[Android Head-Units] knewbee4lyfe:
Review of the VRN-DD7HB (Soundstream dual screen HU)

Hi... I have the dual screen Soundstream head unit. I have had it for a couple months. I don't like it anymore. The home screen is plain. You can change the color scheme to monochromatic but that's it. secondly if you have it connected via Bluetooth to a phone. it automatically goes straight to the phone app. Manually tapping the home button goes to the home button, but times out to the last "app" used.

The phone app is horrible. recent calls shows random numbers. even numbers I have never called show up on it. Recent calls made doesn't show up. The contact list should at least be in alphabetical order. but nope... random numbers. even numbers that aren't in my phone like telemarketers show up. the dialer is just numbers, so you either have to scan through your contacts (and pay attention to it since its not in any specific order) or know the number by heart. Kind of defeats the purpose of keeping your attention on the road. Calls are decent, average, you can hear a person if there is a cracked window but you can also hear the wind.

The GPS I never use. The connection keeps getting lost, and the system likes to let you know. so I live in the suburbs of LA, not a lot of tall buildings, but for some reason, every 2-3 minutes, my music turns down. "GPS signal lost" and music turns up. then again, and again, and again. so now I just turned off all the alerts. so... maybe I don't have the antenna in a bad place, It is under the Gauge cluster plastic cover, I verified the connection to the HU to be tight. (plus no traffic updates, or re-routing, or proper ETA even thought it tracks your speed and lets you know if you are speeding.) GPS speed sense is OK, the speeding warning is adjustable via percentage.

Mobile link works great... correction... worked great. since the Android 8.0 update, it hasn't been working. the website only has a 7.0 update. I will install that after this "review" the MHL mobile link utilizes both Bluetooth connection and USB connection to your phone to stream. simple videos have a small skip. Busy videos are practically just blurs. it would help a lot if they can sell a USB 3.0 upgrade for it.

Sound/equalizer: it was what evs. it has some good ideas, pretty in depth controls. but for something that looks that good, it doesn't control much. Plus... listening via bluetooth... you only have a separate 10 point "media" volume control. As opposed to the regular 25 point radio volume control. meaning you can have a conversation at level 9 but you can't hear yourself think at level 10.

It was a great idea. But the software just crippled it. what it could have been and what it actually is. 2 completely different things. Lastly... The most important gripe. They show the display at shows either at an angle close to or at 30 degrees or straight. but if your head unit is above all the console controls. when the second screen is out you cannot see the bottom screen. it does have tilt control... but it goes from the current angle... and adds an extra 30-40 degrees more since it ends up trying to angle to you as if the HU was placed on the floor. adjusting the bottom screen to max tilt just puts it 15 degrees before parallel to the floor. which is pointless. so now I don't even use the second screen. if the radio space is at the top of the dash, then the HU needs to be straight (they don't tell you this). I was able to shave my dash to allow it to straighten a bit... but still doesn't work well for my car and now is not flush to my dash. They should have added a tiltable holder.

PS manual is horrible. it seems like it was written by a Chinese person who barely knows English, plus diagrams are incomplete. there are 20 connections in the harness, and only 15 described in the manual because the page ended.

I have been looking to upgrade this HU's OS to an android system. but due to the fact that its not 1 OS but 1 OS per screen that shares hardware. I don't think anyone can actually make a ROM for this. I hope someone does tho because I am starting to hate this HU.