[Android Head-Units] donaldta:
To answer the question of the risk of bricking your Android device, it is very low practically negligible. By the way, GApps stands for Google Apps and in most cases you can safely get them individually through Google Play. You should however, be careful of where you source them though as a modified package can easily compromise your Google account. Might want to read, "Say Sayonara to Google Apps" for more information.

Does it make sense? Sure. Google is notorious for hiding value of their packages until they are "combined" like Voltron. For example, on Gingerbread devices that do not come with the "standard" GApps, you can install Google Maps 6.14.4 from Google Play. However, if you wanted to control via voice then you need to also install Google Voice Search 2.1.4 but you'd also need to get a find a copy of libvoicesearch.so to place in the /system/frameworks directory. If you wanted to preview your destination using the 360° views instead of the forward facing picture then you'll also have to install Street View on Google Maps.

Even in the current Android version, Google hides "Google Now" with two separate packages; Google Search and the Velvet.apk package. In addition to this they are also providing API updates through Google Play Services which isn't always easy to find unless you try to install Google Hangouts. This particular package is Google's way of providing updates to devices where the manufacturer has abandon releasing ROM updates. You can read a little more about it in the Google Play Service article from the Developers website. However as more and more developers start using the client libraries provided by this package, more and more applications will seem broken without it installed.

---------- Post added at 09:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:32 PM ----------

Most likely the "read only" errors are a symptom of trying to make changes within the /system directory or sub-directories without first remounting its respective filesystem as "read-write". This can be done many ways. If you use Es File Explorer; for example, you can use the Fast Access bar on the left, scroll down to tools and make sure that Root Explorer is enabled. Then hold down on the words "Root Explorer" and it will popup a window that contains "Mount R/W". Pressing that button will remount the system partition as read-write and should allow you to make the necessary changes.

I highly doubt your 1996 F-350 is using digital signaling from a CAN bus for its Steering Wheel Controls. Ford did not even start using digital signaling until well into the second millennium. To get an idea of the configuration of your vehicle's SWC connection, I tried to look it up from Pac-Audio's SWC adapter configuration page. However, the earliest that I was able to look up is 2003 but event at that year it is apparent to me that they were still using an analog (resistance to ground) signaling due to the use of the white wire from Pac-Audio's SWC adapter.

I would recommend using a multimeter to figure out which wire from behind the original radio's cabling is used for SWC controls. If you disconnect it from the original radio, you should be able to find it using a multimeter. However, I would highly recommend that you use it to check if there is any voltage first as trying to measure resistance on a live wire can damage the multimeter let alone give you false readings. Once you've found the candidate wires to test, you'll be able to find the correct wire by pressing the different SWC buttons. Each one should give you a unique resistance value on the multimeter if it is connected to the correct wire. Once you found it then all you need to do is connect it to the Key 1 wire of the AN-21U and use its programming to associate the button to functions.

However, if you still cannot find it then that probably means it is setup as a voltage reference. That means when you press a button the voltage changes normally between 0 to 5 volts but can go up as high as 12 volts. In which case, you would retest voltages with a multimeter while holding down a button. The correct one will change the voltage as you press and release the different buttons. This will mean that you'll need to get a third-party adapter to interface with AN-21U's key1 wires. As from previous experience it does not seem to handle this type of analog signaling very well.

If you got one of the Chinese ODB2 clones then its a crap shoot getting a decent adapter. There is absolutely no quality assurances, so you'll have to keep on exchanging it until you get one that works. Unless you get one from a reliable manufacturer, like Scantools.net, you'll most likely have to keep on swapping them out until you're lucky enough to get one that works. This was pointed out in the Torque Pro Wiki for these adapters.

This is actually pretty common for wireless camera connections. I usually recommend people to use a wired connection instead, as it provides better picture quality with a lower expense. However, if you are using a wired connection then most likely problem is that your RCA cable isn't properly shielded for the full length and is picking up interference along the path. This is mostly common with crappy generic cables.

Thank you. I will update the corresponding post where I am keeping a record of this. Not sure what to say about the .70 update though.