Linux/Android to HU (Kenwood DMX8019DABS) - Remote screen and touchscreen - Android Auto General

Hello,
I wanted to change the HU in my car, and gone for something mainstream (Kenwood DMX8019DABS). Although, I did want one of the Chinese Android screens for flexibility; but not want to deal with some of the reliability and sound quality issues.
As the new Kenwood HU has screen mirroring, and I was thinking if I could have some SBC running Linux or Android and use that for geeking on. That way, I have the daily stability of a stock HU.... but can still install any Android apps I want and maintain the display and touchscreen functionality.
I understand not many other people will have the same requirements, but I wondered if anybody had tried anything similar previously?
Would a stock version of Android be able to cast to the HU?
Many Thanks

Related

LF: Android Auto Experience, without the Wires

feedback non-existent in H/U forum so thought i'd try my luck here.
seeking recommendation to be installed into RSX
back in January I looked into Android Auto/CarPlay from the brand names but they require USB connection to phone = dealbreaker
not looking to DIY a tablet into the dash
LF a 2DIN head unit that works very similiarly to AA without the wires.
I'm looking to have run this app pretty much on default
http://www.androidcentral.com/hands-automate-android-auto-your-phone
will be installing myself
to be used with Galaxy Nexus GSM on 4.3...quite long in the tooth my next phone is likely Note 5 or the new LG Nexus
convenience is key. I just want to enter the car and have BT auto connected to the phone and ready to stream music without having to pull out my phone.
voice-enabled messaging, google apps, backup cam, capacitative touch screen are all requirements. volume knob, 2gb ram, quad-core processor and large community dev support would be nice.I didn't look at Hufei and AN-21 because their specs are dated as they've been around for a while now. I've been waiting for android 5.0 head units to hit the market but it's taking forever.
i'm not an audiophile so as long as the sound quality isn't worse than a stock Honda radio I'm good which is only mediocre at best.
I think you're confused about a few things.
1. Android Auto requires USB, period. It doesn't work any other way.
2. AutoMate is not the same as Android Auto. It's a launcher that looks sort of like Android Auto. It has nothing to do with your other phone, bluetooth, etc. It's standalone. If you want to stream music from your phone you're gonna have a bad time.
The NU3001 is the best (i.e., most modern) head unit available today. Because the source code is available the community has developed a ROM that is car friendly and does work with bluetooth streaming, Google Now, etc. You can run AutoMate on it if you want but I finally uninstalled it as it's just a (pretty) layer that gets in the way between your maps/music/phone apps and you. There are variants available with a physical volume knob but to my knowledge they don't have one for a Honda.
alaninsitges said:
1. Android Auto requires USB, period. It doesn't work any other way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android Auto has Wifi support built in, but AFAIK my Headunit app is the only way to make it work at present, unless you have access to some unreleased devices/apps.
To Original poster: I don't think a solution with all the features you want exists yet. We've been waiting for decades for useful, robust implementations of the sort of environment that Android Auto and CarPlay provide.
I hope that within the next 2 years we will have solutions that are useful and "just work". The ones we have now clearly need work and seem as immature as Android 1.x and 2.x compared with the Android 5.x/6.x level solutions we want.

General Android Auto questions and specific ones regarding some units.

backstory: I never owned a car with a 3rd party head unit, never used android auto or had a car that supported it. Mirrorlink never worked on any car i've tested that should support it. So i'm here with pretty much here with little knowledge
I'm probably getting the AVH-2300NEX, I read some good stuff about it and it has android auto, its my main focus currently but i'm open to suggestions.
Here's my questions regarding Android Auto
1. Android auto isn't supported in my country via the playstore, can getting the apk from elsewhere bypass this problem or will it still be locked?
2. I remember reading that you can't use your device at all but some other news contradicting saying that there is a slide to unlock? if its the latter, what can you do on the device while its in android auto mode?
3. Does screen aspect ratio and resolution affect the quality of android auto? (I read that 16:9 QHD devices should switch to FHD, but that about 18:9 or 19:9 with QHD, will FHD fix any issues? do these still exist? or is this all dependant on the head unit)
4. Does samsung android pie has any issues with android auto currently? I read that in general some devices with pie had issues with android auto back in october, idk if google fixed it and I dont know if samsung has this issue.
Questions regarding head units.
1. similar to 4. from above Does the avh-2300nex work with note9? this post here seems to indicate that pie broke android auto usually samsung work differently than google so I'm not sure if its broken on note9 pie update if anyone here has it.
2. Overall, is the 2300NEX/2400Nex (they seem to be the same) worth getting for 300$ or so is there a better alternative for similar pricing (considering these are 2017 products)
3. is the 2300NEX even running android? should I even care so long it runs android auto?
4. Are there better units that better suit my needs? google maps navigation, music control and backup camera
Edit: one note responsiveness is a must I drove a car with an android unit that had horrendous touch sensitivity and was very slow (Had to click 3/4 times in the same spot for it to recognize my touch and was very slow to actually do the thing)
1) Based on a Google Search: you should be good to go. Don't take it as granted
2) There's a slide to unlock and pretty much you can fully use your phone
3) It depends on the head unit. If the head unit has a big resolution, though, you should be aware that your phone should be powerful enough to deliver a good experience
shmykelsa said:
1) Based on a Google Search: you should be good to go. Don't take it as granted
2) There's a slide to unlock and pretty much you can fully use your phone
3) It depends on the head unit. If the head unit has a big resolution, though, you should be aware that your phone should be powerful enough to deliver a good experience
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm wondering what would be the difference between my choice and this Xtron unit this one doesn't support android auto out of the box but i can install an app to let me do just that.

Looking for the Android Auto headunit Apk/protocol

Hi,
I have a 2015 Audi A3, which unfortunately didn't come with AA as an option (I think it was introduced in 2017). It's a real pain to install the 2017 MMI into an older car, but there are guys out there developing aftermarket Android-based headunits that basically put a whole android "phone" in the dash; which isn't a very eloquent solution and kind of overkill in my opinion. They've got their own SIM cards and you have to change the bluetooth devices the phone is paired to and whatnot. It's really not exactly what I'm looking for. I just want AA and that's it.
Anyway there's one guy who's kind of got what I'm looking for . Unfortunately because the car also didn't come with a touchscreen, I have to toggle through the menus with the knobs and steering wheel buttons, which is meh. I'd love to put a digitizer overlay on the screen and play around with it, maybe have a daughter board made up and inject the screen coordinates into the packets somehow before it's sent down to the phone. I'm more of an EE, don't really have a lot of Android dev experience but I've got a lot of microcontroller and firmware experience. Anyway that's my high level idea of how this might work, not sure if I'm going in the right direction. I did ask the guy at RSNAV (seems to be a one-man show) last night if I might have the source code after signing an NDA and I'm awaiting his response. In the meantime I want to get a plan of action going.
So I'm wondering how AA is integrated on the client-side. Obviously the manufacturer headunits aren't running Android, but they've gotta communicate somehow with the phone. I can't find this info anywhere, I'm guessing this is info Google only shares with Auto manufacturers and the Kentwoods and Pioneers of the world. But maybe I'm wrong. I'm assuming it's a protobuf-based protocol between the headunit and the phone, but I don't know.
Can anybody help me out here? Thanks.
All my android auto head units are running android operating system two Chevy and one Mitsubishi. Main reason why poplar cars get rooted head units and what not. But after market android auto head unit is probably your best choice.

Looking for android screen, and a little question.

hello friends, i'm newbie at this topic, but i have a little question before i begin
first of all, ANDROID AUTO is a name for all the android car? or it's specific models?
second of all, I've been searching for over 3 weeks on the internet,EBAY,ALI etc.
and i can't find a what i'm looking for..
i've found some 2gb ram and 32rom, and with some good prices like 100$~170$ that is very low prices and good.
but must of them are not sitting good on the frame, get out a little bit. and i'm looking for a screen that support a subwoofer.
did anyone maybe seen or bought something like this?
9Inch,2RAM,32ROM,SUBWOOFER Support,coming with a compitible frame (I have corolla 2011).
Thanks very much for who can help
Android Navigation System with support subwoofer
123
Meir69 said:
first of all, ANDROID AUTO is a name for all the android car? or it's specific models?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Neither. Android Auto is a simplified Android user interface tailored for use while driving. The phone "projects" the interface onto the car's head unit, and the car provides touch input back to the phone. It supports a limited number of apps - navigation (Google Maps and Waze) and media (most major music apps, like Spotify, Pandora, TuneIn Radio, etc.), and handsfree phone. It supports Google Assistant, to allow voice commands. It also allows the phone to play audio through the car at a higher quality than Bluetooth can provide. It's supported by most major automobile and aftermarket car stereo manufacturers. It is not available in every country, probably because of legal or regulatory issues.
It has absolutely nothing to do with those cheap Chinese head units which run Android as an OS. There are different forums which discuss those.

Question The good old Android Auto Vivo Problem

Hey Guys,
i searched the Web for a possibility to get AA running on my X70 Pro+ with Origin OS Ocean....
Unfortunately there are only Posts and Threads about the X60 and other Vivo Phones and so on .
The issue seems to be the same.
Has anyone found a workaround to get AA running on Origin OS....?
I was hoping for Android 12 to get the Phone going, but no Idea what time we will get Android 12 and if Vivo sets permissions for AA then.
Cheers and greetings from Germany
Hi,
Right now, there is unfortunately no way to get Android Auto working. After Android 10 Android Auto only trigger car installation of it is a system application. Since there is not the case with Vivo and you couldn't mount AA as a system, you are out of options to make it work.
There is a slight, but really a slight option that it might work with the new Coolwalk version which will be available later this year.
Otherwise, the head unit direct version is also in preparation.
If you want the working AA now, the only realistic option is to buy an Android CarPlay dongle, or using a spare phone with older Android version as a buffer triggered from your phone hotspot (or with a separate sim card).
piskr said:
Hi,
Right now, there is unfortunately no way to get Android Auto working. After Android 10 Android Auto only trigger car installation of it is a system application. Since there is not the case with Vivo and you couldn't mount AA as a system, you are out of options to make it work.
There is a slight, but really a slight option that it might work with the new Coolwalk version which will be available later this year.
Otherwise, the head unit direct version is also in preparation.
If you want the working AA now, the only realistic option is to buy an Android CarPlay dongle, or using a spare phone with older Android version as a buffer triggered from your phone hotspot (or with a separate sim card).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much for the detailed explanation
Im looking for an EZ solution too
But from my knowledge the only work around right now is root the phone and make AA an system app
which is not EZ for vivo since it does not allow to unlock bootloader
There is simply no chance to run AA with x70 pro+ now. The only viable solution are android dongles running on past Android versions and triggering car AA. Or even better - if you have or can buy cheap an Android 8, 9 or 10 phone with full gps and at least 4g ram (could be with broken screen or scratches), you can use it as an interface.
The only way to have android auto to work on your vehicle is to have the one with Funtouch OS (which I have), other than that, you will waste your time in trying to find a way to make it work..
piskr said:
Hi,
Right now, there is unfortunately no way to get Android Auto working. After Android 10 Android Auto only trigger car installation of it is a system application. Since there is not the case with Vivo and you couldn't mount AA as a system, you are out of options to make it work.
There is a slight, but really a slight option that it might work with the new Coolwalk version which will be available later this year.
Otherwise, the head unit direct version is also in preparation.
If you want the working AA now, the only realistic option is to buy an Android CarPlay dongle, or using a spare phone with older Android version as a buffer triggered from your phone hotspot (or with a separate sim card).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will a dongle fix the connection issue?
piskr said:
Hi,
Right now, there is unfortunately no way to get Android Auto working. After Android 10 Android Auto only trigger car installation of it is a system application. Since there is not the case with Vivo and you couldn't mount AA as a system, you are out of options to make it work.
There is a slight, but really a slight option that it might work with the new Coolwalk version which will be available later this year.
Otherwise, the head unit direct version is also in preparation.
If you want the working AA now, the only realistic option is to buy an Android CarPlay dongle, or using a spare phone with older Android version as a buffer triggered from your phone hotspot (or with a separate sim card).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My head unit is after market and supports wireless. I know that my x fold won't hook up. Are you saying if I get carplay dongle I can hook my vivo wifi to it and it will work?
Sonicsoul25 said:
My head unit is after market and supports wireless. I know that my x fold won't hook up. Are you saying if I get carplay dongle I can hook my vivo wifi to it and it will work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The head unit has to support Android Auto. Then you can choose from a variety of dongles. Even though they have more or less the same chip, they are different. Each producer tries to squeeze the most from the device, and they have a different approach.
Basically, you must avoid those, which don't clearly stated that some version of Android is installed. Without Android you gain nothing, it's only wireless connection - for IOS.
Most of them have Android 9 or 10, though in the last time 11 appears as well. That is really interesting, because with Android 11 you must have AA as a system app in order to trigger it on a head unit. It looks like producers now solve that issue.
And surprisingly, the core you get on the head unit, if everything goes ok, is not Android, it's IOS. In that core you have android apps including Google Play.
Since, as I said, every unit has a unique configuration, it's not possible to recommend any. The device that I bought is not in the market anymore, for example.
The very piece that you buy must play well with your car head unit and everything what is behind. And behind is a lot, managing systems for settings, audio and other customization.
You must be aware, when you connect AA dongle, it cuts every other setting related to its management out.
Therefore, the biggest issue might be that you'll lose calling via Bluetooth functionality. Because callings (and old style sms) goes different way than other features. My dongle does support calling but in limited way, without Assistant support and with custom made phone app, where the contact selection is rather difficult. And the next flaw is that it doesn't get along with my car audio system, therefore woofers are not engaged. The dongle doesn't have an equalizer, and I can't remedy it.
There is noticeable lag when starting apps and with commands, but otherwise there is no lag when running. Music, video and Gmaps function without glitches. Yes, you have YouTube, Netflix and any other video app you might be subscribed to. And video runs well with a decent resolution. You can load apps from store or as a sideload. And you can play local files, stored either in the dongle memory or on USB.
That's my experience, others may have different. You don't have necessary to buy a dongle, you can use an old phone with Android from 8 to 10 as a driver. Because, as you may already guess, your actual phone serves only as a hot spot (wireless and if you're lucky bluetooth too - tethering) to provide a signal for AA dongle.
If you want to buy a dedicated device, select one which has reviews from the users with as much as possible similar circumstances and priorities as you have.
piskr said:
The head unit has to support Android Auto. Then you can choose from a variety of dongles. Even though they have more or less the same chip, they are different. Each producer tries to squeeze the most from the device, and they have a different approach.
Basically, you must avoid those, which don't clearly stated that some version of Android is installed. Without Android you gain nothing, it's only wireless connection - for IOS.
Most of them have Android 9 or 10, though in the last time 11 appears as well. That is really interesting, because with Android 11 you must have AA as a system app in order to trigger it on a head unit. It looks like producers now solve that issue.
And surprisingly, the core you get on the head unit, if everything goes ok, is not Android, it's IOS. In that core you have android apps including Google Play.
Since, as I said, every unit has a unique configuration, it's not possible to recommend any. The device that I bought is not in the market anymore, for example.
The very piece that you buy must play well with your car head unit and everything what is behind. And behind is a lot, managing systems for settings, audio and other customization.
You must be aware, when you connect AA dongle, it cuts every other setting related to its management out.
Therefore, the biggest issue might be that you'll lose calling via Bluetooth functionality. Because callings (and old style sms) goes different way than other features. My dongle does support calling but in limited way, without Assistant support and with custom made phone app, where the contact selection is rather difficult. And the next flaw is that it doesn't get along with my car audio system, therefore woofers are not engaged. The dongle doesn't have an equalizer, and I can't remedy it.
There is noticeable lag when starting apps and with commands, but otherwise there is no lag when running. Music, video and Gmaps function without glitches. Yes, you have YouTube, Netflix and any other video app you might be subscribed to. And video runs well with a decent resolution. You can load apps from store or as a sideload. And you can play local files, stored either in the dongle memory or on USB.
That's my experience, others may have different. You don't have necessary to buy a dongle, you can use an old phone with Android from 8 to 10 as a driver. Because, as you may already guess, your actual phone serves only as a hot spot (wireless and if you're lucky bluetooth too - tethering) to provide a signal for AA dongle.
If you want to buy a dedicated device, select one which has reviews from the users with as much as possible similar circumstances and priorities as you have.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the wealth of information. I Think I will just use my spare phone to run it. Until another solution arises.

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