Gadgetory

4G connections are starting to show up in cars from the factory it's a major new trend for 2014 but what's the point I'm Brian Cooley with my top five reasons you will want built-in 4G in your next car this is a taste of the future of driving number five heydo gathering I put this last because let's face it it could range anywhere from car makers doing things that are kind of dumb to massively inappropriate or kind of like magic you see the data from a built-in 4G connection will let your car throw off all kinds of information about it and how you use it it could make it far better to own and operate or it could just be totally invasive number four better in car hotspots I rank this fairly low because I believe the need for a hot spot in your car is overblown at best and bait to push you into an overage fee at worst need a hotspot pull over and get a cup of coffee but if you do have one powered by 4G at least it'll work better number three over-the-air updates I love the idea of these having your car's software updated once or twice a year like when you get a new version of iOS or Android but what keeps it mid-pack at number three is that we've never seen a car maker do this other than Tesla which is done already a long enough list of these to make up for the rest of the industry on its own as for the other car makers will they offer a new OS a couple of times or three times during car ownership or just prefer to get you to buy a new car and if they do give you an update what if it bricks number two connection speed everything's better went faster but even more so in a car we're having information and services resolved quickly on the screen is essential to the task of driving with minimal distraction this is very important whether it's connected nav search off-board voice recognition or streaming media I can't think of a place a fast connection could be more rewarding than in your car the number one reason that 4G is a must-have in the near future is a persistent connection this is a big game-changer folks and even if it sounds a little nebulous you see a built-in always on connection in your car will fundamentally change your expectations of the in-car experience our online habits services and preferences will finally follow us into the car seamlessly as opposed to the way it is now where you kind of have to change gears adapt to your car's media sources your car's interface its navigation platform and it's utter ignorance of your life's context it's time for the car to really be another of our mobile devices and have that not just be a car maker tagline and built-in 4G can get us there high-tech cars and modern driving at CNET on cars.com i'm brian coulis thanks for watching