I recently purchased one of the many android radio replacements one can find on Aliexpress.
This is my particular model.
One can find much information on this units on this XDA tread.
Purchasing from Aliexpress is quick and easy, pretty much like on eBay. I contacted a few sellers first, communication in English is always possible but, just like items descriptions on aliexpress - not always perfect.
I contacted my seller in advance and asked for two upgrades: higher resolution screen (extra $30) and a rear-view camera ($20). I am glad I did - the screen is excellent quality and the camera is great value - the picture is more than acceptable.
Upon ordering one may expect to wait at least a week until the unit is shipped. Supposedly this is for testing. Once shipped the unit arrived 3 days later. I did not have to pay any import taxes but I hear this may at times happen.
This HU is very well made, I'd say OEM quality. Installation was easy but only because of the wealth of information on this message board. The unit comes with no any instructions or manual. Installation process can be completed in less than 30 minutes - but only if you dont plan to install the camera.
I was so absorbed in the installation, sadly, I took no pictures. But one can easily find picture reference to each step that is required to install on these forums.
Since I did install the camera I spent nearly the whole day in my very small garage. The camera comes attached to a replacement license plate light. You remove the old light but keep the light bulb on the wire, insert the bulb in the new holder/light and push it back in the slot above license plate. Be careful because the plastic is not the highest quality.
The wire from camera was too fat (well, the connection jack) to thread it tru the hole that already exist in the gate panel (inside) right behind and little above the license plate light. I expanded it with a drill and sprayed a few coats of clear coat. I routed wires tru the gate, tru the rubber hose coming from car to the gate (between gate hinges) and this was very, very hard because there are many cables and a windshield washer tube in this hose already.
For power I tapped into wires from the electric socket/cigarette lighter in the rear of the car.
Camera signal wire was just long enough to route it inside behind the rear plastic panel, later in the wire channel along both doors, up behind the glove box and to the unit.
I found on this forum how to locate the red wire with a reverse signal to the radio. this allows the unit to show camera picture once shifted in reverse, automatically. The unit takes about 30 seconds to boot but camera image show imediately, once shifted into D the booting process continues. 30 seconds boot is only from the cold state. Later power cycling is immediate.
All wires were simply plug and play. There is a substantial GPS antena with a large magnet. I stuck it to some kind of a metal pipe that runs across the front of the car right behind the glove box.
There are two USB extension cords included and I run them so they exit in the glove box as well. These can be used for flash drives but also for a 3g usb modem.
There is an external microphone included but I have not been able to find where to plug it in. The front AUX port does not seem to detect the microphone.
Radio reception is good, I think comparable with the original radio. There seem to be a bug in AM mode where stations' frequencies are shifted a few units - so your favorite 500 mhz station now becomes 503 or so.
The included Sygic navigation software is pirated and old. I downloaded current version from google play and I found it much better. The hardware button for navigation was not correctly assigned but this was an easy fix in settings.
The screen is more responsive than any OEM Infotainment system I used in rental cars. It is bright and crisp. However, with polarized sunglasses it is hard to see much on the screen, I think I will have to buy another sunglasses now.
There is a rather bad application for music playback. I replaced it with the free Shuttle music player from play store. I tested a few players but this seems like the best and simplest to use plus it is free.
This unit connects to home wifi or you can of course also tether to your phone. Purchasing USB modes is another option.
Bluetooth calls are at most acceptable because of the poor quality of the build-in microphone. As mentioned there is a substantial external microphone but I have found to way to connect it yet.
So far I am very happy with the purchase. I hope it will work for a few years!
This is my particular model.
One can find much information on this units on this XDA tread.
Purchasing from Aliexpress is quick and easy, pretty much like on eBay. I contacted a few sellers first, communication in English is always possible but, just like items descriptions on aliexpress - not always perfect.
I contacted my seller in advance and asked for two upgrades: higher resolution screen (extra $30) and a rear-view camera ($20). I am glad I did - the screen is excellent quality and the camera is great value - the picture is more than acceptable.
Upon ordering one may expect to wait at least a week until the unit is shipped. Supposedly this is for testing. Once shipped the unit arrived 3 days later. I did not have to pay any import taxes but I hear this may at times happen.
This HU is very well made, I'd say OEM quality. Installation was easy but only because of the wealth of information on this message board. The unit comes with no any instructions or manual. Installation process can be completed in less than 30 minutes - but only if you dont plan to install the camera.
I was so absorbed in the installation, sadly, I took no pictures. But one can easily find picture reference to each step that is required to install on these forums.
Since I did install the camera I spent nearly the whole day in my very small garage. The camera comes attached to a replacement license plate light. You remove the old light but keep the light bulb on the wire, insert the bulb in the new holder/light and push it back in the slot above license plate. Be careful because the plastic is not the highest quality.
The wire from camera was too fat (well, the connection jack) to thread it tru the hole that already exist in the gate panel (inside) right behind and little above the license plate light. I expanded it with a drill and sprayed a few coats of clear coat. I routed wires tru the gate, tru the rubber hose coming from car to the gate (between gate hinges) and this was very, very hard because there are many cables and a windshield washer tube in this hose already.
For power I tapped into wires from the electric socket/cigarette lighter in the rear of the car.
Camera signal wire was just long enough to route it inside behind the rear plastic panel, later in the wire channel along both doors, up behind the glove box and to the unit.
I found on this forum how to locate the red wire with a reverse signal to the radio. this allows the unit to show camera picture once shifted in reverse, automatically. The unit takes about 30 seconds to boot but camera image show imediately, once shifted into D the booting process continues. 30 seconds boot is only from the cold state. Later power cycling is immediate.
All wires were simply plug and play. There is a substantial GPS antena with a large magnet. I stuck it to some kind of a metal pipe that runs across the front of the car right behind the glove box.
There are two USB extension cords included and I run them so they exit in the glove box as well. These can be used for flash drives but also for a 3g usb modem.
There is an external microphone included but I have not been able to find where to plug it in. The front AUX port does not seem to detect the microphone.
Radio reception is good, I think comparable with the original radio. There seem to be a bug in AM mode where stations' frequencies are shifted a few units - so your favorite 500 mhz station now becomes 503 or so.
The included Sygic navigation software is pirated and old. I downloaded current version from google play and I found it much better. The hardware button for navigation was not correctly assigned but this was an easy fix in settings.
The screen is more responsive than any OEM Infotainment system I used in rental cars. It is bright and crisp. However, with polarized sunglasses it is hard to see much on the screen, I think I will have to buy another sunglasses now.
There is a rather bad application for music playback. I replaced it with the free Shuttle music player from play store. I tested a few players but this seems like the best and simplest to use plus it is free.
This unit connects to home wifi or you can of course also tether to your phone. Purchasing USB modes is another option.
Bluetooth calls are at most acceptable because of the poor quality of the build-in microphone. As mentioned there is a substantial external microphone but I have found to way to connect it yet.
So far I am very happy with the purchase. I hope it will work for a few years!