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      11-22-2019, 06:37 PM   #1211
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Originally Posted by -pascal- View Post
And where I can find the right xml for my px6 system?
If you can see UI 7 configuration in your screen factory settings then you have the latest software installed, avinusa stated that will be releasing a new update for PX6 at the end of this month
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      11-22-2019, 07:37 PM   #1212
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**RESEARCH UPDATE**- Please Quote and Star to keep this post at the top of the page for every new reader

I did some research regarding the Android 9.0 Devices in 10.25 inch (these are the latest as of
November 2019)

I won't be covering the 8.1 or 7.1 devices.

The summary of my findings are as follows;

1. There are 2 main Manufacturers of these Android Units- MEKEDE and CHANG CHEN INSTRUMENT CO., LTD

Here are their company Websites;

http://www.mekede.com/en/index.asp

http://www.changchen.com.tw/6contact/6contact.html


Here are their Ali Express product links for our cars ;

MEKEDE (1280 x 480 Res) - Price- £341.11
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3305...31983ddc8wOj2r

ChangChen (1280 x480 Res.) -Price-£442.96 (optioned price)
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3288...48667035lwZiJR

Chang Chen (1920 x 720 Res.)- Price £439.01
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3302...3b857909ldaPbg


2. The links above are the only 3 options you have when buying this product.

You have a choice between 2 Processor- Snapdragon 625 8 Core processor (Newer) or PX6 6 Core Processor (Older)

Now read this part carefully...

3. Snapdragon and PX6 processor items both give the option of having a screen resolution of 1280 x 480

HOWEVER, The PX6 item is also currently offered in a higher resolution of 1920 x 720. The Snapdragon is not currently



If you found this post helpful please say so and/or quote it to keep the information stream up to date as it is extremely hard for everyone to follow along with long threads such as this.

Finally, with reference to ADC the fact that they charge £100 extra just for a black screen surround raises an eyebrow. I would guess they along with AVIN get the devices straight from these manufacturers.

Cheers

Si


I have also written this thread in colour so it's easier to see when scanning the pages.



Additional Notes Added by Members

1. PX6 1920 x720 Res. - Only Supports Bluetooth 2.1 and above.
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      11-23-2019, 04:00 AM   #1213
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1. There are 2 main Manufacturers of these Android Units- MEKEDE and CHANG CHEN INSTRUMENT CO., LTD
Good to know because I bought my snapdragon from MEKEDE
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      11-23-2019, 04:44 AM   #1214
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Hi, I just installed the 4 + 64 Snapdragon in my 2013 F30 which had 6.5 inch original display with 6pin LVDS. I had previously installed the 4.4 about 2 years back.

Everything seems to be working fine with the new Snapdragon unit although it was a struggle to remove the old antenna from under the dash and put in the 2 new antennas that came with this unit.

The problem that I have currently is to get a power feed for the after market front camera I have installed. I had connected the front camera to the DVR cable and the 4.4 unit had a separate 12v (red cable) for powering the camera. In the new unit there is only an RCA port for the DVR connection and only one power red cable for the rear camera. Any ideas where to tap the power from the Android unit for the front camera? I am trying to avoid taking power from the fuse of the car.

Thanks.
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      11-23-2019, 04:51 AM   #1215
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I'm wondering why is cold start GPS is so slow in our units? (I have PX6 one).
I mean I cold start my android phone and gps works in 10 seconds.
Cold start HU and it need from 1 to 5 minutes to find satellites.
Why is so huge difference?

I also have a suspicion that it's software problem not hardware. Because I previously had an MTCB unit on previous car and similar problem was fixed by updating firmware.

I installed GPSlock as advised here. But it barely helps.

Any advice?
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      11-23-2019, 06:10 AM   #1216
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Hi, has anyone got a link to the 3.0.8 file please?
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      11-23-2019, 07:13 AM   #1217
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Hi, has anyone got a link to the 3.0.8 file please?
Go to page 50 and you have the download link.
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      11-23-2019, 07:40 AM   #1218
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Having had my unit fitted for a couple of days now, I thought I'd take the time to write an honest, in dept review of my experiences of install and performance of the unit.

The Car:

Firstly, my car is a UK, RHD 2012 F30 that came fitted with a CIC unit, 8.8" screen, 6 pin LVDS interface and integrated features such as PDC, reverse camera and self-park. Pretty much the top spec of the CIC era.

The Screen Purchase:

The unit I ordered was the 4GB RAM and 64GB Snapdragon screen with anti-glare from Naviodm on AliExpress. It can be found here:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3304...58424c4dJtM215

The unit took about 3 days to arrive and was shipped from their European warehouse. The screen was very well packaged and came with the following items:

  • GPS antenna
  • 3/4G antenna (The Snapdragon units have a sim card slot)
  • External speaker
  • Various wiring harnesses
  • AUX interface cable


I opted to order an external microphone from eBay, as I could foresee issues with mic volume when using the inbuilt microphone. It is worth noting that the screen has a 3.5mm jack to connect microphones, not 2.5mm.

Overall, the purchase experience was great and the communications from Naviodm were exceptional. Honestly, I cannot recommend them enough as an outlet to purchase the kit from.

The Install:

Overall, installing the screen is a quite straight forward if you've installed an aftermarket head unit before. It's a case of running all the necessary cables, tucking them behind trim and plugging them all in. All of the cables necessary for the screen fit through the factory holes without issue and there was enough space to tuck things out of the way behind the CIC unit.

My biggest challenge with install was the fact that I have installed an external amplifier using the Technic PnP harness. As such, there's not much space available behind the CIC unit. With the Android screen and Technic PnP harness, you're dealing with two quadlock adapters and as such, double the amount of stuff that sits behind a stock unit. The easiest way to get it all to fit is to be methodical and fit as much stuff to sides of where the CIC unit will slide back in. The two quadlock adapters managed to fit below and behind where the climate controls are, giving just enough space for everything to squeeze back in.

Cables for things such as USB and audio inputs were fed down to the side and exited from the plastic trim along the transmission tunnel. I've got them poking out temporarily until I permanently install them and have them linked up with the stock USB sockets. To do this, I will be using the following cable to adapt the USB sockets on the harness to the stock BMW USB socket:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-Male-...72.m2749.l2649

Because I have a CIC with telematics, my AUX audio is not fed into the back of the CIC unit; it goes via the telematics module. As such, I have to utilise the stock AUX input in the armrest compartment. Like the USB solution, I will be re-interfacing the AUX cable so it joins the BMW harness and isn't visible anywhere.

A final note on Audio:I do not have any sound quality issues with this Android unit and my CIC system. No distortion, no crackly treble or anything. It is perfect. The key is to make sure the AUX input volume on the stock CIC system is set correctly and the output volume on the Android unit is somewhere around 20. Above this and you'll start to hear distortion, as you'll be over-driving the input. Get it right and it sounds fantastic!

The 4G and GPS antennas have been installed under the dash and stuck to the top of the plastic air vent tubes. This will give them sufficient line of sight to outside and are not obscured by any large metal items. The antennas themselves have self-adhesive foam on them, so this works great. GPS lock is almost instantaneous and 4G signal is stronger than my iPhone XR! I do not have an issue with the frequency bands that this unit supports when using 3 Mobile in the UK. Signal is strong and reliable.

Overall, you'll be fine. Just take your time and expect to be pulling the CIC/NBT unit out several times trying to work out why it won't return to where it should be. You'll get there.

The Unit:

Now that everything is installed and confirmed up and running, I can give my opinion of the unit. I'll start by saying that overall I am exceptionally happy and impressed with my unit. As mentioned, the sound quality is fantastic, 4G works flawlessly and the GPS lock is near instantaneous.

The CIC iDrive controller operates the screen beautifully and is very responsive. It can control all the out of the box interfaces, as well as the main Android apps selection screen. The only place it falls short is controlling other apps, where compatibility is likely to be non-existent. But that's okay, I expected that and I am aware others are creating apps to intercept the commands.

Steering wheel controls all work as they should, including the voice control button, MODE button, track toggle and volume. I'm impressed to see that the dash mounted track control buttons and steering buttons work outside of the bundled apps and is able to control Deezer perfectly. I'm shocked to say it but this actually works better than when I had my phone paired to the stock iDrive system and used bluetooth!

Now, onto bluetooth. A lot of people complain that these screens don't support anything other than audio devices or a couple of OBD dongles. That may be the case but it doesn't bother me. I've only ever wanted to use bluetooth for calls or audio, so i'm un-phased by this. What I will say is that bluetooth audio streaming is not the best, from a sound quality perspective. Phone calls are great and crystal clear but give it anything to stream with dynamic range and it'll sound choppy and quite frankly, unpleasant. I bought this unit to run music apps natively and not have to rely on my phone, so I'm honestly not bothered by this.


Overall opinion:

Overall, I'm extremely happy with this unit. It does exactly what I want and it does it very, very well. In fact, I'm so happy with it that I have purchased an unlimited data contract just to be able to fully utilise the in-built 4G and not rely on tethering.

Audio is great, all the apps I want to use work great and I haven't experienced any stability issues that I've had in the past with lower quality feeling units. It's snappy, quick to boot and offers a consistent user experience.

Integration with the standard controls is brilliant and the ability to switch back to iDrive is appreciated. It should be noted that the system automatically switches to PDC and camera when engaging reverse and automatically switches back to Android when I'm back in drive. They really seem to have nailed the CANBUS integration.

That being said, it isn't without issues. As I've acknowledged, the bluetooth isn't great if you want to use it for audio streaming. In addition, the iDrive controller doesn't control everything but that's a work in progress and something I anticipated before purchase.

I don't regret my purchase at all. It has made the driving experience even better and I look forward to using the system every time I get in the car. If you have any other questions about the unit I purchased or want to know more, drop me a PM and I'll get back to you as soon as I can .

Matt

Last edited by mattmanslim; 11-23-2019 at 07:51 AM..
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      11-23-2019, 09:23 AM   #1219
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Does anyone know if Snapdragon will be released in the HD resolution screen?

1280 x720

Is it a matter of time
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      11-23-2019, 03:56 PM   #1220
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mine is 1280x480 and I don't ave any issue with it, the right resolution for a snapdragon 625 soc to be always quick and lag free.
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      11-23-2019, 06:45 PM   #1221
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Quote:
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mine is 1280x480 and I don't ave any issue with it, the right resolution for a snapdragon 625 soc to be always quick and lag free.
Correct and matches a factory resolution BMW offers so it will look crisp on the OEM side as well.. Sometimes high resolution is hard on the eyes outside of videos from a distance.

Like my laptop is a 14" screen with 1920x10 and the start menu and fonts etc are super small which is fine with my eyes but unless you increase stuff to 125% it can be rough.
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      11-23-2019, 11:33 PM   #1222
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Has anyone gotten an aftermarket camera to work with their android screen? I purchased the avin Android 9.0 screen and got the backup camera with it.

When I installed the screen I did a quick test with the backup camera as pictured below in the interior of my car. I did this with a very quick hand twisted connection to see if I would get signal from the backup camera. It was very choppy and going in and out but I figured that was because i didn't connect the wires very well.

A month later I got the time to run the wire through the interior and hook up the camera. I'm not getting any signal now. I tried multiple times to redo the connections and I'm still getting nothing.

The wires that I had to splice together were different gauge which doesn't seem right but those are the wires they provide. Also on the diagram they provide, the small black wire they say not to connect to anything. Should this wire be grounded? Any other tips would be appreciated
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      11-24-2019, 03:51 AM   #1223
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Davidschu View Post
Has anyone gotten an aftermarket camera to work with their android screen? I purchased the avin Android 9.0 screen and got the backup camera with it.

When I installed the screen I did a quick test with the backup camera as pictured below in the interior of my car. I did this with a very quick hand twisted connection to see if I would get signal from the backup camera. It was very choppy and going in and out but I figured that was because i didn't connect the wires very well.

A month later I got the time to run the wire through the interior and hook up the camera. I'm not getting any signal now. I tried multiple times to redo the connections and I'm still getting nothing.

The wires that I had to splice together were different gauge which doesn't seem right but those are the wires they provide. Also on the diagram they provide, the small black wire they say not to connect to anything. Should this wire be grounded? Any other tips would be appreciated
On the picture it doesn't look like you've connected the black ground cable from your Cam. You'll find ground on pretty much anywhere on your car where there is a metal plate.
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      11-24-2019, 10:08 AM   #1224
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Frankly30 View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by Davidschu View Post
Has anyone gotten an aftermarket camera to work with their android screen? I purchased the avin Android 9.0 screen and got the backup camera with it.

When I installed the screen I did a quick test with the backup camera as pictured below in the interior of my car. I did this with a very quick hand twisted connection to see if I would get signal from the backup camera. It was very choppy and going in and out but I figured that was because i didn't connect the wires very well.

A month later I got the time to run the wire through the interior and hook up the camera. I'm not getting any signal now. I tried multiple times to redo the connections and I'm still getting nothing.

The wires that I had to splice together were different gauge which doesn't seem right but those are the wires they provide. Also on the diagram they provide, the small black wire they say not to connect to anything. Should this wire be grounded? Any other tips would be appreciated
On the picture it doesn't look like you've connected the black ground cable from your Cam. You'll find ground on pretty much anywhere on your car where there is a metal plate.
Thanks that fixed it! Didn't think that wire had to be grounded since the directions I got from Avin said not to use that wire.

Edit: I now tried it again with that black ground wire not connected to anything and it's still working. This is the same setup I was using yesterday that wasn't working but now it somehow works. Electronics confuse me
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      11-24-2019, 10:38 AM   #1225
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pcherian View Post
Hi, I just installed the 4 + 64 Snapdragon in my 2013 F30 which had 6.5 inch original display with 6pin LVDS. I had previously installed the 4.4 about 2 years back.

Everything seems to be working fine with the new Snapdragon unit although it was a struggle to remove the old antenna from under the dash and put in the 2 new antennas that came with this unit.

The problem that I have currently is to get a power feed for the after market front camera I have installed. I had connected the front camera to the DVR cable and the 4.4 unit had a separate 12v (red cable) for powering the camera. In the new unit there is only an RCA port for the DVR connection and only one power red cable for the rear camera. Any ideas where to tap the power from the Android unit for the front camera? I am trying to avoid taking power from the fuse of the car.

Thanks.

Anyone, any suggestions / advice where to tap the power from the Android unit for the front camera?
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      11-24-2019, 10:50 AM   #1226
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Anyone, any suggestions / advice where to tap the power from the Android unit for the front camera?
Can't you use the same power line for backup cam too? Mine's feeding power whenever PDC is on.
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      11-24-2019, 11:26 AM   #1227
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Quote:
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pcherian View Post
Anyone, any suggestions / advice where to tap the power from the Android unit for the front camera?
Can't you use the same power line for backup cam too? Mine's feeding power whenever PDC is on.
I was under the impression that the 12v line with rear camera switches on only when you hit reverse gear. Hence thought it might not work for the front camera.
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      11-24-2019, 12:00 PM   #1228
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Originally Posted by Gabrielisimous View Post
If you can see UI 7 configuration in your screen factory settings then you have the latest software installed, avinusa stated that will be releasing a new update for PX6 at the end of this month
Yes, updates are great.

But I have the problem that I hear noise when navigation voice speaks. That is the reason why I would like to deactivate the navigation voice from left speaker. I think that I have to change the xml for that. Correct?
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      11-24-2019, 12:06 PM   #1229
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Quote:
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gabrielisimous View Post
If you can see UI 7 configuration in your screen factory settings then you have the latest software installed, avinusa stated that will be releasing a new update for PX6 at the end of this month
Yes, updates are great.

But I have the problem that I hear noise when navigation voice speaks. That is the reason why I would like to deactivate the navigation voice from left speaker. I think that I have to change the xml for that. Correct?
Not sure if that work, weird to me that there's people having troubles with their sound because I have not had after disconnecting my device from Bluetooth streamer
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      11-24-2019, 01:30 PM   #1230
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Bluetooth streamer? I connected my head unit with USB. My car has no AUX...

Don't know why there is noise when navigation voice speaks. I would like to try a modified xml. But without a correct file is it not possible I think.
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      11-24-2019, 01:53 PM   #1231
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I connected the rear cam 12v+ to the LED Button from the PDC Button on the mid console next to the gearshift.
Now the Led does not light up but when i switch in to reverse or press the pdc button my camera is turning on. In my case it doesnt matter if the Led is turning on or not in the mid console when pdc is activated
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      11-24-2019, 02:03 PM   #1232
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Quote:
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Bluetooth streamer? I connected my head unit with USB. My car has no AUX...

Don't know why there is noise when navigation voice speaks. I would like to try a modified xml. But without a correct file is it not possible I think.
Yes, my car HU doesn't stream music from my phone it only has Bluetooth for phone calls so I connected one device that allows me to stream music from my phone and it goes plugged on aux/usb connections located on the under arm box, as soon as I get this disconnected from there my sound issue goes away
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