so who are the best units out there.
something that works with minimum work to make it "nice" or functional.
I do not mind some tinkering with software, but do not want to root, or do any sort of hardware mods.
lets start with money no object. as it needs to be
responsive to the touch, and fast to react
quick to boot,
reliable future proof,
sat nav (happy with google maps, or here maps)
DAB
High Res Screen
nice to have
TV built in? not a must but why not.
USB, or Aux input (could do with audio streaming alone?)
reverse camera
Wifi, or means to transfer without using data from my phone
btw, I have VW touran 2005, in case it makes a difference in fitting etc
I'm trying to decide myself which to get. I like the Joying stuff but their new model for my car had no disc drive. If you find anything out as to which is best let me know and I'll do the same
I've bought a XRROSS unit. I haven't plugged it in as I need to find a working interface to retain wheel control buttons and able to start the amp.
I have an outlander 2007 with Rockford Fosgate system.
I have been using an Erisin Android 4.2 model for the last few years in my BMW X5, and found it decent but not great. Underneath the Erisin is one of the many, many Hui Fei units that get sold under a bunch of different badges and used one of the Rockchip CPUs that are found in the majority of these units. In my case it was the RK3066.
Overall impressions - I loved the convenience of having a full android tablet instead of the stupid stereo interface originally on my car, but as time went on I found I used it less and less and tended to just use my phone. The interface on the unit was not great as there were a number of apps (particularly their settings) where the controls were outside the edges of the screen and therefore unreachable. This seemed to be in large part a problem with the low-res (800x480) screen and the fact that it is always in landscape mode (obviously). I've recently tried out some of the 3rd party roms found here on XDA which are noticeably better than the stock rom that came with it.
The unit started having problems after about 3 years as the bottom half and the top half inch (1cm) of the touchscreen no longer respond to touch. This has rendered the unit basically useless.
I'm now in the market for a replacement and I would be interested to hear impressions and complaints from anyone that has an Android 5 or 6 unit.
right so my turn to provide information I collected...
I had a chat with a friend who owns car head units \ bluetooth etc fitting company, circa about 6 cars and more private contractors to fit through out the UK, his opinion is
"chinese head units are rabbish, stay away from them and buy decent manufacturer units like ken wood pioneer etc.
for each 10 units of those cheaper ones, (he admits that it have much more functionality for the price). about 6 have issue.
its not well thought of, and different problems comes up, starting with many software issues, to hardware combination as those cheaper companies hardware is whatever cheapest, and very little thought about segmenting
thier own producs, which causes issues with firmware updates later. and make it hardware to control quality.
provided an example, of heating up units, or battery just dies, or the unit just bricks"
so as you see from earlier he is totally against it, however I would presume if you are reading this, then you are willing to open your own dash and debugging issues yourself, and will to throw away hardware if it bricks etc.
long life time is not something you always expect, its a luck of the draw.
he goes further and says:
"even good company, if you want navigation, then you need to go top of the range £1000+, as cheaper units are not great at that"
but then he is used to all the top stuff, so he might say that.
however the think I agree with him most on:
"get something that mirror your phone, this way you can get cheaper units, and you rely on your phone which is smart and feature rich to start with, even the £200 ones that mirror your phone is good enough"
now, my thoughts are, there are other things (I forgot to ask him) about viewing angle, what sort of resolution will look good enough etc. (I agree with the guy above about the resolution)
Oh, mmmalas comment does remind me: If you are driving a BMW X5, 5 series, or any other model of car where the stereo panel curves upward into the dashboard, the Chinese Android units are going to be a problem. Even though the units I've looked at fit beautifully into the panel space, and have perfectly fitted curved fascia, the screen ends up pointing at an angle that makes it unreadable in sunlight. The units that have the screen standing up at a tangent from the curve of the case might be better, although I do think they look somewhat awkward.
Like this unit for example: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/9-BMW-X5-E39...ash=item360f37eb54:g:jF4AAOSwol5Y2hSi&vxp=mtr
the pioneer or maybe the kenwood ones, allow you to adjust the angle on the unit (motorised).
I presume those android units are mainly TN panels, rather than IPS. which makes the viewing angles worse.
it would be nice if my son in the middle of back seat can watch a movie. but I am unsure if the screens are that good. will be nice to know
I have an xtrons unit, the Andriod 6 with 8 core. I really like it, there is virtually no boot time, its instant. Backup camera is great, I run spotify which is great, and a few other apps like google maps and here maps, and gmail. So far everything looks great, had it about a month now. Only thing I have yet to do is get a reliable alternative to hotspotting my phone every time i get in the car.
semaj4712 said:
I have an xtrons unit, the Andriod 6 with 8 core. I really like it, there is virtually no boot time, its instant. Backup camera is great, I run spotify which is great, and a few other apps like google maps and here maps, and gmail. So far everything looks great, had it about a month now. Only thing I have yet to do is get a reliable alternative to hotspotting my phone every time i get in the car.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can connect it via NFC.
georgebest said:
You can connect it via NFC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What I meant was I am trying to find a dongle solution here in the US for it. So I dont have to use my phone.
I have an ownice c500 unit. I think it is the best unit available. It is not perfect and some people have some problems like with DAB+ etc. but for me, it works perfectly.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/Ownice_C500
is the screen view-able from sides perfectly, or does it suffer from viewing angles, or sun reflection in your face.
and does the screen color look good, or its one of those things that either look crap in daylight, or night
Hello
Could you please give me a short rationg from https://liamscar.com/best-android-auto-head-unit/
Is it possibe to find best of the android unit
Sure, if it was with low budget.
I used Pumpkin, but I want to replace it
Related
Hello forgive me as i know alot of these kinds of threads are probably posted. Ive tried searching and only came up with a couple of threads but not a lot of information.
I was looking to get the Joying J-VQ125 head unit. Does anyone know anything about it? Is it good/should i stay away? it seems pretty solid and the video in the sale post on aliexpress shows very smooth transitions. It seems to be pretty good running 1024x600 res and the rk3188 chipset on OS 4.4. I like the idea of physical buttons on a car stereo so i am after a head unit with a physical back/home button and volume controls. Ive been using android since 1.5 and rooted my fair share of phones. That being said i dont think i have much of an interest to root the car unit.
i cant post external link, so to view the headunit just got to aliexpress and search J-VQ125. its the only one that comes up
any helpful information would be greatly appreciated
TIA
I JUST got one of these Joying units in the mail today. I will start playing with it this evening. Like you I wanted something with at least one physical knob and a couple of buttons, and it has a slightly bigger screen because it does not waste space with a useless (come on its 2015) DVD slot. .
I got one direct from there website and used coupon code Joying which got me this unit with 1024x600, quad core and 7 inch display for only $265 shipped. It arrived in less than a week from china.
http://www.carjoying.com/quad-core-...b-memory-airplay-obd-wifi-bluetooth-html.html
I can answer any questions you have about it. I will probably have it on the bench playing with it/making sure it is updated etc.. for the rest of this week.
Aside from the price can you see a difference in the Joying unit you bought and this one: http://www.carjoying.com/quad-core-...een-airplay-gps-navigation-radio-audio-s.html
symyn said:
Aside from the price can you see a difference in the Joying unit you bought and this one: http://www.carjoying.com/quad-core-...een-airplay-gps-navigation-radio-audio-s.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No they look the same except for the fact this is already in EU to avoid taxes.
This is the first Android head unit I've played with/owned, and I've only had it about a day, but I've been somewhat happy with it.
Having been used to phones and tablets with integrated bezels, it's been a bit annoying to get used to having a raised bezel around the screen - tapping buttons on the edge of the screen can be interesting at times. I also noticed that the sound level/quality coming from the built in amp is rather poor. The stock Delco radio in my Suzuki was better, and I generally consider those Delco radios to be garbage, lol. But of course, this is a pretty subjective thing. The bezel, however, doesn't even come close to fitting the double din install kits we have here in the USA. The height is pretty close, but the width was considerably wider.
On the plus side, the screen is pretty darn nice. It's clear (MUCH MUCH more so than the Xenarc resistive touch screen it replaced, which cost me considerably more money, lol), seemingly bright (haven't had it in a full sun exposure situation yet), very wide viewing angles, and overall visual quality isn't much worse than my Samsung Note 3 phone. The stock ROM load feels pretty snappy, and seems to be rendering my high resolution satellite image maps just fine. I'll know better after Sunday when I take an extended off road trip with it. That was the biggest reason I went with this model - the higher screen resolution, and the quad core CPU.
urbex said:
I also noticed that the sound level/quality coming from the built in amp is rather poor.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My impressions are:
a) The audio quality for the FM Radio tune is not quite as good as my stock radio was
b) However, the audio quality for playing MP3's etc is MUCH better than my stock radio's FM/CD player. And the media players like MediaMonkey, PowerAmp etc have excellent EQ controls etc that enable them really customize the sound to the vehicle's interior sound quality, so they end up sounding much better than the stock unit's simple tone controls.
So it is kinda a wash to me.
Interestingly, I found that the FM tuner is far more sensitive than the stock radio was. I haven't played much with MP3s much, beyond the quick BT test connection with a couple songs from my phone. The plan is ultimately to leave a large SSD connected to the headunit with my MP3s on that, along with running an external 4ch amplifier (largely for the frequency crossovers), so the performance of the built in amp really isn't a big deal to me one way or the other.
But yeah, my general feeling on the product as a whole is kind of a wash, lol. I was also considering picking up one of the Pioneer touchscreen units with Mirrorlink capabilities, but I was concerned about current and future phones having a less than stellar record when it comes to compatibility.
I have been looking at these android car stereo units. A lot of them really do look the exact same, just with their own badging (logo) but probably from the same factory from China? I was just wondering if anyone has had any luck discovering any brands that are more reliable than others? I just hate to fork out the $250-$300 for one and have it crap out on me in 6 months.
I have specifically been looking at the Joying and Pumpkin units as it seems they are the most popular. But I am open to all the brands.
in my non-scientific study of forums, I found most people were happy with Joying, which is what I ended up getting, and I am very happy with it
Ownice is known for having lots of units with 2GB of ram and bringing things to market pretty fast like Android 6.0, but they are only ever available through Aliexpress and the newer units can get a bit pricey. Joying is known for having relatively solid support and a large product selection, as well as sometimes having custom apps for specific vehicles (ex. air conditioning control). As far as I can tell, they are a personal favorite of many on XDA. Some people also choose Eonon and Pumpkin, I'm not quite sure about them but I'd assume they are solid choices. I personally own a YINUO unit and I wouldn't recommend getting one, as they are expensive and they are always using a very slightly modified stock Hui-Fei ROM (basically the OEM rom), but still they somehow manage to make it crash when doing basic tasks. Albeit, I flashed it for a truly stock ROM and it works fine now.
Roadnavi.com also seems to be somewhat reliable and has decent support
Need more people to chime in here.
I had newsmy carpad and pumkin joying brand, i would go for newsmy because of how simple but powerful the machine is, tje joying and pumpkin brand are slow and reboot prety much everytime var turns off, any apps runing on the background will be closed. Newsmy has this option just like the phones when car is off radio goes into stanby mode screen off does not consume power when car is turned on it resumes like when turning on the screen of your phone any app runing on background will resume with no hesitation. And not to mention full steering wheel controls on any media app unlike the pumpkin and joying that need to download a app in order to make other media players work with steering wheel.
I would stay away from KGL (Kai Gei Lei or something?) units. I received a unit with a front panel that shouldn't have passed QC (rotated text on buttons etc). I was too trusting towards the Aliexpress seller since it was my first buy, so my objection period ran out. I tried to get a new panel through KGL customer service, even offered to pay if needed, sent some pictures along.
At first they responded quickly to the emails I sent afterwards they said "I see nothing wrong" and despite several reminders they just stopped responding.
So first off KGLs quality inspections are poor and their service is basically none existant. I advice to stay away from them.
I have an Erisin unit. It has a very good finish, very good construction, integrates perfectly with the CAN bus of my car, open doors and climatic all is shown correctly... I'm very happy with it. Perhaps sound quality could be improved and its support is quite poor, but I would buy another unit from them surely. Moreover, I think they have the same software than Joyin products, so perhaps their firmwares could be interchangeables.
So I was reading the how can China manufacturer make you happy thread and mjdoom mentioned he'd like to see Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. That got me wondering, what's the appeal of these units? Why not just buy one of the many mainstream headunits on the market that have those features? Is it the price? OEM(ish) fitment? etc?
For me it was price and the ability to do multiple things (Dashcam/DVR is a plus).
dummptyhummpty said:
So I was reading the how can China manufacturer make you happy thread and mjdoom mentioned he'd like to see Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. That got me wondering, what's the appeal of these units? Why not just buy one of the many mainstream headunits on the market that have those features? Is it the price? OEM(ish) fitment? etc?
For me it was price and the ability to do multiple things (Dashcam/DVR is a plus).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Simple, the appeal is that if you have android running your radio, then you can actually use it to do things.
Unlike those mainstream junk boxes that do nothing at all.
Unfortunate downside of this is the extreme buggyness of the chinese units.
luciusfox said:
Simple, the appeal is that if you have android running your radio, then you can actually use it to do things.
Unlike those mainstream junk boxes that do nothing at all.
Unfortunate downside of this is the extreme buggyness of the chinese units.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For basic GPS maps and Streaming Music the unit I have works great out of the box. Far from what I would call "buggy". Most of the complaints or bugs I see here are with functionality that isn't even remotely possible on most head units. Bugs such as pairing an ODBII can be a pain, but it's not even possible to anything that isn't full android.
Just having google maps in the dash with a couple of real streaming music apps is a superior experience than anything a car manufacture is putting in their new cars. The big appeal for me is it is android and can be customized to do far more than most typical head units. It also helps that I am a very technical person and hacking with android is a hobby of mine.
We have 2 newer cars, a work truck with 'ford sync', and my wife just got a car with 'Nissan Connect' with GPS. A passenger can't even enter a destination in the units without the driver pulling over and stopping. She still ends up dash mounting her phone for google maps and just streaming music from it. Both are quite useless and overly restricted compared to a $300 Chinese head unit.
I prefer to drive my 6 year old car, just because the cheap Chinese head unit is far superior to anything shipping from the factory today in most cars.
gustden said:
For basic GPS maps and Streaming Music the unit I have works great out of the box. Far from what I would call "buggy". Most of the complaints or bugs I see here are with functionality that isn't even remotely possible on most head units. Bugs such as pairing an ODBII can be a pain, but it's not even possible to anything that isn't full android.
Just having google maps in the dash with a couple of real streaming music apps is a superior experience than anything a car manufacture is putting in their new cars. The big appeal for me is it is android and can be customized to do far more than most typical head units. It also helps that I am a very technical person and hacking with android is a hobby of mine.
We have 2 newer cars, a work truck with 'ford sync', and my wife just got a car with 'Nissan Connect' with GPS. A passenger can't even enter a destination in the units without the driver pulling over and stopping. She still ends up dash mounting her phone for google maps and just streaming music from it. Both are quite useless and overly restricted compared to a $300 Chinese head unit.
I prefer to drive my 6 year old car, just because the cheap Chinese head unit is far superior to anything shipping from the factory today in most cars.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, because the "usually fails to connect the SCO stream" isn't a really important bug.
luciusfox said:
Yeah, because the "usually fails to connect the SCO stream" isn't a really important bug.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree if basic BT functionality isn't working, that is a big problem. Guess I am lucky as I haven't seen that issue. BT really hasn't been much of an issue with my Joying, once I figured out how to pair my ODBII.
gustden said:
I agree if basic BT functionality isn't working, that is a big problem. Guess I am lucky as I haven't seen that issue. BT really hasn't been much of an issue with my Joying, once I figured out how to pair my ODBII.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It usually works ok for a little while, then after some time stops working. So if you're only doing really short drives, then you might not notice it. If you're doing hour or longer drives, then you'll start to see it happen.
luciusfox said:
It usually works ok for a little while, then after some time stops working. So if you're only doing really short drives, then you might not notice it. If you're doing hour or longer drives, then you'll start to see it happen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I drove about 4 hours over the weekend with the headunit tethered to my phone via BT, and didn't have any issues. This is on the Sept 1 ROM. Perhaps the problem is heat related since it only happens on longer drives?
gustden said:
I drove about 4 hours over the weekend with the headunit tethered to my phone via BT, and didn't have any issues. This is on the Sept 1 ROM. Perhaps the problem is heat related since it only happens on longer drives?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, heat related would be impossible, heatsink and fan keeps it at a nice cool 40 degrees. Something mungs up in the software after a while -- turning the bluetooth off and then back on manually temporarily corrects the problem. Could be working for you because of a change in the sept build, everything earlier exhibits the problem. Two separate units in two cars. One running may, one running july, both with heatsink and fan.
I have a DPF in my car and I run the Torque app to show status so that I can extend it's life. I also have displays for battery condition, actual speed (not the speedo adjusted one), and engine temps. Things that help me look after the car and keep it running reliably.
The great thing is that I can customise to suit my needs or if there are more things to monitor.
Being able to play any format music without having to convert it to work in the car.
Better GPS navigation with a 8" screen, dedicated up to date maps with street speeds and speed camera locations, connection to the traffic network (no data plan needed).
The only downside would be I wish bluetooth A2DP streaming was better. For me the pros outweigh the cons of the 2" monochrome screen I had before.
I've only just bought my unit but the reasons for me are the price and the greater capabilities!
Ok so have tried to trawl the web, you tube and xda but am still struggling to work out my best options.
Totally android newbie, have one for work, don’t really use it much.
Been testing car launchers on it and like the experience.
The Handsfree BT on my Mercedes Vitos radio is fubar, so considering a Chinese Android HU.
Currently considering a Merc oem style Xtrons (4 core 2gb ram) this one is 7.1 or the xtrons 10.1” Octaore 2gb ram, oddly this one is only 6?
Want to mainly use it for amazon prime music, blue tooth streaming (iPhone 7/Apple Music) satnav, and DVDs/films for the kids via HDMI to rear screens (vans for camping and trips to France etc).
Ideally dont want to have to update it straight away but equally am up for it if it’s a big boost.
But my main question is, are xtrons ok out of the box or is there a better make I should look at, or rather the same unit but from a re seller with better support or software?.
Also given the octacore units are the latest, why are the running 6?, and is that even a problem?
Really need the blue tooth for making calls to work well as that the reason I need to replace. Seen mixed reviews we mics wired up to cause echoes etc?
Like the oem style but the 10.1” screen is appealing as it will work well if I manage to upgrade to the new shape Vito next year.
Other wise I am considering a Sony Apple car play. But I think I’ll be bored with that and it will be limited and have a small screen whilst not being oem.
Thanks android folk
Anyone? ?
No one?,
I do understand it may seem silly to ask some of these questions but we all have to start someplace?.
I have no idea what a PX3/px5, mctd or mtcu is?.
But I’d like to understand, sadly trying to search this forum is a nightmare as it either pops up an advert with a guy walking about I think changing bank?. Or I get an offer of a free iPhone off virgin media (scam) or it simply crashes and reloads.
If I could get a few pointers it would be cool so I can make an informed decision.
My current thinking is that Basically the entire android HU production is from a few firms. And pretty much the head units have a ton of promise but are pretty much thrown together. So I’m keen to understand which models are less likely to be rubbish.
And also that as standard most have poor software, but this I don’t get as every android phone I’ve had off work is simply running android. I’ve never noticed much difference?. Why do people have to update the Rom when it’s already running Android?.
What’s a PX5?, from what the be seen that’s the 8 core job, generally with 2gb of ram and a 32gb rom.
Some of what I’ve found seems to indicate these should be better? And that the Bluetooth calling mic issue is better.
Best deal on that is with xtrons as all the others (with a 10.1” screen are only quad core for the same cash.
But what’s the most reliable and useable?. The PX3 (quad core mtcu?) or the Px5 ?
Why can’t the PX5 run Android 6?
And due to this should I just get the Merc style quad core running android 7.1?. Will that be more reliable and useable.
And again Xtrons seem the best all round proposition as seller.
Is the software on the Xtrons useable for basic use out the box?, ie reasonable audio, useable hands free?, gps and able to run amazon prime music and other apps foR the kids in the back?.
200-300 isn’t a small chunk of cash when you have a family of 6 so I’m keen to understand what’s the safest entry to Android HU’s and then what’s the deal and how can I learn more about booting etc.
Thanks anymone who can spend a few minutes getting me on the right path for it’d be much appreciated.
Cheers.
Lots of questions, but i'll try and sum up:
1. 200-300 that you'll spend is a gamble. I.e. hardware failures/bricks, lack of or no updates to your ROM.
2. Chinese Android HU's aren't refined. They are built/designed with good intentions, however, the software to go with is sucks.
3. The things that you expect i.e. good AM/FM quality, RDS, BT Calling etc, do work, but probably not the same quality as you'd expect (probably from mainstream headunits)
4. There are a few "good" companies that XDA tends to use more than others i.e. Joying, Pumpkin, HotAudio/Seicane/Daistao. When I put "good" in quotations, that means this is relative. These companies come out with software updates, are some what reasonable with end user support.
5. The gamble is, if you get a ****ty unit, and its hardware related, or if you decide to mod it (in most cases you will need to make the most of the HU), and you brick it.. than you have to ship the devices to China.
6. In terms of running the latest android, there really isn't a big advantage to running 7. If you can, get a unit with 6 on it. Updating has limitless possibilities of screwing up.
7. Since you're an android newb.. troubleshooting is going to be a nightmare for you, if you're not satisfied.
Hope this helps.
Cheers, much appreciated.
coolest35 said:
Lots of questions, but i'll try and sum up:
1. 200-300 that you'll spend is a gamble. I.e. hardware failures/bricks, lack of or no updates to your ROM.
2. Chinese Android HU's aren't refined. They are built/designed with good intentions, however, the software to go with is sucks.
3. The things that you expect i.e. good AM/FM quality, RDS, BT Calling etc, do work, but probably not the same quality as you'd expect (probably from mainstream headunits)
4. There are a few "good" companies that XDA tends to use more than others i.e. Joying, Pumpkin, HotAudio/Seicane/Daistao. When I put "good" in quotations, that means this is relative. These companies come out with software updates, are some what reasonable with end user support.
5. The gamble is, if you get a ****ty unit, and its hardware related, or if you decide to mod it (in most cases you will need to make the most of the HU), and you brick it.. than you have to ship the devices to China.
6. In terms of running the latest android, there really isn't a big advantage to running 7. If you can, get a unit with 6 on it. Updating has limitless possibilities of screwing up.
7. Since you're an android newb.. troubleshooting is going to be a nightmare for you, if you're not satisfied.
Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If / when you do get one could you leave some feedback? I'm looking at exactly the same options as you for a Merc B class as I want the stock look. Thanks
So I’m going to focus on units from Joying and Pumpkin.
Next question is why if they all run android is there software issues?, is there additional software needed to integrate with the car interfaces?.
And do I need an octacore unit (is this px5?) or will a quad core with 2gb ram do?.
Is Xtrons considered to be a bad bet if you don’t want to fiddle too much?. I ask because the same price mark with Joying and Pumpkin is for lower spec hardware or older OS.
And given that they are kind of best of the worst are they worth a premium?.
Was planning on the xtrons with either the octacore as the 10.1” screen or the merc style in the quad core as assumed it was the same inside as the more expensive joying or pumpkin but have noted the rear case can differ and on another thread here the manufacturer is noted as different to the Pumpkin units?
Itchigo53 said:
If / when you do get one could you leave some feedback? I'm looking at exactly the same options as you for a Merc B class as I want the stock look. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will do, I think I’m going to go for the oem look and go for an 8 core as you get 32gb ram built in so I can store amazon music and movies on it for the kids and listening.
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Still tempted on the Xtrons as they’ve got pretty good feedback on trust pilot and at the moment they have 15% off bio first order code so can get it under £300 all in inc an OBDII dongle and a wireless reverse camera (£15 off eBay)
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Or found uk firm selling the same (similar) type for the same money looking like it has an Apple type ui and icons and I’ve seen a Seicane reviewed that had the same look. Apparently they are pretty good. I know the reviewer of the video was pleased.
I’ve mailed them to ask about software support etc.
They have 98.5% on eBay and the negative reviews are not on head units though they have lots of positive.
Oh it’s audio tech direct.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Danno1975 said:
So I’m going to focus on units from Joying and Pumpkin.
Next question is why if they all run android is there software issues?, is there additional software needed to integrate with the car interfaces?.
And do I need an octacore unit (is this px5?) or will a quad core with 2gb ram do?.
Is Xtrons considered to be a bad bet if you don’t want to fiddle too much?. I ask because the same price mark with Joying and Pumpkin is for lower spec hardware or older OS.
And given that they are kind of best of the worst are they worth a premium?.
Was planning on the xtrons with either the octacore as the 10.1” screen or the merc style in the quad core as assumed it was the same inside as the more expensive joying or pumpkin but have noted the rear case can differ and on another thread here the manufacturer is noted as different to the Pumpkin units?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They all have software issues since they have no "real" world testing, their application is so varied across so many car models, that they really can't get it right. The pumpkins/joying/seicane have some what better support, and since they're the most "popular" units out here.. you'll get much better XDA support too (which, did I mention is probably better than manufacturer support? lol).
They're worth a premium if you want something different, to test and fidget with.. there is a ton more functionality than standard HU's, but that comes at a price of course.
Just a word of advice.. don't trust reviews on random sale websites, they're of course selling something!
Got a positive email off Audio Tech Direct this morning that explained all the questions I had Re the two units I liked. I did some research and of the two merc units I like one was 99.9% Seicane and the other was 99.9% a Erisn.
They noted they will give firmware support where needed on an if it ain’t broke basis. Suits me as I don’t plan on fiddling beyond maybe a new car style launcher.
Doing an extension at the moment so need to convince the wife later of the need for a potentially disappointing £300 radio [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]
Itchigo53 said:
If / when you do get one could you leave some feedback? I'm looking at exactly the same options as you for a Merc B class as I want the stock look. Thanks
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Got it yesterday. Really nice, few set up issues to iron out as I was tired last night. But for the 2012 Vito it plugged in and worked straight away.
Happy so far with the unit and the UK seller, it’s a good fit, sound is great, works well looks great. Plugged and played no issues even dash display works on radio channels RDS works, the supplied aerial seems better than stock, didn’t come with the Merc boot screen but that’s in settings and was easy to change (pin code 126 I think).
Love the equaliser and speaker adjust app really good and works well, handsfree is fine via the built in mic (my car one is somewhere in the quad lock so guess it’s not used)
Screens is good, not as sharp as my iPhone but it’s not a £700 Apple product. I had hoped it would be more vibrant but this may be as it was in night mode and I can play with settings. Not used to android so will get my head around it.
Torque app looks good but couldn’t connect to dongle.
Had a few issues getting this onto iPhone WiFi but I think this is the iPhone as it the same with iPad too. WiFi seems good. Was a fair way from house and WiFi from house was connected even though the phone wouldn’t and it’s a newish iPhone 7 so + 1 to the head unit.
Can’t figure out how to change the dash widgets, don’t like the car launchers on android play store so want to get this set for me. Would like weather. Didn’t install till 9:30 last night so was tired.
Only problem really with install was I took the glove box lamp out to help fit a flush mount Usb for the rear usbs on the head units did a bang up job. It the back of the lamp hots it so not have a horror hole. Luckily I can’t see it and will glue some black plastic over it and do it Saturday when I got the parking camera. A class needs a separate power lead which is supplied so still plug and play really.
Starting up isn’t super slow or super fast. By the time I was off the drive it was working, Rev Can mutes radio. Anyway and works ( black screen for now as no camera)
These are the issues and I’m awaiting a response. Till now Audio tech direct have been great with support pre order and on delivery via Sainsburys.
Issues
On the buttons the green phone answer key does not light up green at all, the red does.
On the built in sat navs there’s no post code search that I could find. Will only use it when remote and can’t get in google maps and anyway. Or camping.
Also in the supplied Navigation I have the volume set at max but when using it this morning with the radio although the radio level dips the audio on the Nav is too low to be heard.
Strangely the radio is only on 1 but at one it’s the same as half way on a normal radio, may be a default system volume I need to change? on the drive last night you could hear it outside the van on 1.
Also on the GPs occasionally it (very quietly) says gps lost, though a check shows at least 10 channels and good fix. This is on my drive with clear sky above and driving in open environment. Still navs though.
Gps aerial is currently on dash of van with clear sky view and as noted the sat navs still seeing satellite.
Blue tooth won’t see my BT elm327 dongle?. Might be the dongle not used it before.
Tried mirror link and it connected to my iPhone but just made a horrible screaching and displayed a grey screen.
Can’t get the radio to come on without key in, not a problem in itself though the previous unit did, main problem is as soon as the key is inserted to get it to turn on it assumes you are driving so can’t show video or dvd even if the engine is off and ignition not even on. And if you take key out it powers down.
So you can’t watch video.
Made three BT calls one clear two a bit crackling but the wife was in her car in the sticks on her handsfree and the Sony BT crackles on my iPhone ad2p connection so might be her. Last night to her m bike was fine. So happy ish.
Main thing is how well the seller supports the little issues I have.
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Danno1975 said:
Got it yesterday. Really nice, few set up issues to iron out as I was tired last night. But for the 2012 Vito it plugged in and worked straight away.
Happy so far with the unit and the UK seller, it’s a good fit, sound is great, works well looks great. Plugged and played no issues even dash display works on radio channels RDS works, the supplied aerial seems better than stock, didn’t come with the Merc boot screen but that’s in settings and was easy to change (pin code 126 I think).
Love the equaliser and speaker adjust app really good and works well, handsfree is fine via the built in mic (my car one is somewhere in the quad lock so guess it’s not used)
Screens is good, not as sharp as my iPhone but it’s not a £700 Apple product. I had hoped it would be more vibrant but this may be as it was in night mode and I can play with settings. Not used to android so will get my head around it.
Torque app looks good but couldn’t connect to dongle.
Had a few issues getting this onto iPhone WiFi but I think this is the iPhone as it the same with iPad too. WiFi seems good. Was a fair way from house and WiFi from house was connected even though the phone wouldn’t and it’s a newish iPhone 7 so + 1 to the head unit.
Can’t figure out how to change the dash widgets, don’t like the car launchers on android play store so want to get this set for me. Would like weather. Didn’t install till 9:30 last night so was tired.
Only problem really with install was I took the glove box lamp out to help fit a flush mount Usb for the rear usbs on the head units did a bang up job. It the back of the lamp hots it so not have a horror hole. Luckily I can’t see it and will glue some black plastic over it and do it Saturday when I got the parking camera. A class needs a separate power lead which is supplied so still plug and play really.
Starting up isn’t super slow or super fast. By the time I was off the drive it was working, Rev Can mutes radio. Anyway and works ( black screen for now as no camera)
These are the issues and I’m awaiting a response. Till now Audio tech direct have been great with support pre order and on delivery via Sainsburys.
Issues
On the buttons the green phone answer key does not light up green at all, the red does.
On the built in sat navs there’s no post code search that I could find. Will only use it when remote and can’t get in google maps and anyway. Or camping.
Also in the supplied Navigation I have the volume set at max but when using it this morning with the radio although the radio level dips the audio on the Nav is too low to be heard.
Strangely the radio is only on 1 but at one it’s the same as half way on a normal radio, may be a default system volume I need to change? on the drive last night you could hear it outside the van on 1.
Also on the GPs occasionally it (very quietly) says gps lost, though a check shows at least 10 channels and good fix. This is on my drive with clear sky above and driving in open environment. Still navs though.
Gps aerial is currently on dash of van with clear sky view and as noted the sat navs still seeing satellite.
Blue tooth won’t see my BT elm327 dongle?. Might be the dongle not used it before.
Tried mirror link and it connected to my iPhone but just made a horrible screaching and displayed a grey screen.
Can’t get the radio to come on without key in, not a problem in itself though the previous unit did, main problem is as soon as the key is inserted to get it to turn on it assumes you are driving so can’t show video or dvd even if the engine is off and ignition not even on. And if you take key out it powers down.
So you can’t watch video.
Made three BT calls one clear two a bit crackling but the wife was in her car in the sticks on her handsfree and the Sony BT crackles on my iPhone ad2p connection so might be her. Last night to her m bike was fine. So happy ish.
Main thing is how well the seller supports the little issues I have. View attachment 4320987View attachment 4320986View attachment 4320989
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Click to collapse
Issues sorted great support
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I am no stranger to Android in a car, I have done custom tablet installs in cars, (back in 2012 with Timur's custom cyanogenmod rom), custom car computers (roadrunner, centrafuse), etc.
Last year, I decided to give one of these neat looking Chinese head units a shot, I went with the Eonon double-din model with the PX5 processor, 4gb ram, 32gb rom with DSP audio chip. Out of the box and installing, the software wasn't terrible but borderline silly. The DSP audio control app was new to these units so I forgave some of the funky terminology and adjustments that were available in there, it was a far cry from adjustments one would find on a cheaper dedicated DSP unit. The performance was okay until summer rolled around and I had to tear the head unit apart and install my own heatsink and fan to the processing module board, this resolved that. The cheap mmc memory was a limiting factor of its performance in heavier apps like Google Maps, otherwise. Wifi performance was borderline trash. The extremely cheap and laughable wifi chipset barely handled 1.5-2Mbps of data transfer when downloading a Spotify library to the SD card. I even attempted to unsolder and replace the cheap antenna with my own higher end antenna but this was no solution to the very cheap and barely functional wireless module. Digging into the rom to find out that it's only been compiled for two equally bad wireless adapters, I gave up trying to make the wifi work any better. My unit also always produced processor noise out of the speakers when it was quiet in the car, sounded like onboard audio from cheap PC motherboards; this happened out of the amplified speaker outputs and the RCA outputs. I have since sold that car, I have a new car and would love to try again if it's even worth it.
I am not here to bash on these head units, I really WANT to see them improve. I would love to get my hands on one with more premium hardware, better working networking, worked out bugs, smarter display dimming control (maybe even a few extra cents of an ambient light sensor), audio DSP controls that are actually awesome, proper heatsink for included processor, etc. Do these exist? It's hard to find them in the sea of different brand names and Engrish website listings.
Any input on this would be so helpful to myself and many others.
I think you’ll find that they all suck in one way or another. If they were to be of total quality they would be $1500 or more. Think about the use case though, NO ONE else is making custom canbus integrated units that fit inside modern cars which no longer conform to single/double DIN form factors. I don’t think at the price points most of these units are that quality and functionality will be improved.
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I've been using Android head units since around 2013 or so, when they had resistive touchscreens lol. While they still have a lot to improve on, I must say that they've come a long, long way. There's only really three features that I want to see, and one of those the 2013 ones all had:
1) For the love of God, there was no need to take away iPod support. Some of us still have an iPod. It's great to have in a car to play your music. Much better than putting it on SD cards, because I like the playlists. Bring it back!
2) Resolution. 800x480 is roughly as best at it gets for these guys. Although I'm greedy and want 4k, at least give me 1080p!
3) Blu-ray support. Come on already, it's been out for 14 years!
I am also interested in this question, I had the atoto a6 pro before I sold the car. For a quad core it felt slow.
Is there any unit out there besides joying with proper lte support? Joying does not support att/Rogers/Fido lte frequencies. Except band 7.
I've seen on the forums that the xtrons won't even take a 4g dongle and work in mobile connection mode and also they have an underpowered USB port, 250mA or something . Where standard is 500mA.
Anything out there with North American frequencies?
Zap! said:
I've been using Android head units since around 2013 or so, when they had resistive touchscreens lol. While they still have a lot to improve on, I must say that they've come a long, long way. There's only really three features that I want to see, and one of those the 2013 ones all had:
1) For the love of God, there was no need to take away iPod support. Some of us still have an iPod. It's great to have in a car to play your music. Much better than putting it on SD cards, because I like the playlists. Bring it back!
2) Resolution. 800x480 is roughly as best at it gets for these guys. Although I'm greedy and want 4k, at least give me 1080p!
3) Blu-ray support. Come on already, it's been out for 14 years!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
first point...fine I get it..
second point 4K???????
third point..ok you are trolling..
I appreciate the few replies here.
I for one am hoping for the most subtle and cost effective improvements that make the experience of one of these in the dash feel like a better product. Top changes I'd like to see:
Display with high NITS, defeat the bright sunlight. Ability to see the content REALLY WELL comes before ultra-high resolution. As long as I can't count the pixels from the driver seat, I'm not going to knock on the resolution.
Clean audio output, some of these produce noise like crazy when listening at quiet volumes, you can hear internal processes coming through the speakers like onboard audio of cheap PC motherboards.
DSP controls that make sense- timing controls that conform to other DSP audio controls of all other typical DSP audio products, the interface is goofy although the chip being used is quite powerful but I don't believe the writers of the software interface completely understand what it should be doing.
Automatic dimming displays. A tiny ambient light value sensor hidden in the glass or plastic fascia and android's own built in software solutions will allow automatic brightness control of the display so that when you're sitting in your car at night without the headlights turned on, the screen doesn't bake your eyeballs out or when your car has automatic headlights and they turn on early before the sun goes down and your screen goes so dark you can't see it. This is a simple solution and I hope they resolve it.
Custom fully integrated units such as the one we put in our 2013 Mini Cooper Countryman S model needs to be worked on more before shoving them out the door. $600 gets us a head unit that looks nice in the dash but the integration of retained door chimes/warning sounds/blinker signal indicator sounds is the most absolute rubbish thing, ever. Would gladly spend closer to $1000 US for something that is more refined.
A home screen that doesn't suck. Solid integration with FM tuner controls, common media player apps, etc in the home screen would be great to see. A home screen that works good enough to the point that we don't have to fish the play store to make it better would be killer.
It’s been a short while, anyone got any updates on android head units that don’t suck?
ojuniour said:
first point...fine I get it..
second point 4K????
third point..ok you are trolling..
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Click to collapse
1) Thanks! There has to be a way to hack it back.
2) I was joking about 4k, but I want 1080p
3) Not trolling, I have quite a few Blu-ray disks and would like to be able to view them in the car.