[Android Head-Units] Journeyman91:
[Review] Installation and Day 1 experience

Dear all,

to start I would like to thank you all for being active in this thread and helping other folks. Thanks! To give back a little and also to encourage others to risk buying such a device I would like to give you some insides about the first phase of my "project". Hope its helpful.

What to buy & the installation

Android 4.x radio unit. I got this one here: http://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/6236117634.html

CANBUS adapter harness including steering wheel control adapter "Your car <> universal radio adapter" (car dependend, most new cars do have the CANBUS interphase tought.

Radio antenna signal amplifier

Radio cover fitting your car and the form factor of your new radio unit

After receiving all pieces needed the first thing to do is the cabeling. Mostly the colour code of your CANBUS harness cables is matching the cables you get from the radio unit, but especially for ACC (ignition) and 12V (power) you need to be carefull to combine the right cables. A good hint would be to search for something like "ISO car radio connector pin assignment" on the web since this stuff is pretty standardized. To connect the cables with each others counterpart I used wire nuts. Don't know if there is a better way to do it. Connecting all the other cables like radio antenna, GPS antenna and microphone is foolproof.

Next step would be to make enough space in your car for your new radio unit. Maybe you are lucky and your car already offers a big enough DIN 2 slot. Mine didn't . I had to manually make the space needed with some scary ass gadgets I would not imagine to use in a car before starting all of this. Top most was a jigsaw ... However it worked and the radio is comfy in his new place. Sadly the radio cover did not have a big enough slot for the radio as well, resulting in a need of more manual adjustment and this bad looking cut on the bottom of the unit ... w.e.

First thoughts and open tasks / questions

So in general I am happy with this device. It is fast responding, does put a good volume to my speakers and in general provides what I expected. The unit is turning on when igniting the car and turns off once I power off the car. The turn on time is in general better than I thought - I would guess something around 15 to max 20 seconds?! If you were listening to radio stations the moment you turned of your car your favorite radio moderator will greet you right away. However, you have to wait till the device is fully booted up to switch stations - even the steering wheel controls just start working then. Speaking about the steering wheel control, they are easy to assign with an app build into the device offering various functions. The sound quality of calls are in general as good as other bluetooth devices. I set up the mic directly next to the steering wheels right side since I was to lazy to unplug my whole car interior. I once tethered internet from my phone to the radio unit confirming the WiFi module is working as well as the Google account set up and the Google Play Store. The specs and software versions the unit was shipped to me are stated on the next pic.

Is the system up-to-date? Any new firmwares or software updates solving some errors?

My few buttons - the 3 on the left - are not illuminated. Did I miss a cable?

My radio station recognition was weak with the factory radio unit since some stupid ass cat was chewing on my radio antenna. However even with installed antenna amplifier the station recognition with the android unit is even weaker? Just my antenna problem or general problem? Solutions?

I connected the WiFi dongle on 1 USB cable labled "WiFi" and another 3G dongle on the second USB cable labled "3G". I do not have a PIN code on the SIM card, cellphones the card is working fine and the stick is working on another tablet. However, the android unit does not get any signal or internet connection from the 3G stick - even if WiFi is turned off. There are no and I can not set up any APN settings since there is no "+" in the menu to create one. How do I figure if the stick is recognized? Any ideas how to get proper internet on the device with a 3G dongle?

I hope my review is in any way helpful and I am glad to answer questions as long as I know the answer. As soon as internet is up working I will test way more and will happily provided feedback. Keep up the good work, you guys were helping me big time already and made me risk buying this unit. Was a good choice so far. Have a great day :)