My Review of the Phoenix Android Head 9" Octacore Head Unit

lightthief

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 17, 2015
Threads
18
Messages
636
Reaction score
203
Location
Cbus
Vehicle(s)
2016 Black Civic Touring
Country flag
Thanks for this. But to be clear I’m not trying to activate Siri I’m trying to activate the mic. In the phone Bluetooth app all my contacts show I figured that the android unit Mic would be able to acccept voice commands. Also as noted the mic button on the steering wheel only mutes audio and there is no way to remap that button.
Nope it can’t with steering wheel controls.
It’s in the FAQ.
“Voice control can also berealized with Google Voice Search. We have yet to map a steering wheel switch to activate the feature. ”

The button muting is the system working as intended.
Sponsored

 

tdurham19

Senior Member
First Name
Tony
Joined
Jul 10, 2018
Threads
9
Messages
88
Reaction score
42
Location
Baltimore
Vehicle(s)
2018 civic sport hatch
Country flag
It’s unfortunate your having such bad luck with this. It seems like you just need to get a dongle for Apple car play and that will fix your issues. The only issue you will still have is the voice activated button. A simple fix for this is just pressing your home button to activate Siri. This will work. Ive had this head unit for just about two weeks and it’s great. Even my wife who has a pilot with the Honda touch screen prefers the android unit.
 

lightthief

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 17, 2015
Threads
18
Messages
636
Reaction score
203
Location
Cbus
Vehicle(s)
2016 Black Civic Touring
Country flag
It’s unfortunate your having such bad luck with this. It seems like you just need to get a dongle for Apple car play and that will fix your issues. The only issue you will still have is the voice activated button. A simple fix for this is just pressing your home button to activate Siri. This will work. Ive had this head unit for just about two weeks and it’s great. Even my wife who has a pilot with the Honda touch screen prefers the android unit.
How do you deal with not being able to access the car controls?
 


tdurham19

Senior Member
First Name
Tony
Joined
Jul 10, 2018
Threads
9
Messages
88
Reaction score
42
Location
Baltimore
Vehicle(s)
2018 civic sport hatch
Country flag
I could be wrong but pretty sure I didn’t have any of them to begin with (manual sport hatch with basic led screen). Keep in mind I don’t have a key fob... so I need to lock and unlock my car manually (take key out press button). I can tell you have the Honda touch screen and there will be things that you have that I’m not sure will transfer to the android radio.
 

jayzon831

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2017
Threads
9
Messages
160
Reaction score
69
Location
Bay Area, CA
Vehicle(s)
2017 Civic hatchback sport cvt, 2003 Acura RSX (totaled)
Country flag
All these.

549C8087-2DF9-4F23-B843-AC533456A220.jpeg
The Phoenix Android radios won't be much of an upgrade for Civic EX/Touring owners with the 6.5 touch screen. It's supposedly more worth it for the LX/Sport owners who have the plain head unit.
 

Shankmeyster

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2017
Threads
46
Messages
3,660
Reaction score
1,847
Location
AZ
Vehicle(s)
23 Si
Vehicle Showcase
1
Country flag
It's not worth it in reality, unless you want apps that don't use data and offline nav. That's about all it's good for. Already had to warranty replace my first unit and they just sent me another used unit. There are better units that don't use Android and don't have wifi.
 
OP
OP

Moopy62

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2017
Threads
14
Messages
59
Reaction score
22
Location
19475
Vehicle(s)
2018 civic sport hatchback
Country flag
UPDATE ON USB:
I got the unit to “see” the songs - actually didn’t have to do a thing it seems that it takes a while for it to see everything which is also weird.
Now the problem is that every song that plays pauses intermittently kind a like a skip.

I can’t stress enough how much work this year it is and how virtually every thing that I have tried to do to Comes with hours of work.

I sent phoenix a request for return three times now and it’s gone completely ignored.
 

Shankmeyster

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2017
Threads
46
Messages
3,660
Reaction score
1,847
Location
AZ
Vehicle(s)
23 Si
Vehicle Showcase
1
Country flag
If you want them to respond, message them on facebook. It's about the only place I've ever gotten a response.
 


SCOPESYS

Senior Member
First Name
Geoff
Joined
Aug 27, 2018
Threads
68
Messages
2,505
Reaction score
1,550
Location
MD
Vehicle(s)
2018 Honda Civic SI Coupe. . . . . . . .1987 Nissan Maxima Wagon. . . . . . . . . . .1987 Nissan Pulsar NX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1987 Nissan Maxima Wagon (2nd Donor Wagon for parts)
Country flag
UPDATE ON USB:
I got the unit to “see” the songs - actually didn’t have to do a thing it seems that it takes a while for it to see everything which is also weird.
Now the problem is that every song that plays pauses intermittently kind a like a skip.

I can’t stress enough how much work this year it is and how virtually every thing that I have tried to do to Comes with hours of work.

I sent phoenix a request for return three times now and it’s gone completely ignored.
Get a USB 3 drive .. when I changed from USB2 to USB3, (with 2000+ song titles), the load time on the USB3 drive dropped to 1-2 seconds, (provided you do not put all your music in the root directory.)

NOTE for those using the HONDA head Unit

The Honda USB player is a FOLDER player, not a MP3 Tag player.

If you pre-sort your music into a number of sub-folders off the root, maybe selected by Artist, or Music type, then the menu loads a lot faster.

Being a FOLDER player, it cannot sort by Mp3 tags, and say, select by Artist.
You can however select to play ALL in a given Sub-Folder.
So, according to how you sort your Music into folders, you can then go on to make a selection by folder.
If you then select the ROOT folder, you will end up playing ALL the sub-folder's music.

To make Play-Lists, you will need to put your select music into their own "Play_List" Folders(s).
Not as limiting as you might 1st imagine, because it is very fast to just MOVE Music around with you USB drive connected to your PC.
 

amxandy

Senior Member
First Name
Andy
Joined
Jul 29, 2018
Threads
5
Messages
121
Reaction score
124
Location
77573
Vehicle(s)
2018 Honda Civic SI
Country flag
Okay, this was a very good read, but there are some things with the Phoenix Head Unit that do need clarifying and explaining. I am an avid 'Android" guy and will root and try dozens of different apps, launchers and firmware until I find one that I like (and even then, I ten to push it to the point of breaking, but that is my nature!). Anyway, do not give up on this head unit as I have found it VERY good and am more than pleased. I actually traded in my 2017 Audi A4 with a wonderful sound system for my current Civic Si and I was not impressed. I did some research and went for the Phoenix and haven't looked back. Listed below are just some of my takeaways...
  • Use your phone a hotspot and run the head unit as it's own device. Seriously, tethering this to your phone misses the point. The head unit has a great feature list and a lot of updates have been happening with this unit.
  • Use Poweramp! You will not regret it. The head unit will have to re-synchronize the music folder after you put music on it. The more music, the longer it will take. I suggest starting Poweramp after loading your music and just allow it to work in the background. I loaded 35 gig's of music on a flash-drive and it took an hour or so to finish syncing. When it is done syncing, the 'skips' will be gone. It is only skipping because it is trying to index the files and play music over a USB connection.
  • The launcher that comes with the player leaves a lot to be desired. Try "Car Launcher" it is much more Car-Centered and allows for easy customizing.
  • There is an app that I use called "Automate" that will automatically turn on my phones hotspot connection when the phone connects to my car's Bluetooth. It makes just getting in your car and driving off that much more enjoyable when you don't have to fumble around to turn on and off the hotspot connection.
  • All of the car's settings can be found in the android menus. The back up camera and right turn signal camera can be turned on or off along with muting the sound and adding or removing the guidance indicators.
  • Google Play and YouTube music were made for this head unit. Press the microphone button on the launcher and say what you want to hear and the music comes alive along with full album art.
  • Just take a deep breath and realize that this is so much more than a 'radio'. You just need to take on one thing at a time (I suggest getting Poweramp, configuring it to your liking and letting your music on the flash drive get indexed)
Anyway, good luck and if you have any questions, I will try and answer them.
 

Shankmeyster

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2017
Threads
46
Messages
3,660
Reaction score
1,847
Location
AZ
Vehicle(s)
23 Si
Vehicle Showcase
1
Country flag
A lot of updates? I haven't seen one update so far, as far as firmware or system updates. When I click on system update, it doesn't even do anything. My android security certificate says it's over a year old.
 

amxandy

Senior Member
First Name
Andy
Joined
Jul 29, 2018
Threads
5
Messages
121
Reaction score
124
Location
77573
Vehicle(s)
2018 Honda Civic SI
Country flag
OP
OP

Moopy62

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2017
Threads
14
Messages
59
Reaction score
22
Location
19475
Vehicle(s)
2018 civic sport hatchback
Country flag
Okay, this was a very good read, but there are some things with the Phoenix Head Unit that do need clarifying and explaining. I am an avid 'Android" guy and will root and try dozens of different apps, launchers and firmware until I find one that I like (and even then, I ten to push it to the point of breaking, but that is my nature!). Anyway, do not give up on this head unit as I have found it VERY good and am more than pleased. I actually traded in my 2017 Audi A4 with a wonderful sound system for my current Civic Si and I was not impressed. I did some research and went for the Phoenix and haven't looked back. Listed below are just some of my takeaways...
  • Use your phone a hotspot and run the head unit as it's own device. Seriously, tethering this to your phone misses the point. The head unit has a great feature list and a lot of updates have been happening with this unit.
  • Use Poweramp! You will not regret it. The head unit will have to re-synchronize the music folder after you put music on it. The more music, the longer it will take. I suggest starting Poweramp after loading your music and just allow it to work in the background. I loaded 35 gig's of music on a flash-drive and it took an hour or so to finish syncing. When it is done syncing, the 'skips' will be gone. It is only skipping because it is trying to index the files and play music over a USB connection.
  • The launcher that comes with the player leaves a lot to be desired. Try "Car Launcher" it is much more Car-Centered and allows for easy customizing.
  • There is an app that I use called "Automate" that will automatically turn on my phones hotspot connection when the phone connects to my car's Bluetooth. It makes just getting in your car and driving off that much more enjoyable when you don't have to fumble around to turn on and off the hotspot connection.
  • All of the car's settings can be found in the android menus. The back up camera and right turn signal camera can be turned on or off along with muting the sound and adding or removing the guidance indicators.
  • Google Play and YouTube music were made for this head unit. Press the microphone button on the launcher and say what you want to hear and the music comes alive along with full album art.
  • Just take a deep breath and realize that this is so much more than a 'radio'. You just need to take on one thing at a time (I suggest getting Poweramp, configuring it to your liking and letting your music on the flash drive get indexed)
Anyway, good luck and if you have any questions, I will try and answer them.
What a load of crap. I have never seen this unit update. I have yet to have virtually 90% of the apps actually be stable. I’ve tried several music players including those that you mentioned. Each has its own issues. But stability seems to be a theme Not to mention that, As far as I can tell, you can’t even map your apps on the steering wheel. So when I press “source” I get to scroll through radio, video, TV, etc. the only one I would use is radio (and even that app sucks as its “presets” don’t lock on the stations call letters or frequency so half the time when I look down I have no idea what station the preset is set to ) I can’t map the source button to switch over to apps i’m actually using like a music player.
My phone hotspot is very hit or miss and requires me to spend several minutes before I go anywhere to make sure the unit is doing what I needed it to do
Now it sounds like you are a android aficionado who likes to play. Thats cool but That accounts for 1 %of the population. Most of us don’t know or care about rooting or playing with a 100 apps. As I noted in my initial review I wanted it to do some basic stuff and do them well. I really don’t give a crap that the unit has a TV or I can watch Jurassic Park. I think that’s the problem in general with aftermarket units. They fill them full of stuff that most of us don’t need or care about

The functionality of this unit is downright shameful. It’s a shit show and I would tell anyone other than android programmers to stay far away from it.I’ve had it for a month now and it is nothing but a hassle. One of these days I’ll try to do a full video review to just show how functionally ridiculous this thing is


Since I’m in for a penny I might as will be in for a pound and I got the Apple CarPlay dongle. I’m hoping to somehow make this unit worthwhile
Sponsored

 


 


Top