Android Head Units
Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2021 5:10 am
OK,
So I know there are alot of these flying around. Mostly from China as is just about everything else in the world at the moment.
The big deal seems to come down to the software they use, a mate of mine is running the OneNav unit and compared to mine which looks identical, is amazing.
I have an identical looking Unit, buttons and everything are the same, screen size, you name it, but our software is vastly different! Mine was just less than half the price of his one and it basically only works enough to be sold as a replacement head unit, I got what I paid for basically.
The software is quite awful, it sometimes reboots for no apparent reason, the radio signal is sufficient but the RDS doesn't work, when listening to radio it attenuates whenever your phone makes any noise, a beep bop from plugging the phone in to charge... Mute, lock the screen. Mute, unlock... You guessed it. I'm only scraping the very tip of a very large ice berg here. The unit you may have or get may be totally different, but I suspect I paid 3 or 4 times the price for something imported off Banggood or Alibaba.
I have managed to get it to a point where it's acceptable with an android auto app that tricks your phone into letting Android auto work (which is brilliant, but only if you don't mind losing normal radio in favor of internet radio) and a new launcher which has improved it quite a bit.
Long story short. These pick ups are great and don't deserve to be ruined with cheap, low effort, Android Head units, they are cheap for a reason. Save up and buy the proper thing, I couldn't sell mine on now and still have my conscience or lose a large chunk of cash.
So I know there are alot of these flying around. Mostly from China as is just about everything else in the world at the moment.
The big deal seems to come down to the software they use, a mate of mine is running the OneNav unit and compared to mine which looks identical, is amazing.
I have an identical looking Unit, buttons and everything are the same, screen size, you name it, but our software is vastly different! Mine was just less than half the price of his one and it basically only works enough to be sold as a replacement head unit, I got what I paid for basically.
The software is quite awful, it sometimes reboots for no apparent reason, the radio signal is sufficient but the RDS doesn't work, when listening to radio it attenuates whenever your phone makes any noise, a beep bop from plugging the phone in to charge... Mute, lock the screen. Mute, unlock... You guessed it. I'm only scraping the very tip of a very large ice berg here. The unit you may have or get may be totally different, but I suspect I paid 3 or 4 times the price for something imported off Banggood or Alibaba.
I have managed to get it to a point where it's acceptable with an android auto app that tricks your phone into letting Android auto work (which is brilliant, but only if you don't mind losing normal radio in favor of internet radio) and a new launcher which has improved it quite a bit.
Long story short. These pick ups are great and don't deserve to be ruined with cheap, low effort, Android Head units, they are cheap for a reason. Save up and buy the proper thing, I couldn't sell mine on now and still have my conscience or lose a large chunk of cash.