I've recently purchased myself a shiny new Car Stereo (Car Radio, Head Unit). So far, i've been very happy with it. I am considering writing a series of posts on Car Stereos if there is enough interest. Obviously, the first topic is "selection criteria", or in plain English, "what did I consider before I bought my unit". Obviously, being OzBargain, price is always important.
- Why Buy an Updated Car Stereo?
- Operating System
- Hardware Wish List
- Software Wish List
- Price Range
- Vendors
- Recommendations^
- In Closing
0. Why Buy an Updated Car Stereo?
I recently upgraded my car. The new car came with a stock radio. It didn't even have a phone jack. I had a rough wishlist in mind.
1. Play music from a USB stick
2. Support a reversing camera
3. Either support GPS natively, or mirror the phone to car stereo so I can use my phone as a GPS
4. Stream music from my phone to the car stereo. This would allow my wife or I to choose our own music when swapping cars.
5. Something that is compatible with both Android and iPhone
Obviously, there are other features that could be integrated, Spotify, messaging, video playback. However, I can do all of these things from my phone, as long as I can mirror the screen and stream audio.
1. Operating System
Do you remember when home entertainment DVD players were popular? Sony played DVDs. The Chinese players played DVDs and CDs. They also displayed photos, played mp3s, video CDs, wma, etc. That's where we're at with car stereos today. Apple Car Play and Android Auto is good, but they struggle with flexibility like easily and cheaply adding a reverse camera, OBDII, TPMS, etc^. There's a basic comparison here on Apple Car Play and Android. I'm not saying these technologies are bad. However, I am a cheapskate and I like flexibility. I have some friends that I would recommend these technologies to.
https://www.stuff.tv/features/android-auto-vs-apple-carplay
Beyond Apple and Google's offerings, there have been plenty of Windows CE (WinCE) car stereos in recent years. Windows CE doesn't have a big software development community. Also, many of the car stereos have fairly basic hardware. I purchased a WinCE unit about a year ago and the screen was low resolution (800x480) and the CPU was fairly slow. I was disappointed with this unit, despite the reasonable price. If I had to point the worst niggle, it's volume control on the steering wheel. It takes several seconds for the unit to respond, then it suddenly jumps to muted because of lagginess and buffering.
There is also an emerging market of Chinese branded Android car stereos. These units usually run a stock version of Android, meaning that many of the apps available in the Android Play Store can be installed on your car stereo. Also, many of these units have excellent specs (screen resolutions, decent GPUs for fast graphics and decent CPUs for fast operation). This gives you access to great hardware and great software. However, many of the Android units are still quite expensive, unless you shop around.
After some further research, I found there are several common varieties of Chinese Android car stereos. The xda-developers forum labels these variants as MTCB, MTCC and MTCD. The good news behind this is that it should be easier to find upgraded firmware if there are a few common variants. I'll cover this in a future article.
Decision 1: If cost and flexibility is a key driver, buy a Chinese Android car stereo.
Decision 2: If cost and flexibility are not paramount, consider Apple Car Play or Android Auto compatible units
2. Hardware Wish List
Once I had settled on Android, I put together a spreadsheet containing each of the decision points for buying my new stereo. My list was:
- Fits My Model of Car (Make sure your Make, Model, Year, Width, Height all match your vehicle)
- OS and OS version
- CPU (Cores, Frequency)
- Screen Type (Capacitive or Resistive)
- Screen Size (6/7/8")
- Screen Resolution (1024x600, 800x480)
- DVD (Y/N)
- Camera Support (Front/Rear)
- Supports Parking Assistance
- USB Connection (Max Capacity in gigabytes)
- Phone Support (Mirror Link, A2DP, BlueTooth)
- Plug and Play Harnesses (Y/N)
- Bluetooth (Version)
- Steering Wheel Support (Y/N)
- Number of Speakers Supported
- GPS Supported (Y/N)
- Extras (eg. Free Storage Card, Microphone, Blanking Plate, etc)
I settled on my preferred hardware:
- Screen Type: Capacitive
- Screen Size: 7 or 8 inches
- Screen Resolution: 1024 x 600
- Camera Support (Rear to support reversing my car)
- USB Connection (1+)
- Phone Support (Mirror Link to allow me to display my phone screen on the car stereo screen, A2DP to allow sound to be broadcast from my phone to the car)
- Plug and Play Harness (1 minute to connect cables without soldering vs hours of messing about with 20 or more cables)
- Steering Wheel Support (yes)
Critical Decisions: 7", 1024x600, Mirror Link (note: MirrorLink supports Apple and Android).
3. Software Wish List
I wasn't really sure about this. Now that i've done my homework, almost all of the Android units come with USB support, Bluetooth support, Mirror Link support, Steering Wheel control support, Music and Video players. You should check if the unit comes with GPS hardware. If it does, it will most probably come with some navigation programs (eg. Google Maps and/or iGo).
Decision: None.
4. Price Range
I searched across eBay.com.au and AliExpress. I set my budget at $250 (i'm a cheapskate, OK!!). My decisions came down to
1. The CPU. Either 1.2GHz, 1.4GHz, 1.6GHz, Quadcore, Hexacore, or Octacore. Based on reading, people said the 1.2GHz Quadcore would do the job.
2. The version of Android. There was 4.4, 5.1, 6.0 and some 7.0 versions. I had no idea what I was trading off, so I went for Android 5.1 because it's been around a while and should be stable. In hindsight, Android 6.0 or 7.0 may have been a slightly better option for future proofing when I upgrade my phone.
3. The amount of RAM. I ended up getting a 1GB unit (but I really wanted 2GB). My reasoning was that it was cheaper and people had said 1GB was enough for navigating and playing music at the same time.
My Decisions: Android 5.1, Quad Core 1.2GHz, 1GB RAM
Recommendation: Android 7.0, Quad Core 1.2GHz, 2GB RAM
I ended up picking up my unit for about $220 delivered with express post. The unit arrived in 5 working days (including a weekend). Some of this cost included the plug and play harness and a dashboard blanking plate so the unit would fit my car.
5. Vendors
For the purposes of this topic, I only considered generic (Chinese) units. In the past, i've had no issues with generic car stereos. Ultimately, that decision is up to you. However, keep in mind that brand name units will cost considerably more. However, buying locally will give you support if something goes wrong.
As always, check the feedback from the people you're considering buying from. You will see both positive and negative comments (not just negative). Many negative comments are usually "slow delivery". If people say "crap product", "fake", "seller didn't support me", then be wary.
I selected a reasonable rep, but he disappeared when I hit my first issue. However, I installed my unit despite the lack of support. It simply took a drill and a file.
6. Recommendations^
I'm not sure I'd be competent or confident enough to state my ideal unit, let alone the unit best suited to you. I made compromises based on cost. However, I strongly recommend the following advice.
Don't let budget constrain your research. Decide what you need vs what you want.
- Reverse camera? Bluetooth? Steering Wheel Controls? Wifi? GPS? MirrorLink? ODBII? TMPS?
Chinese units have more features. More features will mean less stability.
Brand names (like my neighbour's Mercedes deck that keeps crashing with Windows errors) will not guarantee quality or reliability.
Importing will make warranty difficult and/or costly.
Some Chinese Android units skimp on features like AM radio. Make sure you read the fine detail. You will also find variability in features such as audio output (40w - 60w), number of cameras supported, etc.
I won't specifically list my brand of unit because I don't think brands are as essential in the market I considered. I will single out Joying (https://www.carjoying.com/) for its support through its web site and the reasonable costs. However, if you know that your unit is MTCB/MTCD, that's an excellent headstart to knowing if you can get updated firmware to fix problems. I will cover this in a follow up post.
^ ODBII is onboard diagnostics and is supported by every car for at least the last 10 years. Most of the Chinese Android car stereos come with this capability built in, out of the box. Purchase and plug in the small (cheap) dongle and you can interrogate your car's onboard computer.
^ TPMS is a tyre (tire) pressure monitoring system to determine when your tyres (tires) are flat. Most of the Chinese Android car stereos come with this capability built in, out of the box. Purchase and attach the sensors to your tyres to see your tyre (tire) pressure. Some people really, really do not like TPMS because it won't guarantee reliable tyres (tires).
I'm sure these minor examples of "other features" will annoy somebody, but, the truth is that the Chinese Android units throw in everything, including the kitchen sink. I expect the competing technologies (Apple/Google) will catch up with their out of the box designs. However, the ultimate downside to flexibility is instability.
7. In Closing
It is really important that you do your homework.
If you have any feedback (recommendations, corrections, disagreements, questions or general feedback), please share so we can all benefit from your input. I will probably write a followup article about exploring my car stereo.
For indepth information on firmware etc, see the xda-developers forum (https://forum.xda-developers.com/).
Thanks for your time. I hope you like the topic.
More detail on the brand choice me feels. I've bought an Eonon in the past. Had win CE (bought a loooooong time ago). Did what I wanted but was laggy. Had a TV though but only analogue. Was good for a cheap yumcha brand. I believe Eonon have come a ways since then.