At Long Last... Modern head unit!

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ryanjl

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Final summary of the head unit number 1:


Interesting, but, as they state, not much of a conclusion if you have the later Bosch system, which I believe is the 2012 or newer one. Seems that all the shortcomings they discuss in the first few minutes of the video would not exist in the Bosch system as the touchscreen apparently works in that system.
 
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Nechaken

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I'd love to see if this works on the Bosch units.

I'm also quite surprised there are that many options on the LR4. There's 2 or 3 CarPlay retrofits, then 4 or 5 different android replacements? All this for a model that sold, maybe 50,000 units over its entire lifespan in the US and probably a similar number in Europe? Seems it would be tough to recover the R&D expenses.
 

ryanjl

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I'd love to see if this works on the Bosch units.

I'm also quite surprised there are that many options on the LR4. There's 2 or 3 CarPlay retrofits, then 4 or 5 different android replacements? All this for a model that sold, maybe 50,000 units over its entire lifespan in the US and probably a similar number in Europe? Seems it would be tough to recover the R&D expenses.

Agreed.

Having watched the whole final video, there is a lot of the OEM functionality they lost. From what I can gather, though, that functionality is lost because the touchscreen on the new Android unit does not work on the OEM Denso screens.

If the touchscreen on the new Android unit does work on the OEM Bosch screens (I think it does), then I think all the stuff on that "lost" list goes away.
 

Bronco1

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Man that looks really good! I just bought a 2011 this past weekend and looking to do the exact project, including the Pioneer. How do you like the Pioneer setup? How well do the steering wheel buttons work for changing stations, etc.
 

magus

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Man that looks really good! I just bought a 2011 this past weekend and looking to do the exact project, including the Pioneer. How do you like the Pioneer setup? How well do the steering wheel buttons work for changing stations, etc.
The Pioneer unit I have does a good job. Better screen, better audio… CarPlay connects most of the time. You do lose most of the 4x4 screen functions and the internal clock is a challenge to keep on time (Pioneer HU has all the time you need), but for 99% of what I use daily, significant improvement.

I like that the unit I have fits flush into the old HU’s spot - looks quite a bit more OEM.
 
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f1racer328

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Installing the larger, "Tesla" screen.

I hope they install the Australian Naviplus unit next... that's the one I would get. Not a fan of having to change out the screen.
 

ryanjl

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Installing the larger, "Tesla" screen.


So this one has just as many problems as the other one, at least with the older, Denso head units.

I also think it's pretty dumb that you have to connect to the "aux" in to play music. They say the Bosch units have an auxiliary input inside the upper glove box, but my 2012 Bosch unit does not. The only auxiliary input I'm aware of in my 2012 is behind the center console.
 

greiswig

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So this one has just as many problems as the other one, at least with the older, Denso head units.

I also think it's pretty dumb that you have to connect to the "aux" in to play music. They say the Bosch units have an auxiliary input inside the upper glove box, but my 2012 Bosch unit does not. The only auxiliary input I'm aware of in my 2012 is behind the center console.
So you can’t just load Spotify in the android tablet? Bummer!
 

ryanjl

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So you can’t just load Spotify in the android tablet? Bummer!
You can (along with anything else you can do with Android Auto or Carplay), but the audio goes through the stereo's auxiliary input to play through the speakers.

I'm assuming this is because the digital-to-analog converter is in the new unit, and the new unit just transmits an analog signal to the OE stereo. But it seems like it would just be better for the new unit to transmit a digital signal to the OE brains and have the OE brains figure out what to do with it. But I'm guessing that's not possible for some reason.
 

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