Parrot Asteroid Smart Review & Install

[mad_sb]

the ability to side load, the number of usb inputs, and the 3 pair of 6 volt pre outs is what sold me on this. Should be ordering mine shortly.

[sav]

Something few people have mentioned is the sound quality - it's pretty good actually using the built in amp.

All they need to do now is sort out the bluetooth and auto start the last used music source.

[larryt1026]

just found this thread. those that have this unit..still loving it so far? thanks!

[sav]

Loving it lots!

[larryt1026]

another question: did everyone have to modify the bracket to install it like MIT-PEID did? If that is the case I might be out lol. The less I have to personally modify the better lol. thanks for the help! really want this, but making sure I cover all the install bases.

[mit_peid]

I agree with @sav that the Parrot Smart is a substantial improvement over the stock FRS stereo without use of external amps. However, I had some noise issues with the Parrot unit using an external amp and component speakers. I have actually returned my Parrot Smart and replaced it with a Pioneer X8500BHS because of these noise issues. I am now much happier with the Pioneer X8500BHS (although it is missing the built-in navigation of the Parrot Asteroid Smart). The sound quality from the Pioneer is MUCH better than the Parrot unit. I cannot 100% rule out installer (me) error in bad grounding etc, but the absence in the hissing going from the Parrot to the Pioneer unit was quite noticeable. The one component that changed was the head unit.

Also btw, @larryt1026 I do think you need to drill that notch off the stock bracket to get the bracket to fit on the Smart unit. Others can correct me, but that mod is pretty benign and easy. The harder part was actually to use the Dremel tool to dremel out the black side pieces.

[2forme]

Hissing on RCA outputs? That sounds like an issue with the DSP. I have a chinese ca-fi knockoff head unit and that has no hissing at all. I would have tried another parrot before jumping ship to just another wince unit...

[larryt1026]

Originally Posted by mit_peid

I agree with @sav that the Parrot Smart is a substantial improvement over the stock FRS stereo without use of external amps. However, I had some noise issues with the Parrot unit using an external amp and component speakers. I have actually returned my Parrot Smart and replaced it with a Pioneer X8500BHS because of these noise issues. I am now much happier with the Pioneer X8500BHS (although it is missing the built-in navigation of the Parrot Asteroid Smart). The sound quality from the Pioneer is MUCH better than the Parrot unit. I cannot 100% rule out installer (me) error in bad grounding etc, but the absence in the hissing going from the Parrot to the Pioneer unit was quite noticeable. The one component that changed was the head unit.

Also btw, @larryt1026 I do think you need to drill that notch off the stock bracket to get the bracket to fit on the Smart unit. Others can correct me, but that mod is pretty benign and easy. The harder part was actually to use the Dremel tool to dremel out the black side pieces.

Thanks! I might try it out afterall. As for the above hissing noise..you said that it could be due to the external amp? I have a brz limited which I believe has an amp already in the car. I wonder if that will cause hissing as well. I do not plan to do anything else besides the Parrot HU.

[Chewie4299]

I'm actually shocked that this thing has 6v outputs.

The last headunit I bought, the Pioneer DEH-P880PRS, I bought almost exclusively for it's audiophile grade components and hi-volt preouts. Everyone else around at the time was significantly lower.

I've always LOVED the sound I get out of Pioneer units. There are differences. Sit in a demo room at a high end consumer electronics retailer (I used to work for one) and switch the same source through a Denon, Yamaha, and Pioneer receiver and you'll notice clear differences in sound. It's almost like color temp changes between light sources. All doing the same job in different and interesting ways.

I'd love to see one of these Parrot units in action. Can it get email, gmail, google maps, etc on it?

[Chewie4299]

Originally Posted by larryt1026

Thanks! I might try it out afterall. As for the above hissing noise..you said that it could be due to the external amp? I have a brz limited which I believe has an amp already in the car. I wonder if that will cause hissing as well. I do not plan to do anything else besides the Parrot HU.

All the twins have an amp in the trunk.

[mit_peid]

Originally Posted by Chewie4299

Can it get email, gmail, google maps, etc on it?

Yes. It is essentially a tablet integrated into your car. It is very easy to sideload any Android apps onto the unit just like any other Android tablet. Of course the single biggest caveat is that you need to bring internet to it for all those apps to work. So you have to either be parked in your garage that has WIFI access or turn on a hot-spot on your mobile smart-phone. Google maps is pretty cool on the unit when you're connected to the internet, but the included iGo app that doesn't require an internet connection actually works quite well too. And in all honesty, you don't need to check email in your car if you have it on your phone. The one app that I really wanted to work but didn't quite get to work was Torque. Sounds like it should be a native Asteroid app made available through the Parrot store in the future (?).

[mit_peid]

Originally Posted by larryt1026

Thanks! I might try it out afterall. As for the above hissing noise..you said that it could be due to the external amp? I have a brz limited which I believe has an amp already in the car. I wonder if that will cause hissing as well. I do not plan to do anything else besides the Parrot HU.

I had some low-level hissing noise with the Parrot unit with the 6V RCA inputs. Was trying to trouble-shoot that so swapped in the stock Pioneer unit utilizing speaker-level inputs into the amp. Not a surprise that the level of hissing noise increased going from the 6V RCA inputs to the stock speaker-level inputs. So that was when I decided to go down the more traditional stereo route with the Pioneer X8500BHS - no noise at all and sounds awesome via the 4V preouts. Overall, I liked the Parrot unit but was annoyed at the lack of physical buttons and was experiencing some crashing issues (that were mostly fixed with a new OS reinstall). But I really like my Pioneer HU now (but wished it had navigation). I've mostly heard bad things about Pioneer's AppRadio implmentation... so my bar is pretty low as far as expectations going into AppRadio. As a stereo itself and with regard to SQ, the Pioneer is everything I wanted.

[redge]

If this can help....
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hLaYl8b08s"]USB remote - YouTube[/ame]

Cheap USB remote control for Parrot Asteroid Smart using the 8$ "USB Handle Keyboard(HK_6)"
Asteroid needs to be rooted to upload the custom keyboard layout.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/310664257421

[ft_sjo]

I installed my Smart last weekend. I've rooted it and hacked in a bunch of google apps. Here's my thoughts so far:

Pros
- Nice unit, well built
- Phone support/dialler works well, as you'd expect from a Parrot device
- Reasonable level of support from the parrot/xda forums, but not amazing

Cons
- Bad glare off screen in sunlight
- Slow processor
- Screen not really big enough for non-specific apps to run well, like gmail/gmaps
- Takes a lot of effort to customise if you don't want to use it out-of-the-box (e.g. google app store etc)
- Related to the above, lots of apps wont work and you cant use the latest google apps
- Sound quality is average
- Using the FX/DSP stuff built-in buries sound quality into the crapper
- No physical buttons, apart from power, this can be improved somewhat with some aftermarket knobs/keypads (as above), but also Parrot claim their Smart Tablet remote will be supported in the future


I'm not really sure where I am with it at the moment. I do find it a bit of a hassle, most of that is trying to use it beyond it's specifications though. If you stick to just the Parrot/store stuff then it's fine. It's certainly not a multi-core Android 4 generic device though, that's for sure!

My next goal after fine-tuning the apps and trying to stop them crashing is to find a digital audio out on it somewhere to hook up to a processor. There's most likely an I2S or S/P-DIF signal somewhere on the PCB.