Android Head Unit install

assad · May 3, 2016

Hello all,

I just got my new android head unit that I purchased from Ali Express, I install it and my initial impression are wow!!!! So much better than the stock head unit. The sound clarity and level is like day and night when compared to the stock head unit. It brought out loud bass and clear highs that I could not hear with the stock head unit.

Installation was straight forward, just plug in 2 cables on the back of the unit start the car, they provided all the cables that you need.

The unit is well made, I am impressed with the quality, nice screen, high resolution, crisp images and fonts.

I tried using the stock GPS cable, but when I plugged it in, I could not get a good GPS signal, so I plugged in the GPS receiver they provided.

I used the bluetooth, both audio and phone and quality was very good.

The radio was able to tune in into stations that the stock radio would miss and quality was way superior

2 issues I have encountered so far:

1- The steering wheel control do not work, not sure why. I contacted the seller and waiting on a response.

2- My engine light came on after I install the unit, and I do not know how to reset it or turn it off.

I just did a quick and dirty test, I will run more test this weekend and post a more detailed review. I am heading to NJ tomorrow, so I will be able to test the GPS navigation.

I could not find instructions on how to remove the head hunit on the 2015 nissan murano online, so I decided to figure it out myself. It wasn't hard, just need to be patient, I lost 3 screws, they all fell in the compartment below.

I can post detailed instructions on how to remove the head unit if you guys are interested.

I am going to install a backup camera next ( I have an eye on the Boyo 375HD).

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Quad...d-Core-10-2-inch-1024-600-2-din-Android-4-4-CAR-DVD-player-For/32548646527.html

Stay tune for more....

BTW: I was outside working on the car, when all of a sudden a thunderstorm hit, hails started falling down, it was like the car was being hit by rocks. I quickly drove back to my garage and look for any damage. Luckily, the car held very well, I could not see any damages to the body of the car, paint scratches or dents. I will do a more thorough inspection this weekend when I wash the car. Hopefully, my insurance Geico will cover it if I see any damages.

Here are some install pic... I took a video, but need to upload it to youtube later:
( I did not remove the plastic wrap on the screen )

You need this kind of screwdriver to remove the stock radio:

Engine light came on after I install the new unit:

ManuelB · Jan 16, 2018

Thanks Assad. 2016 S did not come with usb or lighter in the back unless you added the Navigation for an additional $700, which I didn’t after reading the reviews. I thought the USBs coming out from the head unit would allow for charging in addition to data, so thought the easiest way would be to use them to connect to the back simply with an extension and making a hole to the back and a circular socket like the one you proposed. Now I’m hesitant. If there is no power to the 3 Usbs that would mean you cannot charge the phone while connected to the unit with the cable which would be a pain! I’ll figure out while I wait for the unit and try to figure out how to diassble the console.

Thanks for the input! Please let me know if you think of anyhting else.

ManuelB · Jan 16, 2018

One more question Assad, did you loose connection to the aux by the front usb or is it integrades in the nissan connector Tiberius posted and/or in the pin connectors?

Thanks...

assad · Jan 17, 2018

If you plug your phone to the USB ports, it will show charging, but it will be very slow. Those ports provide somewhere around 500mA, which is the minimum requirement to read a USB key. Your smartphone need at least 1.5A to charge at a decent rate, anything less will be considered slow charging.

As you stated, you can buy 2 usb extension cord and route them from the unit to the back, and buy one of these, these will allow you to read USB data to the unit. If you need charging port in addition, you can can get the one from my previous post. So, will need to drill 2 holes, unless you can find one with a USB for data and a USB for charging on the same round plug, I have not found one on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MY1WDIU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_gRPxAbZHBPANC

You will loose that aux connection as well, at least on mine it was not integrated, Tiberiusgavier will need to confirm that on this particular unit. At least I did not see any 3.5mm connector for AUX on the picture beside the one for the external mic, so I am guessing it is not available. The pins of the aux connection on the center console are part of white connector, so they are not separated like the USB ports.

But what I did to still be able to use aux on this unit, is get a 3.5mm to RCA connector shown below, the 3.5mm will be your aux port, and you connect the red and white connector to any of the 2 A/V inputs on the units.

There is an app on the unit to switch to A/V

UGREEN 3.5mm Female to 2RCA Male Stereo Audio Cable Gold Plated 0.65ft/8in for Smartphones, MP3, Tablets, Home Theater https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B2HP1FY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_q.PxAbPGBHQEP

assad · Jan 17, 2018

Aux port are on 13 and 14

TiberiusGavier · Jan 17, 2018

The deed is done!

It was warm enough in the sunlight today so I had a chance to install the unit - crazy hard (yet crazy rewarding) and it took me just over five hours, but I am SUPER DUPER happy with the result! I should have done this a long time ago.

No warnings signs were displayed after I reconnected the negative battery terminal and turned car back on. The "Push Brake and Press Start" message still appeared as per normal. The Ownice unit is perfect - it looks very fancy and OEM in the Murano. The screen is perfectly responsive. Back up camera works just like before - although now that the screen is so big, it is more obvious how crappy our OEM rear view camera's are so I'll probably look into getting an HD camera in the future. In the Settings menu, you can select whether you want the back-up lines to show or not. Bluetooth works perfectly with phone to play music from it. The Ownice unit actually connects to my phone via bluetooth almost instantly - whereas it would sometimes take a full minute for the old unit to connect to my phone. Extremely easy to make calls as well, as it accesses your phone contacts or you can bring up a touch dial pad on the screen and dial a new phone number from there. I haven't added any pictures yet to my contacts, but I imagine that if I did their face would show up when receiving a call from them. I also tested out the standard microphone in the Ownice unit - it seems to work quite well. I did a sound recorder (yes you can sound record yourself while in your car lol) and my voice was clear. I called a friend while driving to see if he could hear me. He advised voice sounded good, no engine or car sounds, no difficulty hearing voice - he said that voice may have been just slightly lower volume, but that was in comparison to actually talking to him with the phone at my ear. I attempted to connect my Android phone to the unit for the "mirroring" thing via USB - it didn't seem to work, but I'll continue to play around with that and hopefully it'll connect. If not, the Bluetooth connection is actually enough.

The Navigation program that comes standard in the Ownice unit is extraordinary - I wasn't expecting that and I didn't really buy this for the navigation, but it truly is and the navigation is one of my favorite parts now. The 10" screen is huge and makes the navigation extremely easy. The maps are great. The way it is integrated with the rest of the unit right out of the box is very nice (for example, music playing turns down just enough when navigation voice speaks so that easy to hear, then turns back up when done). Every aspect of the navigation is customizable - the types of maps, the avatar, what information is displayed.....pretty much anything you can think of. It will even tell you if you're speeding (although I turned that option off). I have it set so that the background turns dark when it become nighttime - makes nighttime navigating much easier on the eye. As for the positioning of the GPS antenna, I did feed it down to the passenger footwell. However I just stuck it up in the footwells with double-sided tape - it was able to get a perfect signal from way down there, didn't seem to need to wire it up to the dash. So it literally is invisible to passengers in the vehicle, which is very nice. If I ever do get in a spot where it is having trouble getting signal, however, the wire is all set up to easily extend the antenna up to the dash.

I haven't had a chance to explore the apps yet or download any new ones, but so far it's all pretty darn awesome. One thing to note - when first getting the unit, you have to go into the Settings and disable the setting that makes some apps unusable while the vehicle is "driving". With that setting one, almost everything is unaccessible even with the vehicle in park (so definitely turn that off).

------------------------

I didn't put everything back together completely because I am still waiting on the USB Retention Harness to arrive from Amazon, so I will be taking it all apart again to add that. Plus I am going to add a separate USB cable to connect down into the glove box so that I have more than just the one in the center area.

ManuelB, I will check tomorrow and see if the AUX in the center area works. And if it doesn't, I'll check again once I get the retention harness and see if that changes anything.

For the little white box that goes below the radio, I just used double-sided tape to secure it to the bottom of the Android unit. Everything is pretty snug in there, so I don't think it will be moving anywhere. But any thoughts on how to better secure that in there?

The vent frame did not quite fit back into place (see last picture). The button for the hazards is sort of far behind where the holes are for it to stick through. I will play around with it again though once the retention harness and the USB extension is installed when I "officially" put it all back together.

For now though, I am extremely impressed with the unit! Everything seems to work perfectly. Very very happy

TiberiusGavier · Jan 17, 2018

Assad,

While I was installing, there were two connections that I just couldn't seem to find a place for in the Ownice unit. It is a little pink unit and a little white unit (see pics). Everything seems to be working just fine, so they must not be important, but any idea what they were for or if I should actually be connecting them?

Thanks again

assad · Jan 17, 2018

Hahaha, you could not wait until Wednesday, could you?

You did a great job, I am really impressed, it looks really nice, it really does. I am sure people will be asking you about this whereever you go.

The pink connector is for the XM radio antenna, used in the SV model. The other white connector is not for the murano, not need to worry about it.

Why didn't you retain the radio bracket? This is where that white box should be attached. You can remove your old radio from the brackets with that hex screwdriver I showed you earlier, and put the brakets back in, it should not interfere with the ownice.
I am concerned about you putting the white box under the radio with double sided tape. That metal piece behind the ownice radio act as a heat sink, and you should not put anything behind it.
About the ac vent not being able to go back all the way in, see my previous post explaining the issue. You basically, need to remove the vents from the car also, not only the frame around them. There are latches that hold those vents in place, 4 of them (2 on top and 2 on the bottom), just need to squeeze them and they will come off. You then need to assemble them back into the frame before putting it back on the car as one piece, that should fix the issue.

About putting the GPS module under the footwell, I do not recommend that. GPS module work best when in direct light of sight with the sky, that's why sometimes when you enter a tunnel, you loose your GPS signal. It might work where you are because you have many satellite in your area, but you will potentially have a weak signal when driving in an area where you are not able to lock to many satellite. You can easily fish the wire up there without removing the trim panel, and stick the GPS module next to the headlight sensor, it is small enough that you will not notice it. I will show you a picture tomorrow.

Did you test your steering wheel control to make sure they all work, ie vol+, vol-, etc...

The backup camera connection is RCA which can support a maximum of 480p resolution (standard definition) , so putting an HD camera will not help much. But there are better camera out there with better picture quality and with night vision, I will show you the one I bought.

I know the phone mirror you are talking about, it is called easy connect, it might be hard to get it to work at first, but once you get it to pair it should work fine, you might have to update it with newer version.

This unit also supports android auto and Apple play, you can basically make it look just like android auto or Apple play. This is just a FYI, but I am sure you want to stick with the ownice user interface.

You can also download many laucher app from the app store to customize it further, if you do not like the ownice home screen. I am using nova launcher, but there are many in the app store that are designed for cars.

Here are some questions I have for you and might benefit others:

How is the screen when driving during the daytime where there is lots of sunlight, is it visible enough?

I am guessing there is a setting to dim the screen based on the time of the day? For day/night driving?

How is the boot time from cold start, how long does it take before it becomes fully operational from a cold start.

Is there an option to set the standby time. When you power off your car, the unit should go into standby mode for a set period of time, if the standby time expires then it fully shuts off.

Is there an equalizer for music? Does the equalizer have subwoofer volume?

How is the radio reception? And how well does it pickup station? Are the station name and song displayed on the unit?

Can you try OK Google and see how well it works. Can you say ok Google without pressing the Google button? Can you say ok Google call Patricia? Ok Google navigate to work? Ok Google play Michael Jackson man in the mirror?

Does the unit resumes where you left it when you turn off your car? Let's say you are listening to music and turn off your car, does it resume playing the music when you turn it back on?

Anyway, that is all I can think for now.
Great job again...

assad · Jan 17, 2018

Please see my picture below about the ac vents. The blue dots are where the latches are located. You just need to put your finger in there or a screw driver and squeeze the latch while pulling the vent toward you.

TiberiusGavier · Jan 17, 2018

Thank you! It's amazing how much more modern and elegant the unit makes the vehicle feel. And yes - I could not bare the idea of only leaving myself one day and chancing going back to work without this thing installed. I wouldn't be able to concentrate on anything. Haha!

Ok perfect - I was looking at all the connections and trying to make one of them fit with the pink and white connector, but nothing seemed to go. Glad to see that they are not supposed to fit.

Aha! I'm embarrassed. That makes sense - my silly mind just disconnected the white box from the radio bracket, then saw that the bracket was too big to connect with the android head unit, so I just set it aside completely. For some reason, I never considered just screwing the bracket in anyway even though it wouldn't be connected to the head unit so that it could support the white box. I will correct that tomorrow. Still can't believe I did that haha.

------------------------------

I am going to do some more thorough experimenting tomorrow and will take pictures (and a video once the USB Retention and Mirror Play are all working, so that its true potential can be shown), but based off initial observations:

(1) Yes, the screen is perfectly visible during daytime. I did not notice any annoying reflections. All colors were bright, screen was vivid. There was never a point where I felt the need to adjust settings or the angle in order to see the screen better. I never observed from the passenger side, however, so I will try that tomorrow to make sure the screen is clear from all sides.

(2) Yes there is a setting for daytime and nighttime - both of which you can adjust however you prefer. When it starts to get dark, the screen will dim so that it is less bright (unless of course you have that setting changed to remain at full brightness). It does this automatically (which you can also turn off) so it will change without you having to manually do it. The GPS Navigation also has this setting - at a certain point (about 20 minutes after the unit itself dims to its nighttime setting), the GPS background turns black (again, this can be customized). I drove in the dark with the screen/navigation on, and it was very comfortable to the eye. Not glaring, not too bright.

(3) Boot time is not bad at all. I would guess about 20 seconds, but I will time it tomorrow. However, if you have it set to standby after turning off, it will boot up instantly without any delay the moment you get back in the car.

(4) Yes, they allow you to customize the standby time from 10 minutes up to 1 hour.

(5) There are some neat settings for the volume - not a ton (at least not that I have found yet), but they have Bass, Treble, and some others. One of the cool things they have is a diagram of the interior of the vehicle. You can point to any point in the car (any point at all) and it will adjust the sound so that it plays only there. Very fancy to play around with.

(6) The radio works well. I'm not noticing it picking up stations any worse or any better than the OEM radio - but the sound quality itself is much better just based on the settings that I can adjust from the unit. They provide you with I believe three FM screens with 6 buttons for programmed channels on each one, two AM screens, and some others. For most stations, the station name (such as "The Party") automatically displays on the button rather than just the frequency. The name of the song scrolls across a small part of the middle of the screen when you are on a radio station.

(7) One thing to note on the volume: The radio volume is automatically a lot louder than the Bluetooth, so switching back and forth requires adjusting the volume. I found an option in the Settings menu that I believe adjusts this so that they will be even, but so far it doesn't seem to have had an effect on fixing this - going to play with it again tomorrow and see.

(8) I forgot to try using "Ok Google" to see if it would perform tasks for me. I will give that a shot tomorrow.

(9) As long as the unit is in Standby, when you turn the car back on it seems to resume exactly the way it was before (GPS destination still loaded, same song still playing, etc). I'm not so sure about when the standby expires and the unit actually goes off - it may reset back to normal then. I'll give it a shot tomorrow.

(10) Yes, the steering wheels controls all work successfully - and they all worked properly upon initial start-up, no need to program them. I've been playing around with it though and looks like you can adjust the buttons to perform whichever function you want.

(11) Something else to note - for some advanced settings, it requires a password. I wrote to Ownice and they advised it is 1260, just so you guys know - I believe this should be the same password for all of these units.

------

Thank you for that picture of the vents. I'm hoping the USB Retention will arrive tomorrow and I will be able to patch it all up nice and pretty for good!

ManuelB · Jan 17, 2018

Thanks for the input and for all the pictures, looks really good. I will order mine tomorrow, can't wait! I had the same problem with the vents, though I accidentally broke some of the latches but still seems to hold very well.

A couple questions: How did you hold all the cables, zip ties? What did you have issues with, mentioned very hard and five hours, I assumed the sort part would be removing the existing unit (was hard enough for me,..)

Thanks again, looks incredible!

TiberiusGavier · Jan 17, 2018

Thanks

I'm glad I was able to get to it today so that I can finally relax and know that it's working haha.

There are definitely a lot of cables to shove back there, but it is somewhat spacious so it isn't as bad as it could be I think. I did use zip ties - basically just put a zip tie around any wires or cables that seemed "too loose" to me. I like to keep things as clean as possible, but the truth is that it doesn't seem like you can keep everything perfectly clean back there. I just organized it all as best I could.

The part that took the absolute longest was just the disassembly. Pulling off all the trims and whatnot took hours because they were so stuck on there and I was worried I was going to break everything. Plus they were in such awkward positions, it was difficult to get a real grip on anything. Like you and Assad said, the trim around the vents was the worst. Some of the screws are in very strange spots too, so it's difficult not to lose them. I lost both of the screws that hold the silver trim in. I had a magnetic screwdriver too, but the angles were so weird that I lost the screws anyway. One method I did use that worked for some of my screws later in the process - I attached electrical tape (or any super duper strong tape) to the end of the screwdriver with the sticky side pointed out. Then I pushed the screwdriver into the tape so that the ends would still be able to grab onto the screw - but the stickiness was still present, if that makes sense. That way the screw would stick to the screwdriver as I pulled it out.

Actually swapping out all the connections wasn't too bad. I ended up keeping the two connections going into the AC unit below the radio installed throughout the process. It just hung down below, didn't need to disconnect them. Also just make double sure that all your pins and connections look like they are going to match up before pushing them in so you don't break any pins and whatnot. And disconnect your negative battery terminal before doing any work; and make sure all connections have been made before reconnecting negative terminal and testing the android unit out. Also - remove the trim on the left back side by the footwells on the passenger side when you do the installation (just tug it back, it will feel like you are going to break it but it will come loose). That way you'll see light so you can know where to toss the GPS antenna down to.

But yes, disassembly was the hard part that took so long. And funny enough, putting all the trim back together is pretty easy - it all just pops back into place in a matter of minutes!

TiberiusGavier · Jan 18, 2018

For the most part, I'm all done now

Opened the unit back up again to finish everything up. Reinstalled the radio bracket to hold the white box properly. @ManuelB I connected the AUX in the center counsel - it actually worked so it must be a part of one of the pin connectors. Just press the AV app on the screen and it will start playing whatever is connected by the AUX.

I did receive the USB Retention Harness in the mail - it doesn't appear as though that is the right connector for our particular ends though when I tried to connect it. Over the next few days I'll do some more research and see if I can find a good one.

Got the mirroring to work on my Android phone - the key is that you have to unlock the developer settings on your phone, then enable USB debugging. Works like a charm!

Another quick note - it appears as though the password for the locked settings is actually 9999, not the one I said in my last post.

I connected a 32GB microsd card (via a multi-card reader the hooks up to the USB behind the unit) that holds music, videos, and whatnot, just in case I ever forget my phone. Right now the microsd card is hanging down behind the AC unit - once I get a USB extension I will have it hook into the glovebox so it is super easy to disconnect/reconnect the SD card.

Start-up time is exactly 21 seconds. If the device is in standby, start up is instantaneous. The device seems to resume whatever you were doing previously (regardless of standby or starting back up for first time) You can customize what logo you want to display during start-up (Nissan or any thing else) - very cool!

The "Ok Google" part did not seem to work for me - for example, if I just had the android unit on and said OK Google, nothing would happen. However, if you have the unit mirrored to your phone, it will then perform exactly as your phone - so in that case the "Ok Google" would all work.

For the vents, I was able to get them all properly installed so that everything is back to normal. No matter what I tried, I could not seem to actually disconnect the vents themselves using those tabs. But I reconnected the trim and then pushed really hard while pulling the vents forward and eventually the tabs all locked into place.

@assad, I do have one more quick question : The grounding loop that was automatically connected to the rest of the wires couldn't be disconnected (unless I wanted to pull the pins out, which I figured probably wouldn't be a good idea). Since it wasn't needed, I just wrapped the metal loop in plenty of electrical tape so that there's no chance it will touch anything. Seemed like the best option to me, but just wanted to check with you since you know all about these things?

My work on this little guy is done for the time being (in a few weeks I will dive into making the USB center area work and whatnot). I patched everything back up to normal. Everything looks amazing and works amazing! Very, very pleased with the result

@ManuelB, good luck with your install (I included some more pictures from when I reopened it today) Let us know if you have any issues. Assad, thank you for all the help and guidance! Never would have been able to do this without it

assad · Jan 18, 2018

Hi TiberiusGavier,

Yes, that's the way I would do it, just wrap the end with electrical tape.

I am surprise the Nissan usb retention cable did not work, I ordered the same exact piece and it worked for me. Does it not fit?
One end would connect to the Nissan cable that you remove from the radio and the other end to the USB on the unit. Can you take a picture of the blue end, I want to compare it to mine, not sure if they shipped you the right one.

For the vents, they do come out, but you need to put your finger or a small screwdriver in there and push the tab downward while pulling on the went. If you force it in, you risk of breaking the tabs that retain the vents to the frame.

Glad to see AUX is working...

Maybe hands free ok Google work on newer android version 7.1 and up.
But there should be a shortcut for ok Google, when you press it, it waits for your voice command, I saw it on the video review.
You could also map the ok Google button to one your steering wheel control, it is something you will have to figure out in the setting and let us know.

I agree, it looks amazing, I guess we will let let you play with it for a while to see how it holds up over time.

TiberiusGavier · Jan 18, 2018

Hey there Assad,

No problemo - the first picture is the end of the unit they sent me, and the second picture is the connector end in the car. Could also be that the S trim has a different connector than the other trims.

I'll keep playing around with the "Ok Google" - I'm sure there is a way that makes it more easily accessible too.

assad · Jan 18, 2018

I was wrong then, sorry about that. It is same connector as the SV, not sure where I got my retention usb cable from, maybe it came with my unit. In order for me to find out, i will have to remove my radio, it's been a while. The other cable shows up on my purchase history on Amazon, maybe that's why I thought it was the right one.
But this should work, just need to wrap it with electrical tape to prevent it from coming apart

Electop 2 Pack USB 2.0 A Male to USB B Mini 5 Pin Female Adapter Converter https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015PGGUWA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_rvcyAbBE4B3G2

TiberiusGavier · Jan 18, 2018

Hey Assad,

No problemo - I was surprised it didn't work as well because I realized that Ownice actually included that same connector with their package, so it looks like they thought it would work too. Anyway, I'll try that converter and it'll all be good to go!

ManuelB · Jan 18, 2018

Thanks for all the info, very helpful. I just sent Ownice some pics they requested and waiting on their confirmation to orde mine, can’t wait.

Please let me know if you figure out the bast connection for the usb.

I’ll keep you posted!

ManuelB · Jan 18, 2018

Any idea what they are referring to? Sent them the diagram Tiberius posted

assad · Jan 18, 2018

It should work, TiberiusGavier just confirmed it.

These people do not know what they are talking about...

ManuelB · Jan 18, 2018

I agree, just wanted their confirmation in case there is an issue, it is a different vendo than Tiberius used (this one is directly Ownice although might be the the same after all...)

TiberiusGavier · Jan 18, 2018

Hey ManuelB,

That is the same cable that I received in my kit so it should be good. Funny thing is that I spoke to Elaine Tang as well - she must handle both the factory direct and the official store on there. And the AUX does work just with those cables alone

ManuelB · Jan 18, 2018

Thanks, I was concerned that being a different vendo might have been a different cable. That takes care of the problem.

TiberiusGavier · Jan 19, 2018

Quick video showing some of the functions > I'll make a better one that will include nav, mirror link, etc. when I get more time:

assad · Jan 20, 2018

You already became an expert on this thing, the way you navigate around it. I see also that it is very responsive, mine wasn't that responsive what I first got it 2 years ago.
Would like to see the phone and navigation. I like to know if the phone will show the contact picture or not, and how fast is Google maps.

TiberiusGavier · Jan 20, 2018

Yes, it is definitely very fast and responsive. There is no delay in waiting for it to respond to finger movements, and I never find myself having to touch the screen over again because it didn't respond the first time. When I make a more thorough video, I will include the navigation and the phone contacts. The navigation is spot-on incredible. I am still going to try out Google Maps to see how it does, but I'm fairly certain I will find myself using the standard Navigation because it works so flawlessly and the 3D image makes everything very visually impressive.

The system sort of has two contact books - the first contact book is the one associated with your Bluetooth phone, and the second one seems to be if you have the 4G and the sim card plugged in. I'm not sure yet if the pictures will appear with the bluetooth contacts or only the other one.

Some minor observations to note:

One thing I have noticed is that it is somewhat difficult to set a new desktop background picture. I put some 4K pictures on my USB card and when I view them, they are stunning and look perfect on the android unit. But when I actually assign it as the desktop picture, it automatically zooms it in (which takes away the whole effect). I've tried downloading some other image viewing apps to see if they might change this, but so far no. Not a big issue (as they do have a few other neat desktop backgrounds aside from the main one). Assad, I believe you mentioned in a previous post that you installed an app that changes the layout of the android unit completely (I may be wrong), so I am going to look into that and see if a different format on the unit will change things.

Another minor thing, which may actually be expected since this is a head unit - if I have the volume up but don't have anything playing, there is that slight "fuzzy" sound (like what you'd hear if a speaker is on , if that makes sense). In order for it to be completely silent, the volume must be turned all the way down. Again, not a big issue, and when music is playing sound quality is amazing - but not sure if that is to be expected or not.

And the only other thing I've notice so far that I'm still testing out - sometimes on start up, the unit will load to the main screen, but then it will sort of bounce back and will have to start loading back up again. It only does this sometimes, and it never repeats the loading process more than once. I'm not sure if this is because I have that extra USB (with over 10GB of videos/pictures on it) plugged in and it is stalling it somehow, but I will continue to play around with it to see what exactly might be causing it to do that. Again, not that big of an issue but something to note.

But other than those three things, everything about the Ownice unit is very nice indeed! A hundred thousand times better than the silly OEM screens that the S trims had before

assad · Jan 21, 2018

Hi TiberiusGavier,

This is the native resolution of the unit 1024*600 , try to change your picture to this resolution to prevent it from being resized. A4K picture is very large and the unit may have issue to resize it properly.

You can try this app, which will apply the desktop background and resize it properly for you:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wallpaperscraft.wallpaper&hl=en

I am using Nova launcher for my home screen, it allows me to customize all aspect of my home screen.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.teslacoilsw.launcher&hl=en

One very popular launcher for car is Car Launcher Pro, I have never tried it, but heard lots of good things about it, you can give it a try and see:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.autolauncher.motorcar&hl=en

As far as the hissing noise when no sound it playing, this is due to the amplifier gain being too high for your speakers, I bet at 1/2 volume the sound is very loud. Try to see if you can lower the gain somewhere in the settings or sound equalizer.
Another thing that might cause hissing noise is ground issue, but I doubt this is the case for you. Remember that black wire that you wrapped the tip with electrical tape, next time you remove the unit, try to bolt it to the metal frame, the whole frame of the car is grounded, you can use the metal frame that was holding your old radio as a ground point. I does not hurt to leave it there, since it is the same ground as the grey connector on the radio antenna.

As far as the unit reloading sometimes, does it happen only on cold start?
As far as you are concerned, the car is providing clean power to the unit, so this might be due to their firmware, maybe something you might want to let them know.

TiberiusGavier · Jan 22, 2018

Hey there Assad,

That sounds like that's the cause then - I downloaded some 1024 x 600 pictures and will give them a try to see if they size properly. The app you mentioned also has a decent collection of images and it did size them correctly to fit the desktop. I also found some Live Wallpapers in the App store that have a "ripple" effect when the screen is touched and they sized properly and look amazing on the unit!

Unfortunately, the Ownice unit doesn't seem to have too many options to adjust sound quality - they have Bass and Treble, but that is about it. For me that is plenty, but it would be nice if they had something to change the gain that you mentioned. There is a secret settings menu you can access with password "1260" it allows you to change some volume values. I tried adjusting each one and rebooting the unit, but none of them seemed to change the amplifier gain. I also downloaded a couple different equalizer apps, and although they do change the overall sound they don't seem to be able to turn down the gain and get rid of the very faint hissing when audio is not playing. There is an engineering mode also that has some volume controls (although the web pages do say to be careful in this section, as it could break the unit), so my last bet is to try carefully adjusting some values in that section. Next time I open up the center area, I'll trying attaching the black connector to the radio bracket as well just in case that has any effect. Again, though, the hissing isn't a big issue - as long as audio is playing, everything sounds absolutely awesome. And when audio is not playing, just turn the volume down to 0 and all is silent. I'm just a perfectionist and enjoy playing around with these things so I have something to do haha

I'm still playing with it, but the reloading does seem to happen only on cold starts. If I just press the start button (without having the break pressed down and actually starting the car) the unit loads perfectly every time (regardless of cold or not). But if I actually start the car when it is super cold, it tends to hesitate a little bit. Once the engine is warmed up though, it starts just fine every time. Perhaps this is to be expected? I did read in a post online that seemed to suggest that this is relatively normal operation for vehicle head units. (Good thing to note though is that the rear camera feed does load every time, regardless of whether the system is still booting up or not) (Also good thing to note > as long as the the unit is still in standby, it will load instantly. The hesitating only happens when it is starting back up completely when very cold).

On another note, I downloaded Google Maps. It looks awesome and works quite nicely in the offline mode!

For others getting this unit, I found another neat secret menu - in the settings section, enter the passcode "1" and you can change the function and sensitivity of the illuminated buttons on the left side of the screen.

Android Head Unit install

Attachments

Attachments

Attachments

Attachments

Attachments

Attachments

Attachments

Top Contributors this Month

Recommended Communities