Android Head Units

Zelig

Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2013
Messages
42
Reaction score
26
Location
Northern Beaches, Sydney
Country
Australia
My 5 year old WinCE 5.0 headunit is playing up. The Bluetooth is inconsistent, sometimes working perfectly, other times no audio from my phone comes over the car speakers. The Bluetooth remains connected, just no sound - then out of the blue, the sound will start working. There is no pattern to it and I have had the same issue with multiple phones (which all work perfectly in my wife's car) so it seems the headunit is the weak link.


Anyway, I am thinking about upgrading to one of the latest Android Head Units.

Any advice or suggestions ?

I am looking at the 7" models that don't have a DVD/CD player. I never use that in my current headunit, so the extra screen real estate from losing the DVD slot seems like a good idea (not looking for a motorised screen).

Are there particular brands to look at / or avoid ?

I have seen Joying, Pumpkin, Eonon - possibly all just the same hardware rebadged ?
 
Last edited:
Sadly parrot canceled the one they was working on, too bad as i think it looked good.

My win CE headunit need to be swapped too, last year the touchscreen gave up, and it is a PITA to operate on just the remote.
So now i an stuck playing Mp3 files off my SD card, and thats allright too as thats my main thing.
 
I helped a friend search for and install a couple of different double din units, the final one being a Pumpkin. In my view, it's not so much which brand as which retailer you choose since as you noticed, they all appear to be the same units rebadged under different names. They definitely offer great value for the money, but don't expect great sound out of them if you use the internal amp and don't be surprised if/when they malfunction or fail. This is where the retailer comes in to play. My friend purchased from Amazon, so returns were relatively easy when there was a problem. The unit he ended up with worked fine initially, but then developed a problem where the tuner wouldn't turn off when another input was selected, so the radio was playing over the other input. He finally discovered that he could kill the tuner app in task manager to disable it, but that's not something you want to be doing driving down the highway. The point of the story is that these "generic" android head units, while cheap, have no software support once out of the factory. They may advertise "upgradable" firmware, but the truth is they don't provide any firmware or fix anything once it is out of the factory. That being said, if you're handy with car audio and wiring, it is still a pretty good option at 1/4 the cost of a comparable Pioneer, Kenwood, Alpine or other name brand. However, if you have to rely on an installer, then a proven name brand with an actual warranty might be the better choice in the long run.

KuoH

Are there particular brands to look at / or avoid ?

I have seen Joying, Pumpkin, Eonon - possibly all just the same hardware rebadged ?
 
I have seen Joying, Pumpkin, Eonon - possibly all just the same hardware rebadged ?

odds of them all being the same unit is very slim indeed, there are hundreds of factories that make these things and for sure there will be lots of similarities but there will be some differences as well, which is the better choice is hard to know, I know the guy that used to distribute Eonon in Australia but he gave it away as the returns made it too costly to do business, not sure who does those now
 
When I got my current unit, I was told I would be lucky if it lasted 6 months, so I am pretty happy after 5 years!

I have found some more info on XDA Dev forum and it seems there are a range of manufacturers building what are referred to as the HuiFei Type.
 
@Mtz might have some feedback, he was looking into headunits a while back, not sure if the same type you're looking at but he knows his stuff
 
Back
Top