A2DP Mode? - Android Head-Units

I have an Atoto S8 G2 and I use a lot of bluetooth streaming from my phone for things like podcasts.
I used to have a more basic touchscreen bluetooth head unit that showed the name of the track, artist, etc, all while sitting on a home screen with the clock and a moving line that showed the playback position in the track/file/song/etc, as well as minute/second marker. This was useful because I could press-and-hold ff or rew to move along inside whatever I'm listening to, much like an old school CD player.
I'm a little bit disappointed at how my Android unit handles bluetooth streaming. The screen just shows the track name and artist name, and then a HUGE MOVING DISTRACTING OSCILLOSCOPE STYLE DANCING BARS. I'm including a picture to illustrate. It's ugly and annoying, and there is no indication of where I'm up to in the track/title, nor is there a way to move the position around with buttons or any other methods. If I don't like looking at that dancing line of audio levels, I can press home but then it doesn't show me anything at all. I'd like to glance at which part of a lecture or book series etc I'm in before I shut off the car. It's silly the way it looks, there must be a better way! Is this how all Android head units handle Bluetooth A2DP / streaming, or just Atoto?
Also, if I use Android Auto (plug in, etc) and then disconnect it, it doesn't go back to Bluetooth mode. I understand if I switch sources to radio or something else, it shouldn't go back. But if I plugged in my phone, then next time I get in my car and decide I don't need AA, but I'm wondering why there's no sound coming out... it's because I'm still in AA mode!! Is there a way to automatically go back to the last mode when AA / Carplay finishes a session, much like a phone call would go back?

Related

[Q] Galaxy Note 3 and car blue tooth connectivity issue

Hey guys have a very specific issue.
I have a galaxy note 3 with sprint. My car is subaru impresa 2013.
The issue is when my phone connects to the car media through blue tooth. When I turn on my car the phone pairs automatically. And the music starts playing right away. The phone determine which app to use based on a which app I used to play music last time. Right now I using the Samsung music app and Google Music app.
Issue 1
When the music is playing occasionally you hear a crackling noise for a second. Which kind of disturbs the flow of the music. I monitored the phone to see if it was any sort of notifications that would trigger the interruption but no notifications happen at that time. I also went to blue tooth settings and only enabled the media Audio profile. That did not seem to fix the issue. This lead to a the second issue.
issue 2
When the phone is playing music while connected to the car media it would stop the music and not play. At that point the phones home button stops working. So you cannot go back to the main screen unless you restart (pull the battery the power button does not work either) the phone or use the back button to the right of home button.
Issue 3
When the phone connects to the car media automatically car media does not read the song info. For example artist and title. I have to restart the blue tooth in order for that info to appear on the car media screen. This also presents you from changing songs from your wheel buttons.. basically if you can see the song info on the car screen then you can switch songs. If you cannot see the song info on the car screen then you can't use the controls to switch songs.
Please if any one know what's going on I would appreciate your input... I have few more days to swap the phone if this is hardware issue.

Audio break up streaming music via Bluetooth to Skoda Octivia 2013 Amundsen head unit

I've bought a Moto Play X phone and when I try to stream music to my Skoda Octivia (2013 ) Amundsen unit I notice that the audio cuts in and out, like it's breaking up, I've noticed that if I move my phone closer to the head unit the problem gets worse instead of better. I can't leave the phone in my top jacket inside pocket as this also causes problems with the sound breaking up, if I move my arms on the steering wheel.
I can't put my phone in the phone box located under the unit as this also causes the issues, however I've noticed if I put my phone in the little compartment located in the dashboard opposite of where the driver's knee would be, then the result is much better and there is less break up. It's not totally perfect it thought but 98% better.
When I had a Samsung Galaxy S4 phone I could leave this phone in my jacket pocket, the phone box or on top of it and stream without issues, I really don't understand the problem as this only occurs with Amundsen, streaming to any other bluetooth device does not exhibit this behaviour.
I've tried clearing the cache partition on the phone, different music player apps to know avail.
Does anyone else have this problem or know what it is causing it?, it's very strange it seems to be like the bluetooth signal with from the phone is almost too strong for the Amudsen, it seems I need to keep the phone as far away as possible from the head unit in order to stop the audio break ups.
The main difference I can see between my Samsung S4 and Moto Play X is that the Moto uses Bluetooth 4 LE where as the sammy doesn't, so i'm wondering if Bluetooth 4 LE could be the culprit?, if it is I assume there will be many new flag ship phones which would have this compatibility issue also.

Sony XAV-AX200 Tips, Quirks, Etc.

I installed the Sony XAV-AX200 system in my vehicle a few days ago. Coming from a very traditional car stereo that was not smart in any way, that only did CD, radio, and mp3, this is a very different experience. I've been learning the quirks of this system, and I thought that perhaps if I organized my observations here, it might benefit someone thinking of this system. Feel free to add, answer questions, etc. I intend to update/add as I observe more.
This was installed in a 2004 vehicle with no "smart" anything, no steering wheel controls, nada. My unit has been flashed to the firmware version 1.01, published May 10, 2018, available at the Sony support page.
The Good:
Sounds great
Works well with factory Pioneer amp/speakers/subwoofer.
Decent radio reception
Plays FLAC and mp3 files from usb flash drive
Works with both Android Auto and Car Play
Real volume knob and forward/back buttons
The Quirks:
There is no power button. There is no way to turn this system off. Has anyone ever wired a switch into the power line, to give them a way to actually turn these "smart" stereos off? I'm considering it.
If you do not manually go into a menu, then select to turn off current source, before you turn off the ignition, whatever you had playing last time will auto play when you start the car. There seems to be no way to disable this obnoxious behavior. You just get blasted with whatever, when you turn on the key.
Mp3 and flac files only play from your phone or from a usb flash drive. They will not play from a CD-R disc. This is truly bizarre.
Tips:
Works with a USB 3.0 hub, with a few caveats. I have a small Targus USB 3 hub plugged into the port on the back of the unit, and then two dash ports plugged into the hub. Either a flash drive (full of FLAC files so far) or my Android phone will work if plugged into either dash-mounted port.
However, if you have a flash drive that is hooked up through the hub, playing music, and then you also plug in your Android phone through the hub, Android Auto takes over.
While the music you have already playing from the flash drive will keep playing in the background, and indeed further music files in the folder keep playing (if you don't start playing something from your phone), you lose all access to control the music.
The USB icon disappears from the home screen as long as your Android phone is plugged in.
While the music from the flash drive will keep playing indefinitely (if you don't play media from your phone) when you unplug your phone, the music from the flash drive will stop until you tap the "USB" icon on your home screen, and it will not resume from where it was, but will start at the beginning of the drive, alphabetically.
Album art does work, but you must turn it on in the settings on the unit. Album art displays as a background image while music is playing from a usb drive.
At least on the FLAC files I've been playing, album art only seems to work if it is 400x400 pixels in size or smaller, and is embedded into the file's tags. folder.jpg files in the album folders are ignored, and larger embedded images are also not displayed on the unit.
I had some albums in FLAC format that would not play. This turned to be due to the way they were saved. I had to open them in an audio editing app and export them as 96 kHz, 24 bits files, which is the max this unit can play.
XAV-AX200 and Android 9 Pie
EDIT: This only fixed it on the first call. On subsequent calls, it doesn't help.
FYI, in case someone else experiences this: After my phone (Essential Ph-1) updated to Android 9, Pie, the next time I connected to my XAV-AX200 via Bluetooth, while talking on the phone, there was horrible roar of feedback every time the phone call was routed through the stereo by Bluetooth. I solved this problem by turning the microphone gain from medium to low on the stereo. Hope this helps someone else.
Hi, thank you for sharing, but you better search for the Sony XAV-100 and XAV-200 threads in the android Auto forums and specifically for posts of Superdavex who made all kind of improvements. See also his github repository: https://github.com/superdavex/Sony-XAV-AX100
I guess you find more owners and info there.
To power off the unit, long press (a second or two) on the top left button.
admrusty said:
To power off the unit, long press (a second or two) on the top left button.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That does not work on the XAV-AX200. It does work on the XAV-AX100.
celticchrys said:
Mp3 and flac files only play from your phone or from a usb flash drive. They will not play from a CD-R disc. This is truly bizarre.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not really strange, if you think of this unit as a tablet stuck to the front of a basic CD player.
The CD player plays CD audio, the tablet has no access to the disc, it just changes the audio input when needed.
Yes, it is very strange. My last several very cheap car stereos could do this simple task. If Sony was capable of playing mp3 cdr discs for the last 20 years, they should still be able to do so.
thanks for your tips and information about it.
Help with XAV-AX200 please. Keeps rebooting when connect phone.
I bought is on eBay and updated the firmware to the latest. EVERY TIME I hook up my phone to the USB, it keeps rebooting the unit. I have tried Note 8, Note 4, and iPhone 6. Any ideas short of returning it? I have the unit out on a table to test it using a power supply at 12v. Works fine until connect a phone to the short usb in the back. I have the red/yellow on 12v and the black grounded to the unit.
Todd
admrusty said:
To power off the unit, long press (a second or two) on the top left button.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have XAV-AX200C2 and the power off function as is stated here works for me.

Panlelo S10 - is it any good?

Hi guys,
I know you can buy a decent head unit for $300+, but I can spend only $150. So is there any "not that bad" radio I can buy? I only want it for GPS and music playback + reverse camera. Best would be shipping from Europe, because tax here is 21% + $20 and that would ruin my wallet . I have found this: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Panlelo-S10-Plus-2-Din-Android-Car-Stereo-2G-32G-7-1080P-Autoradio-Quad-Core-2din/32909908899.html?spm=2114.search0104.3.136.130d81d9nKqHaw&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_5_10065_10068_204_318_10059_10884_10887_10696_100031_10084_10083_10103_452_10618_10304_10307_10820_532_10821_10302,searchweb201603_60,ppcSwitch_0&algo_expid=a972cd81-c671-41c1-a8dc-9bd13b7e13a3-19&algo_pvid=a972cd81-c671-41c1-a8dc-9bd13b7e13a3&priceBeautifyAB=0 (Panlelo S10 Plus)
2 gigs of RAM, some quadcore CPU, 32GB ROM, RDS (I won't listen to a radio very often).. I only don't like sensor volume buttons, but I can live with that. What do you guys think?
Or it's not worth it and I should just buy some 1 din classic and parking sensors, leaving GPS to a phone?
Thanks for answers
I would say what is the worst that could happen with the device?
Maybe it is useful that you inform what MCU there is and if it is mtcd mtce whatsoever. Then you can look if there is any custom ROM that you could flash to this.
I prefer to have hardware buttons for volume and next back etc. But I know I can also use my steering wheel for that (which I do in 99 percent of the time)
Verstuurd vanaf mijn ZUK Z2121 met Tapatalk
The worst would be it not being able to run GPS and music at the same time? Or very bad audio output? I don't know what to expect from these devices.
I'm not sure if it has any microcontroller, specs says only "Allwinner quadcore 1.2 GHz". I though it was just a tablet in different body with amp. But I'm sure there will not be any custom ROM for this. I can even find many reviews.
Sorry if I'm not very clear, I'm new to this.
I got the panlelo S10 plus a week ago and it's a good upgrade to the stock stereo (installed it on a Ford freestyle)
-google maps GPS works great by using hotspot from my phone, I have not tried off line Gps apps
-audio app for air radio stations sounds just like the stock stereo but has equilizer feature which will help it to sound better than the stock stereo, and the reception for air radio is just as the stock stereo
-it will let you play music (music app, google play music, Amazon music, YouTube music) and use Google maps at the same time but you have to go to settings and whilelist the apps you want to keep running in the background after you get back to the main screen or switch to maps
-it does boot up in like 2-3 secs for me
-it is not standard size as the regular 2 din, you need to make sure it's going to fit, also you need to shave the sides opening for the car kits you buy for double din car installation
-quality is meh, my screen has a corner lifting up, it is very small but it's there, it might be because the opening I did to the car kit plate it's making pressure on that corner.
-touch screen is responsive but is plastic not glass like a phone or tablet, the specs make the stereo to be responsive when moving thru apps
-screen brightness it's adequate for a car stereo, don't expect it to be like a phone - update - after connecting the illumination wire the brightness adjusts automatically down when turning on the headlights, you can set how low to go on the settings menu
-I don't have a back up camera so I can't comment on that
-side capacitive buttons do no light up (at least I haven't found out how to enable it or if there is a cable connection that I'm missing) so at night you won't be able to see the volume buttons, you have to rely on pulling down the notification bar to move the volume - update - my car does not have an illumination dedicated wire so I connected the stereo illumination wire to a cable that turns on the ac panel backlight and now the menu capacitive buttons light up when I switch the headlights on
-I haven't play with the steering wheel controller, I haven't research my car to see how to connect them to the stereo, I installed it in a rush because I was going in a trip so I just connected the basic stuff, so far I am enjoying it a lot for this trip. - update - connected the stereo key1 cable to the car swc+ cable and the steering wheel controls worked fine after programing them on the stereo settings
Overall I think is worth the $147 I paid for it, hopefully it lasts long.

Bluetooth streaming and track info

Do other head units show track data and length of track / time remaining?
I got an Atoto S8 g2 and when listening to an audio book or lecture from my phone, it just shows spectrogram dancing lines to the audio being played. It tells me the name of the file on top, but I really miss being able to see how far into the file I am. I had another head unit (Linux based) that showed me the duration etc, and I could scrub through the track by holding ff/rr on the steering wheel or the radio controls.
I kinda miss that. Is this just an Atoto thing or do all Android powered head units work this way?

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