So Waze says it has voice commands. Do things like that work through the AppRadio2? What all does it allow?

I've been using a PNY MHL adapter with my car charger and a 6ft HDMI cable. I don't like that solution because the MHL Adapter has about a 1.5 inch long cable leading to the phone and that means that it's putting all of the weight of the heavy HDMI cable plus the charger's cable onto the micro-usb port of the phone.

 

I tried a micro-usb extension plug and it didn't work either.

 

I didn't see that cable you linked when I was looking for my solution. Looks like a GREAT option!

 

Mind you, the price on the ebay link you provided is $1600!

LOL yah he'll realize soon enough when no one bids. I contacted him just for the heck of it. It is the perfect cable though, light on the phone end. I used a short usb cable to run from the apple /usb connector in the glove box back to the deck and plugged in to the mhl cable. There's a lot of cables running back and forth but they are hidden in the dash so who cares... The only time I need the usb cable is to do a firmware update.

If I recall there are similar mhl cables with longer usb connections on ebay, but I was in a hurry to get one, and could get the one I bought in a couple days since he was in the same province as I am.

So Waze says it has voice commands. Do things like that work through the AppRadio2? What all does it allow?

Far as I know everything works like you'd expect it to running waze. How it compares to other navigation programs I have no idea. I'd still like to see Google navigation integrated myself, until then waze is perfectly acceptable.

I would assume then that the Bluetooth speaker works throughout the head unit and I wouldn't have to talk to the phone in the glove box. No matter, though, I guess. I cannot do without an SD card slot that plays music if the USB won't.

On a semi-related note, I'm also pissed Pioneer doesn't offer free map updates like others do...my crappy Tele Atlas maps are too far behind. Suppose I were to upgrade the firmware...would the factory reset allow me to go back to my original 130BT? This question I imagine applies to all head units.

Bluetooth speaker works through the headunit yes. I have no need of using the USB port for music though. Threw a 64GB microSD card into my phone plus the phone has 16gb of memory to go with that.

Outcasterc, I ordered one of those MHL cables. Same as you I ordered one locally because I want it faster. Heck, if I was in more of a hurry I'd just go pick it up in Markham. I'm going to hard wire a charger in under the radio inside the dash to power it though. With a 1a charger I'm barely charging the battery as it is. Using the USB cable will drain the battery, unfortunately.

The os sees the usb cable and defaults for .5amp charging. I have been looking on and off whether you can trick it into accepting 1amp but haven't found anything yet.

Bluetooth speaker works through the headunit yes. I have no need of using the USB port for music though. Threw a 64GB microSD card into my phone plus the phone has 16gb of memory to go with that.

 

Outcasterc, I ordered one of those MHL cables. Same as you I ordered one locally because I want it faster. Heck, if I was in more of a hurry I'd just go pick it up in Markham. I'm going to hard wire a charger in under the radio inside the dash to power it though. With a 1a charger I'm barely charging the battery as it is. Using the USB cable will drain the battery, unfortunately.

For the record, I meant like if you hit the search query button and spoke your address query to Waze through the bluetooth speaker, it works?

Definitely keep us appraised of the charging capabilities. I thought MHL was supposed to charge the phone...

So how does the head unit GPS antenna cooperate with the phone in Waze?

The head unit just gets fed the video and audio from the phone, the phone itself is playing the music.

Next time I am in the truck I'll try to use waze for navigation and see how it all works. I haven't used it much yet.

The MHL is charging the phone at .5amp. The problem is depending on what your doing your breaking even or slowly falling behind. If it could charge at 1amp we'd come out ahead...

As far as I know android is able to supplement gps with other data.

Ah, so if the phone shows album art, so will the head unit?

I have been looking into Waze now...I wish it weren't so childish looking; I am so close to switching to an AppRadio2...the 130BT is too nerfed for non-iSheeple.

The specifications for MHL allow for the supply of power to the phone if the source (the head unit here) is capable. No other cable is needed. You make it sound like the only power comes from the USB, which is not the same thing. In other words, the head unit isn't set up to deliver power.

Yes the head unit shows the album art and also shows it again as a dim wallpaper behind everything. Looks cool.

Waze does seem to be aimed at 1 year olds for some reason.. It doe the job and hopefully competition will be forthcoming...

From everything I have read you need to supply some sort of power to get the mhl to work, Every cable I looked at had a usb cable that you plugged in. Even if its possible that the mhl cable can be used without powering the phone you'd be draining so fast that it wouldn't be worth it. Your heading backwards already even with additional usb power...

I just did the Kies Air update for my Galaxy S2 to upgrade to ICS 4.0.3, and my AppRadio2 no longer detects the unit for anything other than bluetooth calls. I've seen some earlier posts about ICS's beta on the S2 still working fine with the AR2, and up to 4.0.2. Should I just be waiting for a new firmware update?

By the way, I like the input I've read about Waze; I plan to give it a shot once I get this rest of this figured out.

Yes the head unit shows the album art and also shows it again as a dim wallpaper behind everything. Looks cool.

 

Waze does seem to be aimed at 1 year olds for some reason.. It doe the job and hopefully competition will be forthcoming...

 

From everything I have read you need to supply some sort of power to get the mhl to work, Every cable I looked at had a usb cable that you plugged in. Even if its possible that the mhl cable can be used without powering the phone you'd be draining so fast that it wouldn't be worth it. Your heading backwards already even with additional usb power...

I just did the Kies Air update for my Galaxy S2 to upgrade to ICS 4.0.3, and my AppRadio2 no longer detects the unit for anything other than bluetooth calls. I've seen some earlier posts about ICS's beta on the S2 still working fine with the AR2, and up to 4.0.2. Should I just be waiting for a new firmware update?

 

By the way, I like the input I've read about Waze; I plan to give it a shot once I get this rest of this figured out.

I just did the Kies Air update for my Galaxy S2 to upgrade to ICS 4.0.3, and my AppRadio2 no longer detects the unit for anything other than bluetooth calls. I've seen some earlier posts about ICS's beta on the S2 still working fine with the AR2, and up to 4.0.2. Should I just be waiting for a new firmware update?

 

By the way, I like the input I've read about Waze; I plan to give it a shot once I get this rest of this figured out.

Addendum: I was perusing the menu options on my S2 post-ICS update, as I've also been having issues getting it to connect to my PC via USB. While I was trying to fix that, I noticed the option for USB Debugging had be reset to be disabled. I re-enabled it, plugged it back in to my AppRadio 2, and I get access to the apps again, however the screen goes in and out from static to clear, and no audio output goes through the car (save for calls). I can view the apps on my phone, and touch the deck to get them to work, but nothing more.

I'm beginning to think I either need to revert back to Android 2.3.6 and wait on a firmware update for the AR2, unless there's a known solution.

I tested waze on the way home from work today. I was getting full voice navigation with it also telling me the road names.

However when I tried to use voice input to tell waze where I wanted to go it defaults to google and it's the phone listening for the commands, not the deck mic. So it wasn't able to understand what I was saying. Granted a diesel truck isn't the best thing to be testing voice.

Can't help you with the connecting issue. I don't have connection issues with 4.0.4. Not sure why anything would be different with 4.0.3

I don't suppose you have steering controls hooked up that you used to activate the voice recognition in Waze (or to access the phonebook)? Steering controls work great with the 130BT (with an adapter) and I wouldn't want to give up that capability.

Edit: Just to clarify the specs listed on Pioneer's website, the head unit comes with an MHL connection (with purchased adapter), a USB connection that only supplies power, but no auxiliary connection cable (3.5mm mini)?

Nope, I think the steering wheel controls are available but I don't have it.

There is no other way to input music other then by mhl / hdmi or iphod / iphone. The usb it currently not able to do usb stick. There is no other input. I hope they do decide to change that as I don't see any reason why the deck shouldn't be able to see and use a usb stick but I won't hold my breath.

Waze is free, and I've been using it for a while, but I have yet to see an ad. Is one going to pop up any time soon on me? If not, how is Waze paid for? It would really piss me off to have ads pop up while I'm driving.

Edit: Also, supposing I use Google Navigation despite its lack of complete compatibility, does the voice guidance still go through the car speakers or is it only through the phone itself? I could probably live with using Google Navigation if the directions still went through the car speakers.

Every app can use the deck. All video and audio goes through the deck. You just don't have touch control in non approved apps.

I've never seen an ad in waze myself.

It sounds like I basically just convinced myself to get an AppRadio 2. As soon as Scosche releases their dash kit for my car, I'm on it! I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 arriving in mid-July.

I've seen renewed complaints about BT quality with the Z1xx series. Thankfully I have not had that problem, but I also have not heard any complaints about the BT for the AppRadio 2. Has anyone had issues with this, particularly when changing OS versions?

no complaints from me,,,

I've seen renewed complaints about BT quality with the Z1xx series. Thankfully I have not had that problem, but I also have not heard any complaints about the BT for the AppRadio 2. Has anyone had issues with this, particularly when changing OS versions?

On some devices, notably my Samsung Galaxy S3 and S2 LTE, plus one other person's Droid, all running Android 4.04, Bluetooth has issues connecting to the AppRadio when you start your car, prompting you to allow it every time. I think this is a bug in Android more than in the AppRadio though.

I have had a couple of issue where the AppRadio shows it's saved devices in Bluetooth as 3 devices all named G5: and won't connect. A restart fixes that usually. Once I had to do a factory reset.

On some devices, notably my Samsung Galaxy S3 and S2 LTE, plus one other person's Droid, all running Android 4.04, Bluetooth has issues connecting to the AppRadio when you start your car, prompting you to allow it every time. I think this is a bug in Android more than in the AppRadio though.

 

I have had a couple of issue where the AppRadio shows it's saved devices in Bluetooth as 3 devices all named G5: and won't connect. A restart fixes that usually. Once I had to do a factory reset.

Alot of people are having issues since 4.0.4 Pioneer is clueless, they haven't even heard of a 4.0.4 update yet, so a patch or firmware update is gonna be a while.. Check out "App radio2 Rendered useless" in the main app radio forum

It's a bug in Android though. The way they can sidestep the bug is by allowing the radio to attempt the connection for a longer period of time. At least when they do that a person can get Tasker to click OK to accept the connection before the prompt disappears.