yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[MTCD Android Head Units General] msj33:
Same problem on brand new MCTD-KGL unit here! Should never have bought this piece of crap! 250€ almost down the drain.............

Launching apps takes very long time to launch and even Google maps are sometimes +5 seconds to start up or even freezing (with unresponsive popup).

Even just the layout/layout is unresponsive by design! This is not just hickup - But the whole Android experience here is just VERY disappointing because of crappy implementation of hardware and OS.

1) So disabling google service helps - But break Play + maps - Then that is not really a solution, hence the online flexibility is why we bought the HU in the first place.

2) Replacing 1GB Ram with 2GB requires hardware modding - not really intuitive or easy fix!

3) Replacing the ROM with - Only Malaysk ROM available as I see it - Risk of killing your HU!(bad guide!) Anyone knows of any performance improvements? (Please provide Benchmark results?!)

4)Use Sygic for Navigation - Hmmm......not tried it, but seems like somewhat a workaround and does not solve the underlying problem

5) Use a different launcher - Anyone recommended? (Please provide benchmark results?)

Other options/alternatives?

There are other bugs that I have found, which are really annoying

-The FM radio is ridicolous! Reception is severely bad(although I have a new car and connected blue wire +12V).

-Keeps doing AF(auto Frequency) although is have been disabled in the APP! so a channel can be locked fine, but the app startsscanning after 5 seconds although signal is OK.

-Volume - Huge volume difference between apps - Ex Google Maps, FM Radio and any other online radio! Almost blew out my speakers when switching app!

At current I cannot recommend ANYONE to buy these Chinese units - I really hope that this can get improved over time by XDA community (thanks to Malaysk and anyone else out there putting an effort into improving the units by customizing default Android ROM).

I think there should be a consolidated pinned thread for getting speed optimizations out of the stock unit.

Hope you can assist a frustrated buyer.

P.S Please someone upload a UX course in Chinese! - If Chinese manafacturers actually did this right, we might continue buying their products in the future!........But again....you get what you pay for!
[MTCD Android Head Units General] dude-nl:
Dude, it's simple as I said earlier, 1 GB and google play services running Android 5.1. is not fixeble.

Or upgrade to 2GB of stop google services.

Malaysk rom's makes it a bit better but in combination with google it's still to slow.

Sygic is IMHO the best navigation app so try it... But you can't use it without upgrading to 2GB or disabling google.

Maybe you (and me 2) had to do better research before buying, but claiming that you threw away 250,- is bull****.

I paid much more then that (because of 8 inch and changebale panel in my Outlander) en it's my own fault because I already knew in advanced that 1GB would be tricky...

The forums here a full of complaining people looking for solutions. So you could have known before ordering...

Anyway, just spent a few bucks and upgrade or disable google (you don't need google...!)
[MTCD Android Head Units General] Madyen:
Hi,

I try to give some answers to your "problems" mate..

3) Replacing the ROM with Malaysk ROM (bad guide!)

See my reply => How To Flash It!!

The FM radio is ridicolous! Reception is severely bad.

Buy a good Germany radio antenne amp one, just like I did from day 1, had the same bad sound and weak reception problem as yours, Now the radio sound is like a CD quality!!

-Volume - Huge volume difference between apps - Ex Google Maps, FM Radio.

Go to F-settings and by sound change or put the radio sound volume to 3.. I already answered this Q one to dude.nl!

I cannot recommend ANYONE to buy these Chinese units.

110% I agree with you mate.. poor quality stuff!!

Hope you can assist a frustrated buyer.

Me too mate.. me too.. haha :D

BrGd

Madyen
[MTCD Android Head Units General] gumanov:
3) Flash with MalaySK 4.4.4 KitKat ROM.

Pre-rooted, customized, and 4.4.4 does not have any Google Play Services lag.
[MTCD Android Head Units General] marchnz:
From my experience, root and lock cpu yeilds some improvement but the bottom line is that 1gb of RAM is insufficient on MTCD. 2GB solves the lag issues which no amount of modifying will solve from my experience.

Have you considered selling it and buying one of the new released 2GB models? If you wish to retain your unit consider direct purchase of 2GB ICs and paying for professional to install.

I considered selling my unit and had thought the RAM upgrade to be risky, now it is complete I have no intention of selling for another unit and can apply all of the mods and hard work from the community if I choose. If you do chose to sell I suggest one of the new px5 and not a sophia which has another set of problems (and being a differnt platform cant apply community mods or reuse all that wealth of info.)

Good luck.
[MTCD Android Head Units General] gersrt:
Google maps still works. Result!!!!!! Machine is lightning fast. I froze everything google related except for maps app and it works fast. Also nearly 200mb extra free ram.
[MTCD Android Head Units General] gunmoule:
There is no 4.4.4 ROM for MTCD units. The ROM you talk about is for MTCB units it won't work in MTCD.
[MTCD Android Head Units General] gumanov:
Ahh you're right, I forgot this was an MTCD thread
[MTCD Android Head Units General] marchnz:
Give it time to discount any placebo effect. JY update late october had a similar result; its not until you multitask, start at boot a navigation app etc that problems really surface that cannot be overcome without memory upgrades.

I would agree that 4.4.4 MTCB isnt as bad.
[MTCD Android Head Units General] makes2068:
Would you please report which apps you freezed?

Google-framework

Google Play services

...

And maps is still working? Can´ t believe that.
[MTCD Android Head Units General] Mark198901:
Can you say me how to freeze google services? Can it been made with stock android app settings or do i need 3rd party apps like titanium or something?

Gesendet von meinem LG-D855 mit Tapatalk
[MTCD Android Head Units General] gersrt:
Need to go out to car in the morning and check. But what I did was searched app disabler for google and disabled everything with Google in the title apart from maps... framework, play services etc. Yes it's working 2 days and 300 miles later so believe it lol!!!!. Unit is silky smooth 200 extra free ram. Google maps results lightning fast no lag on keyboard etc. Spotify to maps back to spotify incredible fast.
[MTCD Android Head Units General] colostro:
When I tried to disable everything with google, I found my HU was very smooth and fast, but I couldn't use Traffic Live Service of TomTom app.

Can you use traffic service of maps?
[MTCD Android Head Units General] makes2068:
No need for 3rd party app.

Still go to settings => apps ==> all and search for google to deactivate

Traffic services not working when google is disable. Haven´t found out which app is responsible for that: google framework or google play servcies...
[MTCD Android Head Units General] iscaryot:
I did block all google apps but now the weather app from malaysk rom crashes.
[MTCD Android Head Units General] makes2068:
Stop Google service prohibit any online connection/communication i think
[MTCD Android Head Units General] JordanB:
I tried many ROMs with services disabled as well. da_anton ROM made the most change for me to speed up the unit. Bonus that is rooted, so you can also use kernel aduitor and up the CPU speeds. I set mine to ramp up to 1600 if the load goes above 60%. You don't have to do this, mine was noticeably faster with just da_anton ROM.

I don't use any online services, so I did go ahead and disable all the google services. I only USB mirror from phone when I want to use maps or anything else online, like streaming audio/video, etc. Most of the time I am streaming youtube music videos while using google maps. If you want to watch the map, just activate A2DP and the audio from the videos will continue to run. My steering controls even work to skip through the playlist. Very happy with 1G MTCD unit now.

Here in USA I don't have a good (cheap) way to get data connection for the head unit, so I don't really know what an upgrade would do for me at this point. My provider shuts down my tethering, so I just had to give up on that and go with the easyconnect mirror.
[MTCD Android Head Units General] Wout2426:
I used your tip, and it really does speed things up !

I have a mtcd 5.1.1 joyous with 1gb RAM. I only use 2 apps installed from play store, Spotify and bought Sygic.

Don't need more, it's a car radio, not a smartphone. ;)

To problem I had was laggynes after boot, but now it's useable right after boot.

Sygic, radio and dash cam app work fine together.

I noticed that it gets warm after a long drive, so I put a fan from a PC above it in my Toyota Verso.

For the price I'm happy with it.
[MTCD Android Head Units General] Nomader0:
Glad to help mate!!
[MTCD Android Head Units General] Pattond:
Is this "Disable Application [Root]" or another app?
[MTCD Android Head Units General] gustden:
One thing I have learned with android phones is, once you have it working to your liking, never upgrade the google apps (especially Play Services). Every release of google play services gets more bloated and makes older devices run slower.

Go look at their release notes, almost everything being added is absolutely worthless for a head unit, and even for most people's phones. Do you need better ad tracking for doubleclick publishers, android wear, google fit, improved smartlock, location awareness/in-store ads, nearby businesses notifications, firebase ads, google cast, G+ integration, play games statistics, application usage measurements, etc? Then they try and force you to upgrade to the latest by making current apps no longer work with the old version.

No thank you! I'll stick with maps v8.4 and keep the old version of google play services that came with the ROM ( or better yet, delete everything google and side load your apps ). Older versions of gMap will still work just fine without play services.

I have a collection of old phones that I use for testing. Even an old single core, 600Mhz, 512K phone can actually run the android OS fairly well. I was running torque, music apps, and navigation on the original G1 hardware without problem a few years back.

Its when you start adding the google apps on it, then it becomes unbearable slow. I find it kind of interesting how people just turn on automatic updates, and then watch their device keeps getting slower and slower. They wipe it, and it speeds up, until they update everything. Guess its time for a new device $$
[MTCD Android Head Units General] colostro:
Can you use Spotify online with all google apps disabled?

Traffic services of Sygic works fine?
[MTCD Android Head Units General] gee.dunkin:
I just disabled all google services and did the Kernal Adiutor mod and my device is faster than my phone!

Does anyone know which google service or app I've frozen that controls the weather service, I keep getting "weather has stopped" message.

Also removed search icons(left) in recent apps list with gravity box but now it has a message can't install widget?

Also if you want the status bar icon for clock screen saver gone you need the Malaysk xposed module.

---------- Post added at 08:11 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:10 AM ----------

Worked for me too, thanks heaps!
[MTCD Android Head Units General] Wout2426:
Yes and yes. Spotify and Sygic are the only 2 apps I use from play store, offline Spotify works, and also official Sygic traffic premium.
[MTCD Android Head Units General] gee.dunkin:
Yes that is the one.
[MTCD Android Head Units General] makes2068:
App not needed. Disable via settings ==> apps
[MTCD Android Head Units General] bjt2:
This has made a huge difference in speed! The only issue now is each time I run Google maps I get the error "This app won't run unless you update Google play services" but then it does actually still work. Wonder if there's any way to stop that appearing? Maybe changing the version check number or something?
[MTCD Android Head Units General] Pattond:
FYI you can still load apps from the Amazon App Store with Google Play disabled. Loaded Waze and Spotify (though the icon colors are changed?)
[MTCD Android Head Units General] moneyvirus:
Wow what a difference, unit is usable direct after boot zero sluggishness, now find a way to boot it up faster lol

Verstuurd vanaf mijn A0001 met Tapatalk
[MTCD Android Head Units General] solmer:
Great!, I've disabled the google services, mail..... and now I can use my unit with no lags... Just in case you need to update an app unfreeze the services and update...I'm using Waze and works with 0 lags, almost instant open. If you need to download an app you can use Aptoide. Use your phone as a phone an your carunit as a carunit, that's the key.....
[MTCD Android Head Units General] Pattond:
I've been running the FEB MTCD_KD ROM and MCU with, rooted with Kingo, replaced with SuperSU. Added a WI-Fi toggle widget from Play Store. Loaded "Disable Application [Root]" and disabled all items from a google search. Sideloaded SetCPU, set peak to 1200. Loaded Amazon Underground and F-Droid App stores. Loaded Waze and Spotify from Amazon and Ad-Away from F-Droid.

This is the best the unit has ever run, period. The only remaining complaints are the startup is still 15 to 20 seconds, and the internal Bluetooth mic is still crap. Great running unit.
[MTCD Android Head Units General] H0U5ECAT:
Thank you for this!

Google maps would take up to 8 mins to be fully responsive.

Ive disabled all google apps and sideloaded sygic for maps.

Chrome still works for internet browsing but ive yet to see if the auto fill still works. Ill get back to you on that later.

Spotify still signed in with my fb account.

Nothing else so far that ive noticed that has created any issues.

Only thing is that i keep getting notifications that sygic cant update from the play store.

Easy work around was to disable notifications from the settings
[MTCD Android Head Units General] Dr. Omar:
Nothing is working for me on Witson head unit. Excessive lag.
[MTCD Android Head Units General] Nomader0:
Figured out that if you only disable google services and google play, then google maps still work fine, with just an annoying msg to enable services.. which you can get rid of on app settings by disabling notifications.
[MTCD Android Head Units General] RabbidHampster:
Gave this a go on my MTCB and works like a champ. Not an ideal fix considering I use the history function for maps a lot but oh well. I am able to multitask much better while using Google Maps. The notification is a minor inconvenience compared to the lag of death. Will have to see what else may not work without services on but atm I am only using my headunit for nav and music.

I only disabled Google Play Services in the settings-app menu and had this notable improvement.
[MTCD Android Head Units General] Nomader0:
settings-->apps-->maps, uncheck notifications..
[MTCD Android Head Units General] RabbidHampster:
Yes, you can also long tap on most notifications to get to that option. However, on my current MTCB Rom, long tap to get to app settings causes a UI crash. I'm leaving the notifications going anyways so I can see what actions/frequency makes it pop up. Thanks.
[MTCD Android Head Units General] Nomader0:
yeah i get a crash on that as well on my MTCD :)
[MTCD Android Head Units General] markinhosmrk:
Disabling Google services worked wonders for my unit, works really faster now.

Only issue I've seen so far is that I can't get my saved places in Maps; would need to input the address when driving.

EDIT: found the following here on XDA:

https://xdaforums.com/android/help/delete-disable-downgrade-prevent-update-t3091832

Will try it in order to keep Google services on their base versions that came with the ROM and see if it works good.
[MTCD Android Head Units General] RabbidHampster:
Anyone ever hear of a google services knock-off called MicroG? https://microg.org/

Seems like it would be worth looking into whether or not something like that can be set up on these units as one of the benefits is reduced memory usage and overhead. I haven't looked into it too hard as this Dad life has me wrapped up constantly.
[MTCD Android Head Units General] harlam:
I looked into that recently. The main problem would be that one of the requirements is a custom rom without GApps installed. You could go into the rom and delete Gapps but that seems like so much extra work.

In look around for an alternative, I found this: (sorry can't post links yet) but do a search for Yalp,

which talks about a "dummy" play store. I haven't had the chance to use it yet since I'm at work but it seems to fulfill some of the things Play store would provide without the bloatware.

BTW, disabling google services has done wonders to the performance of my MTCD unit, haven't tried the adiutor app yet though. Just haven't tinkered enough to see if there is a way to use Google Now since it would be helpful for the voice commands.
[MTCD Android Head Units General] RabbidHampster:
Have to check that out. Uninstalling gapps would be easy if we could just flash an uninstaller zip. Otherwise, I believe you have to find the files and remove them one by one. Still I think it might be worth a shot at least just to try it.

I was going to make a go at it but my digitizer just went out and I'm considering upgrading to a newer 2gb unit.

I don't think Google now will work without Google services running. Google Now requires a Google account signed in afaik.
[MTCD Android Head Units General] harlam:
In terms of uninstalling Gapps, from the recent reading that I was doing, that would be possible through the Xposed framework if I read things correctly, although I have not used that, so it may be "easier" that way. I think it would be worth a look to see if MicroG would work out better.

Did have a chance to try out Yalp (it's actually Yalp Store, if you end up searching for it) and it works great. I was able to sign in with my google account and download through the play store with Google play services disabled through the Disable app.

BTW, I was able to get Google Now working by only disabling Google play store and services, kept the google framework enabled and have not noticed a performance it. The system still works great and is very responsive. I have noticed lag with using Google Maps though, not sure why that is, so have chosen to use Waze instead which works well enough.

If you haven't tried it, I would suggest Car Launcher (small cost) which is a great launcher and the most professional looking IMO, and it has a feature to have the Google Now button included on the launcher home screen, which works great.
[MTCD Android Head Units General] makes2068:
My Erisin 3015 only works fast and with good response if google service was freezed via titanium.

Deleting update of google services to switch back to the version that came with the unit did not help.
[MTCD Android Head Units General] bogdans1:
Should I have root to install and use disable aplication?

If yes please say haw can I do this on Joying 5.1.1 (december 2016 update version).
[MTCD Android Head Units General] moneyvirus:
No root needed just go tot settings -> apps -> search playstore and disable it and done
[MTCD Android Head Units General] makes2068:
Play store is not enough. Google Play Services has to be deactivated too.
[MTCD Android Head Units General] javiermi:
I have disabled the Google services, and now my head unit is super responsive

For the time being I think is a great solution

Thanks you very much guys
[MTCD Android Head Units General] Dec64:
i have just spent the last two hours sat in my car trying to get microG to work. After many reboots I have some decent progress.

Basically just use titanium backup to remove the google apps that you can find mentioned on the pre-requisites in the wiki page, also install the fakeGapps xposed module and reboot before starting microG install.

https://github.com/microg/android_packages_apps_GmsCore/wiki/Prerequisites

Then follow the installation instructions.

https://github.com/microg/android_packages_apps_GmsCore/wiki/Installation

I used the fake play store apk. Then using YALP store as previously mentioned above as a replacement as it's easier for now.

After a lot of fiddling i now have google accounts working, i'm logged in to google now and google maps. both working 100% with my account details. I wanted to use google maps/google drive instead of waze so that's good for me. I also wanted to use Auto Mate launcher but that seems to be a bit buggy atm but works 90%.

It's 100% the way to go, just needs to be an easier route to make it happen, even better if [MENTION=3590033]Malaysk[/MENTION] would directly incorporate it into his rom as it enables massive speed improvements.
[MTCD Android Head Units General] warata:
Very interesting!

Would you give me a hint how to make Spoofing enable.

I tryed to use xposed fakeGapps but it doesn't work.
[MTCD Android Head Units General] Dec64:
Hmm strange. I just installed fakeGapps from xposed and activated. Then rebooted and started microG install and all was fine. Are you using stock? or Malayks's rom
[MTCD Android Head Units General] warata:
Thanks for reply:)

I using Booroondooks511(Ver161013)lolipop.

Ofcorse it's rooted and Xposed.
[MTCD Android Head Units General] Dec64:
Not sure then, I didn't check signature spoofing though. Once you install MicroG, you can open MicroG Settings and check that everything is all installed/setup. Including telling you if spoofing is working, so maybe proceed with the install anyways and check at that point if it's displaying as working.
[MTCD Android Head Units General] warata:
In my case GmsCore.apk and other related apps could not be installed.That's why I checked the spoofing is enable...

I will continue looking for the cause.Thank you anyway;)
[MTCD Android Head Units General] Dec64:
If GmsCore APK can't be installed I would guess that's because you haven't removed all the google apps, and google services properly. You should still be able to install GmsCore.apk but it would'nt work is my understanding.

Are you using fdroid for your install? As when I did it with f droid it told me GMScore was already installed, and failed to install due to the fact services wasnt uninstalled properly, so I went back and did more uninstalling and rebooting and it installed properly from f-droid.

Hope that helps, I don't know what I did to give easy to replicate steps im afraid as I just bundled through it.
[MTCD Android Head Units General] emarcin:
He is ok, but a Google Play and BlankStore aren't acting. Therefore it isn't possible to log on to gmaps.

As in to write this code?
[MTCD Android Head Units General] Dec64:
Not sure what you mean.

And regarding the *#*#CHECKIN#*#*. I didn't do this part and had no issues.

You don't need google store/or blank store to log into maps? Settings - accounts - google. Log in?
[MTCD Android Head Units General] emarcin:
You can not because "Just a sec..."
[MTCD Android Head Units General] Dec64:
Yeah sorry, I had that issue, that's where it got foggy for me. So I accidentally whipped the cache at this point and had to reinstall all the apps. But what i think out of that process that fixed it was, I installed GMScore apk from microg website NOT from f-droid, install the latest version you can find over the top and reboot, hopefully that will work.
[MTCD Android Head Units General] emarcin:
It works! Thanks.