Pressing the large round button shows tracks in an album, playlist or podcast. The dial serves as an alternative to navigating the touch screen, allowing you to scroll through menus by rotating it. It’s a thin display with a sizable dial on the front. An image of Spotify's Car Thing the company released in 2019.Ĭar Thing is a device that’s slightly smaller than an iPhone 11, in almost every dimension.

Around the same time, the company began adding Car View to its apps: a feature that switches to a simplified player interface when it detects your phone is connected to your vehicle over Bluetooth. The Financial Times report mentioned voice control features, but added new info about preset buttons for playlists and Bluetooth connectivity. All the details from those rumblings turned out to be an accurate description of the Car Thing released this month. In 2019, reports indicated Spotify was ready to ship an in-car player. The company didn’t comment at the time, and it’s unclear if any units of this first circular device ever made it out into the wild. It offered a few Reddit users the opportunity to try a compact device that reportedly featured voice control and 4G connectivity.

Spotify first tipped its hand on an in-car music player in 2018. I’ve spent two weeks with Car Thing in my car (obviously), and can tell you one thing - this dedicated Spotify player is really more of a controller for the app on your phone. Even though the company revealed the full details on Car Thing earlier this month, it’s only a “limited release” right now.

After years of rumors, confirmation and vague descriptions, Spotify has finally made its first piece of hardware available to select users.

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