Advice please chaps! Chavvy Android head units.

[davidfowler2000]

I quite fancy one of those Android powered head units for the modern daily like the one in the picture. But I'd like some experienced feedback if any of you chaps have any.

 

The idea - I use the car stereo for tunes and the radio but I quite regularly use my Android phone for sat nav, internet radio, calls and sometimes passengers pipe their phone through my car's stereo to listen to YouTube videos better. So the theory goes, why not just lump them all in to one unit?

 

Questions:

I'm not a fan of really bright head units though so how customisable are they? I'd quite like it to be black background with plain white text, not a sea of multi-colour, Fisher Price buttons. I'd be happy if it just went to a standard Android home screen with buttons for Radio, Media, and Google Maps with a plain black background. I don't think I could be bothered if it went in to a custom interface every time.

I accept they will take time to cold boot just like a phone but do they go in to a standby mode when you take the key out or is it a cold boot every time you start the car?
On that note - does it boot up every time you step in? If it was switched off before I took the key out, I'd like it to stay switched off the next time I got in the car.

 

Do they have Play Store? Not that I have any need for detritus like Facebook on my dashboard but it would be nice to have easy access to install some apps if need be. Things like a GPS speedo, Torque (for OBD), GPS based apps, blah blah blah etc. I know there are apps you can install on your phone to save the .apk package file then transfer to a non-internet enabled device via memory card but I cannot be arsed with that.

 

Most of them have a dashcam facility. Are they worth it for that alone?

 

All help appreciated etc

 

THX M9s!!!

[Supernaut]

No advice here, but I didn't realise such a thing existed! For somebody who works in IT, that's pretty bad...

 

The Mondeo has a double-DIN dashboard and I kind of want one now, pending price.

[davidfowler2000]

They appear to come in ordinary double-DIN format as well as dashboard moulded variety. VW ones seem to be the most common which is useful as it would be going in to my Golf.

[Aston Martin]

Hmmm... Chinese android stereo. Good fucking luck with that, IMO the screen will be the lowest resolution possible and will be slow/laggy/drive you up the bastard wall.

[hairnet]

ats yir cred deid

[cobblers]

Yeah I've always fancied a go at one of these but never had the balls, you can absolutely guarantee that there's at least one massively irritating feature that makes them practically unusable.

 

The last touch screen double din thing I had was a top end Pioneer one, and it was almost impossible to do a simple task like changing track or turning the volume down without enduing up pressing the wrong thing and getting murderously angry with it.

 

If you do get one, do yourself a favour and get one with a volume knob and physical buttons to change the track - that gives you a fighting chance.

[davidfowler2000]

Hmmm... Chinese android stereo. Good fucking luck with that, IMO the screen will be the lowest resolution possible and will be slow/laggy/drive you up the bastard wall.

 

This. I knew one guy that had one in his Pisshat and he raved about it. Reviews on Amazon seem generally very favourable - the only bad reviews seem to come from folk who received a dodgy unit. YouTube video reviews don't show a laggy screen and the resolution looks enough for the interface. I won't be playing video through it so I don't care about video clarity as long as I can see what I'm doing.

 

Yeah I've always fancied a go at one of these but never had the balls, you can absolutely guarantee that there's at least one massively irritating feature that makes them practically unusable.

 

The last touch screen double din thing I had was a top end Pioneer one, and it was almost impossible to do a simple task like changing track or turning the volume down without enduing up pressing the wrong thing and getting murderously angry with it.

 

If you do get one, do yourself a favour and get one with a volume knob and physical buttons to change the track - that gives you a fighting chance.

 

The threat of hideously complicated actions to do simple tasks does put me off. A lot. However my thinking is, if it's Android then I can make it work like my phone and I know how to work that.

Also the ones made specifically for the VW Golf have volume and tuning knobs and you don't have to get a particularly new model to get one that'll integrate with the steering wheel controls and the instrument binnacle display.

[Supernaut]

The threat of hideously complicated actions to do simple tasks does put me off. A lot. However my thinking is, if it's Android then I can make it work like my phone and I know how to work that.

Also the ones made specifically for the VW Golf have volume and tuning knobs and you don't have to get a particularly new model to get one that'll integrate with the steering wheel controls and the instrument binnacle display.

All those features make it sound as if it'll cost serious coin.

 

I'm still content with my chavvy £40 single-DIN JVC thing with a USB port and the 32GB thumb drive I leave plugged into it.

[davidfowler2000]

All those features make it sound as if it'll cost serious coin.

 

£250 - £300 for a VW specific one seems to be the ball park.

[Supernaut]

£250 - £300 for a VW specific one seems to be the ball park.

*Sucks air through teeth*

[davidfowler2000]

Yeah.

 

If I could get one to try for a few days then I'd be all over it. But I'm very wary about shelling out actual money to have a go.

[Guest Hooli]

£250 - £300 for a VW specific one seems to be the ball park.

 

I assume that comes with a free VW too?

[Eddie Honda]

I accept they will take time to cold boot just like a phone but do they go in to a standby mode when you take the key out or is it a cold boot every time you start the car?

On that note - does it boot up every time you step in? If it was switched off before I took the key out, I'd like it to stay switched off the next time I got in the car.

Dunno about Android, but the following observation of the double DIN stock unit in the 2016 Scanias we have.

 

1) key out or ignition 0, nae choons.

2) ignition 1. All action and pairs up.

3) moving 1 to 2. Maintains power so pairing not lost.

4) moving 2 to 3(starter motor). Also maintains power so pairing not lost.

 

Same applies turning the key back the way.

 

A massive improvement on the crappy JVCs still fitted in some lower spec cabs that cut out when you go to fire the starter and take ages to pair up again.

[Kiltox]

I wouldn't pay £300 for one.

[DodgeRover]

I put one into a mobile shop, decent screen, streamed from bluetooth, can watch videos from memory cards, I thought it was quite good. Mind I was stood looking at it rather than trying to drive at the same time.

[beko1987]

I looked long and hard at those before buying my single din normal unit.

 

I decided they looked ace on paper, but ran android 4, with no easy upgrade path, and had 1gb of ram which would become painful quite quickly, and I doubt the touchscreen is fantastic. Plus they looked a bit of a faff to operate, and I didn't fancy sinking £200 on something that i hated and was then worth £10 when I wanted to punt it on.

 

Normal single din, and Bluetooth from my phone works better! I just got a Hu with dab+, bluetooths, usb (rear mounted too, bought an extender lead so it's in the cubby hole under the arm rest) and I can set the illumination to the same colour as the car!

[Aston Martin]

On ebay you can get from just under £100, you might get lucky... the Cactus has a touchscreen from the factory and is garbage.

[Guest Hooli]

Touch screens are wank in anything that moves. Compare writing a text as a passenger these days to back when phones had proper keyboards & I could type an entire text without looking at the screen & didn't have predictive text.

[Pillock]

They're bloody awful. Shite screens that go wonky colours when you look from an angle (like, you know, in a car) and all sorts of weird and wonderful Chinese apps installed. Most aren't Google certified so jumping through hoops to get apps.

 

Have you considered an Android Auto head unit? It mirrors your phone screen rather than being a self contained device so no cold boot time, no having to install apps, and it has a proper driving interface rather than fiddly stock Android

[beko1987]

They're bloody awful. Shite screens that go wonky colours when you look from an angle (like, you know, in a car) and all sorts of weird and wonderful Chinese apps installed. Most aren't Google certified so jumping through hoops to get apps.

 

Have you considered an Android Auto head unit? It mirrors your phone screen rather than being a self contained device so no cold boot time, no having to install apps, and it has a proper driving interface rather than fiddly stock Android

Android auto costs a bastard fortune when I looked in Feb, the tech is too new to be in cheaper units.

 

Did find a natty looking headunit that used mirrorlink or similar to clone your phone onto its screen, and very nearly bought it before finding out it was micro usb only and the nexus 6p that I have was the first device to not have it built in as Google wanted to push chrome cast type stuff...

[Kiltox]

You can buy a pioneer CarPlay stereo for £330 or so - is android auto that much more?

[FakeConcern]

I don't even know what you're all talking about, but someone I know put a Nexus 7(whatever that is) in his C4 VTS, it really does something (not sure what) but it looks great!

[AMC Rebel]

I had one of these in my ZT-T when I bought it. Folk on their forum rave about 'em.

 

It didn't suit me. The display was pretty but very laggy.

The radio didn't support RDS - there was a little tick box but it did fook all, so on a long drive you had to keep retuning FM - remember that? I carped about on the forum and everyone said they just listen to internet radio anyway.

 

It kept doing random shit that needed either a reboot or reinstall.

 

Sound quality was poor.

 

The alleged ipod support didn't - it was a half-finished app that was worse than useless.

 

The satnav was very average

 

In the end I sold it to another forum member and stuck a single din dab radio in

[davidfowler2000]

You can buy a pioneer CarPlay stereo for £330 or so - is android auto that much more?

 

I'd rather burn the car than install an apple based product

[FakeConcern]

I'd rather burn the car than install an apple based product

Do it!

[davidfowler2000]

The paperwork would be prohibitive

[CortinaDave]

I took the plunge and put one of these in my MG ZT a couple of weeks ago. Pic coming as soon as my phone has enough battery to go take one.

 

The latest generation are much improved. Mine is android 7 and "cold boot" is only if you've disconnected the battery. My radio comes on the second i turn the ignition. I have a mate with a 2 year old unit of older design and its a 20 sec warm boot. Radio does have RDS and station name display. 

 

The wallpapers are customisable so you can have whatever you bloody well want there, so if you just want plain black, thats easy to do. Sat nav is good also,

 

You can put whatever apps you want on it from google play, Ive got Torque and an OBD2 dongle so i get diagnostics etc in car. Downsides? The FM reception seems a bit variable. The radio seems to "like" some stations more than others, I'm picking up stuff I couldn't before but also struggling a bit with stations the OEM unit had no issue with. I also find th DAB reception is shit. I've just got a stick on the window DAB aerial so I guess that's half the problem.

 

Overall I'm chuffed with it, and it means i can sit and watch youtube while I have to stay in the car with the baby while mrs cortinadave disappears into Aldi for ages. Not fitted the reverse camera yet, but it came free with it so its on my to do list.

 

Oh, and it took bloody AGES to arrive. Ordered it end July, only got it a fortnight ago.

[Mr Laurence]

Android auto is probably a good call - 30 Seconds or so of Googling and I found this Sony CarPlay/AA unit for £300. I'm sure there are other alternatives out there as well if you have a good look around.

 

http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/head-units/android-auto/sony-xav-ax100-6-4-double-din-screen-with-usb-bluetooth-apple-carplay-android-auto

[davidfowler2000]

The latest generation are much improved.

 

This seems to be the way with the more expensive Chinese products. They release stuff to market, quickly, that to the casual, uninformed user seems excellent but doesn't take a lot digging to find that it's like a wood veneer on low grade chip board. Once they get their customer base and market information then they step up the game and actually make something that's pretty decent.

 

I'm still tempted to take the plunge especially seeing as after market AndroidAuto units, like the Sony unit linked above, all look very custom whereas the Chinese Android... in-car-tabets for want of a better description... have actually been designed to look as if they are original equipment. Until you turn them on of course.

 

Longevity is always a concern with these kind of products so I shall keep an eye on things.

[beko1987]

The ones with the custom fascia did look better than the just double din ones I was looking at, but maybe don't go ebaying the original unit straight away!

 

Did read a thread where someone had bought a mid range one and made a custom Linux distro for it, it did look amazing but it was the sort of thread that was 8 years old and all the links to the useful stuff were dead, plus now I imagine none of the pictures work either...