[FYT Android Head Units] Birdwatcher_:
Hi all.

I got my iDoing 1.5 month ago. Not sure what model it is (no other identifiers exept what's mentioned in head line here), wont say any where... but it must be new model, with 4GB RAM 64GB ROM from AllyExpress.

Unit is fast and with big potential but weighted down with some stupid restrictions/annoyances.

Installation was a nightmare, was afraid to break it. When I was attaching climate control unit to the back of HU, 2 top mounting holes for screws just split open (hole diameter was undersized to the car original screws, or plastic too brittle...). But lots of force and effort did the job, installed bottom clips first, than top clips and than side clips.

My car is SUB. Forester 2017 XT with HK & Nav. For HarmanKardon amp. to work, HU came with adapter/decoder (small plastic box) and sound system works no problem, good sound in all speakers and no noise or hissing.

I tried to reuse what was possible, original to car GPS antenna and mic, usb ports and AUX IN in arm rest.. Subaru's proprietary GPS antenna connector adapter I did buy online and I am using Subaru's GPS antena. For MIC, HU came with short wire/adapter that was possible to connect to the back of unit and connect it to MIC IN short harness to the back of HU again (so signal was coming out of iDoing and going back in to iDoing other port). This way original MIC started working, but it was over sensitive with lots of background noise even in total silence, it was basically unusable. Than connected MIC that came with HU. Had to decide between external MIC (in settings called Back I guess) and built in ( in settings Front). Settled on external MIC with selected "Back" in settings, this config seemed clearer voice. Installed it on steering column under my nose. No complains on other side when on call. It'possible there was a way to adjust gain or filter out noise from car's original MIC for it to work properly, but had no time to play with it, though would've been right thing to do....

There are 3 USB ports/cables come with HU. Single one is sugested to use for AA or CarPlay and 2 other USB cables (double one) just for attaching thumb drives and such). What I did was removed car cigarete lighter and in original hole (no drilling) installed double usb socket that I found on Amazon, remaining 3rd usb and sim card slot cable I put in glove box. USB's in arm rest compartment apparently is possible to reuse if you buy right adapter on the web and 3rd usb cable from iDoing would conected to car's usb original cable from arm rest. Different Subarus have different cable ending, so you need to buy correct one for yours. As they say on the web, on some Sub's (particularly with double usb's in arm rest) AA is not working if you utilise those USB's, and are good just for storage attachment.

Screen is good, bright and clear. Follows ambient lighting to brighten or dim or can manualy set time based brightness. Had to change "smallest width" I thinq its called , in settings, to make every thing on screen abit larger, as it was not proportional/convinient to operate, especialy Nav apps and other. Now all is good.

So on hardware side more or less all was (so far is) fine, you never know with this Chinese electronics...

On software side on other hand, not so much, to say the least... Home launcher is ****, replaced it with Nova, but did not liked it (icon size too small for in car use) and now using Square Home Launcher, I like it a lot. Below are the issues/annoyances I am facing and not wining so far...

PROBLEMS:

1. Can't find standard Android lock screen on the unit, its Android 10. So all personal info: address book, files, Google account (burner but still) info, all exposed say if I go to car mechanic...

2. Can't use bluetooth for file transfer, only phone conectivity and address book sync.

3. There is no write permition on external disc for third party file managers so they can't work with memory sticks conected to HU's USB. Only built in file manager can do it. Same with some music players from play store, so they do not work properly.

4. Very important, NO notifications show up on HU main screen from applications, notifications are blocked somhow so messaging apps such a WhatsApp or Facebook Messanger do not work properly. When there is an incoming call they ring at best, but nothing shows, no visual notification on the screen, so you can't answer with simple click, unless if you know whats calling, dig up the application on HU and answer from within the app. Wery unconvinient and dangerous while driving.

5. Phone dialer has no means to create contact shortcuts/favorites/speed dials. So when driving and need to call you have to dig trough whole address book to find contact phone # to call. Basically unusable for calling out, just ansvering incoming PHONE calls, other messaging apps I mentioned above are even worse... Tried third party dialers but for some reason I could not provide address book for those, plus stearing wheel controls seem to not work with them.

So still scratching my head about above mentioned points. Cant thinq of any thing else to mention. If you have questions ask, may be I know the answer...