Database Users

Which Pumpkin Android head unit I should get

Hi All,
Im interested in getting an android head unit for my VW car
i been looking and found this one from their site
autopumpkin.com/car-dvd-players/android-dvd-player/vw-android-dvd-player/pumpkin-8-inch-flush-panel-pure-android-4-4-kitkat-plug-and-player-car-stereo-gps-navigation-system-for-vw-skoda-seat-support-obd2-air-play-3g-wifi-canbus-7-color-buttons-1024-600.html
KD-C0346-US-A
it seem pretty good however It seem that there are not support yet from this forum with regards to updates mods etc
or should i be safe and go with the older version which has support from this forum with mod etc
autopumpkin.com/car-dvd-players/android-dvd-player/vw-android-dvd-player/pumpkin-head-unit-pure-android-4-2-double-2-din-car-dvd-player-gps-navigation-system-for-vw-with-7-inch-lcd-hd-capacitive-touch-screen-3g-wifi-can-bus-7color-of-button-indicator-remote-control.html
KD-C0341
Tell me what you guys think.
Thanks
chidoridesu

chidoridesu said:
it seem pretty good however It seem that there are not support yet from this forum with regards to updates mods etc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
???
It's an RK3188/1024x600 unit made by Klyde. Don't expect any free "support" from here on any of the units, but the firmware and extensions found here should work as well on it as on any other model. The majority of these Chinese units are based on the same basic design, just repackaged with different cosmetics.

mike.s said:
???
It's an RK3188/1024x600 unit made by Klyde. Don't expect any free "support" from here on any of the units, but the firmware and extensions found here should work as well on it as on any other model. The majority of these Chinese units are based on the same basic design, just repackaged with different cosmetics.
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply
As in support i didnt mean like it that way, was referring to firmware, extension n them
so its safe to say that if i get the 1024x600 most of the stuff from this thread should work http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2660662
Thanks for confirming that for me, ur a champ mike.s

Anyone ended up getting this unit?
How is the sound quality on it? Better or worse than OEM?
I have a 14 Passat with RDS310 - sounds was ok but not that great - then installed a Pioneer Appradio 3 - sounds got considerably better.
Then played with an Ouku Win8UI 2015 version, sound got degraded, probably to the levels of OEM or maybe even worse (to its defense, it has lots of options to play with EQ/Sound mode, but it still wasn't clear enough).
The Pumpkin quad code (KD-C0346) seems interesting, but I'd like to get a unit that is par with the likes of Pioneer (at least the AR3) sound wise.
Any thoughts?
thanks

New Joying Head Unit? Tweeted Dec 5 2015

I saw this tweet
https://twitter.com/carjoying/status/673061917242564608
I can't seem to find any additional info. I just bought the currently available one so I'm really interested to see if this new one is updated android and PX4 Rockchip.
Anyone know more?
I like the higher volume button. Out of the way.

I also just had an interaction with Joying where they indicated they will have an universal 10" single din model like their VW model ready in 2 weeks.

So from my reading of Joying's stereos, these are all basically the same, but with a differently designed front on them? I see the same Android version, processor and specs on every one, really. I'm asking because I'm curious about getting one and am a little overwhelmed with options that all seem about the same.

There are different cpu specs and resolutions. Some of the units are car specific due to some integrations like the VW units with can-bus showing heat and a/c info etc. If they have a unit that is specific for your can then it probably has a nice faceplate on it. Otherwise there are the universal units.

I consider to get one for my car, so I have to wait for new version

how are teh joying units, they got them on amazon which is abig plus if theres any issues

Cool! Thanks for sharing. Have an older model and it has been pretty solid so far. Might pick up a new one for the spare car Hopefully the Bluetooth quality is fixed with the updated unit.

pounce said:
I saw this tweet
I can't seem to find any additional info. I just bought the currently available one so I'm really interested to see if this new one is updated android and PX4 Rockchip.
Anyone know more?
I like the higher volume button. Out of the way.
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Click to collapse
The 2015 model is now on their website and amazon too for $330ish.... XDA won't let me post the link right now cuz I never post.....
There's also a forum about upgrading the unit to 5.1 with software provided by Joying... I may have to order one now...

The new ones are not out yet. A few days ago they let me know the 10.1" universal unit is coming in the next week or two.
Many units on their site say 2015.

Is 1gb fast enough for these units?

I have not had any issues with mine
Plenty responsive. Boots up quick too.

what about bluetooth and wifi quality? Are hardware mods still required with these unit?

I don't know about the newest model being released, but the Bluetooth quality with the model I have does have a hint of distortion. I use a hotspot on my phone without any signal problems, so can't speak to the signal strength with trying to connect to a wifi access point.

How are they selling a 10" model? What car would that ever fit in without huge customization of the entire dash panel?

Bought it
http://www.carjoying.com/special-sa...pport-airplay-mirror-link-reserve-camera.html

why are they releasing new models with still 4.4.4 and 1gb RAM?

devoidx said:
why are they releasing new models with still 4.4.4 and 1gb RAM?
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I was thinking the same thing... Also, rk3188 is getting old. Most of the Android TV boxes have moved onto newer processors and Android.
Sent from my CarPad-II-P using XDA Free mobile app

Proven and more or less stable., abundant and inexpensive. Parts on hand. Also, when the new new board show up its not hard to simply swap them.
Sure, we want new and better every week. I'm happy to have this form factor now rather than waiting for 5.1.. Simple upgrade later.

pounce said:
Proven and more or less stable., abundant and inexpensive. Parts on hand. Also, when the new new board show up its not hard to simply swap them.
Sure, we want new and better every week. I'm happy to have this form factor now rather than waiting for 5.1.. Simple upgrade later.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is not about wanting new every week...KitKat is 2 and half years old...Lollipop has been out for a year an a half....Lollipop should be the bare minimum when they ship devices these days, ....and 1gb RAM on any device in the year 2016 is just plain insulting.

devoidx said:
This is not about wanting new every week...KitKat is 2 and half years old...Lollipop has been out for a year an a half....Lollipop should be the bare minimum when they ship devices these days, ....and 1gb RAM on any device in the year 2016 is just plain insulting.
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Respectfully, I think you are being a little naive. Many of the manufacturers are working on the next full iteration of chips and 5.1 or 6 OS versions, but do you see many yet? It only takes a card swap on the head unit to change the SOC... and really the SOC and Android version has nothing to do with most of the hardware of these headunits. Take a look at the wide range of products a company like Joying offers. Pretty slick range of OEM looking faceplates and integrations with CAN bus etc. Truthfully, many of these companies are limited by what Rockchip and the subs provide for them.
You should definitely feel personally insulted. What were they thinking?! How could they develop a product without consulting devoidx?! :silly:

DON’T BUY. On Road test of Ownice C500 – two weeks usage.

On Road test of Ownice C500 – two weeks usage. DON’T BUY.:crying::crying:
I bought more than two weeks ago the unit. I installed on Subaru BRZ (same as Toyota GT86 and same wiring and Toyota harness of course, it's the same car!).
I was tired about BT issues on Xtrons PH75HGTA – MTCD platform on Lollipop 5.1 - related to DashCommand unable to pairing, usb dongle key operating only as router (wifi only 2.4Ghz not 5GHZ) and not in modem way, therefore you were obliged to run Dashcommand (and Torque Pro) with WiFi ODB loosing Internet connection capabilities.
About these features C500 fits well:
You can be online with a microSIM (4g/LTE full compliants to Euro frequencies), run DashCommand with ODB Link LX (genuine), answer the phone on BT (S7 Edge) or if you have a call+data plan on SIM you can make calls from C500 directly.
This sounds good but:
(After 4 firmware flashing - up to V39, latest available)
-FM RADIO is not a real RDS, no TEXT ON RDS, therefore you are on a ’80 radio (Saturday Night Fever age). Today in Europe none is surfing on numeric frequencies since 25 years.
- Equalization, lower and poor, the worst unit on the market (3 levels, bass, middle and treble with an elephantiac sensitivity)
-Sound with no support to subwoofer frequencies, sound is poor with high range speakers, let’s imagine on stock speakers
- DAB radio (same apk running on Xtrons and same usb dongle) has a indecent sound quality and level+, they say that the issue is from producer of apk but on Xtrons runs very well with a high sound quality.
- Rear cam image quality near indecent level (in Russian forum 4PDA someone suggested to solder a 75Ohm resistance across ground and signal wire)
- Rear cam operating only after boot, if you set power off delay time of 10 minutes and restart the car after 11 minutes ,you need to wait to see on back like in 1990: stupid
- Sound bettering (a bit) with few workarounds, you need to root unit and install Viper4Android, Busy Box and set to permissive rights
- unable for adding on memory (SD or USB) to set as system memory (not available space...it returns) only to portable way. You cannot transfer any apks.
My car hasn’t canbus drive as no steering wheel buttons are, so no issue. Someone might become crazy as I read if you get or need volume keys on steering wheel.
My rating is very negative as unit:
Don’t buy, this unit has not more than speed, only.
When you buy this kind of unit you need listen music in 2017 quality standard and not in accordance to 1960 standard, you need to see on back when you start, what is the meaning of a car cam on board if you are obliged to see on back like your father did?, you need to know the station name you are listening and see text traffic messages not search radio station like Allieds did with Nazi’s armed forces in Normandy near 1944.
Avoid IMHO to throw money, keep your MTCD (fully supported with a real and great job i.g. from Malaysk)

I understand your frustration with the unit, since the issues you mention aren't minor bugs and they impact core-features. However, coming from an MTCD-unit and reading the forums until now, I know there's two sorts of Chinese units: fair and poor, none of them are great. I had all kinds of issues on my KGL-unit, with Tomtom and other apps not installing due to the firmware used, OBD-issues, sometimes very laggy in switching between packages and all sorts of other issues. Support by KGL was none-existant. So considering the list you mention, to me it seems the basic is fine and stable, which is a good starting point. The majority of issues could be resolved if the manufacturer is willing to put some effort into it.
Issues that could be dealt with rather easily are I presume:
- add RDS-information
- Equalizer (although I would like for it to be switched off completely, I have an external amp with DSP and would like to get the signal as clean as possible, an equaliser will just eat CPU-resources, so it's not helping in my particular case)
- DAB-compatibility
Probably more difficult to solve:
- Rear cam image quality, if it's indeed hardware-related. Has somebody been able to verify the impedance-mod?
- Rear cam availability. Besides increasing standby-time somebody suggested that it would be possible for Ownice to integrate some sort of additional layer to the firmware to have access to the cam much sooner.
I'm not sure about the "no support for subwoofer frequencies". If they haven't installed a sophisticated equalizer, I don't assume the unit has a high-pass filter, so then it must be related to the sound in general and possibly in conjunction with your speaker system. I'll hopefully receive my C500 later this week, so I can test this for myself.
In the meantime big thumbs up to Bob at Winlink for reaching out. Please don't let us down and show that Ownice / Winlink understand customer service and building customer relationships!

Bob-Winlink said:
Dear Customer,
thanks for your feedback, this is bob from winlink,
pls contact us to get support on our product.
Thanks very much.
Best regards
Bob Huang
Email: [email protected]
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Click to collapse
Hi Bob,
How do you see posting effectively "take these issues offline before I will help you" as helpful to the end user or the development of your product? As a user who has experienced this kind of support, this is the worst level of response you could offer and potentially only drive potential customers to agree with the OP and look elsewhere.
Suggest try again and solve the problems in a transparent manner.

Totally agree! I really can't understand what exactly these guys mean when they say "RDS support"? There is clearly no RDS support! Radio is supposed to be THE MOST USED FEATURE of head units and this quality level is really insane. I don't know where is the problem - lack of RDS support in the radio chip, or maybe its just the app, that is not capable to render radio station labels and other data.
Another insane thing is the sound quality! C'mon, these head units are all about audio. Everything else is just a bonus over stock head units. No one wants to downgrade sound quality when they upgrade head unit.
Above two notes are not just about C500. I have experience with several Chinese brands, all sharing same INSANE issues. And I really can't figure out why.

How much did you pay?

skezza said:
How much did you pay?
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How much you think costs the RDS support? Every dumb car stereo has it since at least 15 years. Furthermore, these guys claim they have RDS support. At least they shouldn't do that!
I would be very glad to pay extra $30 (BOM should be less actually) for some 400-500W quality audio. What we currently get is just some Chinese tablet in a 2din form-factor. This is not what market expects. At lest not me.

Bob-Winlink said:
Dear Customer,
thanks for your feedback, this is bob from winlink,
pls contact us to get support on our product.
Thanks very much.
Best regards
Bob Huang
Email: [email protected]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for answer almost I don't like it.
Some points:
Lucky you aren't a US producer or seller: YOU CANNOT SALE GOODS WITH WRONG CAPABILITIES, if you declare RDS compliant , it means RDS not only AF, In US this means "class action" furthermore.
#1. Please advice that unit isn't RDS fully compliant otherwise re-write software to fit.
#2. Please advice that rear vision is not available on start up, same as above. It's the first HU with this ancient feature I find.
#3. I wrote three times, no answers. Check your mailbox found on home site.
#4. It Is very curious that firmware releases (up to V39) are adviced between users on 4PDA forum (Russia) or XDA, a decent producer will build a site with "Support"===> Support, Updates, Download, Firmware. This is done by any Western Producer or China Worldwide Producer (see Huawei, see Asus, see Blackvue, see any you wish), this is not serious It's not a money issue or cost as a Huawei smartphone doesn't cost the same of an iPhone or Samsung S7 Edge. It's nowaday political customer relationship, here. You are out, fired usually here.
#5. Bought a Xtrons HU that I know as capabilities are as standard way, I am waiting sending to install and remove C500 I will run it as stopper in my home entrance. I throw in bucket much $, it's life. No more Ownice/Winlink.
@Bob-Winlink For your convenience:
Contact Russian guys on Russian Forum 4PDA, they made a wide job to modify some of larger crazy features (see post 1 of thread), learn from them.
Maybe If Winlink will pay them or give them the source code, they are able to re-write all Unit not in insane way.

mishoboss said:
How much you think costs the RDS support? Every dumb car stereo has it since at least 15 years. Furthermore, these guys claim they have RDS support. At least they shouldn't do that!
I would be very glad to pay extra $30 (BOM should be less actually) for some 400-500W quality audio. What we currently get is just some Chinese tablet in a 2din form-factor. This is not what market expects. At lest not me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That wasn't my question.

RDS is transmitting in 57 kHz range, probably their FM tuner (C500) can not handle 57 kHz frequency.
Its not software thing, it requires new hardware. So yes, it is stupid. I want RDS = i will not buy Ownice C500.

skezza said:
That wasn't my question.
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I know your point - you get what you pay for. However I don't think C500 (or any other Android HU) could be categorized as a cheap piece of hardware. For that amount of money I would expect someone has put some thought and reason behind the product. These Chinese guys only know how to assemble. If you have dealt with Chinese, you should know all they care about is "quantity", not "quality". OK, that's fine, but for God's sake, some things are just unimaginary stupid. Fix them and you will sell more. Put some thought and reason!

mishoboss said:
I know your point - you get what you pay for. However I don't think C500 (or any other Android HU) could be categorized as a cheap piece of hardware. For that amount of money I would expect someone has put some thought and reason behind the product. These Chinese guys only know how to assemble. If you have dealt with Chinese, you should know all they care about is "quantity", not "quality". OK, that's fine, but for God's sake, some things are just unimaginary stupid. Fix them and you will sell more. Put some thought and reason!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That wasn't my point at all, but okay.

skezza said:
That wasn't my point at all, but okay.
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Click to collapse
OK, in this case I bring my apology. I'm curious what was your point?

mishoboss said:
OK, in this case I bring my apology. I'm curious what was your point?
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My point was if you paid a small amount, you might have actually been sold a fake or a clone or something else?

mishoboss said:
OK, in this case I bring my apology. I'm curious what was your point?
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Click to collapse
skezza said:
My point was if you paid a small amount, you might have actually been sold a fake or a clone or something else?
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Click to collapse
Updates? Anyone else having issues mentioned in this thread?

I think all the issues are still there on the quad cores, while the octa cores have solved most of this. I am happy, and I would buy another C500 Octa Core.

velocity4 said:
I think all the issues are still there on the quad cores, while the octa cores have solved most of this. I am happy, and I would buy another C500 Octa Core.
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From reading the thread discussing this unit, these still appear to have flaws and QA issues.

marchnz said:
From reading the thread discussing this unit, these still appear to have flaws and QA issues.
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Click to collapse
Don't they all?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

HD Radio for Android

I doubt I'm alone in the US in wanting HD Radio (NRSC-5) support on our Android Head Units. I did a little looking as to what would be required to get this running. There is effectively no ready-made solution that is compatible with our Android Head Units.
Over at GitHub, there's a project which you can build on Linux (or Windows under MinGW). When paired with a USB SDR (the cheap ones based on the RTL2832U chipset), this will correctly decode and play the HD radio stream at the specified frequency. Here's the link: https://github.com/theori-io/nrsc5
I think all we'd need to get this working for Android is:
1) Being able to build the binary and libraries for the Android platform.
2) A simple UI. All it would need to do at a minimum is allow us to add station frequencies as bookmarks, and then control launching and stopping the NRSC5 binary. This wouldn't necessarily be as seamless as some would like, but it would be a great start, in my opinion.
3) Eventually, we might want to look into scanning functionalities, integration with standard FM radio (to auto-switch to HD when available), displaying title/artist data, etc.
I'm willing to kick in say $20 or so for this functionality. Perhaps enough of us could pledge some money for a functional delivered APK?

jpreston84 said:
I doubt I'm alone in the US in wanting HD Radio (NRSC-5) support on our Android Head Units. I did a little looking as to what would be required to get this running. There is effectively no ready-made solution that is compatible with our Android Head Units.
Over at GitHub, there's a project which you can build on Linux (or Windows under MinGW). When paired with a USB SDR (the cheap ones based on the RTL2832U chipset), this will correctly decode and play the HD radio stream at the specified frequency. Here's the link: https://github.com/theori-io/nrsc5
I think all we'd need to get this working for Android is:
1) Being able to build the binary and libraries for the Android platform.
2) A simple UI. All it would need to do at a minimum is allow us to add station frequencies as bookmarks, and then control launching and stopping the NRSC5 binary. This wouldn't necessarily be as seamless as some would like, but it would be a great start, in my opinion.
3) Eventually, we might want to look into scanning functionalities, integration with standard FM radio (to auto-switch to HD when available), displaying title/artist data, etc.
I'm willing to kick in say $20 or so for this functionality. Perhaps enough of us could pledge some money for a functional delivered APK?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your best approach would be to write a broadcast radio HAL for it.
Here is one for a DMHD-1000: https://github.com/HiKey960-Car/android_device_linaro_hikey/tree/dmhd1000/broadcastradio
Note that this HAL is for Android 8.1+
If you insist on the sdr route with its inherently non-reception, you would obviously have to import the source for that into the HAL and connect it up.

Thanks for the added info.
I am not personally tied as to which way this is made to work. What I, and I think many others, would prefer to have, is a simple means to add HD Radio capability to their Android Head Units. Most common lately are the PX5 MTCD units (which is what I myself have), meaning we'd want something compatible with Android 6 (though as I understand, Oreo should be available sooner or later). If we can make this work with the built in FM radio chipset already present in these units, that's great. If using an SDR is required, that's fine too, as far as I'm concerned.

jpreston84 said:
Thanks for the added info.
I am not personally tied as to which way this is made to work. What I, and I think many others, would prefer to have, is a simple means to add HD Radio capability to their Android Head Units. Most common lately are the PX5 MTCD units (which is what I myself have), meaning we'd want something compatible with Android 6 (though as I understand, Oreo should be available sooner or later). If we can make this work with the built in FM radio chipset already present in these units, that's great. If using an SDR is required, that's fine too, as far as I'm concerned.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The built in fm radio is *not* capable of HD.
And the cheap chinese radios probably won't be too happy working with anything you try to attach to them, its the chinese way to sell you something that is broken as hell and take extraordinary measures to prevent you from fixing it yourself.
Take a peek at the project that that HAL is associated with.

I'm not sure what your particular interest in that project is, but it really is out of scope. What I'm aimed at are the many of us who have MTCD/MTCE units (in my case, of the PX5 variety, which many people have now). We already have these units, and they perform sufficiently for most of our needs. We simply would like to add HD radio capability.
We can already attach the SDR I mentioned to the head unit and use it. We simply lack the software to decode the HD signal (and no compatible hardware product seems to be available, or I'd probably buy that). The decoding software is available for Linux, which gives us at least a possibility of building this for use on Android.

jpreston84 said:
I'm not sure what your particular interest in that project is, but it really is out of scope. What I'm aimed at are the many of us who have MTCD/MTCE units (in my case, of the PX5 variety, which many people have now). We already have these units, and they perform sufficiently for most of our needs. We simply would like to add HD radio capability.
We can already attach the SDR I mentioned to the head unit and use it. We simply lack the software to decode the HD signal (and no compatible hardware product seems to be available, or I'd probably buy that). The decoding software is available for Linux, which gives us at least a possibility of building this for use on Android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had those units too, and they don't perform sufficiently for ANYTHING. They are worse than useless.
And I'm not even talking about SPEED when I say performance. They're fundamentally broken, hacked to hell and back, and not one thing works correctly on them. You can't even reliably make a phone call.

I appreciate that you don't like those units. But here's the reality -- a lot of us do. If you don't, that's fine, but it doesn't give you reason to undercut the entire basis of the project, when you don't actually have a better answer. The goal of this particular thread was to find a way to add HD Radio functionality to the MTCD/MTCE units we already own. These units integrate well with our cars (no one else offers a good face plate or buttons that look like they belong in my car). No, they're not perfect (I've replaced the ROM, and the Wifi/Bluetooth on mine, which makes the unit quite usable in my view), but they're the best option I, and many others, have available. The project you've linked isn't nearly as plug-and-play, even with the modifications I've done to my PX5 unit. Use what you like, but don't assume that everyone else must use what you like.
Additionally, the ability to use an SDR for this means you can toss one on your phone as well, which would probably be very interesting to some people.
So, back to where this started please -- is there any developer out there who would be willing to work on porting this code to an Android app? Anyone else willing to put up some money as a reward for whoever that brave developer ends up being?

jpreston84 said:
I appreciate that you don't like those units. But here's the reality -- a lot of us do. If you don't, that's fine, but it doesn't give you reason to undercut the entire basis of the project, when you don't actually have a better answer. The goal of this particular thread was to find a way to add HD Radio functionality to the MTCD/MTCE units we already own. These units integrate well with our cars (no one else offers a good face plate or buttons that look like they belong in my car). No, they're not perfect (I've replaced the ROM, and the Wifi/Bluetooth on mine, which makes the unit quite usable in my view), but they're the best option I, and many others, have available. The project you've linked isn't nearly as plug-and-play, even with the modifications I've done to my PX5 unit. Use what you like, but don't assume that everyone else must use what you like.
Additionally, the ability to use an SDR for this means you can toss one on your phone as well, which would probably be very interesting to some people.
So, back to where this started please -- is there any developer out there who would be willing to work on porting this code to an Android app? Anyone else willing to put up some money as a reward for whoever that brave developer ends up being?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My answer is better. Fact.
And no, you won't find anyone "porting" anything like that to an "app". Won't work, because applications don't have hardware access on Android.

Your answer is literally useless to most people. But hey, if you want to tell me how to get from what you suggested to a working, fully installed unit in my car, complete with appropriately sized bezel and physical buttons, I'm ready to hear it.
On the other hand, what it seems like you're trying to do is garner support for the project you mentioned (which I assume you have some connection to). If that's your goal, you're doing a bad job of it.
If anyone else sees this and shares my interest, please PM me -- I do have contacts with app experience available, and may farm this to them if there's enough interest.

Maybe the problem is that only the US have "HD Radio", and the rest of the world either has already or is starting to adopt DAB. Consequently the Chinese Android suppliers (Head Units or Adapters) are focused on DAB.
Have you looked at the GROM HDR1 ? Maybe this could be adapted to talk to android ?

I definitely agree as to the nature of the problem.
As for the GROM unit, I actually did look at this. Unfortunately the GROM units seem to be geared around a CD changer interface, which isn't supported by these head units.

I wonder if this code could be used to decode the NRSC-5.
Google
"DECODING AND LISTENING TO HD RADIO (NRSC-5) WITH AN RTL-SDR"
Not able to post the URL.
Also look at theori.io

I have also been looking for this for a long time and the only solution I've found it to attach an external hd tuner to the input of the stereo. the one I'm using is Directed Electronics DMHD-1000 HD Radio Tuner. it adds extra hardware but works great and has a huge improvement overall compared to the built in tuner on the head unit.

Agreed - there is a significant gap in functionality here and wish we had a solution for it. I can't speak to the quality of DAB because i've never listened to it, however, i've read that HD Radio is far superior. Still looking for a solution.

I'd like to see a solution for HD Radio on Android as well. I'm currently using an Insignia HD Radio Portable Player NS-HD02 connected to the audio-in jack on my car's radio. The Insignia player has a touchscreen and displays album and station art and the audio quality is much better than what I receive via the analog broadcasts. These units are extremely rare now but once in a while they still pop up on eBay or other auction sites. I was pretty envious when I saw the DAB USB adapters with software for Android and Android head units recently. Love my Insignia radio but a larger screen akin to a head unit or tablet would be very welcome.

In the US it is standard in the meanwhile, but not available in Europe and China.
This is exactly the point in the moment. They have no clue about the existence of HD-Radio.
AFAIK there are only some tests running in Romania and Swiss, but for Europe it would not work:
However, this increases the frequency requirement and could lead to interference from neighboring channels. In Europe, a channel spacing of 100 kHz is common on ultra-short wave (VHF), while in the USA it is 200 kHz.
At least the reason to work with DAB+ in Europe and a lot of other states.
You need to talk with your seller and ask for HD-Radio in special. You won´t get it soon, but someone has to start developing on their side.

Current head unit models

Hi all,
Could you please recommend me a head unit? Something modern, well-specced, and good quality. My google-fu has revealed plenty of comparisons of Android Auto-capable head units (whichi don't run android) or just pages such as aliexpress - many of those models are years old now and it's next to impossible to know whether they're any good.
Looking through this forum doesn't really seem to help unless I know what to look for, it's mainly all model- or ROM-specific. A sticky'd list of head units with a comparison of features would be great, if it exists. If it doesn't exist, I'd be happy to start putting one together :good: Could be really handy for newcomers
Is there a place out there keeping their finger on the pulse of new releases in this space that I can take a look at?
Thanks

As your Googling revealed things change fast and new models come out as part supplies change so a sticky wouldn't be good for much except maybe a historical record. There's no one place I know of that keeps track of what's coming down the pipes apart from sites like XDA, 4PDA and some car enthusiast sites where someone happens to spot something and reports it. I found info on new units before they were released by visiting the manufacturer's site or their store on Aliexpress (usually has official store in the name).
As far as recommending anything I think it's too much of a personal choice that depends on too many factors to do. I'll just start by saying if you're looking for good quality stick with the name brands. All these Chinese units have issues with assembly and software if you're willing to play you can have lots of fun with them fixing things and modifying. Some are better built than others, the sub $100 MTK units are not comparable to the PX6 at 3x the price but that doesn't stop either from suddenly dying from poor quality components or soldering. Also Google has a habit of messing things up with their service updates.
What you get with these HU is a custom fit and features you won't find on any other HU. The things to look for is at least 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage for a basic low cost unit. What you really want is 4GB/32GB Rockchip SoC with an MTC MCU. You get a 64bit multi core processor with lots of RAM and an MCU that has better support from the manufacturers and the community.
The official Android auto works with a limited number of phones. There is an unleashed version as well as other apps with similar function. Many of the Android HU have the ability to do the same thing and also can work with Carplay (may need a dongle). Screen mirroring has its issues. Personally I think you're better off to have your phone provide an internet connection and bluetooth handle the communications.