F900BT owner thinking put in an AppRadio...

[Emmet]

Actually I already have the DA 100 box in my trunk, I was thinking to use the Pioneer rebate, putting it the price range usd 300 here in Sweden. However, I cant decide if I want to keep it and install it, or actually return it. Been reading a lot here the last few days and been looking at a lot of youtube DA100 videos.. A few weeks ago the idea of an "app radio" seemed really nice but now I'm getting second thoughts....

 

Maybe someone here did a F700/900 swap to an AppRadio and want to share thoughts and ideas?

 

I'm using an iPhone 5 and its working so-so with the F900. Music streams, bt works ofc but charging the phone some days wont work, "device not compatible with this accessory". I use the maps frequently while driving, but sometimes I skip out on connecting the phone by wire, keeping it in my pocket instead. Or maybe I'm facetimeing or texting. Seem to me that well.. I don't know if I can stand for connecting the phone all the time to access maps.

 

From what I read, the DA 100 is not very iPhone 5 friendly, using bt as data communication doesn't feel like an "upgrade" to me. I'm not blaming Pioneer, they did a hell of a job getting the the Appradio to communicate at all with the very messy Lightning units, Im just laying out the facts. The F900 is getting old and slow but there's nothing "wrong" with it apart from the phone charging problem, for me.

 

I want to "upgrade", not just "throw in a new deck just because its good price". Spotify I would like to work with the on screen display, not just controlling from the phone... I wonder how far away App Radio Extensions are from working with iPhone 5/ios6 on an AppRadio 2... Guess that with iPhone 5 using bt data transfer, the touchscreen will be extremely laggy?

 

I was thinking "Wow, Google satellite in the deck.. Navigon, and Plex!!, on the deck" but the more I'm reading the more I'm getting kind of... skeptic.

May I have some constructive feedback from a "daily AppRadio user"? How do you like your decks? Is it an "upgrade"?

[dannyz3343]

Daily AppRadio 2 user with an iPhone 5 so perfect candidate for you. The 5 integration is actually fantastic. The only things you have to buy for it is an HDMI Cable the Lightning AV adaptor and a spare lightning cable. You plug the phone into the USB port the original iPhone adaptor uses and plug the HDMI into the lighting AV cable. The only qualm I have is that it takes a little while for bluetooth to fully pair in the way that the AppRadio can control the 5 (about as long as it took the original AppRadio to finish booting). Great way to make that less painless though is to just preopen the app you were going to open anyways and as soon as the AppRadio finishes pairing the app will launch on screen without any input from you. It only uses bluetooth to control the Phone. Audio and video come through the HDMI Port. Once it pairs it is very responsive and works as well as it did when I had a 4S.

 

Now, major advantages of the 5 setup and appradio in general. 

 

1. The audio quality is noticeably better. You can't beat a clean digital signal. The sound quality from the AppRadio was already superb but now it's orgasmic.

2. Full Phone mirroring. Sure you can't control unsupported applications, but it's still incredibly nice. Want google maps in your car? Done. Want to check your r/funny on alien blue during rush hour traffic to kill some time? Done. want to watch netflix with a lady friend while parked somewhere private? Done. This requires some form of a parking break bypass but you get the idea. 

3. Supported apps. New ones come all the time and I think that now that the 5 is officially supported by multiple head units you will see an uptick in apps supported for the radio. Many of the apps that are there already are amazing. Dash Command is worth every expensive penny. It's like I have a GTR Now with all the gauges I have access to. Waze will addictive. I use it even when I'm not driving. Gives me free traffic warnings and I get cool little achievements for driving certain places and business. CarMedia player could use a little work. I wish it worked exactly like AppRadio 2's built in iPod app only smoother and more responsive, but alas that is not the case. It is still a great app and one of my daily use apps. Personally those three are all I need but there are other options. Pandora is there as well. I don't use it anymore but when I did I liked the implementation a lot. I agree with you about spotify. However the joy of AppRadio is that even though it isn't supported now that in no way means it never will be. 

4. Microphone sound quality. It's superb. Siri always understands me even at highway speed and most times I speak to people over the phone they have no idea they are on a carphone unless a loud ass semi truck comes barreling by. The setup is not a stereo microphone but the underlying hardware is from parrot and they are the best in the business. Best carphone i've ever used. 

 

In my personal opinion it is the best radio I've ever used bar none. The interface is incredibly clean and professional. Most radios are straight out of fisher price user interface wise. The sound quality is fantastic, it has not given me a single issue, the apps I use are awesome, and I seriously have no complaints. That's rare for me. 

 

If you have any other questions let me know. 

[dannyz3343]

Oh also, if you want true full on control, what I plan on doing in the near future is getting an android 4.0+ device that works with the AppRadio, installing ARLiberator, permanently hiding the android device and turning the AppRadio into one big mobile Android box. That will give me full control of every Android app around, which most of them already work in landscape, and I get access to more applications than the AppRadio was ever going to have. 

[Emmet]

How is the mirroring image quality? I'm guessing the iPhone can only output 720p and 1080p, using 720 to the AppRadio?

Is the AppRadio down-scaling the 1280x720 to 800x480 perfectly nice?

Like if you mirror a Safari webpage, does it looks real crisp and.. well "sharp down-scaled"?

 

Are really the AppMode apps as nice as u say, Danny? Do they scale (and fill the 16:9) correctly with the 5 and mirroring?

 

An android I would never own, I just wouldn't. Plus I would need a twin SIM-card or set up a shared network from the iPhone to get online with the droid. Also a "workaround", and its nice to get the iPhone charged while in-car so I prefer to keep it as my only mobile. After all, it is a car. I myself, like probably many others here on AVIC411, have done wild (read high end) audio installations when I was younger, but now I'm too old and just want things to work. No more CD-changers, hard drive installations or extra modules. One deck, one phone.

 

Still not 100% convinced, I would like to see a DA100 + iPhone 5 video, boot-up time and some playing around. The only iPhone 5 + DA100 video around is Pioneers "commercial" one. Could u give me a short 2 min. tour?

[dannyz3343]

Sure. I am going on a trip till sunday and won't be with the car, but when I return I will make a youtube video with my iPad mini of the whole setup, iPhone 5, AppRadio apps and all. I will run it straight from boot, show off some of the apps and mirroring so you can judge for yourself the quality. 

 

to answer some of your questions in the mean time. 

 

Mirroring doesn't take up the whole screen. This is the iPhone's fault. Pioneer does not set their radio screen to overscan but the iPhone displays with overscan in mind so the mirrored screen is slightly smaller than the whole display and apple doesn't let you turn off overscan protection. More or less it is as big as the original appradio screen. I like the quality of the mirroring. Everything is very clear. Occasionally I notice an artifact or two but I think that's the HDMI adaptor's fault. Regardless with how far away your face is from the Radio you won't see the pixels so whatever resolution it is being scaled to doesn't matter. 

 

AppRadio apps run in full screen with no overscan problems, and they seem to run at the native resolution of the AppRadio. They are designed with the overscan issue in mind because they were designed to run with the AppRadio. Not all the apps are awesome. Inrix is absolute garbage. Don't get MotionX GPS drive. You have to pay monthly to use it and they require a 25 dollar fee to be allowed to display on the AppRadio 2 even though they didn't require it on the original AppRadio. Aupeo is a nice spotify/pandora half way alternative but it does not yet support iOS 6.1 or the 5 in appradio mode. Overall touch response with the majority of the apps are very good. Map apps work well with multitouch gestures. 

 

Overall display quality is decent. Black levels are poor. Frankly I've never seen an aftermarket car radio with an out of this world display, but the appradio screen is better than most. While it doesn't produce fantastic blacks the backlight is very even. You don't get that LED effect that there are random bright spots. Other colors are very good and the apps you use take the black levels into account and are usually brightly colored or a nice grey that displays well on the Radio. 

[Emmet]

Sweet The return policy is due on tuesday.

 

My F900 still is a very nice machine, its free from the ugly graphics (slightly modded) and has an ok user interface. Im just a bit skeptic to change since the iPhone 5 is kind of semi-supported. The native iPod functionality.. I've got it today on the F900+iPhone 5 and even thou there are Apps that can access the iPod, like EC Touch etc., it still feels like a workaround. With the cashback Pioneer is offering, I'm wondering if there's a AppRadio 3 coming soon, or what's going on.

 

Would be really interesting to know how far away the App Radio Ext. are from finding a backgrounder to make it work on an AppRadio2+iPhone 5 setup. I honestly thought my jailbreaking days were over... haha

[dannyz3343]

Here are two videos that hopefully give you what you're looking for. 

 

AppRadio mode with the iPhone 5 including boot and pairing time. 

http://youtu.be/WS7Oldze0DQ

 

Mirroring mode.

http://youtu.be/zQwgEFjVrII

 

Enjoy.

[Emmet]

Awesome, thanks a bunch! Everything looks totally fine

If I was to install a new deck, based on not having a screen before, I would without any doubt put in an AppRadio.

 

Total mirroring with unsupported apps control would of course be epic on the 5, but I guess it's ok to use the phone too (if installed neatly in the car).

I still find it real hard deciding if I should throw it in, or return it. It's not the money (probably will make a profit, selling the F900), it's the "accessibility", that the phone "needs" to be wired in order to have the maps and so on. Maybe its just a matter of getting used to? Talk about modern problems, holy cow!

[dannyz3343]

Haha I would suggest a good car dock to make it easy. I had a take off a little excess material but my proclip dock worked great. The biggest advantage I see is that since the phone powers things regardless, this setup always makes sure your battery stays topped off as it mans your radio.

[Emmet]

My setup in my old beater looks like this.

The iPhone 5 fits nice in the same location, only thing is when needed to do horizontal, I have to pick it up and manually flip it for a second to make it landscape.

Unboxed the DA100 yesterday carefully to check it.. Holding it next to the F900, there is no doubt - it's time to upgrade! Visually, there are only two things;

The aluminum decor I would try and darken a bit, and the white illumination is going to look weird in my car, would like to film it orange in some way. I'm anal. Yes.

[dannyz3343]

Stick shift after my own heart. That is one very classy setup. Hopefully you can tweak the look to make you happy. You obviously have put a lot of love into your car. 

[Emmet]

Can't ride the Nurburgring Nordschleife with an automatic

A lot of love, yes. And a lot of destruction when modifying the dash to fit a 2-din. It was _not_ a pretty sight haha.. but turned out nice.

By the looks of it I can use the same leather bezel I made for the F900! Petty this winter is extremely cold, it's 15 degree F here now, not ideal for changing deck...

[dannyz3343]

Tip for that if you can manage it. Sunny day doors closed. Run the heat for a little while, (maybe after giving the old radio its goodbye drive), and then go through the install letting the sun take care of warmth.

[Emmet]

Closed doors might be tough. Its extremely tight as of today, need to remove panels in the foot-wells to route the wire harness and add HDMI etc, it's not just plug-and-play, but yes a lot easier to swap rather than doing a first time install. Thinking to put in a hidden switch to activate/deactivate headlight/illum signal so I don't have to dim the unit every time it gets dark (our cars here always running with headlights on).

 

Today, my microphone is integrated in the roof lining (I actually drilled a hole, where its peeking out, black lining make it very stealthy), do I need to change the mic? It appears to be the same connector in the units, maybe the DA100's mic is better?

 

The GPS-antenna, today placed under the rear shelf, I will leave that one as is. It's also the same connector, and changing that one is a big project.

[dannyz3343]

The DA100 mic is phenomenal for me. I'm very happy with its performance. I think the amazing performance is radio side though. Parrot handles the telephone sound processing on that unit and they make the best in the business. If it's the same connector I would try the old mic out first to see how that works. If the GPS worked where it was before then that should be fine with the new unit.