"dogisbadob" (dogisbadob)
10/21/2018 at 00:41 • Filed to: None
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"dogisbadob" (dogisbadob)
10/21/2018 at 00:41 • Filed to: None | 0
| 7 |
For example, this
!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!
for an Astra. The Astra wasn’t popular here, and we only got it for one year as a Saturn, but I know the Astra is more popular in Europe, sometimes even being the #1 car in Europe. Besides the Astra H’s weird design, perhaps installing an aftermarket radio could be an issue.
It looks good, and looks like a stock radio, but my question is, does it work good? Does the Android Auto functions work well?
The Astra is an affordable used car buy, and might be the cheapest car with a panoramic sunroof that isn’t total garbage (like the G6) and doesn’t have exploding sunroof danger (like most recent Hyundai/Kia sunroofs). The G6 has a standard radio shape, and the Hyundais already come with Android Auto from the factory.
Any other thoughts on aftermarket radios like this? Any other 4-cylinder small cars with a panoramic sunroof that get decent mpg and isn’t a piece of shit?
The A3 and Mini Cooper are out because they are awful in reliability. Subaru has some cars with a huge sunroof, but they get terrible mpg due to AWD (Subaru REALLY needs to start offering FWD again), and their head gasket issues cannot be ignored (the FWD fuse doesn’t help that much with mpg)
pip bip - choose Corrour
> dogisbadob
10/21/2018 at 05:11 |
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my mum has one of those Astra-H, still has the stock radio unit as she never uses it when driving
404 - User No Longer Available
> dogisbadob
10/21/2018 at 07:55 |
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A lot of these radios seem to share the same software and such, there are many of these units. Seems to be the same reference design and manufacturers just make custom mounts for it. My mechanic was actually installing one for his CLK coupe the other day, and the interface kinda looks like that .
Also they do make dash kits for the Astra to install standard DIN units.
http://www.metraonline.com/part/Saturn_Astra_Dash_kit_95-3107G
jimz
> dogisbadob
10/21/2018 at 09:32 |
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Those things are complete junk. First, the one you linked runs Windows CE, not Android, and doesn’t support android auto. Second, they only give you map data for the UK and Ireland. Good luck on ever seeing a software update.
The ones which do run Android typically use an old Android version, or hack it up to the point of causing compatibility problems. I looked at a couple on Amazon and noted how one says it supports Android Auto, but even though the head unit is running Android 8, android auto doesn’t work with phones running 8.0 or later. Yee-haw. And since these things are just slapped together with off the shelf components and loaded with an OS image they get from some other Chinese software vendor, the UI tends to be poor with incomplete or broken language translations. And again, good luck on ever seeing a software update; the companies selling these things on Amazon and eBay are almost never the companies who actually make them. They buy them by the crate from China and slap their own packages together.
I would honestly much rather use one of the head units designed primarily for AA and CarPlay from a recognizable brand like Alpine or Sony. And just find a dash kit from Metra or Scosche and DIY.
winterlegacy, here 'till the end
> jimz
10/21/2018 at 11:07 |
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At the same time though, if you can figure out how to get at the bootloader, you can probably add your own variant of Android with all of the functionality you care about.
I should go look for a cheapo unit and see if it has a writeup on accessing the bootloader ...
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jimz
> winterlegacy, here 'till the end
10/21/2018 at 11:34 |
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oh for getting your geek on, that’s different. hack away!
the big downside in the Android world is that you have to figure out the exact brand and model of the SoC the device uses, and the kernel has to be compiled with all of the drivers and firmware for the embedded I/O and devices (graphics, USB, etc) since there’s never really been any system in the ARM world for boot-time device identification.
it’s one reason it took so long getting Windows NT to run on ARM. even though NT supported multiple platforms in its early days (x86, Alpha, PowerPC, and MIPS) it was still primarily run on x86, and was coupled pretty tightly to ACPI and PCI for boot-time device enumeration and plug-n-play. ARM SoCs have neither, so Microsoft had to restrict it to a small handful of Qualcomm chips.
it’s also why the software update situation has historically been so bad on non-Google and non-Samsung phones. a lot of work needs to be done after getting the source code from Google, and most of the cheap phone vendors can’t be arsed.
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winterlegacy, here 'till the end
> jimz
10/21/2018 at 12:46 |
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Hey, I enjoy doing the stupid kind of stuff like this, it’s fun to try and build my own kernel like that. I experimented with Linux from Scratch and it was an interesting experience, to say the least.
MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
> dogisbadob
01/08/2019 at 16:40 |
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We just put one of these in our new (to us) 08 Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon:
https://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Car/NEX/AVH-2440NEX
The key for us was finding something Android Auto capable. A lot of aftermarket head units with GPS in them require you to manually update the maps at least once a year. Some companies charge you for the new maps. Android Auto just loads map data from the Google Maps app on your phone and that updates itself automatically and free. So then you don’t waste money on the “navigation” upgrade.