Android Radio

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Has anyone done the research or compiled the size of double-din radio we can fit? Most of these are in the 178x102mm range, but I've no clue max mounting size, and then I guess faceplate becomes another quesiton as well...?
 
Has Kenwood fixed issues like these in the DNX771HD in the updated DNX773S?

Cumbersome/non-logical/unintuitive menu system, for example try finding the buried navigation voice prompt volume control when she starts screaming after a loss of battery power.

Phone apps that integrate the phone to the system not being updated and becoming non-functional in current IOS/Android versions

Updates to the Nav (cost and flaming hoops to install them).

Complications of swapping between phones.

Lack of a real "night mode" tied to vehicle lights.

Tempermental reverse camera.​

menu system seems intuitive enough, i have yet to crack open the manual to try to find something or how to do it...the only things that i've struggled to find is how to turn the screen off for when im driving at night. most other things have been pretty easy to navigate to.

not sure what you mean by phone apps, like the kenwood apps on your phone, the apps on the deck, or the apps on my phone that are used on the deck? lol, i basically use android auto for 90% of everything i do, so all of the apps are stored on my phone, not the HU, should never be an issue with updates.... as far as i know the kenwood apps for my phone are just for a remote and screen mirroring, i have no need to do that so i never fool with it, same for things like the pandora app on the hu itself, why bother with it when i have pandora and two dozen other music apps available to me through android auto? plus everything through android auto is activated through voice command, way easier to just ask google to play x,y,z than it is to fiddle with the deck and open the various apps manually, that's true of any deck, voice commands are the way to go when your driving, for sure....

i've only had to do one nav update, it was free and took about 15 mins, i suspect future updates to only take 5 mins, the hoops you need to jump through are: have a blank SD card, D/L garmin software, run software on PC with black SD card inserted, take SD card and insert to deck, pick update software from menu and away you go....future updates don't require any further downloading from garmin, you just put the card in, run the program and put the card back into the LX...was simple enough... and free..

swapping between phones? not sure what you mean? the HU can run two phones paired consecutively, do you mean swapping between those two phones or do you simply mean adding new phones and removing old ones from the registry? when two phones are paired consecutively there's a little display that hangs out in the top left of the screen that shows you this, you just tap on it and pick which one you want as the call active phone, both phones can play music and such with out needing to be fooled with...it's really nice having a couple of phones paired to it, so my wife and play music from her phone while I'm driving and if i get a phone call the system mutes her music on the deck and picks up my phone call for me... so while im not really sure what you meant there, that's how it seems to work.

yeah, nightmode is a bit tough, i think i messed up the install as the dimmer doesn't work, or maybe this is still an issue, i don't know, i do know when i did the install i wasn't quite sure which dimmer wire was the right one and made an educated guess, so there may be an actual issue with the wiring on my part, on the other hand with you saying this is could just be the deck as well, i really don't know, i do know that i may have to pick up the manual after all as for the life of me i cannot figure out how to just turn the screen off, i don't like the screen on when i'm driving at night, dimmed or not, just like it off, haven't been able to figure out how to do this yet, but also haven't tried it while sitting in the drive way either, so not much time dedicated to it yet....so yeah, i can firmly say that function at least isn't intuitive.... i do know there is a night mode when running android auto, the screen doesn't dim or anything but the color scheme changes,so yeah, that might still suck/be an issue.

i never installed the/a back up camera, didn't have one stock and didn't both ripping the truck apart to run the wire. could still be an issue.

so there's my experience with this HU on those issues, but i really think it depends on how you use the thing as to what issues you have and if they are fixed or not, as i said, i use driod auto like 90% of the time and it's all stuck on my phone, everything from that stand point has been great, i really cannot comment to heavily on the native apps and functions of the deck as that's not how i use it to be honest, the pandora apps and the rest on the deck itself could suck and have problems but since i just use all of the apps and accounts on my phone instead then i may never come across or see some of the issues you have.... i just know this is the most expensive deck I've bought in the last 15 years and I'm very happy with it for how i use it and have found it to be pretty easy to use and intuitive in the layout and functions of the deck that i do use.

hope that helps in someway.
 
Or I guess I can just stop overthinking it - how much of a gamble can it really be for a $75 In-Drash stereo anyway?

upload_2017-6-15_11-6-6.png
 
Am I the only guy worried about small-time, back-shop, custom Android HU ROM's from guys in China, and what really happens to all my stored data every time that thing pairs with my home wi-fi router?
 
Am I the only guy worried about small-time, back-shop, custom Android HU ROM's from guys in China, and what really happens to all my stored data every time that thing pairs with my home wi-fi router?

I think so if anyone wanted your personal data they would find it. Its up to the user to protect their data not the manufacturer if you are concerned don't save passwords or financial data to your accounts.
 
menu system seems intuitive enough, i have yet to crack open the manual to try to find something or how to do it...the only things that i've struggled to find is how to turn the screen off for when im driving at night. most other things have been pretty easy to navigate to.

not sure what you mean by phone apps, like the kenwood apps on your phone, the apps on the deck, or the apps on my phone that are used on the deck? lol, i basically use android auto for 90% of everything i do, so all of the apps are stored on my phone, not the HU, should never be an issue with updates.... as far as i know the kenwood apps for my phone are just for a remote and screen mirroring, i have no need to do that so i never fool with it, same for things like the pandora app on the hu itself, why bother with it when i have pandora and two dozen other music apps available to me through android auto? plus everything through android auto is activated through voice command, way easier to just ask google to play x,y,z than it is to fiddle with the deck and open the various apps manually, that's true of any deck, voice commands are the way to go when your driving, for sure....

i've only had to do one nav update, it was free and took about 15 mins, i suspect future updates to only take 5 mins, the hoops you need to jump through are: have a blank SD card, D/L garmin software, run software on PC with black SD card inserted, take SD card and insert to deck, pick update software from menu and away you go....future updates don't require any further downloading from garmin, you just put the card in, run the program and put the card back into the LX...was simple enough... and free..

swapping between phones? not sure what you mean? the HU can run two phones paired consecutively, do you mean swapping between those two phones or do you simply mean adding new phones and removing old ones from the registry? when two phones are paired consecutively there's a little display that hangs out in the top left of the screen that shows you this, you just tap on it and pick which one you want as the call active phone, both phones can play music and such with out needing to be fooled with...it's really nice having a couple of phones paired to it, so my wife and play music from her phone while I'm driving and if i get a phone call the system mutes her music on the deck and picks up my phone call for me... so while im not really sure what you meant there, that's how it seems to work.

yeah, nightmode is a bit tough, i think i messed up the install as the dimmer doesn't work, or maybe this is still an issue, i don't know, i do know when i did the install i wasn't quite sure which dimmer wire was the right one and made an educated guess, so there may be an actual issue with the wiring on my part, on the other hand with you saying this is could just be the deck as well, i really don't know, i do know that i may have to pick up the manual after all as for the life of me i cannot figure out how to just turn the screen off, i don't like the screen on when i'm driving at night, dimmed or not, just like it off, haven't been able to figure out how to do this yet, but also haven't tried it while sitting in the drive way either, so not much time dedicated to it yet....so yeah, i can firmly say that function at least isn't intuitive.... i do know there is a night mode when running android auto, the screen doesn't dim or anything but the color scheme changes,so yeah, that might still suck/be an issue.

i never installed the/a back up camera, didn't have one stock and didn't both ripping the truck apart to run the wire. could still be an issue.

so there's my experience with this HU on those issues, but i really think it depends on how you use the thing as to what issues you have and if they are fixed or not, as i said, i use driod auto like 90% of the time and it's all stuck on my phone, everything from that stand point has been great, i really cannot comment to heavily on the native apps and functions of the deck as that's not how i use it to be honest, the pandora apps and the rest on the deck itself could suck and have problems but since i just use all of the apps and accounts on my phone instead then i may never come across or see some of the issues you have.... i just know this is the most expensive deck I've bought in the last 15 years and I'm very happy with it for how i use it and have found it to be pretty easy to use and intuitive in the layout and functions of the deck that i do use.

hope that helps in someway.


That was my impression at first, but finding things like "night mode", "nav voice volume" hard to find because they were hidden in "odd" places made me change my opinion. CarPlay or Android Auto would probably improve the interface interaction quite a bit though.

Phone apps, like the little Kenwood and Garmin apps that you are supposed to be able to run on your phone and interact with the head unit. Again CarPlay or Android Auto should help here.

Swapping between phones. On bluetooth phone it swaps fairly easily. On bluetooth music (A2DP)you have to do the "hokey pokey" on the interface to change phones from a to b (or b to a).
 
Have used a lot of different headunits in my day, today I wouldn't put anything but Alpine in my cars.
 
I've been eyeballing this one:
Sony XAV-AX100

but am on the fence about "Android Auto" as it sounds like it locks you out of your phone (for your "safety") and I'm unsure how easy it is to load apps (Back Country Navigator top of my list)...

sub'd and interested.

Same here with the Sony. We will be using it predominantly with the wife's iPhone
 
Am I the only guy worried about small-time, back-shop, custom Android HU ROM's from guys in China, and what really happens to all my stored data every time that thing pairs with my home wi-fi router?
[Guest Network]
;)
 
[Guest Network]
;)
not worried about home data, worried that unverified HU ROM has access to pretty much everything on your phone, and can do pretty much anything with it, including wholesale transfer. Maybe I am just being paranoid...
 
not worried about home data, worried that unverified HU ROM has access to pretty much everything on your phone, and can do pretty much anything with it, including wholesale transfer. Maybe I am just being paranoid...
My understanding of BT is that the risk is limited. There simply aren't the channels/vectors in the protocol to enable widespread code injection/data grabbing. I did not intend to do screen mirroring, or connect via USB as I saw no benefit, and would agree those open other potentialities.

If you have other knowledge on BT please share, I don't consider this sort of paranoia bad.
 
Is anyone currently running one of the Android Radio options? I have had zero interest in doing anything with my head unit but these have caught my eye. Options to run torque and waze through the head unit are appealing to say the least. Reviews seem to be all over the place so I thought I would check in here first. Below is a link for one of the setups I have seen.

JOYING 6.2 Inch Double 2 Din New Developed Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow Car Stereo GPS Navigation Systems for Toyota Universal Vehicles

Of course the buyer beware factor is way high but the price point and potential make it feasible.
Curious about fitment, is anyone that is running these like those posted able to comment on Land Cruiser (prefer 98's for selfish reasons) trim plates needed or mods done, and can share pics?
 
Has anyone done the research or compiled the size of double-din radio we can fit? Most of these are in the 178x102mm range, but I've no clue max mounting size, and then I guess faceplate becomes another quesiton as well...?
I know I have a Kenwood DNX6140 in my 2000 that according to the specs is 7.2 x 4.4", and I have no additional faceplate, etc.
 
not worried about home data, worried that unverified HU ROM has access to pretty much everything on your phone, and can do pretty much anything with it, including wholesale transfer. Maybe I am just being paranoid...

Certainly if you don't monitor permissions system wide, and just universally grant all your apps full permissions then bad things can happen.
As a general rule,,,,,, don't do this.

unverified half baked chinese ROM, yes. I'm sure they are getting better and I'm not really poo pooing on all of them.
 
Curious about fitment, is anyone that is running these like those posted able to comment on Land Cruiser (prefer 98's for selfish reasons) trim plates needed or mods done, and can share pics?

I ordered the Corehan off of Amazon. 1 year warranty and had good reviews. The pictures of the front look EXACTLY like the comparable Joying....so I opted for saving $60. The link below...page 5 will have my review of it.

I installed in my 100...and did have to trim the bezel of my dash with a dremel. Otherwise the center trim would not seat correctly.

Overall I am very happy with it. For reference I have used high end Sony, Kenwood, and Pioneer DVD head units. I won't ever spend the money on those after having this Corehan. I like the navigation system it uses. If you have unlimited data on your phone it would be great for Netflix, etc. I also bought a Joying steering wheel control for $25 off eBay and it paired right up. I considered selling the Pioneer out of my 80 and buying another Corehan.


The Sleepy Cruiser (Sparkly Car)
 
I bought, received and installed the 32gig ATOTO radio from Amazon in my 99.
Amazon.com: ATOTO 7"HD Touchscreen 2Din Android Car Navigation Stereo - Quadcore Car Entertainment Multimedia w/ FM/RDS Radio,WIFI,BT,Mirror Link,and more(No DVD Player)M4272 (17397/32G): GPS & Navigation

Had to do a little trimming on the bezel. I used the file to square off the corners of the radio opening and I had to cut out the upper lip on the backside. Real simple work that would go unnoticed with any other 2 DIN radio installed.
IMAG1788.jpg

IMAG1795.jpg


The harness was pretty simple too. I used the Metra harness kit, but only used it for power and the antenna trigger. I previously did the factory amp bypass and assembled the speaker wires in an extra plug I had. Parking Brake safety is grounded as well. Toyota doesn't have a dimmer/illumination wire at the radio, so I do not have that hooked up. I plan to look into the EWDs to determine what wire triggers the illumination for the dash lights and just splice into that for the dimmer trigger.
IMAG1790.jpg


With everything plugged in I turned the key to test. This thing booted fast, really fast, shockingly fast. It paired quickly with my OBDLink adapter and Torque ran without a problem. You can see why I am not yet able to provide a road test of this radio.
IMAG1791.jpg


All buttoned up and ready to go.
IMAG1794.jpg
 
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I bought, received and installed the 32gig ATOTO radio from Amazon in my 99.
Amazon.com: ATOTO 7"HD Touchscreen 2Din Android Car Navigation Stereo - Quadcore Car Entertainment Multimedia w/ FM/RDS Radio,WIFI,BT,Mirror Link,and more(No DVD Player)M4272 (17397/32G): GPS & Navigation

Had to do a little trimming on the bezel. I used the file to square off the corners of the radio opening and I had to cut out the upper lip on the backside. Real simple work that would go unnoticed with any other 2 DIN radio installed.
View attachment 1483118
View attachment 1483666

The harness was pretty simple too. I used the Metra harness kit, but only used it for power and the antenna trigger. I previously did the factory amp bypass and assembled the speaker wires in an extra plug I had. Parking Brake safety is grounded as well. Toyota doesn't have a dimmer/illumination wire at the radio, so I do not have that hooked up. I plan to look into the EWDs to determine what wire triggers the illumination for the dash lights and just splice into that for the dimmer trigger.
View attachment 1483116

With everything plugged in I turned the key to test. This thing booted fast, really fast, shockingly fast. It paired quickly with my OBDLink adapter and Torque ran without a problem. You can see why I am not yet able to provide a road test of this radio.
View attachment 1483114

All buttoned up and ready to go.
View attachment 1483667
Looks like a newer version is out now.

Thinking of taking the plunge
https://www.amazon.com/ATOTO-Naviga...=merchant-items&ie=UTF8&qid=1512058181&sr=1-1
 
I end up finding a kenwood
DDX9702s for pretty cheap

So far the quality of the audio is great but the whole Android thing is kind of slow and unreactive, maybe I’m doing something wrong but I have watch a bunch of YouTube video about how to make it work better, but not really much progress (iPhone 5S)

For example for WASE my galaxy tablet is years better, faster, better resolution (in the kenwood the screen makes things bigger from the iPhone but is also more cranular) wider choices of viewing, none tether to the phone besides the hot spot
 

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