9" Aftermarket Android Head Unit (Feature Overview / Installation)

[nathanzachary]

[QUOTE="nathanzachary,.........My only complaint is that the screen is difficult to see during bright daylight.

I think that's the angle of the screen more than the fault of the hu. So daylight brightness may be the same with any screen. Also I bought mines from dasaita also. They got it to me in California in 3 days.[/QUOTE]

I don't know. Personally, I thought that they stock head unit was much easier to see on a bright day. Could also be that the stock head unit had a matte screen whereas the Dasaita is glossy.

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[Shankmeyster]

Ok so the LA place is just the US stock for Phoenix android radios? It’s weird the price for the us stock is 394.00 and the China is 364.00. Just curious what problems did you have with the one from aliexpress?

I got mine from the LA distributor but they all come from the same factory. My bluetooth connection started failing and then the unit locked up when I started the car one time and I had to remove it to get it to shut down. I can't imagine if I was somewhere where I didn't have tools to pull it out, or didn't know how to do it. Would have drained my battery.

 

[tdurham19]

I got mine from the LA distributor but they all come from the same factory. My bluetooth connection started failing and then the unit locked up when I started the car one time and I had to remove it to get it to shut down. I can't imagine if I was somewhere where I didn't have tools to pull it out, or didn't know how to do it. Would have drained my battery.

Was this the new software Android 8.0?

 

[Shankmeyster]

So far as I know, the 4 gig/32 gig runs on 7.1

 

[surf183]

Will this work in the type r? My whole head unit has been down since I got the car and Honda has yet to get me one saying it’s on back order. So I’m in need of a aftermarket unit for now. Plus my A/c is stuck on either full blast or off so really in need

 

[ebhaynz]

Will this work in the type r? My whole head unit has been down since I got the car and Honda has yet to get me one saying it’s on back order. So I’m in need of a aftermarket unit for now. Plus my A/c is stuck on either full blast or off so really in need

With the A/C like that I'd turn my car into Honda and make them give me a rental until the Type R is fixed!

 

[surf183]

With the A/C like that I'd turn my car into Honda and make them give me a rental until the Type R is fixed!

Yea I did for about a week and that’s what they told me so I gave the rental back. And been rocking a bose speaker for music

 

[whereisroom3204]

Ok so the LA place is just the US stock for Phoenix android radios? It’s weird the price for the us stock is 394.00 and the China is 364.00. Just curious what problems did you have with the one from aliexpress?

No, when I ordered mine from Phoenix it still came directly from China. They dropshipped it to me. I don't see why ordering form Phoenix is any better. I wish I ordered from China directly and saved money. If they made it impossible to return and it was defective, I'd just file a chargeback with my credit card.

 

[tdurham19]

No, when I ordered mine from Phoenix it still came directly from China. They dropshipped it to me. I don't see why ordering form Phoenix is any better. I wish I ordered from China directly and saved money. If they made it impossible to return and it was defective, I'd just file a chargeback with my credit card.

This was my plan exactly. I ordered from the aliexpress link shared a few pages back and got the headunit in 3 days. I always figured if it gave me issues I could dispute it. But so far this headunit is great for me and huge improvement over stock

 

[SCOPESYS]

This was my plan exactly. I ordered from the aliexpress link shared a few pages back and got the headunit in 3 days. I always figured if it gave me issues I could dispute it. But so far this headunit is great for me and huge improvement over stock

How many functions are you missing, that were on the original Honda Headunit ?

If you have found a way to get all the functionality that the Honda Unit has, and now run on a modern, fast HU... you are a Miracle worker !!

 

[SCOPESYS]

[QUOTE="nathanzachary,.........My only complaint is that the screen is difficult to see during bright daylight.

I think that's the angle of the screen more than the fault of the hu. So daylight brightness may be the same with any screen. Also I bought mines from dasaita also. They got it to me in California in 3 days.[/QUOTE]

Screen angle is CRITICAL. It is NOT sloped so that it faces you face directly, it is sloped so that the reflections you see are from of the Dark area on the roof, just above and between the driver and passenger .

Wave your hand up there in a sunny day, and you will see that it is your hand up there, that you see reflected on the screen. That reflection is far more significant than the light coming in through the windows, directly onto the screen.

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

The Honda screen has one GOOD thing going for it .. It has one of the Brightest, Highest contrast screens in any car HU.
By comparison, ALL the China Units are significantly dimmer.

Brightness does vary a little between the China Units, but really they are all basically the same unit, just packaged differently.

The Honda one is very much better build, but seems to be an old design, with old software, that has evolved very little over the years.
I get the impression that the Honda thinking must be "If it ain't broke, don't fix it".

While we have visibility here in the forum, to see people post when their Honda HU has issues, I think typically, they are reasonably reliable... certainly far more reliable than the China units.

If you fit a China HU, you most defiantly will want to Tint your windows, with the darkest tint you can get away with, if you want to be able to see the screen on sunny day.

Until someone figure out how to get these China Head to be a Plug-and-play alternative to the Honda unit (Most Unlikely), or some Electronics manufacturer come out with a unit, specifically designed to replace the Honda unit, there are two choices.

(1) Fit an aftermarket HU, and spend all you time, trying to get it to do even half of what the Honda unit does,

or

(2) Accept the Honda Unit for what it is, move on, and spend your time enjoying driving your car.

I have come to accept the Honda unit in our Si, accept its limitations, and its advantages, and stop worrying about it .. forget complete about it's issues when enjoying driving the car

(instead, I waste all my time messing with a newly fitted China HU in my other car (87 Nissan Maxima)

"Better the devil you know"

 

[amxandy]

Will this work in the type r? My whole head unit has been down since I got the car and Honda has yet to get me one saying it’s on back order. So I’m in need of a aftermarket unit for now. Plus my A/c is stuck on either full blast or off so really in need

Anything will work with the right amount of money. If you can talk the dealership into comping you the amount of money the headunit will cost, I would go aftermarket. The speed and functions as well as the QUALITY are finally there for the android head units. It will run you some money to get it all hooked up, but it now sounds as good as my Audi did.

 

[DarthMaul40]

Did any of you see this unit? https://www.aliexpress.com/item/-/32847877943.html?spm=a2g0s.8937460.0.0.5ec92e0ebD6eNN

 

[SCOPESYS]

To you Guys who have installed aftermarket Android head Units - maybe you can answer few question for the rest of us, looking at these units as a replacement for our ancient design, out-of-date Honda Units.

Hondasaurus ?

(1) When running apps like Navigation, playing Music, using the Phone etc, do your After Market Units allow you to display the information from the head Unit on the Driver's Instrument panel ?
(2) Does the Microphone Talk button on the Honda Steering wheel, start Google Assistant, so you can press it and ask Google questions etc
(3) Do they have Sirrux-XM
(4) Do they have HD radio
(5) Do they have Bass Woofer speaker out, or even a low level out for an external Bass Woofer amp
(6) Does the Reverse camera have guide line that move with the steering wheel
(7) Does it have the secret Honda menus, that allow you to diagnose the devices on the two Honda Buss networks
(8) Do they support Android Auto ( should you want to use it, and benefit from its Driver Friendly simplified menus.
(9) Do they work with the Honda's pre-installed (amplified) antennas (AM/FM/GPS/XM/HD)
(10) Do they work with the Honda's reverse camera, or do you need to fit another Lower resolution , reverse camera.
(11) Do they work with the Honda's Passenger Mirror Camera.
(12) Do they have the App to communicate with Honda (Honda-Link) ?
(13) Do they have adequate cooling (Honda Unit has a fan), or do they get hot and slow down on a hot sunny day.
(14) Do they have a full user Manual, or just a few pages of badly translated text and pictures that tell you almost nothing in any detail.
(15) Do they have the same High Brightness, High Contrast Screen that the Honda unit has .. or maybe they are even better ?

Yes, we get it, the AfterMarket Head Units are FASTER, and you can load just about any app you want into them, and watch Video, even when Driving, but do they also do the same basic Honda Functions listed above, and when they do, can you even see what they are doing in bright sunlight ?

Answers to these questions are NEVER supplied by the China manufacturers, who only what to push the higher speed, and all the EXTRA addons they cans sell you that are missing in the basic head unit.

It is not until you actually get one, and take the time and effort to install it, that the above questions, and lack of answers present themselves.

Don't get me wrong - if you have installed one of these units, and are happy with the way it work for you GOOD FOR YOU .. it may be just want you want.

All I am really trying to do is point out all the UNKNOWN, potentially missing features of the Addon units, that the manufacturers never mention, until it is too late, and you have committed to install one in your car .. and then GOOD LUCK in getting any technical support from Chine !!!

I am not totally ignorant about this -- I have installed one of these units in a much older car, and it is great -- actually it is FANTASTIC, but based on that experience, and some pretty detailed knowledge of the Mitsubishi Honda Unit, I have serious reservation about trying to install one as a replacement unit in our 2018 Si

 

[amxandy]

To you Guys who have installed aftermarket Android head Units - maybe you can answer few question for the rest of us, looking at these units as a replacement for our ancient design, out-of-date Honda Units.

This is an excellent idea. When someone wants to purchase something like this, it is nice to have the questions answered before you spend your money. These are my responses for the Phoenix Head Unit. I did end up swapping out the amplifier and sub woofer as I had the 'Premium' unit on my 2018 Civic Si

(1) When running apps like Navigation, playing Music, using the Phone etc, do your After Market Units allow you to display the information from the head Unit on the Driver's Instrument panel ?

It did at one time for the navigation. I am not sure if I boogered something up in a setting, or if it never worked for Google Maps, but that is what I am using now for navigation and it is NOT displaying on the instrument panel. I never needed or looked for it there as the larger display on the head unit gives me the info I want where I want it.

(2) Does the Microphone Talk button on the Honda Steering wheel, start Google Assistant, so you can press it and ask Google questions etc

I used the microphone that came with the unit and it works well. The 'Hey Google' command will start the google assistant and pressing the 'Talk' button will mute the sound and allow the head unit to run Google Assistant. I have not used it often, but find it more and more useful by the day. Just being able to press a button and have Google read me the news, get traffic or just play a song or genre that I want is more and more appealing to me.

(3) Do they have Sirrux-XM

No Sirius. This would have been a deal breaker a few years ago, but now there are plenty of alternatives. If I wanted Sirius, I would get the app and use that rather than pay for a dongle. There are more stations on the app than the conventional Sirius radio and you can alter the standard stations to tweak them more to your liking.

(4) Do they have HD radio

No HD radio. The on-board radio is a joke. There is very limited reception, even when I added a powered antennae.

(5) Do they have Bass Woofer speaker out, or even a low level out for an external Bass Woofer amp

They are plug and play for the standard radio. The premium amplifier can not be used as is and it will either have to be bypassed, rigged up, or swapped out for a standard amplifier. The subwoofer was very week and I only used if for a day after I had my amplifier put in. After the upgraded sub was installed, the sound improvement was substantial. It sounds good. Not just loud, but there are details to the sounds that were just missing before. I do NOT believe this was the head unit nearly as much as the amplifier and subwoofer.

(6) Does the Reverse camera have guide line that move with the steering wheel

Yes. There are options to turn the markers on or off as well as to lower the volume in reverse.

(7) Does it have the secret Honda menus, that allow you to diagnose the devices on the two Honda Buss networks

I am assuming that you mean whether of not you have the options to control the standard options such as locking the doors and interior lights on when the doors are opened, then yes, all options appear to be there.

(8) Do they support Android Auto ( should you want to use it, and benefit from its Driver Friendly simplified menus.

Android Auto is NOT available on this. I do not know why you would want it though as you can make any launcher screen give you the same items that Android Auto has, you are just cutting out the middle man of using your phone to transmit all the info instead of just having the radio do the work.

(9) Do they work with the Honda's pre-installed (amplified) antennas (AM/FM/GPS/XM/HD)

They work, just not good. If you want to listen to local radio stations without using an app, do NOT get this unit as you will be disappointed.

(10) Do they work with the Honda's reverse camera, or do you need to fit another Lower resolution , reverse camera.

Yes. Camera works well right out of the box.

(11) Do they work with the Honda's Passenger Mirror Camera.

Yes.

(12) Do they have the App to communicate with Honda (Honda-Link) ?

Not sure. Honda link is an app so it should be able to be installed, I just never saw the point of it.

(13) Do they have adequate cooling (Honda Unit has a fan), or do they get hot and slow down on a hot sunny day.

I installed mine in the middle of August in Houston. I have not had any issues yet with lagging. There is no fan that I noticed on it, but there shouldn't need to be. There is more space for cooling than any phone would have and you don't have the radio doing anything nearly as intensive as most phones have to do when they are gaming.

(14) Do they have a full user Manual, or just a few pages of badly translated text and pictures that tell you almost nothing in any detail.

Manual is included, but not useful in any way. YouTube and forums such as this are a much better resource (I can say this about just about anything anymore).

(15) Do they have the same High Brightness, High Contrast Screen that the Honda unit has .. or maybe they are even better ?

I have not had any difficulty seeing the screen day or night yet. Google Assistant needs a night mode as when you start that up at night, the white screen is a bit overwhelming.

Yes, we get it, the AfterMarket Head Units are FASTER, and you can load just about any app you want into them, and watch Video, even when Driving, but do they also do the same basic Honda Functions listed above, and when they do, can you even see what they are doing in bright sunlight ?

Answers to these questions are NEVER supplied by the China manufacturers, who only what to push the higher speed, and all the EXTRA addons they cans sell you that are missing in the basic head unit.

It is not until you actually get one, and take the time and effort to install it, that the above questions, and lack of answers present themselves.

Don't get me wrong - if you have installed one of these units, and are happy with the way it work for you GOOD FOR YOU .. it may be just want you want.

All I am really trying to do is point out all the UNKNOWN, potentially missing features of the Addon units, that the manufacturers never mention, until it is too late, and you have committed to install one in your car .. and then GOOD LUCK in getting any technical support from Chine !!!

I am not totally ignorant about this -- I have installed one of these units in a much older car, and it is great -- actually it is FANTASTIC, but based on that experience, and some pretty detailed knowledge of the Mitsubishi Honda Unit, I have serious reservation about trying to install one as a replacement unit in our 2018 Si

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