Android head units

[ChrissyMacG]

Anyone had any experience with them? Will the branded more expensive ones like pioneer be much better than the cheap ones from China?

Like this one http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/UK-Android-4-4-KitKat-OS-Quad-Core-1024-600-Car-Stereo-Navigation-GPS-Head-Unit-/321907524671?nav=SEARCH

Does anyone know if these units will work with Spotify?

Can anyone recommend a specific (reasonably priced) head unit that will integrate nicely with an android phone (Samsung galaxy s6 edge)

[Skezza]

I've been quite tempted to buy one for a few years now but I figured I'd wait for my China 2din to break. A few years later, my China 2din still hasn't broken, heh.

No, imo, the branded ones won't be better, not when running Android. The open source nature of Android, and the fact they're being fitted in dangerously fast vehicles sends shivers down manufacturers backs, so they usually cram as many restrictions in as possible to prevent the user doing anything. You want a clean AOSP imo.

However, the devil is in the detail. You really could do with finding out:

A. Is there a recovery? ClockWorkMod would be good, look around XDA Developers for that.

B. Is there a significant dev movement?

C. Can it be rooted?

Why wouldn't it work with Spotify?

As for it 'integrating' with an S6, what do you mean? What are you expecting it to do exactly? Google services has supported multiple devices for years (longer than Apple), so I assume you don't mean that?

Finally, as I've already said the devil is in the detail. Beware the pumpkin one you listed is NOT a standard double din. The main body is, but if you look closely the front has lips around the edges which I assume are there to make it feel bigger. That means it won't fit in an FP1700 (OEM style dash fascia/cage) without modifying it. Not a big deal. If you simply take the front of the FP17000 off with a dremel, then you can slide it in and I'm sure the head unit will come with a universal fascia of sorts. Just won't look particularly OEM if that bothers you.

Hope this helps.

[ChrissyMacG]

Thanks for the reply...

think I found a decent one http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UK-Head-Unit-Android-4-4-4-6-2-HD-Double-DIN-Car-DVD-Player-I-GPS-Radio-Stereo-/151623017039?hash=item234d6fa24f:g:5QkAAOSwpDdVbRoa

looks good and its supposed to have 'pure android' so I'm assuming it would basically be a tablet in your dash.

if its just a base android image on it then I don't see why it couldn't be rooted but I know I'd end up breaking it haha! by dev movement I'm assuming you mean software updates? if its just a base android image I don't see why it wouldn't get any software updates etc but i'll need to look into it. Will need to have a look to see if I can find some reviews but I'm working until 1AM ...

by integration I mean being able to make calls etc and being able to play Spotify from your phone, I know you'd be able to use Spotify directly on the unit itself but you're not always going to have WiFi and would be a bit of a pain to set up a WiFi hotspot to be able to use it.

I went onto their website and seen a slightly upgraded model from the one on ebay http://www.eonon.co.uk/2-Din-Car-GPS/G2110F.html

noticed that it supports mutual control between head unit and your smart phone... it says 'Display any content in your mobile device can be mirrored on the head unit' so probably can control Spotify on the phone from the head unit which would be decent!

think I'm gonna go for the Eonon

[Skezza]

I think by pure Android, they just mean a completely clean AOSP, although maybe they mean there's no WinCE side operating system? To be honest, having a WinCE partner to the Android wouldn't be a bad shout though.

You want pure AOSP, similar to a Nexus 7. This is the kind I want, and I have to be honest, looking at that I am ultra tempted to buy it for Christmas as a prezzie to myself, but while this China 2Din in my dash works, I really can't justify it.

Rooting Android isn't hard, you probably wouldn't end up breaking it by rooting alone. Just remember that with root, comes a more realistic chance of causing software faults in the future, especially as root apps have the ability to make system wide changes and a R/W error caused by say you turning your ignition off (if that actually kills the device, don't know if it does) would be problematic. Hence the reason you could do with finding out what the deal with a recovery is. It's nothing that can't be reversed if you can load a fresh install via recovery.

This shows a way on one head unit how to boot into recovery.... so it should be possible, it seems.

Calls should be possible yes, and you could probably play Spotify via Bluetooth A2DP.

Again, it's not a universal 2DIN (even though they claim it is) so you might need to do a bit of tweaking to get it in. Not much hard work. Please keep us updated how you get on though, would love to see this working buddy

[ChrissyMacG]

What would be the benefits of having WinCE? I've seen a few android units that have WinCE 6.0

I probably wouldn't really need to root it though but I lot of cheap android devices sometimes come pre-rooted... I bought a cheap android tablet for £80 and that came rooted

I think I'm going to go for a joying unit. Seen a few on eBay and they seem pretty decent. Says on there website that they a developing a head unit with android 5 and they will show existing customers how to update as well.

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/Joying-Quad-Core-Android4-4-HD-7-Head-Unit-GPS-Sat-Nav-BT-RDS-Radio-Rear-Camera-/271989230417?nav=SEARCH

I like the look of this one, has 16gb storage on it which is pretty decent, seen some of this only having 1gb.

Also pretty cool that you can use an obd2 tool with it. You can probably use one with most android units though.

Only thing that's bothering me about this one is the fact it doesn't have a volume knob - I know that sounds pretty picky but I just think it would be too fiddly to press those buttons whilst driving...

Unless I just buy a golf mk7 steering wheel and figure out a way to use the steering wheel controls with it but we can't guarantee that will work! Would be pretty cool though! What do you think?

Will have a look round their website and see if I can find any other 2din models that have a volume knob haha!

[ChrissyMacG]

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/272017072516?_mwBanner=1

Finally made up my mind... getting this ordered as soon as I double check the dimensions. Comes from Germany as well so should only take a few days

[Skezza]

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner, been one hell of a strange weekend.

OK, So let me address your points in order, although it sounds as though you've made up your mind. Great news.

What would be the benefits of having WinCE? I've seen a few android units that have WinCE 6.0

Android is a great OS, blows iOS out of the water and I swear by it, but WinCE is absolutely rock solid. I mean, seriously rock solid. If a massive nuclear bomb hit the UK, all you'd be left with is Peavy amplifiers, termites and WinCE devices. Jokes aside, it's a very very stable OS. It's boring and it's very dated, but I would have thought the way they implement it is radio, CD, SD Card etc via WinCE and everything else via Android, so really your exposure to CE would only be those particular features. You'd be surprised how good a solution this is in practice because it means your Android will not have to deal with any audio unless you're using an audio specific application. By no means is it a bad solution, as painted by some resellers. Plus the reality is, the way WinCE works means it is near impossible to actually break it. You would have to go fully out of your way to accomplish it and even then you might struggle. I can't really be bothered explaining why, but if you're interested then I'll go into it.

I probably wouldn't really need to root it though but I lot of cheap android devices sometimes come pre-rooted... I bought a cheap android tablet for £80 and that came rooted

Rather you than me my friend. I really struggle when I'm using an Android device that isn't rooted.

H

I like the look of this one, has 16gb storage on it which is pretty decent, seen some of this only having 1gb.

You're confusing RAM with storage space. Most come with 1GB of RAM and either 4GB, 8GB or 16GB of storage space. None come with 1GB. Not possible. You're more likely to see one without space at all in fact!!!!!

Also pretty cool that you can use an obd2 tool with it. You can probably use one with most android units though.

Any with a correctly implemented Bluetooth stack, yep.

Only thing that's bothering me about this one is the fact it doesn't have a volume knob - I know that sounds pretty picky but I just think it would be too fiddly to press those buttons whilst driving...

Nah... not really. You'd get used to it. Mine has no volume knob, buttons instead and I'm used to it. My previous double din had a volume knob and meh, was okay.... nothing to shout home about though as a feature.

Unless I just buy a golf mk7 steering wheel and figure out a way to use the steering wheel controls with it but we can't guarantee that will work! Would be pretty cool though! What do you think?

Good luck. The Lupo isn't canbus, so you can't use the MK7 Steering control module, so you'd need to get an IC of sorts with a set of varied ohm resistors etc.... it all sounds like too much hard work. You could install a universal kit or an infrared one for a fraction of the cost.

Please let us know how you get on with this unit. I'm very tempted to buy one

[ChrissyMacG]

WinCE does sound quite good then but I don't think it would benefit me much as I'll mostly be using Spotify anyway.

How is it you struggle? You can near enough do most things with an unrooted android unless it's some dodgy apps that require your phone to be rooted. Unless you want to completely change the version of Android that it's running?

I'm pretty positive I seen one that had 1gb ROM but you never know they might have misspelled RAM!

it's fine, I managed to find a joying unit with a volume knob anyway. After a little research I decided I wouldn't be able to do it but I'm still quite tempted to get a mk6, mk7 or scirroco steering wheel, would look so much better than the standard one.

I'll let you know when I get it... I've ordered it so should hopefully come after the weekend.

[Skezza]

WinCE does sound quite good then but I don't think it would benefit me much as I'll mostly be using Spotify anyway.

How is it you struggle? You can near enough do most things with an unrooted android unless it's some dodgy apps that require your phone to be rooted. Unless you want to completely change the version of Android that it's running?

I'm pretty positive I seen one that had 1gb ROM but you never know they might have misspelled RAM!

it's fine, I managed to find a joying unit with a volume knob anyway. After a little research I decided I wouldn't be able to do it but I'm still quite tempted to get a mk6, mk7 or scirroco steering wheel, would look so much better than the standard one.

I'll let you know when I get it... I've ordered it so should hopefully come after the weekend.

Struggle with what? I'm saying you would struggle to break a WinCE device whereas Android is a lot more prone to failures, just a fact of the way they work, although I don't know how many failures occur with these devices.

I think you're going to really enjoy this unit tbh Can't wait to see it.

[ChrissyMacG]

I probably should have quoted you... you said you struggle when you're using an android device that isn't rooted, why's that?

And yeah I will. It will definitely be better then using the standard stereo with an aux adapter coming from the aftermarket cd changer port.

[Skezza]

I probably should have quoted you... you said you struggle when you're using an android device that isn't rooted, why's that?

And yeah I will. It will definitely be better then using the standard stereo with an aux adapter coming from the aftermarket cd changer port.

Oh, I should probably tell you. I'm a software engineer (as a profession), therefore I'm naturally a hacker, and if I can't hack a device then I'm not using it to my full enjoyment I held off rooting my Nexus 4 for about 3 months but eventually I gave up. There's too much stuff I use and enjoy that requires root lol!!

[ChrissyMacG]

That makes sense then!

It came yesterday and fitted it last night after work... it came with a wiring harness and gps antenna and has two USB cables with female slots so I've just fed them through the the dash. Only thing is the radio receiver port is different from the connector thats in the lupo... but I don't really use radio anyway and my stubby is pretty **** haha!

got it in ok, with a bit of a push but I can't get it back out! Sits in ok but does stick out a bit, could probably go in a bit more but I think the cables are in the way, I would try and move the cables around but I can't get it out lol. I'll probably have to take the dash apart to get it out... might do it when I have time

I'll post pics shortly

[ChrissyMacG]

http://www26.zippyshare.com/v/GUlITa4L/file.html

http://www26.zippyshare.com/v/CYw3tpuG/file.html

http://www26.zippyshare.com/v/AeYY0Dyk/file.html

[ChrissyMacG]

Actually only came with 1gb flash memory but has an sd card slot with a 16gb sd card. Also came with n 8gb USB stick but has a weird chinese design on it

http://www48.zippyshare.com/v/vEWf0dtR/file.html

Probably the gayest USB stick I've ever seen, like what even is that yellow thing?

Oh well it's still an extra 8gb of storage.

[Skezza]

Wow, I'm really impressed with that. It looks nice. Seems strange that they've gone for a sort of pseudo Honeycomb look though. Still, I'm very tempted.

 

The radio socket will be a DIN socket, the Lupo's antenna is an ISO socket. To fix that, buy one of these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CAR-RADIO-STEREO-ISO-TO-DIN-MALE-AERIAL-ARIEL-ARIAL-ANTENNA-ADAPTOR-PC5-27-/231177503299?hash=item35d340c243:g:kfsAAOxyeR9THcBG

Fit and forget.

 

So is it able to put APK binary's onto the 16GB sd card? Otherwise the device is useless?

[ChrissyMacG]

I've ordered one. Hopefully I can get it back out to fit it!

Well I'm not sure... when you go to settings/ apps the 'move to sd card' button is greyed out but I'm pretty sure my old phone was like that but found a way to move them over, can't remember what I done though - any ideas?

The Bluetooth app is pretty decent, works well with calls and brought through and music plays and so does spotify but the only thing is that no text comes through with it. Like it plays and you have the option to pause/play it and to go the next or previous track but doesn't tell me whats playing and don't have the option browse through the music. I thought it would be because spotify doesn't fully support Bluetooth but it happens with normal music from my sd card as well... might see if I can download another app to play music... do you know of any?

I've decided to just download the spotify app and make all my tracks available offline - it's nice to have the spotify UI in my dash

[Skezza]

I've ordered one. Hopefully I can get it back out to fit it!

Well I'm not sure... when you go to settings/ apps the 'move to sd card' button is greyed out but I'm pretty sure my old phone was like that but found a way to move them over, can't remember what I done though - any ideas?

The Bluetooth app is pretty decent, works well with calls and brought through and music plays and so does spotify but the only thing is that no text comes through with it. Like it plays and you have the option to pause/play it and to go the next or previous track but doesn't tell me whats playing and don't have the option browse through the music. I thought it would be because spotify doesn't fully support Bluetooth but it happens with normal music from my sd card as well... might see if I can download another app to play music... do you know of any?

I've decided to just download the spotify app and make all my tracks available offline - it's nice to have the spotify UI in my dash

As a piece of custom hardware, it's entirely possible they've built that functionality into the device. It's not a complicated software modification. Find out. Install some apps, and then remove the SD card. Apps disappear? They're on your SD, they don't, you've got a problem..... and you might need to root it (told you).

 

If you're playing music via Spotify over AD2P, why not install Spotify onto the device and then using WiFi tethering?

 

I'm very interested in this device now. Shame you're in Livingston, would love to check it out in person.

[ChrissyMacG]

Yeah I'll have a look later and see if I can move stuff over to it. It's not the end of the world if I can't though because I don't really need much apps.

Yeah that's what I've done. I've downloaded spotify and whilst I've been connected to my home WiFi I've just made all my tracks available offline so there's no need to create a WiFi hotspot unless I want to listen to some new music.

I'll try and write up a review when I get time

[Skezza]

Yeah I'll have a look later and see if I can move stuff over to it. It's not the end of the world if I can't though because I don't really need much apps.

Yeah that's what I've done. I've downloaded spotify and whilst I've been connected to my home WiFi I've just made all my tracks available offline so there's no need to create a WiFi hotspot unless I want to listen to some new music.

I'll try and write up a review when I get time

It completely fails though if that's the case because Android's main attraction is it's huge app selection. If half of those are unavailable then the device is next to useless imo. However, it's nothing you can't fix.

 

Root, then Link2SD. Most importantly though buy an excellent SD card or at least benchmark the one you've got and ensure it's good for this job. Speed does make a difference here.

 

How's the capacitive touchscreen? Is it tempered glass/plastic glass/plastic film ?

 

I'm almost certain they'll have mapped the SD card as internal storage, to ensure you can download apps onto it tbh. They'd be ****ing morons if they didn't.

[ChrissyMacG]

I've had a look at the storage settings settings and there's 0.98GB internal storage, 12.53gb NAND flash, 7.49gb SD card and my own 16gb USB drive. Theres also space for another SD... more space than I thought! There's also an option to choose the preferred install location and it's currently set to 'let the system decide'. It gives the option to choose 'internal storage' and 'SD card'... I'm assuming the SD card is the NAND flash as there's no apps in the sd card, I think it's for gps maps. I'm not sure how I'd move them between the internal storage and the NAND though but I think I'm gonna change it so it installs to the NAND and uninstall all the apps I've downloaded and download them again so I've got internal storage to play with for apps that might need it like Google maps etc.

The screen looks nice, it's really clear the resolution is 1024x800 (I think) but I don't think you need anymore than that. Well it feels like glass and it's pretty responsive, it's got a plastic film over it which I'm still contemplating taking off lol!

[ChrissyMacG]

Also a pretty cool feature is you can map the GPS button to any app you want so I've mapped it to waze instead of the default foreign GPS that I couldn't work out!

[Skezza]

Don't take off the film. If it's plastic glass it can scratch (although it's tough to be fair)

Sounds like a standard Android. The NAND flash is your internal storage, not your SD card. If you remove your SD, you should still have 16GB of NAND storage. You should check. You won't be installing into the 0.98gb, that's for sure.

[ChrissyMacG]

http://www71.zippyshare.com/v/OckrHotC/file.html

See in the kernel version, it says 'root@chun#114'... does this mean it's rooted?

Do you know if there's a way to either open an app on boot up or if you can save the state it was in so it loads up the same way (ie if I had spotify open last time I was using it, it would go to spotify the next time I turn it on)

[Skezza]

http://www71.zippyshare.com/v/OckrHotC/file.html

See in the kernel version, it says 'root@chun#114'... does this mean it's rooted?

Do you know if there's a way to either open an app on boot up or if you can save the state it was in so it loads up the same way (ie if I had spotify open last time I was using it, it would go to spotify the next time I turn it on)

Not usually. That's just the kernel signature. If you want to check root, download a root checker. Rooting your device would be a piece of piss using something like KingRoot though.

 

Yes, auto-start.