Couple of noob questions about android head units.

[oldlostcory]

It's been ages since I looked into the audio scene. I did a little research on it today. My 13' brz limited's head unit is having problems with the right side of the screen not registering touches. I can't use the navigation anymore or scroll through music. I'm assuming it is just on it's way out.

I was wondering with all these new android head units. Does it use the cars gps? I travel a couple times a year to places that don't have cell signal but my cars gps still works with the subaru map on it. Will that still work on one of these android units?

Do most of these units function like a tablet with google play on it? Download waze and use it through your phone hotspot?

Thank you so much for any help. If this is a shit post i'll delete it.

[BRZyJ]

Originally Posted by oldlostcory

Does it use the cars gps?

No, they come with their own magnetic GPS antenna...there's a few places to stick it up behind the wiring.

Do most of these units function like a tablet with google play on it? Download waze and use it through your phone hotspot?

Yes indeed. If you're traveling where there's no signal you might want to use something with offline maps...Here WeGo and Magic Earth will let you download entire states at once for offline use, and they won't expire like offline google maps do.

[Yoshoobaroo]

They function like a $50 Prepaid android phone. They’re woefully underpowered. It’s not your typical Qualcomm or Samsung chipset, so clockspeed and number of cores are irrelevant for comparisons sake. Even the 8 core 4gb ram units struggle running waze and Spotify at the same time.

I’ve had 2 and now I have a Sony AX5000 (traditional headunit). I’m much happier with it than either of the Android boxes.

[soundman98]

i haven't read of many positive long term reviews of android units...

[oldlostcory]

Thanks, I may just try to find a replacement OEM unit. The OEM unit isn't great but I've lived with it for 6 years.

[soundman98]

i've never been completely happy with any head unit.

for a while, i had a carpc.. desktop computer guts installed under the passenger seat...

there was a time where mp3car.com had a thriving forum...

now i'm back to a more reliable head unit, but just started running into issues with it's limited crossover and eq capabilities, so i'm expanding the entire setup into sound processors...

[MX-5RACER]

I’ve had my Atoto A6 for about a year and have had no problems, knock on wood. As far as navigation without cell service, I downloaded an app called Offline Maps, plus you can download areas for use offline on Google Maps as well.

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=129106