Android Headunits

[insomniac2k2]

No video yet. I'm way too busy for that right now. But here's what i can say so far:

Update: I upped a really crappy video that will give you an idea on performance. Please don't expect anything more that the basics

Notes:
Looks like boot time was about 28 seconds.
The interface that you see is car dashdroid. I think i like it better than theirs so far. I just have it auto launch on boot.
This deck is quad core and seems well worth the extra few bucks. It's very responsive.
Steering wheel controls work, but im having some intermittent issues with it. It almost seems to forget the controls now and then. I have to remap them in the decks interface. I'm beginning to wonder if its a ground issue
The annoying hum you hear is introduced by my crappy polk amp. It was there with my last kenwood deck too. Any gain = annoying noise...


The documentation is a bit weak (literally none besides the printout on the top of the deck). But it was enough to install it correctly and have everything working.

The steering wheel controls uses the kenwood wire. The ground was not necessary for my installation. I set my scosche unit to sony. I've read elsewhere that pioneer worked. I may try it again later. It didn't work when i tried it.

I terminated the kenwood I(i think its teal and yellow?)wire to Key1. I terminated the mute wire to key2.

I was forced to shave my scosche plastic in order for this deck to fit. Pretty dissapointing, since it is custom painted, and i will need to re-paint it :/

I used the pre-outs instead of the amplified wires. I was also forced to use the decks sub out and run a wire back to my amp in the trunk. As this deck seems to have a built in crossover in the 4 channels that doesn't allow the lower range. While it was irritating, it was a welcome addition in the end. I now have more isolated ranges. People without a replacement amp and sub may or may not have an issue. I suspect that if you use the amplified channels, they will likely have full range on them. So it may be moot.

My first impression of this deck is that it is pretty cool. It's very fast and the touch screen is responsive.

There are a few things that make an android deck a bit clunkier than a standard deck, but the benefits seem to far outweigh the caveats.

caveats:
The thing most missed is proper radio overlay. It's a bit clunkier than a normal 2 din. When you are in something, you cant just click an overlay button to switch to something else. You need to hit "home" or "exit" to back out of the application. "Home" will leave it running but then take you to the android home screen. "Exit" will exit the application and take you to the home screen.

This brings me to the next caveat. If you are in an app like pandora, and you select another source like the radio. Both will be playing. Now you need to go back and turn off pandora. Minor inconvenience that will be fixed once i get used to operating it correctly.

Minor Bug:

Every once in a while i go to bluetooth. Once in bluetooth, my music will go to some sort of ATT mode where it gets much quieter and only plays through the front speakers. When i make a call, the music mutes like it should. Once the call is over, and i go back to my music, its still stuck in that ATT mode. In order to get out of this, i have to open up bluetooth again and close it. Music will resume back to all speakers and proper volume.

This doesn't happen every time. I will have better feedback on this in a few weeks.

UPDATE: This has not happened again yet. Might have just been something that i did while playing around. I'll know more later.

The final problem ii'm having is that the mic is TERRIBLE. I'm even running a second external mic from my kenwood unit. No better. I'm going to have to experiment more with the built in one on the deck and then also try the one that was included (it's fugly though. i don't really want to use it.)

Update: I replaced my existing external mic and used their ugly one. Sound is considerable better. Not great, but better to the point where it's acceptable

All that said. So far, im happy with the deck. This could change if i cannot get the mic working. This is completely necessary for ANY deck IMO.

Question:

Has anyone had any luck splicing off the existing backup camera and outing it to an aftermarket deck? I've read elsewhere that it is pin #5 and pin #15. But I have no idea where that harness is. If anyone has pictures and location of the proper harness, please throw me a bone!

I'm a 2012 2SS (pre-mylink). Mine comes with a backup camera/mirror combo.

UPDATE: As much as it pained me to pay near a $100 for a 2 wire splice, I figured that It may be worth supporting a good business. Gen5DIY has a harness that does just this. He was very responsive to me and earned my business. Harness is on the way!

[Need4Camaro]

I also have an Android Head Unit, but it is installed in a 4th Gen F-Body and not a 5th Gen. I actually just purchased a 5th Gen V6 a few days ago but not to replace my 4th Gen.

AFTER HAVING AN ANDROID HEAD UNIT, There's no way I can go back to a standard stereo. The features and abilities it offers far outclass even higher end units. Not so much in sound quality but the amount of features.

YES YOU WILL HAVE TO TRIM THE BEZEL. The headunits are slightly larger than a double din. After you do it though, you won't look back.

Even though they're made in China, they are very reliable. Mine has been working flawlessly for a year and I've taken it apart to do several upgrades aswell.

Here's my thread on my Head Unit...
http://ls1tech.com/forums/stereo-ele...hlight=Android

I'm going to address several questions / concerns / issues and how to resolve most of them.

Boot time - The Headunit is NOT a stereo. It's literally a computer and like any computer, it must boot before it can be used. AM/FM radio will work while the unit is booting. CD's, MP3's, Internet Radio, XM ect will have to wait until the unit has fully booted before you can use it. Obviously the more apps you have to autostart, the longer it takes. When I first got my unit it took about 15 seconds, now it takes closer to 45 but I have alot of stuff installed on mine.

Sound Quality - The default MP3 player doesn't do much to amplify. Use the app named POWERAMP for MP3's. You'll notice a big difference. There's another app that requires root that severely increases sound quality for ALL music (internet, MP3, FM) but I forgot the name of it.

Microphone Quality - The microphone on these units are very very small, hence their poor quality. THE REASON THE AUX MIC QUALITY IS POOR IS BECAUSE OF A ISSUE AS KNOWN AS PARALLEL MIC Basically, the port for the external MIC is on the same circuit as the internal Mic which increases the impedance and decreases the ability to transfer audio on BOTH Mic's. You can only use one or the other. The easiest fix is to remove the front Bezel (four very small phillips head screws on the side of the black front fascia) and clip the red / black wire on the MIC thats located inside the front bezel you just removed, be-careful not to hurt any of the ribbon cables. After disconnecting the INTERNAL microphone, the external Microphone should work great. I installed my external microphone under my dash and can use Google Now, Bluetooth calls very clearly in my 4th gen.

Operating System - You ARE limited only to Android 4.4 unfortunately, which means USB microphones won't work. You CAN (I do) use a mouse and keyboard, USB Hubs and Flash Drives. I am using 2 64 GB Flash Drives and my HUB is connected to the cable for the 3G dongle, still works.

Rooting - Go to http://forum.xda-developers.com/show...t=external+mic and look up "RedMod" You have to download and store it on a SD Card and flash the firmware. Basically its an Pre-Rooted version of Android 4.4 - there's other ways to do it yes but this is the easiest and most reliable. You MAY have to update the APU after doing that, you'll have to get that from the seller.

App Compatibility - ALL Apps that are compatible with Android are compatible with this unit, this includes Google Maps, Waze, Pandora, iHeart Radio, Google Calendar, Google Now ("Ok Google") ect... There are a few small limitations and work arounds however. Google Play will only let you download apps that are deemed safe to use on the highway. Two ways to fix. A.) Download and flash to RedMod.
B.) Install it manually by downloading the APK for the App.

Bluetooth Compatibility - Depending on the Unit you get, some are limited only to hands free calling, then others with Hands Free and OBDII (can use torque), and lastly a few dont have any limitations.

Storage Capacity - The units come in two flavors currently
1 GB ROM / 8 GB iNand
2 GB ROM / 16 GB iNand

First let me explain the difference.

The ROM is where the OS is stored.
The iNand is an INTERNAL SD, kind of like a SD Card but its not removable.

The OS is stored on the ROM
Even when you move an APP to the internal SD - at minimum, a small portion of that app MUST also be located on the ROM for it to work, and by default, all apps are downloaded to the Rom from google play. If the App is movable you can "Move to Storage" in the Settings menu under Applications. If the App is NOT movable, you can download "App2SD" (REQUIRES ROOT) but DO NOT FORMAT THE INTERNAL SD. Instead, just go to every App you want to move and move it to the SD. DO NOT MOVE APPS THAT LOAD DURING BOOT OR THEY WILL NOT BOOT PROPERLY AS THE SD CARD ISNT READ UNTIL THE UNIT IS BOOTED UP
Once the ROM storage fills up, it wont matter how much space is remaining on the SD - you cant install anymore Apps. you can still store music, videos, ect.

----

AT FIRST APPEARANCE the UI can be a bit gaudy compared to a standard stereo, however; this can easily be fixed by Launcher Apps (I use Smart Launcher) I ALSO downloaded Google Now and use Google Now voice commands ("Ok Google") to completely eliminate my need of touching the UI while I'm driving. As in, can set navigation by saying "Ok Google, Take me to 123 Elm St" and it will load up and navigate me via Google Maps. Waze is BOSS with this unit. I can also start Pandora / PowerAmp by saying "Ok Google Start "App name." Of course there's the other basics, check email, use team viewer and remote into my PC at home, browse the internet, ect...

[Need4Camaro]

I decided to make a different post specifically for your concerns.

Originally Posted by insomniac2k2

Looks like boot time was about 28 seconds.
The interface that you see is car dashdroid. I think i like it better than theirs so far. I just have it auto launch on boot.
This deck is quad core and seems well worth the extra few bucks. It's very responsive.

Check my above post regarding boot time.

Originally Posted by insomniac2k2

Steering wheel controls work, but im having some intermittent issues with it. It almost seems to forget the controls now and then. I have to remap them in the decks interface. I'm beginning to wonder if its a ground issue
The annoying hum you hear is introduced by my crappy polk amp. It was there with my last kenwood deck too. Any gain = annoying noise...[/COLOR]

If these problems persist, try to update the APU, get that from the seller.

Originally Posted by insomniac2k2

The documentation is a bit weak (literally none besides the printout on the top of the deck). But it was enough to install it correctly and have everything working.

There is a manual located inside the Head Unit itself. Its in the form of a pdf document, of course..this does mean you have to successfully install it and turn it on before you can read the manual .

Originally Posted by insomniac2k2

The steering wheel controls uses the kenwood wire. The ground was not necessary for my installation. I set my scosche unit to sony. I've read elsewhere that pioneer worked. I may try it again later. It didn't work when i tried it.

I terminated the kenwood I(i think its teal and yellow?)wire to Key1. I terminated the mute wire to key2.

I wish I could help here, but others here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/andr...oid-head-units may beable to. My car didn't come with steering wheel controls.

Originally Posted by insomniac2k2

I was forced to shave my scosche plastic in order for this deck to fit. Pretty dissapointing, since it is custom painted, and i will need to re-paint it :/

I'm sorry for this. I had to do the same to my interior face plate because the units are slightly larger than double din. This is probably because they're made in China.

Originally Posted by insomniac2k2

I used the pre-outs instead of the amplified wires. I was also forced to use the decks sub out and run a wire back to my amp in the trunk. As this deck seems to have a built in crossover in the 4 channels that doesn't allow the lower range. While it was irritating, it was a welcome addition in the end. I now have more isolated ranges. People without a replacement amp and sub may or may not have an issue. I suspect that if you use the amplified channels, they will likely have full range on them. So it may be moot.

Was this on a factory amp or aftermarket?

Originally Posted by insomniac2k2

caveats:
The thing most missed is proper radio overlay. It's a bit clunkier than a normal 2 din. When you are in something, you cant just click an overlay button to switch to something else. You need to hit "home" or "exit" to back out of the application. "Home" will leave it running but then take you to the android home screen. "Exit" will exit the application and take you to the home screen.

Of course, it is an Android OS afterall. It's 100% Android interface. HOWEVER you can install floating widgets for your favorite apps you like to switch to and use the widget (which floats ontop of every app you're in) to switch between preferred apps. I also use a launcher.

Originally Posted by insomniac2k2

This brings me to the next caveat. If you are in an app like pandora, and you select another source like the radio. Both will be playing. Now you need to go back and turn off pandora. Minor inconvenience that will be fixed once i get used to operating it correctly.

Change App Priority to 3rd Priority and see if that helps.

Originally Posted by insomniac2k2

Minor Bug:

Every once in a while i go to bluetooth. Once in bluetooth, my music will go to some sort of ATT mode where it gets much quieter and only plays through the front speakers. When i make a call, the music mutes like it should. Once the call is over, and i go back to my music, its still stuck in that ATT mode. In order to get out of this, i have to open up bluetooth again and close it. Music will resume back to all speakers and proper volume.

This doesn't happen every time. I will have better feedback on this in a few weeks.

UPDATE: This has not happened again yet. Might have just been something that i did while playing around. I'll know more later.

Sounds like Bluetooth is not disengaging after the call has ended. MAY want to just make sure that the phone call actually ended on the handset. Another thing is this. Call audio isn't the only audio thats transferred through bluetooth, App Volume is aswell and if anything from your phone is transmitting audio, even if its muted...Bluetooth won't disengage.

Originally Posted by insomniac2k2

The final problem ii'm having is that the mic is TERRIBLE. I'm even running a second external mic from my kenwood unit. No better. I'm going to have to experiment more with the built in one on the deck and then also try the one that was included (it's fugly though. i don't really want to use it.)

Update: I replaced my existing external mic and used their ugly one. Sound is considerable better. Not great, but better to the point where it's acceptable

See my above post, there IS a fix for this issue.

Originally Posted by insomniac2k2

Question:

Has anyone had any luck splicing off the existing backup camera and outing it to an aftermarket deck? I've read elsewhere that it is pin #5 and pin #15. But I have no idea where that harness is. If anyone has pictures and location of the proper harness, please throw me a bone!

I'm a 2012 2SS (pre-mylink). Mine comes with a backup camera/mirror combo.

UPDATE: As much as it pained me to pay near a $100 for a 2 wire splice, I figured that It may be worth supporting a good business. Gen5DIY has a harness that does just this. He was very responsive to me and earned my business. Harness is on the way!

[/QUOTE]

Im alittle concerned because I don't know if you'll beable to integrate into your factory reverse cam. The #5 and #15 pin, were those just for power or for video? If its for power you'll be okay as lon as they're in some way connected to the reverse wire on the Harness. If its for video, the video side takes an RCA style adapter. I dont know how that will turn out..

[insomniac2k2]

Amp question regarding low ranges on pre-amp channels-

It is an aftermarket amp, but it wouldnt matter. The sub range on the 4 channels is just not there on the pre-amp outputs. The good news is that the sub range is there on the sub output. That's the most important part at least.


The Manual-

Yeah, i found the manual. It makes it kind of moot for installation though. That said, it was fine for me. As i have reasonable experience with stereo installation. Others might panic at first glance

App priority-

Haven't heard of that trick yet. I'll look into it!

Minor bluetooth bug where it stays in attenuate-

Yeah, i assumed similar. In my case that one time it was definitely disengaged. As it was the first thing i checked. It has not happened since then.

The crappy internal MIC-

Ironically, that's what i was going to do . In fact when i got in there, i was going to consider soldering another out and route it out the backside of the unit for a second external mic. But i'll try snipping it to see if that clears things up enough first.

Steering Wheel controls-

I have since removed the termination to "key2" wire. So far, all that is needed is the kenwood wire to key1. All the basic controls work. The only ones that i do not have good luck with are the phone controls on the wheel. They are not even worth it to me to troubleshoot.

Rooting-

All my android devices are rooted, but i haven't bothered with this one yet. So far, i haven't needed any additional functionality. I'm sure that will change soon enough though.

Reverse cam split-

The harness from GEN5DIY worked perfectly. It essentially just intercepts the signal being sent from the cam to the mirror down on the passenger side firewall, and outs it to an RCA. I now have backup cam on my head unit and mirror.

Interface-

Ill mess around with floating widgets later. For now, im using car dashdroid. So far, im pretty happy with combinations of both.

Trick i learned from this head unit-

The audio balance on this thing was way off. The pre-outs were also way under driven. There was no way to fix this in the interface, but luckily i opened up the passworded "factory settings" (password:126)section and found Audio adjustments!!!

After making real adjustments to the various choices (ipod, bluetooth, DVD, system, etc) i now have proper pre-outs. The gains on these by default are all around 8 of 20. In my case, i had to put them all at 20. This enabled me to crank my gains on my amp all the way down. Thus removing my annoying my annoying amp gain "buzz". My sound is crazy loud now.

Versus before, i had to have my amp gains half up just to get a reasonable volume at max. If you haven't done this yet, do it now. You wont regret it.

I was also able to change the boot screen to the chevy logo from that interface as well.

Still a problem -

Unfortunately my bluetooth still sucks. I'm not talking about the mic either. Im talking about general streaming. It's VERY quiet (like 1/5 th as loud as anything else), and has a ton of static noise. And im even supposed to have the better parrot bluetooth chip. I have tried to open a case with pumpkin, but I am still waiting on "moderator approval". I find that level of support disturbing, but i'll see if they come through.

UPDATE: I spoke with Andy from Pumpkin. It was a slightly painful process. Mainly because of the time barrier. So we basically had one email exchange a day. Other than that, they came through fast! They got with the manufacturer and had a new rom available in a few days. The new rom FIXED the bluetooth low volume issue! I can now stream music and properly hear my caller better. The weak mic is still the same, but it in no way makes me want to get another deck because of it. I still have some hardware troubleshooting to do to see if i can make it sound a bit better. Presently it just sounds like im a bit far away. Similar to if you had your face too far from your phone while you were talking. It essentially needs more MIC pickup.

All in all, i am now very pleased with this head unit. Very cool tech for an amazing price!

[LiveWire195]

Thanks insomniac2k2.

I'm going to rock my Pioneer DA-SPH120 for now and deal with no in dash navigation for now. I think I'm going to wait until they release a head unit with Android Auto is the OS for it.

Sucks Android is behind in this market, but their stuff is always better than Apple in my opinion.

[insomniac2k2]

No problem. Might I ask what your areas of concern are? The reason why i ask is because after I worked through most of the little issues, i find myself more and more happy with this unit. The big caveat is that the bluetooth is still not up to snuff IMO. Other than that, i have this sounding and looking great.

It far exceeds my previous kenwood DNX6990.

Originally Posted by LiveWire195

Thanks insomniac2k2.

I'm going to rock my Pioneer DA-SPH120 for now and deal with no in dash navigation for now. I think I'm going to wait until they release a head unit with Android Auto is the OS for it.

Sucks Android is behind in this market, but their stuff is always better than Apple in my opinion.

[LiveWire195]

Originally Posted by insomniac2k2

No problem. Might I ask what your areas of concern are? The reason why i ask is because after I worked through most of the little issues, i find myself more and more happy with this unit. The big caveat is that the bluetooth is still not up to snuff IMO. Other than that, i have this sounding and looking great.

It far exceeds my previous kenwood DNX6990.

When I had an iPhone 6S for a brief moment, I really liked how I was able to plug the phone in directly and everything worked so well. In dash nav, and it was synced to my account so all my addresses that I needed to navigate to were already in the recent history list.

That was the biggest selling point for me.

[insomniac2k2]

Gotcha. Just fyi. The iphone/ipod sync works fine. The headunit comes with the plug, plus 2 extra usb's for other stuff. Not sure about linking my iphone map history to the unit. Namely because i dont use an iphone (my kid has an ipod). Secondly and more importantly. Once you use Waze or even google map/nav, you likely wouldn't go back to apples incarnation.

To sum up what i have working and working well are the following:

Wifi hotspot sharing from my phone. I even use an application called llama that turns on my hotspot as soon as it detects that my phone is connected to my car.

With Wifi hotspot sharing, the headunit then automatically launches pandora or spotify.

For Nav, I have my headunit's nav button to launch Waze.

The built in radio is fine and gets remarkably good reception compared to my kenwoods crappy reception.

I have a OBD2 usb (https://www.scantool.net/obdlink-sx/) running fulltime through one of the 2 extra usb ports. Torque actually auto-launches every car start and is ready to datalog, or at least post real-time data. VERY COOL. Beats the hell out of bluetooth or wifi syncing. Its now like its just built into the car.

I run a ton of other apps, but those are the relevant ones that matter IMO.

Don't get me wrong, im not trying to sway you for any reason. I just want you to know what does work. So far, thats everything besides the bluetooth streaming of music. And thats basically moot, because i no longer use it. The headunit has everything installed natively, and has better quality if you run it as so.

Do i want bluetooth to work as advertised? Absolutely. I'm still in the process of opening a ticket.

Just my 2c

Originally Posted by LiveWire195

When I had an iPhone 6S for a brief moment, I really liked how I was able to plug the phone in directly and everything worked so well. In dash nav, and it was synced to my account so all my addresses that I needed to navigate to were already in the recent history list.

That was the biggest selling point for me.

[LiveWire195]

Originally Posted by insomniac2k2

Gotcha. Just fyi. The iphone/ipod sync works fine. The headunit comes with the plug, plus 2 extra usb's for other stuff. Not sure about linking my iphone map history to the unit. Namely because i dont use an iphone (my kid has an ipod). Secondly and more importantly. Once you use Waze or even google map/nav, you likely wouldn't go back to apples incarnation.

To sum up what i have working and working well are the following:

Wifi hotspot sharing from my phone. I even use an application called llama that turns on my hotspot as soon as it detects that my phone is connected to my car.

With Wifi hotspot sharing, the headunit then automatically launches pandora or spotify.

For Nav, I have my headunit's nav button to launch Waze.

The built in radio is fine and gets remarkably good reception compared to my kenwoods crappy reception.

I have a OBD2 usb (https://www.scantool.net/obdlink-sx/) running fulltime through one of the 2 extra usb ports. Torque actually auto-launches every car start and is ready to datalog, or at least post real-time data. VERY COOL. Beats the hell out of bluetooth or wifi syncing. Its now like its just built into the car.

I run a ton of other apps, but those are the relevant ones that matter IMO.

Don't get me wrong, im not trying to sway you for any reason. I just want you to know what does work. So far, thats everything besides the bluetooth streaming of music. And thats basically moot, because i no longer use it. The headunit has everything installed natively, and has better quality if you run it as so.

Do i want bluetooth to work as advertised? Absolutely. I'm still in the process of opening a ticket.

Just my 2c

I've been using an old iPhone 5 for the in-dash nav, when needed. (forgot to mention). My complaint with that is the head unit sees the iPhone 5 as the primary phone device, and I am not able to switch it to my Nexus 6P.

I just realized what I'm asking is is for the Car Play to work with an Android phone. I like the way the device connects, and everything is smooth. Long story short I just need to stop being a pain in the ass and deal with what I got

[insomniac2k2]

I updated my above post to express that the bluetooth volume issue is now fixed with an updated rom. I now love this cheap little head unit with endless options!

[rgreene1971]

I know this is a slightly older post but had a question to the people who have installed these head units. Have any of you used the internet dongle with the head unit? If so are you getting 4G or is it only 3G? I keep seeing the pumpkin system list 3G dongle for internet service but I would prefer using 4G lte.

[insomniac2k2]

No sorry. I use my phones hotspot. If you have a rootable phone, the hotspot is free

Originally Posted by rgreene1971

I know this is a slightly older post but had a question to the people who have installed these head units. Have any of you used the internet dongle with the head unit? If so are you getting 4G or is it only 3G? I keep seeing the pumpkin system list 3G dongle for internet service but I would prefer using 4G lte.

[rgreene1971]

Originally Posted by insomniac2k2

No sorry. I use my phones hotspot. If you have a rootable phone, the hotspot is free

Yes, My phone is rooted and running CM13. I have Tmobile as my phone service and received a good deal from them on 4 lines for $150 with unlimited data. I only need 3 phones in our household so I was going to buy the dongle key and use the 4th sim card for it. I don't want to waste the money or time if it will only work with 3G.

[Pete M]

I only have the boring basic stereo in my 1LT so I'd need the faceplate and unit.
Found this one, but still looking..
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-PIONEER-...3D361473574355