yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Android General] Taomyn:
Purely for the Parrot there's not really any benefit to Android over iPhone, and that's from someone that's not a big fan of the fruity company (but that's for another thread).

For the best way I've found to connect my devices to the Parrot, and I have both a Nexus 5 and a Blackberry Z10 (for work), is to use Bluetooth soley for access to PIM info and audio streaming (I use BeyondPod and Play Music on the Nexus, voice on either), and then I use the WiFi hotspot feature on either N5 or Z10 to share their 3G/4G Internet connection.

By using WiFi instead of BT for Internet (which both phones can do), you have a faster link, both phones can be connected at the same time and the BT isn't saturated by too much traffic that can stutter audio streams. You could argue for using a USB 3G/4G modem attached to the Parrot, but there are a few compatibility issues and I don't want yet another account.

That's just my opinion and it works well for me.
[Android General] donaldta:
I honestly don't see much in the way of direct benefit from using an Android vs an iPhone with the Asteroid Smart. The changes you'll experience would basically be from the 3rd party software. For example, the iPhone's VNC server app is called Veency but as I recall you were not able to rotate the screen without doing it physically. The current active VNC server for Android is VMLite VNC Server which has an option to rotate the screen of the device for the client. Another indirect benefit is that you'll be able to download APKs directly with actual Google Play blessed Android device instead of having to go through Market Helper and App Brain to download apps which are not normally available to the Smart.

As I understand the iOS 7 compatible devices have access to iTunes Radio which can be played via bluetooth or line-in into the Asteroid Smart. You'd lose that. I have a iPhone 3GS with a 30-pin A/V adapter which allows me to plug into the A/V input of the Asteroid. This allows me to play the DRM videos from the iTunes store on the Asteroid. But, I don't think that applies to you since the iPhone 5 comes with an all digital Lightening connector. That being said, I do prefer Android over iOS when it comes to phones primarily because of its customizability. Additionally, I am very satisfied with my Nexus 4 since it came unlocked and without any of the bloatware you'd expect from manufacturer or cell providers.

My personal recommendation since Black Friday is coming upon us in a few weeks is to pick up an inexpensive Android Tablet w/ Jellybean (Android 4.1 to 4.3) or the upcoming KitKat (4.4) and with Google Play pre-installed. That way you can experience the difference with Android over iOS without having to be tied down to another cellular plan.
[Android General] ronsno:
Thanks for the quick replies and advice. I hadn't thought about Black Friday and all the deals. I will take advantage of this.
[Android General] breakthestatic:
Hey guys, I'm having some trouble with Waze that I haven't really seen reported on here. Originally I was getting the constant resets (having to login again and again), but after uninstalling, clearing out the Waze data folder, and reinstalling to the SDCARD, it seems to retain my information. However, it seems that the TTS only partially works. When I'm navigating, it will say "In _blank_ feet, turn _blank_ onto _blank_" It's weird because sometimes I do get street names, but it's very infrequently. I'm sure that I have full data at the time, since I've heard that Waze passes TTS data dynamically as you drive. Also, I tired messing around with the Android TTS settings (using PICO vs Parrot), but it seems that Waze uses it's own TTS engine, regardless of the OS settings. Any ideas how I can get this working? I saw in another thread (for the Epic Touch 4g - http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1780585) that someone used a different libstagefright.so to get the TTS working, but that was on ICS, so I'm hesitant to use his file here. It really sucks cause otherwise Waze works great. Lastly, I wanted to note that I've tried this with the Asteroid Market AND Play Store versions and both exhibit the same issue.
[Android General] mpgrimes:
I personally use USB tethering from my android to the as. Great speeds and charging too.
[Android General] edit:
Hello,

I understand that developing apps takes time especially when the Parrot developers create and maintain several apps at the same time BUT one of my MOST ANNOYING problem with the Asteroid Smart is that ALL the sideloaded apps that I tested on the Smart are NOT being able to use the Smart SOUND EQ and the sound quality is BAD BAD BAD.

I've tested the following apps

- Aupeo - screen rotation issues, ignores the Smart EQ settings

- TuneIn - Play Store payed version - works ok overall, has more features, ignores the Smart EQ settings

- Deezer - Play Store version - a lot more features, ignores the Smart EQ settings

- Jango - Play Store version - good app, ignores the Smart EQ settings

- YouTube - Play Store latest version, works ok overall, ignores the Smart EQ settings

- MortPlayer - Play Store latest version, works ok overall, ignores the Smart EQ settings

This EQ issue forces me to use only the apps developed by Parrot in order to enjoy a good/great sound quality and with all do respect for the Parrot App Team work but I need more apps, services, and more features... They might bring what I need to the Smart... or not... thing is I would like to have them now, enjoy then now and not in (an uncertain) near future

Any ideea how to enable the EQ for the sideloaded apps or any decent workaround?

Thank you!
[Android General] donaldta:
Unfortunately, I believe this is working as intended. The Parrot Dev Team seems to be satisfied in restricting their customer to a curated experience. So, sideloaded apps might not work as you expect but apps directly from the Asteroid Market will. That's because Parrot takes the time to test and even re-package them to work with their products for third-party developers.

It is pretty evident in how they developed the Asteroid infrastructure that it was meant to be a closed off system. Mounting external USB drives as read-only onto /tmp/udev/dev/.mnt/sd* as opposed to /mnt/sd* or /mnt/usb*, not including access to the Google Play market, and causing the Parrot Media Player to freeze when another app steals focus. There are ways to enforce compliance through inconvenience. It is a sign that that they want to dictate which specific apps to work well on their products and NOT provide an open ended platform to support the massive Android infotainment experience.

In my opinion, they lost sight of what the target audience should be... and that's typical Android users. Android users aren't satisfied by some corporation limiting what apps can do on their device. They want to be able to customize and choose for themselves, but the way they develop the Asteroid seems to be more Apple or Amazon like where they dictate what you can do with it -- except with a fraction of available applications.

So, if you're going to use mostly 3rd Party apps then you should consider using a 3rd party EQ, like Equalizer, Music Equalizer, Equalizer FX or Music Volume EQ. There are plenty to choose from on Google Play. Personally, I like Volume Control because it also provides a control overlay to instantly change the main volume while using any app.

Btw, have you tried to use a Parrot Music Source prior to the apps you've listed? One of the "features" that has been reported is that the default EQ does not kick in until something plays from within the Parrot Music Player. Of course, their response was to automatically start the Radio source in version 2.1.2 as soon as the Asteroid boots up.
[Android General] edit:
Thank you very much for the feedback donaldta.

Let me get into details and explain my cry for help (why I wrote everywhere and to everyone I could think of)... hope I will not bother.

I mainly use Deezer, TuneIn, the Parrot Media Player although a lot less lately and a nav app.

I have many issues with Deezer, it still have some nasty bugs that simply prevent me from using it, for instance it gets stuck for some reason and it does not list all of my albums and the only cure is to reset the app/clear the cache (this means all my offline music is deleted several times a month and it's a pain to download it each time the app crashes).... also it lacks some basic functionality for instance being able to sort the album list by artist or album, searching through the albums and so on. I love music, I have a huge album list, the app at this stage makes it impossible for me to enjoy the music. I wrote to the developers, they will probably fix the bugs add the features but I am sorry to say it, I got tired of waiting...

TuneIn still have a lot of bugs, some bugs force me to make multiple clicks each time I get into the car in order to listen to a specific radio station at a specific bitrate.

I had all the patience in the world but I simply got tired of waiting for a functional unit. I just need a simple unit, with clean interface that works the minute i got into the car... I got tired of playing through the menus to get things done each time I get into the car.

That's why I began searching for alternative, started to Google workarounds for my issue and ALSO I have to admit that I started to look around for an alternative 2DIN unit... anything that can work reliably and has good sound quality... if things STILL don't work after all this time I begin to think that they never will.

Thank you for the hints, I will try to sideload one of the EQ apps and see what happends and if will work or interfere with the default EQ app.

I did tried to use Parrot Music Source but nothing good came out of it...
[Android General] donaldta:
Sure, no problem. You may want to disable or readjust the Parrot EQ otherwise it will probably duplicate 3rd Party equalizer settings. If the symptoms are as you described and the Smart's EQ is only affecting Parrot Software then it is adjusting the sound before it hits the Android Mixer. So, using a 3rd Party EQ will probably end up magnifying it for the Parrot Software.

I hear you. However, I would recommend waiting until Kit Kat (Android 4.4 - API level 19) hits the Car Audio scene. It should help with compatibility issues that Gingerbread (Android 2.3 - API level 10) which Parrot uses with the second generation Asteroid products; Tablet and Smart. I can understand why they do use it. Since they are using a pretty antiquated processor, they can get fairly quick boot times with Gingerbread that is simply not possible with some of the later versions of Android.

Many of the Android Automotive Head Units with Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0 - API levels 14 & 15) or Jellybean (Android 4.1 to 4.3 - API levels 16, 17 and 18) even with the modern processors, they will either exhibit long boot times or use Microsoft CE to provide quick access to rudimentary components while Android OS boots in the background. However, the dual OS units will usually have problems where certain components will only work for one OS but not the other.

My hope is that once Google releases the source code to Android 4.4 (API level 19 - Kit Kat) that the Parrot Developers will get on the ball and either work on updating the OS for the Smart or release new hardware using with the more modern streamlined Kit Kat OS. Though if they continue with this bullpoop proprietary implementations, I probably won't buy another Asteroid product ever again.
[Android General] edit:
Wow, good info, great reading, thank you donaldta!

If i were to switch to another unit right now what would you recommend?

I am really curious what do you have in mind, I was thinking of maybe an Appradio2 or 3 or maybe Pioneer AVH-X8500 that has appradio support also.... or... or maybe a Sony unit with Smartlink.

"Though if they continue with this bullpoop proprietary implementations, I probably won't buy another Asteroid product ever again."

Looking at the past and present Parrot devices, I am absolutely sure they will continue with the "bullpoop".

Now let me write all about the experience with TuneIn, Deezer and Jango with 3rd party EQ apps.

I've tested the following apps comparing the sound quality with the default Smart EQ :

1. Music Volume EQ - decent sound quality - 6.5/10 - had issue fitting on the screen - barely usable

2. Equalizer Pro - poor sound quality - 5/10 - also had issue with the low screen rezolution - almost unusable

3. Equalizer - crashing constantly - unusable

4. Volume control - had issues setting it

My project failed misarably.

You can't enjoy a good/great sound coming out of the Smart with TuneIn (from Google Play) and a 3rd party EQ app... mostly because the 3rd party EQ apps don't deliver the same sound quality and have issues with the screen resolution.

All the EQ apps (that worked) could not manage to deliver a decent bass and no where near the deep bass that I am getting with the default Smart EQ.

Bottom line is : take the unit as it is or replace it with another brand because as donaldta put it, it is designed to work good only with the software they wrote... any 3rd party software has lots of issues with the screen resolution, sound quality and so on. Major downside mainly because the apps still have bugs, the system has bugs and Parrot will fix them eventually if you have TONS of patience.
[Android General] arshavir:
I found information about new version of Android 4.4 performance -

Performance

This is the big one –– Android 4.4 will run on handsets with just 512MB of RAM. That’s right, people: KitKat will theoretically run on the HTC Hero, a handset that came out almost three years ago!

So I hope Parrot Asteroid Smart will update to Android 4.4 without hardware changes (like Asteroid Smart 2).
[Android General] Taomyn:
As long as Parrot have the drivers for the kernel used by 4.4 for the Smart then yes this is feasible, but just remember the Galaxy Nexus was dropped because no 'official' drivers existed as TI left the mobile business.
[Android General] devoidx:
Hey guys a question. For some reason the latch that releases the faceplate on the smart is broken and not working anymore so I can't remove the faceplate to access the SD card...my question is will i be able to edit the contents of the SD card if i connect smart to my laptop via USB? ie. add and remove content from my laptop directly onto the SD card while the SD card is in asteroid smart

Thanks
[Android General] devoidx:
Donalta, you're the smart cookie of the Asteroid it seems lol...can you shed a light on my question ?
[Android General] donaldta:
Of course you can. That's the one of the reasons the developer options and USB debugging options are available on the Asteroid Smart.

However, you won't be able to connect your laptop to the USB-A ports because those are dedicated as host ports. You'll need to use the micro USB port that has the symbol of a laptop above it. It is the only client port on the Asteroid. You'll be able to use various commands from the Android Developers Tools to upload or download files. For example, "sdk/platform-tools/adb push {filename} /mnt/sdcard" or "sdk/platform-tools/adb pull /mnt/sdcard/{filename}". You can even use sdk/tools/monitor.bat to use a GUI to upload and download files through its file explorer.

Additionally, you could even use your smartphone or laptop over WiFi. If you have ES File Explorer then you can enable "Remote Manager" which is an FTP Server. Then use an FTP client to put or get files as necessary.
[Android General] devoidx:
gotchya, thanks, so none of the USB ports have the ability to detect the asteroid as a regular external media device that I can just drag and drop files thru Windows on my laptop?
[Android General] donaldta:
I didn't say that. You can do that if you want. It just takes a couple extra steps on the Asteroid after connecting your laptop with its micro USB port.

Once you "Turn on USB storage" as shown above the SD Card is logically unmounted from the Asteroid Smart OS and then appears as a hard drive on your laptop.
[Android General] edit:
#donaldta

You are a great read as always... still chewing the infos you gave me :)

While I am taking in the news and also googling different aspects of my problems could you show us how did you manage to configure (read personalise) your Smart?

Aaaaand, of course, I would love pictures..... lots of pictures... the quality or size does not matter... I need pictures ;) ... I am sure that you did a great work with your unit :)

Many, many thanks
[Android General] devoidx:
Great thanks, thats what i was looking for
[Android General] LAYGO:
I came from the AR2 & it lasted one week in my vehicle. When it worked, it was ok, but I had so many problems with it, I couldn't stand it. The screen was probably a lil worse than Parrot's as far as clarity & resolution, having a 720 res phone display on that 8xx by 4xx res headunit was nasty. I had a LOT of problems with audio cutting out & video not staying sync'd.

I went with the Smart & haven't looked back . . . even with it's shortcomings. Asteroid Tweaker has made a big diff for me & of course rooting it. I've got everything I want it to do working . . . except Waze. It just wants to act like it's the first time I'm running it each & every time I launch it! ;(

I eagerly await a Smart2 with a better processor, higher res screen, and updated Android.
[Android General] edit:
Thank you for your feedback !

- How was the screen brightness on the AR2? I am asking because the way my headunit it is positioned in the car forces me to deal with a lot of glare and I NEED to have an really bright screen to cope with the issue.

- Have you used it with arliberator is just stock (with the Pioneer software)

- How was the sound quality compared to the Smart?

- How was the Radio FM quality compared to the Smart?

- What apps have you installed after rooting? (can you put some screenshots? )

Regarding Waze, a new update just showed up, 2.1.5, and one of the bug fixes is and i quote "- [Waze] : Application asks to login again at start-up."... Can't say if the update is also intended for the US, but if you are from Europe have a look.
[Android General] Taomyn:
Has anyone that's rooted upgraded to 2.15 yet?

I'm hoping that because I use SuperSU that its "survival mode" will save me the effort of re-rooting the device afterwards.
[Android General] donaldta:
Wow, that was quick!

I updated the previous shell script to check the differences between 2.1.4 and 2.1.5

knoppix@Microknoppix:~/Downloads$ ls -ld Smart/*/FileSystem/
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 96 Nov 5 11:22 Smart/v2.1.2/FileSystem/
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 96 Nov 5 11:22 Smart/v2.1.4/FileSystem/
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 96 Nov 14 08:01 Smart/v2.1.5/FileSystem/
knoppix@Microknoppix:~/Downloads$ cat check_ver
date > output_checkver.txt
for i in `find Smart/v2.1.5 -type f`
do j=`basename ${i}`
k=`echo ${i} | sed 's/v2.1.5/v2.1.4/'`
echo ---${j}--- >>output_checkver.txt
diff -q ${i} ${k} >>output_checkver.txt 2>&1
done
knoppix@Microknoppix:~/Downloads$ ./check_ver
knoppix@Microknoppix:~/Downloads$ grep \\-\\-\\- output_checkver.txt | wc -l
1536
knoppix@Microknoppix:~/Downloads$ grep differ output_checkver.txt | wc -l
138
knoppix@Microknoppix:~/Downloads$ grep such output_checkver.txt | wc -l
0
knoppix@Microknoppix:~/Downloads$

Basically, I have both versions of the plf uncompressed into their own directory. The script creates or refreshes the output file with the date and time as the header then finds all the path to every file in each subdirectory. For each iteration it adds a separator in the form of dashes that wrap around the filename and then checks the difference between the new and old files. If there is a difference or no file exist then it is noted immediately after the separator, otherwise it continues to parse through the list of files.

In the last three lines of the shell, I check the output file for patterns that match the words, "---", "differ" and "such" then count each line. This tells me that there are total of 1536 files and 138 of those files are different and 0 new files added.

Here is an example excerpt of the file it creates.

---com.parrot.asteroid.xml---
---com.parrot.sdcardlib.xml---
diff: Smart/v2.1.2/FileSystem/system/etc/permissions/com.parrot.sdcardlib.xml: No such file or directory
---com.android.location.provider.xml---
---android.hardware.location.gps.xml---
---handheld_core_hardware.xml---
---media_profiles.xml---
---init.goldfish.sh---
---whitelist.xml---
---NOTICE.html.gz---
Files Smart/v2.1.4/FileSystem/system/etc/NOTICE.html.gz and Smart/v2.1.2/FileSystem/system/etc/NOTICE.html.gz differ

The above tells us that "com.parrot.asteroid.xml", "com.android.location.provider.xml", "handheld_core_hardware.xml", "media_profiles.xml" and "whitelist.xml" files are the same between version. Where as the file, "com.parrot.sdcardlib.xml", only exists in the new version and "NOTICE.html.gz" is different between the two versions.

Attached is a copy of the output file it created in case it interests anyone.
[Android General] AL-d82:
This "recovery mode" is the same as if you start an update on the radio. it boots in these update mode too.

so u can start this mode self.

In this Update Mode you can only connect a USB stick with the firmware file.

I've found this page. Google ;o)

And somebody helpt me

https://devzone.parrot.com/boards/5/topics/show/453
[Android General] nrtower1:
Has anyone tried to flash a custom recovery yet?
[Android General] loveshackdave:
Isn't that mini HDMI?
[Android General] sneakk:
That's the connection for the screen of Asteroid mini, and the Asteroid Tablet, I had the mini exchanged it for the tablet, all three units use the same box
[Android General] ProTekk:
The micro USB is meant for USB debugging.
[Android General] sneakk:
For those that are rooted, is the google play store fully functional at this point for all of you, can you actually doqnload your purchased apps directly from the smart? I ask because on the Asteroid tablet I have it installed using loveshackdave link, and as long as I dont upgrade the play store I can side load purchased apps that need verification such as vulkano flow (this is for tv streaming) but if I go to upgrade play store it forces close on me every time. Im ready to exchange the tablet at this point and make the full commitment, buy the smart.
[Android General] lfpayne:
I have the tablet as well. Not all that impressed at this point and recently have been having random reboots on the tablet screen. Have you ran into this? Also remote was DOA ,
[Android General] albert.r:
Google Play store works for me on Smart. I can download and install all my apps without issue. I used Google Framework Services and Vending packages from my ginderbread-based cell phone.

On a side note, did anyone notice that deepsleep is not working on Smart? Instead of going into deepsleep, the Smart just powers off after 10 minute timeout (and I've seen a few times when it doesn't power off too). This is a major annoyance (along with lack of bluetooth pairing tool) for me on Smart. I hope Parrot can fix both of these issues in upcoming firmware updates.

-albertr
[Android General] sneakk:
Thanks, I will be picking mine up tomorrow afternoon
[Android General] mrfatmen:
I have a few problems sometimes the smart doesn't see the unika. The works leds sayes it's working.

Restarting the car would solved and make the steering wheel control wrok.

Another problem is that the unit sometimes gives a message about crash reports.

Do u guy's experience simulair problems?
[Android General] fatdoggie:
The only time I saw messages about crash reports was after an improper shutdown. Do you have the 12V constant power supply connected correctly? If so, you should see the "Goodbye" screen when you shut your ignition off

Is your Unika in resistive or CANBUS mode? Mine is resistive and I did once (so far) have a problem where the Unika was emitting repeated volume + key presses when no steering wheel buttons were pressed. This made the Asteroid very slow and unresponsive. And loud. I am lucky it happened in the garage and not while driving.
[Android General] albert.r:
+1. Seems to be very stable here as well.

-albertr