboard, to the Play Store…

If you have an HTC One, you can purchase the company’s first-party car dock (available here for $49.99). When your One is placed into the dock, it will automatically launch the HTC Car app. With all other HTC phones (yes, this app is still for HTC phones only) you launch it from your home screen like any normal app.

Once launched, the interface is what you’re probably familiar with from other applications for car dashboards — large buttons with big icons for different functions including turn-by-turn directions, the phone dialer, and some widgets like one for finding nearby gas stations (or petrol stations for you Europeans). The app also has text-to-speech for reading incoming caller information and text messages aloud. Pretty standard stuff.

It’s disappointing that even though HTC released the app to the Play Store it’s still exclusive to HTC devices. The reason for the Play Store release at all seems to be so that HTC can get critical updates to the app into the hands of users without having to push firmware updates, which can be slowed down by carrier approval, among other things.

If you have an HTC phone that isn’t the HTC One and you drive a lot, this app is for you.