Selecting an android head unit

[alextait]

Excellent video .... Made me wish Id bought that unit instead.

 

@T2000 I having contacted the seller but no response after a day. My head units system is almost unusable at the moment.

 

Problems include.

 

-Laggy buttons.. sometimes taking 5 seconds for a button to respond.... sometimes clicks are ignored completely.

-Spotify takes 15-20 seconds to load... once it does it is very slow to respond to clicks and switching between playlists takes a long time.

-The browser does not work when on wifi.... Sometimes crashes

-The wifi drops off even when right next to the router and full signal.(my android phone is fine)

-The top of the screen shows the download icon... and I know that clicking on this should show details of downloads... but this is also unresponsive and does not work.

 

On the plus side I have figured out when my system is stuck on black screen I can press the reset button in the pin hole behind the nav panel.

 

Have to say I am not having any luck with this unit... shame because I can see the potential.

 

I will post a video of the problems when I get chance.

 

Ta

[T2000]

7 hours ago, alextait said:

Excellent video .... Made me wish Id bought that unit instead.

 

@T2000 I having contacted the seller but no response after a day. My head units system is almost unusable at the moment.

 

Problems include.

 

-Laggy buttons.. sometimes taking 5 seconds for a button to respond.... sometimes clicks are ignored completely.

-Spotify takes 15-20 seconds to load... once it does it is very slow to respond to clicks and switching between playlists takes a long time.

-The browser does not work when on wifi.... Sometimes crashes

-The wifi drops off even when right next to the router and full signal.(my android phone is fine)

-The top of the screen shows the download icon... and I know that clicking on this should show details of downloads... but this is also unresponsive and does not work.

 

On the plus side I have figured out when my system is stuck on black screen I can press the reset button in the pin hole behind the nav panel.

 

Have to say I am not having any luck with this unit... shame because I can see the potential.

 

I will post a video of the problems when I get chance.

 

Ta

This is the link, instructions included in download.

http://workupload.com/file/vEK6T6P

[tonyblue]

Watching with interest. 

 

Is anyone running amps/subs with one?

The lack of proper connections and control through a Columbus plus the customisation aspect is driving me towards one. 

 

 

[therev]

21 hours ago, Redfab said:

DBT85's video does display the climate etc at around 8.38. Is that not what you mean or something different?  The bolero flashes up the changes for a few seconds on the full screen but the android seems to be a bar at the bottom for a few seconds, so you do seem to get it.

 

DBT85, as your car has the built in bluetooth module, dont you need to disconnect that so that it pairs from the start with the android rather than the one which is already in your car?  

 

I dont have a bluetooth in mine and I would expect it to pair with the new andriod straight away.  Just a thought..

hi yer seen it but i like bolero how it displays full screen not just a little bar at bottom 

[DBT85]

Well had my first proper drive with the PB96MTVAPL today, 115 miles to work. As expected it handled everything perfectly. A very happy bunny!

 

Might have a look at an anti glare screen to go over it as there were a few times where the outside brightness was occluding bits of the display. Also I need to have a look at the options for dimming when the cars lights are on. My car has auto lights and so even at 4 this afternoon my lights were on, dimming the screen. 

 

I think there is an app that can better control it but I need to have a look.

[DBT85]

Since I can;t edit that post any more (bizarre by the way). I've disabled auto dimming based on headlights on or off. Waze already switches to night mode based on GPS data anyway and since that's going to be the screen that's on when I'm driving, I'm pleased with that.

[alextait]

21 hours ago, T2000 said:

This is the link, instructions included in download.

http://workupload.com/file/vEK6T6P

 

@T2000 Thanks very much for that... I performed the update this morning (easy to do) and everything seemed fine... system was much more responsive.

 

Unfortunately I went out in the car at lunch and on my return journey the stereo did not boot.

The red power light came on in the CD slot, but nothing else.. just a black screen.

Pressing the reset button brought it back to life but obviously this is not good.

 

I have messaged the seller again... I am thinking of disconnecting the GPS attenna/wifi and camera to see if that improves the situation.

Not an easy issue to solve but hoping he has some more suggestions.

 

Edited 7 April, 2017 by alextait

[DBT85]

If it makes you feel any better @alextait I got into my car this evening to drive to work and the PB96MTVAPL did nothing at all. A blank screen, although somehow the BT was still connecting to my phone.

 

Tried the reset, tried turning the car on and off. No dice.

 

Once I got to work I left it 90 mins and went back and still nothing. The only way I could get it back was to pull the car battery and connect it back up, now it seems to be back working fine again.

 

Obviously not something I can keep doing, so I'll have to keep an eye on it. I hadn't tightened the -ve terminal back down so maybe that didn't help, though for the life of me I can't think why, the car hadn't lost power and started fine. It's all tightened back up now so I'll see what occurs.

[alextait]

@DBT85 Interestingly similar issue. Hope yours is ok from now on. Mine has been fine the rest of today and seems to be much more responsive. As long as I don't get any more failed startups I'll be happy.

 

 

 

 

[Longship]

I really liked the look of this 9" unit, let us know how you get on DBT85.

[alextait]

Quick update... My unit has stopped crashing. It now works fairly well, spirit is a little unresponsive and takes a while to load up...but once it gets going it's fine. Very pleased . Need to close unused apps regularly to keep it working well.

 

 

[DBT85]

Similarly a happy update from me at least on power consumption.

 

My car sat idle and locked for 5 days, car started perfectly first thing this morning for work. So the PB96MTVAPL isn't draining the battery. 

 

Getting the odd instance of my music freezing for a second and then starting again. Feels like its not getting enough cpu time while I have Waze in the foreground. Need to investigate a bit more.

[therev]

40 minutes ago, DBT85 said:

Similarly a happy update from me at least on power consumption.

 

My car sat idle and locked for 5 days, car started perfectly first thing this morning for work. So the PB96MTVAPL isn't draining the battery. 

 

Getting the odd instance of my music freezing for a second and then starting again. Feels like its not getting enough cpu time while I have Waze in the foreground. Need to investigate a bit more.

keep the updates coming  mate as i could be buying 1 this week 

[DBT85]

1 hour ago, therev said:

keep the updates coming  mate as i could be buying 1 this week 

Will do, I'll be using it twice a day for the next 10 days so if anything else comes up I'll be talking about it!

[therev]

On 4/14/2017 at 11:36, DBT85 said:

Will do, I'll be using it twice a day for the next 10 days so if anything else comes up I'll be talking about it!

hows the head unit going mate can u alter the size of the apps on this unit do u no as i like the look of the pl91mtvap interface but its running 5.1 lollipop and not quite as good as the 1 u have in other areas i just cant make my mind up lol

[jmattley]

On 06/04/2017 at 20:17, DBT85 said:

Well had my first proper drive with the PB96MTVAPL today, 115 miles to work. As expected it handled everything perfectly. A very happy bunny!

 

Might have a look at an anti glare screen to go over it as there were a few times where the outside brightness was occluding bits of the display. Also I need to have a look at the options for dimming when the cars lights are on. My car has auto lights and so even at 4 this afternoon my lights were on, dimming the screen. 

 

I think there is an app that can better control it but I need to have a look.

Hi DBT85, what's the sound quality and radio reception like through your unit? I've looked at Chinese android head units before, but I've been put off by crappy reviews of those 2 points.

 

What are the touchscreen volume keys like as well? I don't have steering wheels buttons you see.

[DBT85]

11 hours ago, therev said:

hows the head unit going mate can u alter the size of the apps on this unit do u no as i like the look of the pl91mtvap interface but its running 5.1 lollipop and not quite as good as the 1 u have in other areas i just cant make my mind up lol

 

No idea if you can change the size of the apps, not sure why you'd want to?

 

8 hours ago, jmattley said:

Hi DBT85, what's the sound quality and radio reception like through your unit? I've looked at Chinese android head units before, but I've been put off by crappy reviews of those 2 points.

 

What are the touchscreen volume keys like as well? I don't have steering wheels buttons you see.

 

Sound quality is good IMO but I'm still running the standard car speakers. I've never been one for that kind of faffing about.

 

Radio reception isn't as good as on my Columbus, however, I'm only using 1 of the 2 aerial connections the car has where the Columbus used 2. I've also not given power to the little amp that comes with the adaptor which would almost certainly fix the issue.

 

The Volume buttons on the unit are fine and work perfectly. You can also set a boot volume but I've not tried yet whether that means boot from cold (battery pulled) or boot from Standby which is what it does when you pull the key.

 

 

At the moment I'm have 2 issues that are annoying me a little. 

 

1) Waze is saying its lost GPS signal, but as soon as you open the GPS info app it all comes back instantly. Like, every time. Seems odd but I've not tried with a different app yet.

2) When playing music I'm hearing a stutter or pause every once in a while as if the unit is hitting a CPU bottleneck. This is whether I use the Spotify app on the device to play downloaded music, or if I use the Spotify app on my phone and play it via BT to the unit. Again I need to play a bit more to see if I can find the cause. I've always had Waze running at the same time and it seems to stutter at the same time

 

Again, overall very pleased

[alextait]

Another update on my ES3026SGB-EC (with a general point about these units)

Has not been going well. So many crashes recently (not the car... the head unit) and every time I have to reset it.

Was getting a bit dangerous as tempted to do this while driving.

 

So I am going to try it for a few days without any additional apps installed.

 

One thing to note about these units in general is that when they power down they remember their last app state.... So unless you manually close apps they will remain open and could potentially hog all your CPU/memory.

 

The radio is not as good as my original bolero... I listen to radio 4 a lot and on my bolero it was crisp sound most of the time.. now there is always a crackle... I think the bolero somehow got rid of the crackle but the app on this unit does not do that. I have been playing music from spotify on my phone over to the stereo on bluetooth... not as good quality but works well so far.

 

I have also been having trouble getting the phone link to work. I can connect to my phones hotspot but then the head unit cannot connect to the phone.

 

When it is working I like the bluetooth calling and the navigation works well.

Going to persevere for a few more days but if I get another crash with no other apps being installed I will have to attempt a return if possible.

Hope everyone else is having better luck than me! 

 

 

 

Edited 21 April, 2017 by alextait

[Vin0bim]

On 28/03/2017 at 13:41, T2000 said:

Very happy, for the money you can't go wrong and it looks factory, I added a dash cam for £15, SAT NAV is good, BT is excellent and I haven't fitted the external mic, Boots up with the Skoda VRS logo which I added, I also ran a USB charge cable down behind the left of the fascia into the ashtray area to charge a phone and also do mirrorlink.

 

I also didn't go with the first one you posted as it's 7" and I didn't like the SD slots being at the bottom, the GPS and SD are behind fake buttons, much cleaner.

Any ideas if the optical parking system display will show on this? (feb 2013 mk2 facelift octavia estate)

Hayden

[T2000]

On 07/04/2017 at 13:34, alextait said:

Yes as it's on the canbus

[Vin0bim]

On 23/04/2017 at 01:00, T2000 said:

On 07/04/2017 at 13:34, alextait said:

Yes as it's on the canbus

Thanks

Although I have many talents, the joys of canbus systems are new to me. I normally have things I can work on or modify/ hack

[alextait]

Yet another update on ES3026SGB-EC

 

Now I have kept the system as stock and just using the a2dp for music the system has not crashed once.

So I can only assume that Spotify was causing my problems... perhaps incompatible with the device / android version.

 

I am now quite happy as I can skip tracks and pause with the a2dp. 

Slightly disappointed that Spotify doesn't work but then again probably not a good idea to be browsing my playlists while driving!

 

@T2000 Have you managed to get your phone screen mirrored using the link sofware on the unit?

 

Thanks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[T2000]

7 hours ago, alextait said:

Yet another update on ES3026SGB-EC

 

Now I have kept the system as stock and just using the a2dp for music the system has not crashed once.

So I can only assume that Spotify was causing my problems... perhaps incompatible with the device / android version.

 

I am now quite happy as I can skip tracks and pause with the a2dp. 

Slightly disappointed that Spotify doesn't work but then again probably not a good idea to be browsing my playlists while driving!

 

@T2000 Have you managed to get your phone screen mirrored using the link sofware on the unit?

 

Thanks

 

Yes, with the USB cable connected it works with Android although I have a new Windows phone and haven't tried it since will give it another go.

[therev]

9 hours ago, alextait said:

Yet another update on ES3026SGB-EC

 

Now I have kept the system as stock and just using the a2dp for music the system has not crashed once.

So I can only assume that Spotify was causing my problems... perhaps incompatible with the device / android version.

 

I am now quite happy as I can skip tracks and pause with the a2dp. 

Slightly disappointed that Spotify doesn't work but then again probably not a good idea to be browsing my playlists while driving!

 

@T2000 Have you managed to get your phone screen mirrored using the link sofware on the unit?

 

Thanks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

hi what android software is your unit using eg 5.1 lollipop / 6.0 marshmallow or something else ??

[DBT85]

Sad to say that my PB96MTVAPL is going back. I've asked for a refund but if they insist I'll try a second unit.

 

For the second time since having the unit it failed to turn on and despite trying everything else, the only way I could get it to come on was to pull the battery from the car. The reset button didn;t do anything no matter how many different things I tried.

 

On top of that I'm still getting the stuttering when playing music back either via Spotify on the device, or Spotify on my phone and just BT to the unit. I'll make one final attempt on my way home in the morning with Spotify uninstalled and just BT to my phone, but I'm not hopeful.

 

A shame TBH as I really liked the device and having Waze and Spotify there on a nice big screen.