MorningZ
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Posts posted by MorningZ
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ordered a Clarion NX501.... my first non-Pioneer radio since like 2000
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How's everyone feeling about their AppRadio now that it's been more than a week?
I called Amazon today and got an RMA to return it... i'm done with it.....
using it is an absolute displeasure
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I also have issues with my Bluetooth...
when a call is initiated the person on the other end can hear me for about 5 seconds then they are not able hear me anymore......
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I do not have any idea if it is "standard SMA", but I can help you by providing a few pics of the connector:
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thanks for posting.... i feel a little more at ease that i am not the only one....
still doesn't fix the issue, which i feel is the radio charging waaaay too aggressively, but what can we do
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I'll try it out tomorrow. it probably has something to do with the quick standby mode that quickly starts the system if you turn it back on within 5 minutes.
oooh yeah, i forgot about that "feature"
what's weird, well screwed up, about that feature is that the music doesn't automatically play upon return, mine doesn't do anything until i hit the uber-annoying "OK" button saying i won't use the GPS to drive into a lake, then goes to home screen, THEN have to hit Radio or iPod to resume playing....
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I'll be short since I have been lengthly on previous issues
pretty much this one is:
- I am listening to iPod "app"
- Turn off car, leave iPhone plugged in
- Gone for however long (NN minutes)
- Turn car back on
- iPod had been playing, silently, for NN minutes
that shouldn't happen, the iPod function should pause while turned off, just like any Pioneer radio with iPd interaction from the past 8-10 years
anyone able to confirm this issue?
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I think anytime you're navigating (the internal GPS antenna is on) and you're streaming music (data connection) while charging the battery the iPhone will get warm.
Simply listening to music off the iPod app, the iPhone still gets hot to the touch... no data, no GPS, no apps, screen off
It seems pretty common online for all iPhone users: http://www.google.com/search?btnG=1&pws=0&q=iPhone+gets+hot+while+charging
i do not have this issue charging with the charger it came with, plugged into my computer, or on one of the radio/docks I have at the house, it *only* happens when plugged into the AppRadio
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Demo Mode continues to play when the unit receives power for the first time. When you turn the key off, and then back on it goes away.
that is the way it is supposed to work, what the OP posted about, and i relied that I ran into as well, was that this was *not* working like it should
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yeah, the screen being on isn't the issue.... there is zero chance that the screen showing is causing the phone to get *that* hot
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I haven't seen any chatter about this anywhere: but is anyone else's iPhone running (very) hot from being plugged into the AppRadio?
My first one did it, my second one does it, and I have a feeling that the radio is charging the iPhone too aggressively...
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My first one was indeed stuck in Demo mode as well, but what didn't work for me were the 3 actual buttons (volume up, down, and the home)...
My replacement does not show this behavior
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actually, i think ibcr8iv is right on point..
Pioneer seemed to have ditched their custom iPod interface for this generic "iPod out" functionality... which works great in a car like a BMW since they have the knob to easily go up and down the menus.... but Pioneer's choice to use this functionality while making the controls for it virtual up/down arrows is just flat out moronic...
I swear, they released this thing with absolutely zero input from user testing.... there is no other explanation
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Sorry for the background noise, it was raining pretty good while I was recording this
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So I got my first AppRadio a week ago.... I thought I did a thorough job documenting my thoughts/gripes on it from an installation standpoint, while some people may or may not have agreed, that wasn't what I was after... my thoughts were simply to make people aware of the AppRadio's shortcomings...
And sorry, people seem to be downplaying that it isn't a big deal the radio has a single set of RCA outputs, that is a HUGE deal in that 99.5% of the other radios on the market have dedicated Front, Rear, and Sub outputs.... this isn't 1991 where multi RCA outs are a high end feature...
Anyways, after only 20 minutes of use over 1.5 days for this first deck, the volume buttons and home buttons completely stopped working..... called Amazon on Saturday, they shipped me out a replacement that I received on Tuesday..... put it in that night....
Things have been well so far, buttons work, got a Scosche Line Level converter in so i can continue to use my 5 channel amp (and as a result, my front and rear speakers are not playing full range anymore)....
So now that I have had a little time to actually use the interface/software/UI, I just wanted to say: Pioneer has a TON of work to do...
Again, maybe you do not agree with what I am about to point out... that's fine
So here we go:
GOOD:
- Inrix is SUPER helpful... this could very well be the "killer app" of this radio.... i love it
- MotionX looks pretty cool, except I haven't really gone that far or anywhere I don't know where I am going to use it yet
- I can't wait to see what other programmers/companies have in store for the AppRadio.. hopefully there are some
BAD:
- Responsiveness of touch screen:
slow... there is no other way to put it.... it makes it ESPECIALLY hard when in something like the iPod "app" where you want to get to the "Album" item, but because the first press didn't register fast enough, i pressed it multiple times to (over) compensate
- NO CLOCK on anything but the main home screen:
ugghh, this is something that just completely boggles my mind... I've had the D1, D3 and F700 and they all had the clock on (1) the Map screen, (2) the Radio screen, (3) iPod screen..... sure, it's just a home button press away to see the huge digital clock, but now you have to click again to get back to where you were
- Shitty single RCA out:
hardware wise, inexcusable as pointed out above... this radio is obviously not aimed and audiophiles.... fine, that's the way it is, but the radio ALSO lacks: (1) any sort of crossover for the speaker outputs, again like my previous D1, D3 and F700 ALL had, (2) any sort of level adjustment for the crappy single RCA output... making "on the fly" subwoofer adjustments an impossible task unless your sub amp has a remote knob for it..... in these days of iPods and CD's full of mp3s, people's collections must vary considerably... so we have to compromise our sound tastes to account for Black Eyed Peas vs Godsmack vs Ferry Corsten vs Tiesto vs Blink 182 vs whatever else we have in our collection.... pretty much the single RCA output and lack of control is my least favorite thing about the radio....
iPod control/"app":
- first off, the screen itself looks like crap, it's not very sharp at all... if you want a mental comparison, think of what happens when you have a 22" 1680x1050 monitor and run your desktop at 800x600... that's about what it looks like
- less control than any previous Pioneer radio: what i mean by this, on older models, say you have 20 playlists... to get to "Various - Rock", you could click "up" on the first page of the list and it would bring you to the last page of the list... the AppRadio doesn't, you are forced to go page by page by page to go to the end
- I've never seen any of my Pioneers be able to do this, and can't understand why this continues to be the case, but if you start the car and the iPod/iPhone resumes playing, it has no idea what album or playlist you are in.. so you can't just "back out" of that list, you have to start at the top level list (Albums/Playlists/Genre/etc) all over again
- and a huge WTF: if you are listening to music from the iPod, turn off the car, leave the phone hooked up, leave car, come back, start car, the iPod app *never* stopped playing while you were gone...
Contacts:
- Pioneer's software still sucks at importing
- Just like the iPod app, if you need to get to the end of the list, you're going to be clicking "Down" a lot of times to get there... there is no way to jump to a letter, or even a group of letters, like older models have.....
- Since this radio is so wound tightly around iOS, why couldn't this be something over-the-dock-connector-and-not-using-Bluetooth instead? there *are* API's available is the iOS SDK to talk with the Contact List
Map apps:
- You can "pinch to zoom" on the MotionX app but cannot do so on the Google Maps app... that makes no sense
and lastly
- I have no idea what other people's experience with this is, but i've had two of these radios now and both do the same thing: make the iPhone run hot to the touch... i was just out driving around for ~ 25 mins at lunch... just using the iPod part of the AppRadio/iPhone.. no data stuff, no video out stuff, just playing music from the iPhone, and the iPhone was inexcusably hot to the touch when I got home.....
Despite all these gripes, I am still excited for the future of this great idea of a radio, as the F700 I had previous also had a ton bugs upon launch, I have hope that over the course of a software update (or two or three) that Pioneer will fix some of this stuff that quite frankly qualifies right now as nothing more than "half-assed".... there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that this radio was rushed to market......
this review (not by me) on the iTunes store sums it up pretty good (his whole entire review on the AppStore is great and detailed):
This post is just my opinion, I am not saying anyone needs to agree with me or whatever, but I want to make people looking for some experience and opinions to be able to see some, and also, who knows, maybe Pioneer is out looking at forums like this making notes.... who knows?
Thanks for reading...
- Steve
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jailbreak it and install display out
oooh, I am jail broken and have this installed, i should give it a whirl to see if the springboard shows up on the radio
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I decided to go ahead and connect it to the parking break. I thought I would see how inconvient it was. I don't need to view video while driving. However, the PITA apply, remove, apply every time is stupid. Looking for a bypass. I don't understand why Pioneer makes it so difficult.
because they don't want people to drive while there is playing video on the head unit.....
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Replacement installed... all seems good for now (played it for like 20 mins or so)..
Had a few people PM me asking about "other audio"... and yes, it'll play other stuff just like the older Pioneer units would... play the iPod app, go to the phone and go to the other (like I went to MLB At Bat) and the audio will play through instead (although the radio will still show the iPod interface/song-that-was-playing
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So i spent time after work pulling out my broken AppRadio and get ready for tomorrow's replacement...
while I was back there I thought I'd take a few pics of the differences in the wire harnesses just in case anyone was curious...
Difference of the mic jacks (F700 on top, AppRadio on bottom:
Power/speakers (F700 on right, AppRadio's 2 plugs on left, which are a lot like Blaupunkt and/or VW plugs)
Ugghh.. my least favorite change, the GPS antenna:
Other stuff
The iPhone cable is lame... on the top is the iPod end, that 3 inch single part before the plug is pretty damn un-flexible... i have no idea why Pioneer didn't (1) make it more flexible and (2) why split into 2 so early? it should be one cable until it gets just before the plug for the back of the radio.... absolutely piss poor design
To overcome the lack of a full set of RCA outputs, I picked up this Scosche LOC from Amazon.... while the reviews say it works well, they also mention the tendency for the cheap plastic case to come apart, and they were dead on right, hence the electrical tape
All ready for tomorrow's re-install!
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of course they are....why would they be the same......God I hate corporations.
Well, when I moved from my D3 to the F700 in my car, the ends on the GPS antenna were different as well, *thankfully* the actual end of the cable, the plastic part wrapping the metal round end, was able to be removed and the the F700's one put in it's place.... but with this new radio there is no plastic snap in piece, it looks like a standard CMX end with a threaded collar (to compare it to something else: a standard video coax, except smaller)
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Also to note for anyone running across this topic wondering about differences in wiring...
For some odd reason, Pioneer also chose to merge together the Power Antenna and Power Amp Turn-on leads..... not sure why (cost cutting?) but if you have a motorized power antenna, be aware that it'll be up all the time...
I haven't seen a radio without those wires separated in like 12-15 years at this point
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It's different...
So are the microphone and GPS antenna ends
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You almost never see anyone get there hands on one of these products before it is released.
When i had my shop i got a few things "early" to test it out, but was under strict NDA to keep quiet about it... there is no way stuff like this goes from design to manufacturing to stocked on shelves before "real world" testing.... hmmm, except for the case of the AppRadio
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it appears to be a disaster.
it gets worse
http://www.morningz.com/2011/06/so-24-hours-later-my-appradio-is-completely-f-cked/
:: sigh :: I am not even mad, just severely disappointed... i expected/hoped-for so much better than this
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Just leave the app running and you will be able to select it from the unit.
I'm not sure if that was aimed at my post or someone else's
but if it was indeed about mine:
Say I choose the "Apps" item on the AppRadio's menu, then scroll over to Pandora and open it.... it starts playing and all that...
Now I want to *stop* listening Pandora and instead listen to Rdio or use MotionX.... pressing "Home" gets me back to the menu screen on the AppRadio, but clicking "Apps" again brings me right back into Pandora and it's lack of a way to close it... there is no way to "switch" between apps....
I think people are going to be thinking that the interface and mannerisms of the radio works just like the interface and mannerisms of the iPhone itself: not the case
After using it for a little bit: software/UI = not good
in AppRadio, AppRadio 2, AppRadio 3
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I ended up returning my AppRadio and got an Clarion NX501 instead.... it has Nav, Bluetooth, audio-over-Bluetooth (AVTCP protocol too, meaning one can fast forward/rewind/play/pause apps like Spotify and Pandora on the phone) and even has a bunch of places where you can "flick" through stuff (like the AppRadio *should*) like music and contacts...
The end of my time with the radio was for the situation you describe above, the AppRadio sometimes just wouldn't recognize the iPhone..... making itself a $400 FM tuner....
Anyways, good luck....