Database Users

Reverse engineering the Blu Studio 5.3 dock port

Okay. It seems that Blu Products isn't going to explain anything about the dock port on their Studio 5.3, so I am embarking on a project to reverse engineer it. I'll update my progress here.
Pictures of the dock port:
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Pictures of the plug that fits it. It's the same 30-pin plug as found on the iPod and a bunch of other devices.
(Last 3 images from https://www.sparkfun.com/products/8295)
What I just ordered to work on this project:
(Again from https://www.sparkfun.com/products/8295)
Here's what I've figured out so far.
The cable from my iPod Nano 6th gen has pins 1, 15, 16, 23, 25 and 27. All others are missing. I haven't had time to analyze it all yet, but according to allpinouts.org, 1 is a ground, 15 and 16 are grounds and are tied together (internally on the iPod motherboard), 23 is USB +5v, and 25/27 are USB Data+/- OR, alternately, they are resistor-to-ground value-based signals.
My theory so far is that there is some internal resistance between the pins in this cable and other pins or ground; because plugging just the cable in--with it not being plugged into the USB port--disables the Blu's touchscreen and automatic screen rotation features and locks the screen in whatever position it's in when you plug in the cable. (Although interestingly, if you plug it in in landscape mode, you can use the screen rotation lock hardware button to put it back to portrait mode.) Plugging the other end of the cable into a USB port brings up the Recent Apps display (the thing that comes up when you hold the touchscreen home button down) and the phone says it's charging, but the touchscreen is still disabled. Not sure if it's actually charging or not; I'm gonna leave it plugged in for awhile and see. The phone does not show up as a new USB device when this (iPod) cable is plugged into the dock port.
Once I get the breakout board I'm gonna take the phone apart and see if I can trace where the pins in this dock port go. I'm also going to wire up a USB cable to the breakout board and see if I can get the phone to enumerate.
Hopefully I never toast my phone.
Edit for more pics from teardown:
Notice that this ribbon cable is 3 layers; those are little pieces of a paperclip holding them apart to show the layers.

It really looks like PDMI connector

If it IS a PDMI connector, would getting a usb-to-pdmi cable work to connect to the phone? I've never used pdmi. I know the Dell Streak has a pdmi port though.

You should open it to see what chips are used in that thing. That will help you a LOT to figure out what is going on...

lvnr00tddrd said:
If it IS a PDMI connector, would getting a usb-to-pdmi cable work to connect to the phone? I've never used pdmi. I know the Dell Streak has a pdmi port though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have both Dell Streak 5 and Blu Studio 5.3 and I can comfirm that the pdmi cable for the Streak does not fit in the Studio 5.3.
The ports on both are the same width and same number of pins but the Streak's pins are arranged on 2 wedges, for lack of a better term, whereas the Studio and ipods are 2 rows of pins on both sides of a single wedge. It's like the Streak has a female type port and the Studio/ipods have male type ports.

This could be some kind of dock connector that Blu has not released for our version. I've been doing some research on this phone to find the original recovery firmware and found that this exact phone is being sold under the following names:
Blu Studio 5.3
Texet TM-5200
Umeox X-Land / X-5
Pearl Simvalley SPX-5
On every "rebranded" listing I found they all had this port so it isn't just unique to the Blu. Also might try seeing if anything can be found for the MTK6573 chipset that would include this port. More info on this chipset here mediatek.com /en/Products/ featured_content.php?sn=2 {will have to copy / paste too new to post links yet}.
I've also found other indications through russian and chinese sites that this thing is being pushed in some countries as an iPhone knockoff with a custom "iOS" skin / launcher. Hard to tell for sure due to some things being lost in translation.
So to wrap it all up I would almost go for a crazy guess that this might be used on some of the "iPhone" knockoffs to fake as a 30-pin connector that may or may not actually work or only work for charging.

Its seems like its a docking port for a keyboard. I found this for Pearl Simvalley SPX-5 site found at http://www.pearl.de/a-PX3502-4072.shtml.

Now we know. I think I may import one of these to see if it works on the Blu as well. Might be disabled in the firmware though....

Just got the PodBreakout board. To the soldering station I go. Send good karma my way.
I took the entire thing apart. Everything is under full-board metal shields as can be seen from the recent post-op pic. (You can also see the breakout board.) My phone still works, so I'm not prepared to go pulling the shields off just to see what's under them. I think that the only things would be the MediaTek CPU and some RAM and Flash chips anyway. Everything else is pretty tightly integrated.
Puppeto if you get ahold of one of those keyboards please keep us updated.
Behold the wonders of voiding your warranty:

Ok here's what I've figured out so far.
1. Make sure if you take your phone apart that you reconnect all the connectors inside the phone, or else you'll spend an hour trying to figure out why the dock port won't work at all before realizing what you did.
2. Onward to real research, here's what's been found so far.
Connecting pin 15 to 16 disables the touchscreen, but there is a threshold that must be met that I haven't found yet. If the 2 pins are directly tied together the touchscreen is disabled, and if there's a 3k resistor between them it is, too. But if there's a 100k resistor inline it doesn't disable the touchscreen.
Pin 1 appears to be a ground pin.
Pin 16 is USB ground
Pin 23 is USB +5 volts
It DOES charge when just Pins 16 and 23 are connected. My next step is to find which pins are the USB Data +/-. As can be seen below, it's non-standard.
Connecting Pin 27 to ground presses the hardware multifunction button (bottom middle of the front panel)
Pin 6 to ground presses hardware power key
Pin 29 to ground presses hardware volume down key
Pin 28 to ground is an oddball. Connecting it to ground through a 10k resistor seems to start the music player AND press the hardware volume up key
Connecting pin 9 to ground with a resistor less than 4k causes a white screen followed by a black screen and the phone freezing until the battery is removed.
Audio
Pin 3 - Audio Ground
Pin 4 - Audio Right
Pin 5 - Audio Left
The audio pins appear to be connected to the same lines as the headphone jack, only they don't have the hardware external speaker disable (or if they do I haven't found it yet). Apparently, the headphone hardware triggers a software signal of some kind that disables the external speaker. I confirmed that this is the case by plugging in a set of headphones, in which case these lines still give the audio output but the external speaker is disabled. Apparently this is something that can be controlled from within Android, because there were some bug reports awhile back about the external speaker not disabling when headphones were plugged in. So we need to find (or maybe someone can write?) an app that does nothing but disable the external speaker while leaving the headphone line active.
No luck yet on getting USB working. Still hoping someone here can help me out with knowing how to monitor what's going on by using adb?

Puppeto any luck on that keyboard?

FYI received the keyboard, plugged it in, and YES it works. Didn't receive a prompt or anything when I plugged it in. I opened up a notepad app and just started typing away.
I do forewarn you though it is very cheaply made. Not something I would recommend anyone wasting their time or money on. I found it faster to just type on the screen.

Puppeto would you mind taking the keyboard apart and taking some high-res pictures of it? It would be very very helpful I think because it will have the data lines and possibly some other stuff

Please guys, is there no one trying to get flash working on this phone?

Adobe flash player worked great, however it need some mod
First install MX player then it will ask for special codec, so install them as recommended.
then you need to install UC browser ( try latest version )
Finally install flash 10.3.185.360_armv6.apk from xda
run uc browser, everything fine.
My only concern is Video skype, I couldnt run any version of skype that enables Video call please can anybody help

Hi guys,
As you can see I'm new at the forum, but I have a Motorola Atrix 4G, Rooted, Unlocked BOOTLOADER, and with the NOTTACHTRIX ROM Installed with the Darks Side Kernel....
I also recently bought a Blu Studio D510, and I have an issue with play music...
I tried with several music players, and I'm still not success...
All the type of files that I tried are .mp3 and .wma
Do you know were I need to put the files in order to used the music player?
Thank You...

Can someone please provide the ROM without the bloated softwares(facebook, twitter etc.). Just the barebone os. Reason for this is I can then install apps I want and move them to memory card. More memory available.
Found this link which seems to be the ROM. Can someone verify: http://www.pearl.de/support/product.jsp?pdid=PX3459&catid=4073&nodocs=1

chrismotto said:
Can someone please provide the ROM without the bloated softwares(facebook, twitter etc.). Just the barebone os. Reason for this is I can then install apps I want and move them to memory card. More memory available.
Found this link which seems to be the ROM. Can someone verify: http://www.pearl.de/support/product.jsp?pdid=PX3459&catid=4073&nodocs=1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its not the rom. If you are willing to try some other roms for this device (i cant find a blu rom either), search for either the umeox x3 original rom or the texet tm-5200 original rom. the umeox is in chinese and the texet is in russian but change the language in the options and change the launcher and everything should be fine. I have found the texet to be a little lighter and faster, however, i couldnt get any of the drivers to work for it. umeox uses the spx-5 drivers which windows is able to find easily. Im looking for a rom for the pearl simvalley spx-5 phone which is another clone and uses the same hardware, but i havent any luck yet. right now, though im using the umeox which also was able to be rooted with SOC and its working fine so far.. hope i could help

virustwin
Please share the link to this ROM. Thanks a lot.

Hey you all can anyone please supply me with a link to obtain the actual stock rom for the blue studio 5.3 or even a custom rom would be of great help thanking you in advance
Sent from my BLU Studio 5.3 using xda app-developers app

[Expirement]Thinking of performing a hardware mod for USB hosted microsd/bluetooth

Ok, so i'm ordering a replacement digitizer and I figure this would be a good time to try this out.
As you all know, we Kindle Fire owners have neither expandable storage or bluetooth. Hashcode's new 3.0 kernel has the proper kernel modules/support for USB hosting. Instead of having to plug things in every time I need/want extra storage I figure that i'll try and hook up the stuff inside.
So here's what I figure i'll do when I get all the materials:
I already have a mini bluetooth USB dongle that i've disassembled.
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And i'll be getting a mini USB microsd adapter that I can tear apart down to the same type of thing as the bluetooth dongle.
Now, the easy part is finding space to put them, there are a few gaps/spaces that I found for the bluetooth dongle, and placing the microsd adapter should be just as easy.
The hard part is getting the wiring all wired up on the inside, and this is where I need advice/input. Trying to solder the wires to the pins on the charge/USB port would be too hard and risky since they're so close.
I took apart one of my extra mini-b USB cables to use the pins to try and hook them up like that some way, but I don't have everything I need yet, so it's just a thought.
Ideas, advice, thoughts and/or comments?
Also, I will be documenting what i'm doing so that I can post a tutorial if I succeed.
I've also posted this in the Hardware Hacking subsection of the General board to see if they can give me any insight. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=25212394

Many microSD slots have something like a contact that closes only if the microSD is inserted in, activating the reader. You can check this or buy a microSD slot that have this switch built in.

alan110112 said:
Many microSD slots have something like a contact that closes only if the microSD is inserted in, activating the reader. You can check this or buy a microSD slot that have this switch built in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you referring on what the poster said in the other thread I made about the reader needing to be plugged in after the sd is inserted?
If so i'm not 100% sure that will be an issue. The sd will already be in when the Kindle starts up. If it is an issue I might use a small switch of some sort, but i'm hoping for a more elegant solution if the problem arises.

If u do this and open ur kindle than it will look scratched from sides
Sent From my Kindle Fire
Setupetails are Below
Cm7 Barebones+Raven's Kernel
Minimum:300 Higher 1200mhz
Go launcher Ex With MIUI Theme
Games:MC3,Fifa 2012,Real Racing 2,Stick Cricket,Gangster Rio....
Apps:Mx Video Player,JetVid,Titanium Backup,Opera Mobile,Dolphin HD,Adobe Reader

ma.da.ladla said:
If u do this and open ur kindle than it will look scratched from sides
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've already opened it and put it back together like 5 times and I haven't scratched it. You just need the correct tools and a little experience opening devices.

aaricchavez said:
I've already opened it and put it back together like 5 times and I haven't scratched it. You just need the correct tools and a little experience opening devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then I will too if u succeeded.are u planning to solder SD slot to the pins of data cable/charging pins
Sent From my Kindle Fire
Setupetails are Below
Cm7 Barebones+Raven's Kernel
Minimum:300 Higher 1200mhz
Go launcher Ex With MIUI Theme
Games:MC3,Fifa 2012,Real Racing 2,Stick Cricket,Gangster Rio....
Apps:Mx Video Player,JetVid,Titanium Backup,Opera Mobile,Dolphin HD,Adobe Reader

ma.da.ladla said:
Then I will too if u succeeded.are u planning to solder SD slot to the pins of data cable/charging pins
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the issue i'm trying to solve. The charge port fits snuggly in a little slot. To solve that i'll probably have to grind that part back some to make a little space for the wires. I will probably use the pins from a USB cable and put some solder on the tip of each one to get them to stay. Then i'll connect some thin wires to the pins, and to the adapter.
I ordered them, but I don't have any more spare USB cables or the sd adapter yet, so I can't do a ton as of this moment.
I'm about to do a little experimenting, if I find a solution i'll take a pic to post.

Which why I'm thinking giving my kindle to my wife and buy a full pack tablet., although might be interesting to see if it work, or just buy those cheap made table with lower specs and which those micro SD card slot etc,... old smart phone would be a nice to get all your parts needed...anyway good luck to your project..

Hey, I'm tring to do this to my Galaxy Nexus as well, minus the bluetooth dongle. If you were able to solder the wires to the usb port, do you think you would be able to get the kindle to see the micro sd?

Are you not concerned that this will affect charging?

brizey said:
Are you not concerned that this will affect charging?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Charging wouldn't bother me too much as I can easily pick up another battery with an external charger. Now for the kindle, that might be a different story...

from my experience if you tap onto those pins and short 4&5 together, it would indeed mount on reboot!
but have you thought that if the usb port is in permanent otg mode how will you charge/use adb/and mount usb to pc?
for that i think you will need a switch to separate the otg short.
also at the minute i don't know if there would be enough power to be able to operate the flash drive tapping onto the out pins is the same as plugging in a otg cable/adaptor and as of yet most (if not all) flashdrives need additional power source.
that being said someone mentioned that linux double the safety limit for the max power draw, so i think that maybe some dev-god (hash) would need to alter something in the kernel to lower the safety threshold.
as you pointed out in previous post where to put all those wires
and switch?
not sure but the bluetooth could work but probably with the same issues as above .
hope this helps (i'm not trying to burst your bubble as i like a little hardware Modding myself) but i think you should put your efforts & skills into a slim useable adaptor or something, which pack's all those goodies but 1.can be removable and 2. if you f$+k up your soldering as i have lots on my otg adaptors then its not good bye mr kindle
Sent from my Amazon Kindle Fire using xda premium

I must have missed the email notification of replies :/
Muddog7998 said:
Hey, I'm tring to do this to my Galaxy Nexus as well, minus the bluetooth dongle. If you were able to solder the wires to the usb port, do you think you would be able to get the kindle to see the micro sd?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, as long as USB host is working.
brizey said:
Are you not concerned that this will affect charging?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tested it and so far it does not affect charging.
Muddog7998 said:
Charging wouldn't bother me too much as I can easily pick up another battery with an external charger. Now for the kindle, that might be a different story...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Read above.
lovejoy777 said:
from my experience if you tap onto those pins and short 4&5 together, it would indeed mount on reboot!
but have you thought that if the usb port is in permanent otg mode how will you charge/use adb/and mount usb to pc?
for that i think you will need a switch to separate the otg short.
also at the minute i don't know if there would be enough power to be able to operate the flash drive tapping onto the out pins is the same as plugging in a otg cable/adaptor and as of yet most (if not all) flashdrives need additional power source.
that being said someone mentioned that linux double the safety limit for the max power draw, so i think that maybe some dev-god (hash) would need to alter something in the kernel to lower the safety threshold.
as you pointed out in previous post where to put all those wires
and switch?
not sure but the bluetooth could work but probably with the same issues as above .
hope this helps (i'm not trying to burst your bubble as i like a little hardware Modding myself) but i think you should put your efforts & skills into a slim useable adaptor or something, which pack's all those goodies but 1.can be removable and 2. if you f$+k up your soldering as i have lots on my otg adaptors then its not good bye mr kindle
Sent from my Amazon Kindle Fire using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've got the wires soldered onto the pins no problem, I just can't get USB host to work at all, I haven't tested since build #6(I think)(I used some modules someone posted that they compiled) of Hashcode's kernel though. I know I didn't mess up soldering cause USB still works as well as charging, and I get a reading on a multimeter when I test the + & - leads.
I've thought of a solution for turning off USB host easily, all it requires is a magnet and a reed switch/s. Read below.
Also, my main goal is to get storage working, after that I might try bluetooth and/or gps over UART(read below)I've ordered about 10 different microsd adapters, some of which claim to need no power(confused me at first lol, I think they meant no external power), anyways, my point is microsd cards require very little power to run, so I think they'll work. If power is an issue I can just take a couple of resistors and such and power the adapter straight from the battery.
Other thread was created here, just want to keep all the threads up to date: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1632277
aaricchavez said:
The UART modules are only an idea, the main problem with going that direction instead of USB host is the drivers the modules would need(They all usually come with generic ones, but they would need to be customized for Android). I have very limited code/coding knowledge so I would need alot of help or soeone to do that part completely. I was going to pm Hashcode for help if I decided to try out the UART modules. Also, i'm unsure if more than one module can be used at the same time.
Like I just posted in the thread i'm still waiting on some stuff to arrive to actually get started on the USB host attempt. I have the wires soldered to the USB/Charge port pins, but since I don't have the microsd adapter or any more spare cords to rip apart I can't go further. I ordered about 10 different mini microsd adapters to take apart and see which works out the best.
Other people have USB host working, so shouldn't be difficult. I've just never used USB host before so i'm not real sure of what to expect.
The only downside is that there needs to be a switch of some sort somewhere to disable USB host so that adb/storage will work. I'm trying to think of something a little more elegant that having a huge hole in the case with a switch protruding out of the side. I'm going to go searching for some solutions and a super small switch.
All the UART GPS modules I found when searching "uart gps module" on Google are mostly from India and are between $30-50ish, the receivers look to be about the size of a quarter.
*http://robokits.co.in/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=289
*http://robosapiensindia.com/robomar...n=com_virtuemart&Itemid=64&vmcchk=1&Itemid=64
*http://robosapiensindia.com/robosap...ategory_id=27&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=64
I decided to look on Sparkfun and adafruit and i'm glad I did, it looks like they both have some modules, but I haven't looked around and dug through them yet.
*http://www.sparkfun.com/categories/4
*http://www.adafruit.com/category/35_58
All the optimism aside i'm not all too sure that we could get the GPS UART module to work. From what I see (First picture: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1471813) the UART output that Hashcode put into use only has two GNDs a TX and RX. The modules that I found all look like they need 8 connections. Adafruit has a nice pic of the connections labeled here: http://www.adafruit.com/products/746
If you're talking about microsd UART modules, as mentioned in the thread I created, someone made the point that it wouldn't make much sense because speeds would be way too low.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
aaricchavez said:
I hate to double post, but I found the perfect solution for the switch. A reed switch or two plus a small magnet will work wonders
http://www.sparkfun.com/products/8642
Edit: Here are the switches that I am buying, they're the cheapest spdt reed switches I could find: http://www.newark.com/hamlin/mdrr-dt-15-20-f/switch-reed-spdt-co-1-5a-175vdc/dp/24C6463
This will allow USB host to be activated constantly and then deactivated easily with a neodymium magnet to use adb, USB storage and whatnot.
I'm pleased that I found such an elegant solution, no need to mess up the housing to put in a switch
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Extending Camera Flex Cable on Nexus 7

I'm looking to replaced my Nook Color in my car with a Nexus 7 in the coming weeks. Can be seen here One of the things that I wanted to do was a back up camera.
My intentions were to originally do either a BT or WiFi camera but I realized that it would be ridiculous for me to sit in reverse for 10+ seconds while my tablet pairs/connects with the tablet. This leaves me with the only one other option which is to use the front facing camera. I am considering extending the cable by about 9 feet. I have no idea if this will even work because of the length needed.
I think the way I want to do it is by using hot air to remove the connector for the camera from the board, then solder thin wire to each contact. Then in the back of my car, above the license plate, I would have a backup camera housing which would house the front facing camera and some sort of FPC/FFC board allowing me to install the connector I removed from the main board earlier. I would then plug in the front facing camera to the board with the installed connector.
My biggest question at this point is.... Do you think the range is too long for something like this? I drive a fairly small car so it won't be as long as say an RV or something. Here's some of the parts. I was able to find the part number for the connector by using the M370T diagrams floating around the forums.
Board Connector
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Camera Side Connector
Below is the kind of board that I would like to find to put into the backup camera housing. The pitch is right but the width is off. I'd have to hunt a little more but I think I can find something that would work.
http://www.proto-advantage.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=2200081
Kind of what I'm thinking..
Let me know what you guys think. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

As long as you get good solder connections and make sure its weather proof it should wirk. Maybe wrap it in some shielding to cut down on electrical interferance from the car. The only worry is the resistance from that length wire may be too much and not work. I'm not sure how sensetive it is to resistance changes. I would say try it, but make sure it works with that length wire before doing a full install. Cool idea.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using xda app-developers app

Hi. I'm sorry to say that you would be wasting your time trying to extend that cable. The signals from the camera module are low-voltage high speed link running at 25+ MHz. There is no line drivers in the camera module, nor the Nexus mainboard, so they won't be able to drive the cable capacitance, rendering you with a camera that won't work.
IF you had the right circuitry, you could maybe extend the camera half a metre, without extra circuitry, i would guess 10 Centimeters maximum.
I have my HU mounted under my drivers seat along with one of my Amp's and i have extended the Front panel connection so it's up above the rearview mirror. Had the same problem, not able to drive the cable. Added some line drivers and it worked, but only because the signalling speed were below 500 KHz.
// Per.

You extended the camera up there or the LCD? What part would I need to extend the camera? Do you have a part number?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda app-developers app

Are there no usb cameras that can work with otg cable?
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium

Omyn said:
You extended the camera up there or the LCD? What part would I need to extend the camera? Do you have a part number?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think parts you selected are ok. But as zapro said - the problem is in transmitting high frequency signals on such long range so it creates much more complex problem.
You could probably use circuits called "Buffers" to drive voltage level in cable to higher (in your phone its 1.8~3V), like 10~20V. Near the camera there would be also buffers to drive it back to the source level. Also you need pinout of camera connector to generate camera power lines (voltages and ground) in your trunk.
You'd have to calculate max frequency of camera's clock signal (inspecting kernel driver should provide enough info) and get buffers of high enough quality. For normal circuits like this http://www.linuxfocus.org/common/src/article251/TL071.pdf (op-amp is a magical device with hundreds of uses, that also can serve as a buffer) usual maximum working frequency is less than 1MHz. You would need something that's working good up to 25MHz or so (like zapro said).
Everything is doable, it's always matter of motivation and time.

I dunno. At those speeds the wires have to be exactly the same length. I don't think it would work.
You'd be better off setting up a raspi, a touchscreen, a mobile phone and your tablet up to use mirrorop sender and have the raspi change its receiver settings when you put the car in reverse. Put a phone on your license plate or behind the bumper so it can display rear view as a mirror view sender.
I've never played with mirrorview, so I don't know much more than the general outline.

fadownjoo said:
Are there no usb cameras that can work with otg cable?
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the route that I must go. My concerns initially were the ability to charge while using the device in USB host mode but that seems to be possible now.
My only concern now would be to find some way to have the tablet switch on the usb camera when the reverse lights are on and mirror the source. I'm thinking something like this might be possible with a IOIO board as an interface. I just don't know what would be the best way to set this up. Maybe something along the lines of a simulated media button from the IOIO when it detects the 12 volts. Then I would have a program like tasker trigger the webcam to open when it detects the media button press.
I would also like a way for when the tablet detects the battery is under 75% then flip a relay to pull the charge straight from the battery as opposed to the cigarette lighter adapter. That way if the car sits, the tablet will never drain to low battery.
I appreciate everyone's input so far.

I don't think the nexus camera is good enough and the angle is wide enough... Camera normally come with 160 degree view which let you see your whole bumper...
Accidentally sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 2

Been hoping for a solution to this also
I've toyed with the idea of installing a Samsung Galaxy Tab Tablet 2 7.0 in my Nissan Maxima where I already have a rear view camera installed in the trunk key-hole. It's pretty slick, but the screen in the dash ONLY shows the camera image- no other functionality (the radio is in the single-din space below the double din space where my 7" screen is). I'd like to swap it out for a tab with tons more features and still retain use of the camera. Every way I try to make this work leads me to a dead end And this forum is about the only one I've seen online for similar interest.
My original thought was finding the video input lead from the rear view camera, matching the frequency from my existing cam and just piping the signal in directly to that lead, leaving all other circuitry intact. But after reading here, i'm thinking converting a standard NTSC signal to the galaxy rear cam input is not an easy task.
Has anyone found any documentation out there for specs on that camera, frequencies, pin-outs, etc??
Cheers,
Q

I also want to extend front camera ( or rear camera) of my mobile xeomi mi4i without any distortion in quality of video/pic. Even half meter extension will be sufficient. I am ready to drill hole in back cover of Mobile if required. I want to know from where i can get connector cable etc for the same. I guess there won't be any distortion for half meter extension and no external amplifier/ buffer required. Thanks in advance.
QUOTE=Omyn;33894241]You extended the camera up there or the LCD? What part would I need to extend the camera? Do you have a part number?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda app-developers app[/QUOTE]

UPGRADE of CarJoying Head Unit Hardware for Android 5.1.1

I recently ordered and received the hardware upgrade kit offered by CarJoying to upgrade my head unit to Android 5.1.1, which can be purchased for 165$, which you can supposedly get back $130 by sending your old parts back to carjoying. However, I have not contacted them or done that yet. See: https://www.carjoying.com/Joying-blog/42.html. This is how it worked for me.
A) Here is what came in the box. It was basically an entire new unit minus the Front Panel/LCD display. They sent me a new box with motherboard etc already installed, and a new touch screen which will be swapped from the one that is on top of the orignal LCD.
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Attached below are a couple more images of the replacement unit they sent me. One thing I noticed right away was the new board has dual wifi-antennas(diversity?) which my old board did not.
B) So the process of doing the upgrade is basically this.
1) Remove your old front panel from the old unit.
2) Disassemble the front panel/LCD unit
3) Replace the touch screen front layer.
4) Reassemble the front panel/LCD unit
5) Attach to the new unit
6) Done
Attached below are some pics from the process.
The instructions that carjoying sends are mostly correct. My notes are:
1) remove the LCD from the plastic from by lifting up on the LEFT (buttons side) because the LCD has little clips that stick out on the other side.
2) remove the tape along the edge that holds the touch panel and LCD panel together carefully and reuse it
3) watch the black bezels on the edge of touch panel. Each of the edges is a little different width and that will help you line it up properly with the LCD
4) the old assembly touch panel attached to a little daughter board on the LCD board. The new touch panel will attach directly to the head unit motherboard and this daughterboard is no longer used. Apparently the new mainboard have direct support for talking to touch panels. This means one of the flex cables(the widest white one?) does not get reconnected (goes to the daughter board), and the new flex cable(little brown one) for the new touch panel does get connected to the mainboard.
This is what you get after this process, a new MCTD system that looks like your old MTCB system.
Next will be seeing it it is worth sending the old main unit back to get the "$130 deposit" money back or if it is not worth it after shipping costs etc. My total cost will be $30 shipping from joying + $x my cost to ship my old parts back to them in Shenzhen.

Have you had it up and running yet? Any noticeable improvements?
Sent from my SM-G935V using XDA-Developers mobile app

This upgrade is for any previous JOYING 4.4.4 headunit with the RK3188?

Krunk_Kracker said:
This upgrade is for any previous JOYING 4.4.4 headunit with the RK3188?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. It was an 4.4.4 RK3188 MTCB and now it is a 5.1.1 RK3188 MTCD.

CadillacMike said:
Have you had it up and running yet? Any noticeable improvements?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is much the same.
I have noticed a couple of small things such as previously if the radio was playing audio would cut out if you went from the engine running to battery only, or if you were on battery and started the car. During those quick power on/off's previously the radio would lose sound every time and you had to totally exit the radio app and start it again. That was an annoyance to me that seems to have been fixed in this new version.
Biggest difference to me is running stock firmware instead of Mayalsk's version. I miss it and hope he can make an Android 5 version for MTCD-type devices soon.

I am still learning about these things, what makes Malaysk's ROM so special that everyone loves it so much?

Krunk_Kracker said:
This upgrade is for any previous JOYING 4.4.4 headunit with the RK3188?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No.
At this moment, only the 4.4 units with 7" screen (no fulltouchscreen) can be upgraded.

FYI. I have received the instructions from carjoying to send the parts back for the $130 refund/deposit. I am hoping the parts will fit into a USPS $27 flat rate medium sized international priority express box. I will be sending them back next week.

CadillacMike said:
I am still learning about these things, what makes Malaysk's ROM so special that everyone loves it so much?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are a ton of things. Off the top of my head:
- there are lots more things you can configure in the settings such as the font/color/size/format of the time/date on the top menu bar (I miss that, the stock is just a very small time with no date).
- you can turn on showing the network traffic on the menu bar
- you get access to be able to customize what is and is not able to automatically startup, and even write your own app startups on boot
- he seems to have fixed the issue of apps on the SD card having disappearing icons, stock icons turn blank for any apps moved to SD card
- his roms already have root/sudo/su configured and installed (it is a pain to do manually via multisteps) and include titanium backup which is very handy
- a whole new advanced settings screen
Really he does a bunch of small stuff that add up i guess is the best way to put it.

thanks, that does sound better. there is so much info on xda, sometimes it is hard to find basic stuff

I'm about to try this. however...
I'm unfamiliar with these little ribbon connectors. Can you give me a little tip on how they work/unlock them? I imagine they are some kind of zero force type.
I've not taken my other unit apart yet but the touch screen ribbon is marked 1-6... I suppose it will plug in with the fingers down?
I do hate to waste someone's time in replying to what might be a simple or obvious answer but if you have time on your hands...
Edit:
Got her figured. Rock the little brown tabs out, then cable in, then push in the brown tabs.
That's what I think.
Dave

nixfu said:
Yes. It was an 4.4.4 RK3188 MTCB and now it is a 5.1.1 RK3188 MTCD.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for providing this information. Very helpful thread. I think I have the same unit, and want tongive the upgrade a shot.
http://www.amazon.com/Challenger-Wrangler-autoradio-Navigation-Bluetooth/dp/B01AZFAFXQ
Now just need to figure out how to get the upgraded components.

I think just for the double din units with buttons right now. But send them an email with your part number and order number from Amazon and they will get back to you.
https://www.carjoying.com/Joying-blog/42.html

FYI. I installed Malaysk's new 5.1.1 firmware on my newly upgraded CarJoying unit last night and it is working great.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/and...lopment/rom-malaysk-roms-mtcd-device-t3385309
The fuse support he has that merges the internal flash and internal SD into one filesystem is a great feature and totally eliminates filling up internal storage so fast and having to do all the "Move to SD Card" stuff.

nixfu said:
FYI. I installed Malaysk's new 5.1.1 firmware on my newly upgraded CarJoying unit last night and it is working great.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/and...lopment/rom-malaysk-roms-mtcd-device-t3385309
The fuse support he has that merges the internal flash and internal SD into one filesystem is a great feature and totally eliminates filling up internal storage so fast and having to do all the "Move to SD Card" stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To clarify, does Malaysk's ROM work only on the customer upgraded Joying head units or does it also work on Joying's brand new out of the box 5.1.1. 2016 models?
The Fuse support is a much needed feature when the internal storage is only 1GB on my 10.1".

FourDoor said:
To clarify, does Malaysk's ROM work only on the customer upgraded Joying head units or does it also work on Joying's brand new out of the box 5.1.1. 2016 models?
The Fuse support is a much needed feature when the internal storage is only 1GB on my 10.1".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe there are people running it on the newer Joyings with the 10" screens. Head over to the MTCD topic and join in.

Does anyone know if the fm radio and Bluetooth modules are replaced with this upgrade for the RK3188 1024X600 unit? I don't have a motherboard pic handy of the current configuration to see if those modules are soldered into the main board or not. My largest complaint with my unit is the crappy radio reception and the distorted Bluetooth sound when streaming from my phone. If these components are replaced with the new motherboard...are they any better? Also what about the internal microphone? Thanks in advance!

Old topic, I know. Just for kicks, I emailed Joying today to see if any upgrade option like this is still available.
They said, no.

MUCH better off now just getting a new octo-core system. I actually have upgraded my core board to a PX5 octocore now as well.

Android tablet in your car instead of these head unit

I am really thinking about going this route.
With all the issues surrounding these headunits, why not get an android tablet which will cost about the same or a little more and install it as your head unit. You can then use an amp for the sound.
I mean what can these head unit do that an android tablet cannot do?
The tablet are much brighter, have more power (cpu) and memory.
I already have an android head unit that was made for my car, all I will have to do is remove the screen and attach the android tablet screen to it, et voila.
Your thoughts?
http://www.androidauthority.com/tablet-car-dash-install-631519/

Well,.....
1) power on and off with the ignition switch.
2) relay a bluetooth phone call
3) 4 speakers
4) If I cared enough, I could think of at least a dozen more.
Oh, you think you want to hack those into a tablet? So youre going to end up overwhelming your USB2 OTG port, add a bunch of flaky USB connections, a 16 port usb hub, and then all the software to run it all? Good luck with your "issue free" tablet.
Oh, as for your "brighter, have more power (cpu) and memory." --- uh..... nope.
The video is talking about a Nexus 7. The Nexus 7 2013 had... APQ8064 (a bit weaker than the Intel x3-c3230RK in new head units), 2 GB RAM (the SAME as the new head units), and sorry, but no, the screen brightness of a Nexus 7 is nothing special.
Another thing that will happen with that Nexus 7, is when you're running your GPS NAV program, it will actually DEPLETE the battery, and eventually SHUT DOWN. It will burn more power than the charger supplies.
If you're really interested in the chewing gum and duct tape solution (like the velcro and sticky tape the video site was talking about), then this is for you; http://www.redgreen.com/

doitright said:
*** Mindless *****ing deleted ***
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are by far the biggest troll I've come across in quite some time. Congratulations :highfive:
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Lol, he sounds very discouraging and negative, doesn't he?
It can be done, but it is going to be challenging for a seemless integration. Every feature of these head unit can be accomplished with a tablet, all the tools are there, and lots of ressources available online.
Nexus 7 is old, I am talking about the newer tablets on the market.
I came across that page and it made me wonder why not. If I go this route, it will probably take me some time, but I am sure at the end I will have a great head unit. These head unit are nothing more than modified tablet made for your car.

I am thinking of the iWork 11 tablet on aliexpress, they will make a perfect candidate, dual boot android or win10, Intel atom 4x core, 4gb/64gb, usb OTG, seperate dc charger so you can use the usb for other things, mini hdmi, etc...
Aliexpress and search for iwork 11.
I am sure you can hack them to make a perfect head unit. I will keep researching on them

Actually, I am. I had the Joying double din and wasn't satisfied. This is the plan.
I bought a Kenwood Mechless Single Din. Fiberglassing a slider kit over the top. Using a Nexus 7 to handle all the content via Bluetooth or USB control.
The plus is I have 6 channels from the single din with a crossover built in, I retained my steering wheel controls and have some extra controls over sound.

with the newer Joying 2GB of RAM Intel units, I dont think a tablet is worth it at this point. with my old MTCD it was pretty laggy, and I was considering it, but at this point, the new Joying is pretty quick, supports microsd card, etc.

checksum123 said:
I am really thinking about going this route.
With all the issues surrounding these headunits, why not get an android tablet which will cost about the same or a little more and install it as your head unit. You can then use an amp for the sound.
I mean what can these head unit do that an android tablet cannot do?
The tablet are much brighter, have more power (cpu) and memory.
I already have an android head unit that was made for my car, all I will have to do is remove the screen and attach the android tablet screen to it, et voila.
Your thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it depends on what you want it to do. Some aspects of a car stereo/GPS unit are harder to duplicate on a tablet installed in a car than others. I really considered it. But, eventually decided against it and went with a Joying head unit. In particular, I couldn't think of a clean way to handle 4 speaker volume fading from the tablet interface. I ended up with a Joying JY-UL135. It's a 1 GB model based on an older processor, and can be a little laggy immediately after boot and if you run some arbitrary apps. The Swiftkey keyboard seemed to really make it lag. But, for the music apps and navigation, it works pretty well. The bulitin MP3 app doesn't seem to handle playlists. It is also Android 5.1.1. But, it was less that $270.
One thing about putting anything Android in the car that needs to be considered, is how you handle your Google account. If you don't have some way to secure the login, or don't want to log in every time you get in the car, a head unit will leave your Google account completely exposed if the unit is stolen or someone else uses your car. Of course, the same thing is possible with you phone or tablet, but for some reason, I'm more concerned with the ability to protect the head unit.
I considered making a new Google account for the head unit that wouldn't compromise my entire world if it were compromised. But, I decided that I just don't leave the head unit logged in to Google. I only log it in to update something from the play store.

if you use Android Device Manager, you should be able to wipe that device if someone steals the headunit. you would have to wait until they connect to wifi, but it is something

CadillacMike said:
if you use Android Device Manager, you should be able to wipe that device if someone steals the headunit. you would have to wait until they connect to wifi, but it is something
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. I thought about that. I just decided that for me, leaving it logged out felt the best. I don't use it for email or social media. So, leaving it logged out only impacts play store updates for me so far.
People just need to be aware of it and decide how they want to handle security. Actually, the same goes for phones and tablets. Many people have no security lock on their phones. Phones and tablets don't get left in mall parking lots for hours though.

Well, for those that have followed my indecision around these units lately, I've decided to run the Tablet route for a little while. I hope to continue working on a more permanent install based around an SBC (Inforce 6540), but it's going to take a lot of my time to get up and running .. something I don't have a lot of these days.
I have a Nexus 9 that barely gets used, so I went and bought an inexpensive JVC media headunit that supports bluetooth. I needed something 'mechless' so that I could recess the unit in the dash a bit, and leave room for a nice tablet holder/slot/etc. While I'm gather the rest of the cables (Need some OTG & Charging stuff), I'll just velcro it to the dash. Hopefully within a week or so, I'll have something a little cleaner.
I'll try to take some photos/videos of what I come up with.
BTW. One of the things that was keeping me from going this route was my back up camera. Ended up buying a cheap USB AV-In dongle that I *hope* will work. I've seen some other posts of people doing this successfully.

mwrutherford said:
Yes. I thought about that. I just decided that for me, leaving it logged out felt the best. I don't use it for email or social media. So, leaving it logged out only impacts play store updates for me so far.
People just need to be aware of it and decide how they want to handle security. Actually, the same goes for phones and tablets. Many people have no security lock on their phones. Phones and tablets don't get left in mall parking lots for hours though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well for me I use Google Play Music, so my gmail is tied to that, so it stays logged in

Zaphod-Beeblebrox said:
BTW. One of the things that was keeping me from going this route was my back up camera. Ended up buying a cheap USB AV-In dongle that I *hope* will work. I've seen some other posts of people doing this successfully.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good luck with that. I've got two of those that look identical with EasyCAP printed on them.
One exposes the camera as a USB webcam the other requires a special Windows driver to work at all.
If you have any problems maybe one of those rear view mirrors with a built in camera screen might be another way to go.

leonkernan said:
Good luck with that. I've got two of those that look identical with EasyCAP printed on them.
One exposes the camera as a USB webcam the other requires a special Windows driver to work at all.
If you have any problems maybe one of those rear view mirrors with a built in camera screen might be another way to go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Supposedly this is based on a UVC chipset/driver. I popped the case apart and it seems to have the right chipset as indicated by a few apps I've seen in the store.
Wouldn't be the first time I threw chinese electronics in my trash can

Actually the best bet would be to seperate hardware into two parts. Monitor and CPU.
If you would find a good capacitive 4k monitor you could make a permant install and run windows or android mini pc or whatever os you want.
I bought Pipo X9 dual os tablet for some reason. If the hardware survive I think there wont be any problem when compared to head units/
to me headunits are expensive right now and their screens outdated(there are 4k retina tablets at 150 usd )

I second what you just said, these head unit are so outdated and far behind what is out there right now. Joying just came out with a 2gb/32gb head with an Intel cpu and running 5.1.1. Looks like they are moving in the right direction, but still far behind.
Now you can get an octacore tablet with 3gb/32gb with a high resolution amoled display for around $300 running the latest android. Full integration in your car will not be easy, but it can be done and will take some time to figure everything out, the options are endless if you go this route. Music, bluetooth, backup camera, steering wheel control, radio, etc... all can be integrated within a tablet, but you will have additional components added and you will need to figure out how to put all that together. I have seen many successful android tablet built over at mp3car.
I am really thinking going this route, I just need to figure out how to build a bezel that will fit nicely in my car. And the best part, you will have a lot of fun building everything from scratch and the joy when everything works, you will get a big kick out of it.

For those who are so worried about the security of the google account, I am pretty sure that the chance of your phone being stolen or lost is much higher than your car being stolen... I wouldn't worry too much about it, just enable safety features or even use Cerberus, and you'll be fine and you'll be able to wipe the device remotely. Another thing is that it's very easy to disable the login from a device in your account settings. Just use 2-step verification, and you're good.

checksum123 said:
I second what you just said, these head unit are so outdated and far behind what is out there right now. Joying just came out with a 2gb/32gb head with an Intel cpu and running 5.1.1. Looks like they are moving in the right direction, but still far behind.
Now you can get an octacore tablet with 3gb/32gb with a high resolution amoled display for around $300 running the latest android. Full integration in your car will not be easy, but it can be done and will take some time to figure everything out, the options are endless if you go this route. Music, bluetooth, backup camera, steering wheel control, radio, etc... all can be integrated within a tablet, but you will have additional components added and you will need to figure out how to put all that together. I have seen many successful android tablet built over at mp3car.
I am really thinking going this route, I just need to figure out how to build a bezel that will fit nicely in my car. And the best part, you will have a lot of fun building everything from scratch and the joy when everything works, you will get a big kick out of it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bezels are sold seperately. You may buy and modify it to your neeeds.
There is no bezel for my car and I am modelling my bezel in 3d max right now and i am planning to use friends 3d printer
The below lcd housing is what i did in the past. Its hand made from carbon fiber.
http://smg.photobucket.com/user/cucuman/media/technics/DSC_4171.jpg.html

Nice,
I will look into 3d printing, since I am not very good at fabrication. My radio opening is big enough to accommodate a 10 inch screen. I want to go either 8 inch or 10.5. Right now I have a 10.2 inch android head unit in there.

My experience so far
Hi guys,
I've made a permanant headunit install with a LG G pad 7.0 since a bit less than a year now so i wanted to share my experience with you. And so far it's quiet good!
I've managed to install the tablet in the place of my old 2DIN radio (with minimal cuttings) then wired it to an amplifier for the sound. I then installed a bunch off apps to have everything needed ( Headunit launcher, GPS apps, Music player, shortcuts ...). And finally, i had to automate a few things for when i jump in and out of the car like swithcing the music or the screen. For this i used the app called "AutoMate"
But i also experienced a few problems and limitations that you should consider :
The first thing is that in summer the tablet can overheat if you are parked in the sun (especially in my black car). So try to keep the tablet easily removable in this case.
The second issue may be related only to my tablet but i'm still seeking for solution. (maybe somone will have an idea here ???) When i'm playing sound throught the jack of the tablet to the amplifier, everything is fine. But if the sound stops (if i pause the music for exemple) after 5 seconds, the audio driver of the tablet goes into some kind of "standby mode". I suspect this standby mode to somhow disconect the audio line witch leads to a massive intrusion of interferences in the audio line. I found a little patch for this problem by having a script that plays a mp3 with no sound when i don't play music. but it creats more problems than it fixes....
The last problem (or more limitation) i'm having now is the single USB OTG port of the tablet. It is already used for charging so it's apparently not possible to plug a hub or something like that to expand it's capacities (USB keys or steering wheel controls for exemple).
But other than that it's all working fine and it's really great to have built this for a fraction of the cost of an normal head unit! ( less than 150€! )
I'll try to stay tuned on this thread if i can give you more infos!