Joying 12.3 1920x720 Android HU

[tarzan_nojane]

I am intrigued by the new ultra-wide screen displays. The form factor is a good match for the 1st gen dash layout. Very nice that it leaves the original dash panel intact, whether you have a GT86, BRZ, or 1-piece design.

joyingauto.com

It looks like this was just released a couple of months ago. Not intrigued by the $500USD+ price...

[DarkPira7e]

I'm still unsure why there's an arms race on making huge screens. I guess if you want to live in your car, this could be cool

[FT86Z]

Originally Posted by DarkPira7e

I'm still unsure why there's an arms race on making huge screens. I guess if you want to live in your car, this could be cool

You must be still using a flip phone

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by DarkPira7e

I'm still unsure why there's an arms race on making huge screens. I guess if you want to live in your car, this could be cool

Probably wouldn't be my choice, but if I had to pick between this and filler panels I'd definitely pick this.

[pope]

Link no work

[tarzan_nojane]

Originally Posted by pope

Link no work

That link must have just stopped working. Even Google gives search results that point to that link that no longer works. I'll leave it alone for now.

Here is a listing on eBay that features the same content as the Joying page.

A search on aliexpress.com for "brz 12.3" for me listed 4 of these in the first 15 results.

A YouTube unboxing was just posted a few hours ago from Australia. He hasn't yet posted a video for the install...

Sorry about the scary video thumbnail

[Yoshoobaroo]

Having had a Joying unit, I'd recommend getting a CarPlay compatible unit from one of the Legacy manufacturers instead. I replaced my Joying with a Sony unit and the Sony was great. The Joying was absolute trash to use daily. Hell, every android headhunt I've ever used has been bad.

[RToyo86]

Originally Posted by Yoshoobaroo

Having had a Joying unit, I'd recommend getting a CarPlay compatible unit from one of the Legacy manufacturers instead. I replaced my Joying with a Sony unit and the Sony was great. The Joying was absolute trash to use daily. Hell, every android headhunt I've ever used has been bad.

What made it bad to use?

[Yoshoobaroo]

Originally Posted by RToyo86

What made it bad to use?

Mostly the underpowered SOC and a terrible DAC. Slow and unable to multitask well, and music sounded pretty bad compared to a real headunit.

I finally got a Sony CarPlay compatible unit and that was much better

[tarzan_nojane]

Video posted from Australia of installation:

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by tarzan_nojane

Video posted from Australia of installation

To be honest, I remain tempted by this as the 2014 Pioneer AHA radio in my 2013 has sort of reached the end of it's useful life and doesn't have Android Auto to make up for it.

Couple of things though. Not crazy about the big screen, although this one at least looks reasonable in size. I don't link using Android Auto for maps. The screen projections in every car I've used it in are washed out. I can't read them unless I use night mode. Also, it doesn't have a "driving direction up" 2d mode.

[tarzan_nojane]

These are on sale this week (BF) for about 20% off. I just scored a "last one" (for version A + B screens) on eBay for $427.20 + Tax. "From USA Stock", arriving in a week, with eBay Buyer protection.


Couldn't resist any longer!

[turbos86]

After lots of time and effort, I got mine installed and running.
It replaced a 2014 OEM Pioneer Bespoke touch screen unit with Navi + Beat-Sonic backup camera setup.

Problems with installation

Not my first time installing Joying head units into 2010s Toyota vehicles, but there were still some hiccups.

I ordered the head unit plus add-on front and rear cameras (they call them AR cameras) off Joying's official store on AliExpress. It took about 2 weeks to arrive.

It comes with plug and play harness that's supposed work right out of the box, but here's where I ran into the first issue. The door speakers were not working when playing my music files, but they work for listening to the radio. The speakers are powered by the OEM amplifier behind the back seats. Refer to these two threads for more information regarding this problem:
https://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=141915
https://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41529

Following the guidance of the two threads, I determined the Joying harness was missing a connection to tell the amp to turn on and power the door speakers. The harness has a wire labelled AMP-CONT (Amplifier Continuous/Constant 12V Turn On) that was not attached, while another wire labelled ANT-CONT (Antenna Continuous/Constant 12V) was connected properly to the plug that goes to the OEM harness. I ended up tapping the AMP-CONT wire to the ANT-CONT wire, and that did the trick.

The second problem came up while I hook up the cameras. Joying's AR cameras were designed specifically to work with this series of Android head units, and an app was pre-installed to work with the cameras. After hooking everything up according to instructions and Joying's demo on Youtube:

I was able to make both front and rear cameras work, but only within the AR camera app. Putting the gear into reverse did not trigger the backup camera to come on.

I ended up DMing Joying on AliExpress for a solution. They explained to me that I had not connect the trigger wire from the backup camera to the Joying harness. There is a wire on the harness labelled as BACK, but due the unclear/lack of clear instruction, I failed to realize that's where the trigger wire was supposed to connect to. On top of that, Joying explained that the trigger wire needs to be spliced into the BACK wire, which was already connected on both ends. This did work, but it made me feel like the harness had no provision for what they claimed as cameras designed specifically for this head unit.

Using the head unit

The screen is huge. From the driver seat, you can't see the OEM clock, hazard light button, and airbag signs. There's just enough space between the tip of the wiper stalk and the screen for one finger to fit. It's very distracting at first, but setting everything to dark mode helps it blend into the dash.

The system runs on Android 12 with Joying's launcher on top. I tried to install a different launcher but it wouldn't load and kept asking to use Joying's launcher. The interface is not horrible, but customization is limited, even though it's Android. There are themes and wallpapers to choose from, and some options for colors of the buttons, but that's about it.

Wireless Android Auto works well via the built in ZLink app. It connects immediately after detecting a Bluetooth connection with my phone. Don't have an Iphone to test Apple Carplay.

Since the screen is so wide, I find myself using split screen a lot, which is a big plus.

Other things to note

Behind the screen, on the body of the head unit, there is a SD card slot, which does work. This is not mentioned on the spec sheet for some reason.

The AR cameras are continuously powered. With the AR camera app, it has a recording function. I haven't looked into it yet, but it sort of acts like a built-in dash cam.

Initially, video feed from the cameras might appear distorted or flickers like an old CRT TV. Camera types will need to be changed in the settings to match.

The 6 touch buttons below the screen does not appear to be programmable. It could be beneficial to define the actions of the map and music buttons. By default, map opens Google Maps, music opens the built-in music player.

[FR-S2GT86]

Glad that little write up of mine from almost four years could help.