Merged with identical thread on the front page. Try searching even a little bit before making a new thread.

 

Been too busy to make a vid so rather than have you guys wait longer I'll just write a quick review.

First impressions
Out the box its pretty light. before I go further I have only owned one DD video deck & just used others in there cars throughout the years. If anything I will be comparing most features to my old JVC KW-NT3HDT. Comes a 8GB memory card of which about 2GB is used for navigation software, iGO Primo. Made in PRC, AKA china. Mine had some glue residue on the side where the glass is glued on but nothing of concern. Big capacitive screen instead of the old resistive screen. Comes with ipod cable which also detaches at the end to use as regular USB, USB cable, GPS atenna, 8GB card, dual mic, harness, etc.

Install
Same as any other DD deck I suppose. Only comes with on trim piece. If you don't use it there will be a gap & if you use it it will have to sit right behing the JDM DD kit. Gives it that flush look so, whatever. You wil most likely have to modify the holes a little. Dual mic is attached to rear view mirror area & wires tucked, running across the roof area & down the pillers. GPS can be mounted under the clock area. I also noticed the GPS is specific to USB port 2, hooking it up to 1 or 3 will not work.

Radio/Music
The system starts up pretty quick. Apps load fast & everything seems very responsive. No lag compared to my JVC deck. obviously has radio, SD music playback, line in play back, ipod/iphone playback & can play music from you phone. Also can be control from your phone. Volume can be changed by swiping up or down & changing stations/tracks by swiping left or right. One thing I did notice is it doesn't resume playback of whatever you are listening to once its been off for a minute or two.

GPS
GPS is nice. I notice since I have it under the dash it sometimes requires the car to move 10-20 feet before the signal picks up. The Navi App is by IGO. You can also download extras on the site like more maps/3D buildings etc. for extra $. Compared to the JVC its 100% better.

Voice commands
2 options for voice commands, search music or call someone on contacts. Voice recognition is pretty spot on. The only negitive I have is with music search you can only search for artists & not songs.


General UI
Just like a Android phone/tablet. Pretty much anything you can do on your Android phone it can be done here, ALMOST. I'll explain this more in the custom apps section. Theres a sound FX section where you have quite a few options which is nice. You can change wallpapers, add widgets, change which apps you want on homescreen, etc. It also has it own marketplace which only has 9 apps, big . Stock browser is not slow but can be better.

Custom Apps
First things first, to install other apps you must go to settings>applications> & check unknown sources. Second without a file explorer you will only be able to install apps download directly from the deck. So any apps you put onto the SD card will not be found unless you install a file explorer. Easiest way is to go to amazon.com/getappstore from the deck, install app store & then install ES file explorer or whatever one you want. Then you can place all the apps you want onto the SD card to install.

Now the bad thing about this custom version of Android 2.3 this thing is running is they stripped out the Gmail account integration from the OS. So apps like Play store & YouTube will not be able to sign in to your account because they rely on that. Play store plain & simple will not work so any apps not available on the Amazon app store you will have to search for a download of the APK somewhere else. Youtube app will work but just wont be able to sign in to get you list of subscriptions, etc.

Cons
No CD, not that I use CD's anymore but to some that may matter. Screen not removable. No Gmail OS integration. Doesn't resume music playback once its been off for a while. Only able to search for artists in voice command.

Conclusion
I personally think this is one of the best decks to come out. Allows you to really customize it & add apps unlike any other deck out now from a big name company. Overall the good things very much out weigh what I think is bad & since its Android & be easily updated with fixes in the future. The only real thing I see might get people to turn the other way is no CD drive or just not liking the Android system.

 

Thanks for the review! It's very informative and helpful. A few questions: Which method are you using for it to connect to the internet? Does it have security features that prevent you from using it it while driving, like many OEM units, if so then does it require you to tap into the parking brake? How well does multitasking work? i.e. will Navigation continue guiding me if I switch apps to Spotify? Have you connected a rear camera or do you plan on connecting one to it?

 

I'm using wifi, you can also connect a usb modem dongle to it. Yes it does have the no play while driving feature, just ground the brake to bypass. I haven't actually used the Navi to go anywhere yet but I would expect it to keep directing you unless you cancel route. I'll test it out tomorrow. No rear view cam & don't expect to install one. I also got a video a little while ago just so you guys can see how quickly it works & some of the apps on it, just gotta upload it.

 

Can you install Waze on it? It's my preferred guidance, crowdsourcing and all.

If it can do that and Pandora simultaneously, that's a start.

 

Just checked, Waze is compatible with Android 2.2+ so will work. Although I'm not sure if pandora & waze can run at the same time like the stock iGO Navi & music. I'll install it & see for you.

 

Still want to know if this works. It's kind of a dealbreaker to not be able to stream the music I want with the navigation app I use.

 

A lil update since I had it for a while now. Regarding multiple apps running at the same time it just depends. Navigation wether it be stock or for example Waze will run in the background along with the music, etc. Musci will also play in background unless lets say you click on a video/audio link in browser then the new signal will take over.

Waze works but will need a internet connection. I only used it for a little while but I prefer the iGO that comes with it. Has really nice look to it & on screen guide is easier to determine which lane/turns you need to make, at least for me.

Video will only play 480p, anything higher than that & it will not play or just be way too choppy.

One thing that I thought would not really annoy me but really does now is that it will not remember the last music source & track it was playing at. They do say they have a update coming soon that will fix it but no eta.

 

I definitely still want to get this or future iteration later on, but right now I have opted for a more economical option - the iSimple Gateway and Bluetooth add on.

 

What Dash Kit are you using?

 

I am very interested in this head unit. I have been reading differing opinions on the audio quality when streaming via bluetooth. Can someone clarify to me if the quality of streaming audio tracks from your phone to the headunit via bluetooth is that bad? Is it worse than CD?
If I want to stream music from my phone using Bluetooth, what kind of headunit should I be looking for without sacrificing quality?
If i didn't want to break the bank for one of the parrots?

 

I got a chance to play with Asteroid Smart at Fry's electronics and I can tell you that audio streaming quality is excellent, honestly Bluetooth sounds better than plugging in an AUX cable from your music source to the head unit - the clarity is great! I also thought this was a great option but like you I had to choose economically and opted for the iSimple Gateway with the Bluetooth add on which was only about $140 together off of Amazon. iSimple Gateway will give you AUX, iPod/iPhone, SAT, Bluetooth, and HD Radio capabilities to any radio. I kept my stock Bose radio and added these 2 things on and it works perfectly.

 

The bandwidth of A2DP (bluetooth streaming) is greater than any lossy compression used by mp3s. Unless you're using lossless compression (like .FLAC) then the bluetooth streaming won't be the limiting factor. Now, if your phone is doing some extra compression to the audio or otherwise messing with it before is streams it, that can be an issue. But since it is sent as digital, rather than analog, it's potentially going to be cleaner than using the headphone jack.

 

Wanted to bring up this old thread and wanted to see how the Parrot Asteroid is working out for you.