Since neither my wife nor I own an Iphone, Carplay doesn't really mean much to me, I wonder what else will be included in the firmware upgrade coming soon.I am trying to decide between an Alpine X008 and the 8000NEX and The Alpine already has full Idatalink compatibility. I have read here that the Pioneer will not, but will have some Idatalink compatibility.......How much? I would like to know.

So far, the Alpine has a larger screen and Idatalink compatibility. The Pioneer has more features, a better interface and can be had a lot cheaper. I am a Pioneer fan but what this firmware upgrade will be is putting me up in the air about choosing between the units.

That is the million dollar question. Only pioneer knows that one. One can only hope for the features that will take advantage of these head units capabilities. I think we are in beta 1, of the Pioneer NEX firmware. 

There's a few things I'd like to see changed such as splitting the USB ports so they can be on separate interfaces (Digital AV for USB1. USB mode for USB2 etc), things related to AVICSYNC which should hopefully be released such as custom PIOs, speed cameras, fuel prices etc), also a few bugs that need squashing such as sorting of directories on SD cards, random reboots, saved trip data not showing correctly.

All in all though, apart from a few bugs it's a pretty stable unit.

There's a few things I'd like to see changed such as splitting the USB ports so they can be on separate interfaces (Digital AV for USB1. USB mode for USB2 etc), things related to AVICSYNC which should hopefully be released such as custom PIOs, speed cameras, fuel prices etc), also a few bugs that need squashing such as sorting of directories on SD cards, random reboots, saved trip data not showing correctly.

 

All in all though, apart from a few bugs it's a pretty stable unit.

The Alpine already has full Idatalink compatibility. I have read here that the Pioneer will not, but will have some Idatalink compatibility.......How much? I would like to know.

So take this for what it is but a tech from idata posted on another board that the nex radio will only support factory items when paired with the maestro dohicky.  This means no gauges for the nex this year.  Maybe next year radio's will have gauges.  he also brought up that the nex does not even support the idata link yet.  this firmware is supposed to come out with the car play firmware or maybe the one after.

What that really means is anyones guess.  I myself will either get next years radio or go with a kenwood that supports the gauges today.  If car play is more important then the gauges function or you dont even use the idata adapter then I personally like the 4000 now.

Ron 

It'd be nice if they could do something to allow us to play protected movies off of our iphones. 

I haven't tried as I don't own any protected movies, but what happens?

Mixman

The Alpine already has full Idatalink compatibility. I have read here that the Pioneer will not, but will have some Idatalink compatibility.......How much? I would like to know.

 

So take this for what it is but a tech from idata posted on another board that the nex radio will only support factory items when paired with the maestro dohicky.  This means no gauges for the nex this year.  Maybe next year radio's will have gauges.  he also brought up that the nex does not even support the idata link yet.  this firmware is supposed to come out with the car play firmware or maybe the one after.

What that really means is anyones guess.  I myself will either get next years radio or go with a kenwood that supports the gauges today.  If car play is more important then the gauges function or you dont even use the idata adapter then I personally like the 4000 now.

 

Ron 

 

Yeah, that's what I was referring to when I mentioned the NEX units will not fully support the Idatalink Maestro this year. What the limited support is going to be I would like to know. Even without the firmware upgrade it supports almost all standard factory controls, at least on a GM vehicle. So as far as Idatalink I am not sure the firmware upgrade is going to ad that much more......unless they pull a rabit out of the hat and fully support the Maestro.

I would like to try a newer Kenwood, but man are they just painfully slow, especially the 991HD. Slow boot, slow menus. My thought is when driving, you should have your eyes on the road more and less on your Nav/Receiver.

Hopefully once an update becomes available, some of the folks here who are versed in Android will be able to find some way to alter the firmware to provide enhancements.  Being able to raise the 15,000 files/1,500 folder limits would be sweet.

I would like to try a newer Kenwood, but man are they just painfully slow, especially the 991HD. Slow boot, slow menus. My thought is when driving, you should have your eyes on the road more and less on your Nav/Receiver.

Even the 991HD is painful? I remember some folks gushing about how Kenwood was going to solve world hunger the performance problem with the 991, versus the 990. A shame, since having Garmin nav was a definite plus at times. 

Yeah it looks like the 991HD is still painfully slow. That was one of my biggest gripes about them. Takes awhile to change album artwork from iPod. Can only switch songs once the artwork is loaded. The boot time was horrendous. 

The only real positive for Kenwood is Garmin. Coming from a Kenwood to the 8000NEX is like night and day. Do I miss my Garmin. Not really. With Carplay the Pioneer units will only be better. Also the album art from SiriusXM is nice..although I will most likely be canceling do to O&A. 

There are still some issues with the Pioneer but nothing earth shattering or things that won't be improved with a firmware upgrade.

Yeah a saleman actually recomended the 891HD saying it's faster. It does seem to be too. With all of those features they have crammed into the the 991HD they forgot to upgrade the processor. So for me, this year, it's between the 8000NEX and the Alpine x008U.

Other than a bigger screen I don't see the Alpine having anything over the 8000. I'll take the capacitive screen, XM artwork, flac support, and faster processor.

I have the Kenwood DNN990HD.  Aside from boot time and losing Navi locations too frequently, I'm satisfied.  It has some audio tweaks that the NEX units are seriously lacking... and audio performance was my main objective.  I don't have a problem with album art from my iPod... sure, it could display faster, but I don't have to wait for art to be displayed before switching songs.  Bought it way before the 8000NEX was released... but I now have the 8000NEX, which is going in my other vehicle as soon as I get a chance to do all the dash customization required to get a d-din unit in.

Mixman,

Here is the email I received from Idata sales when I inq'ed about a radio for my car.  its a 2012 beetle.

Unfortunately, the only choices you have for radio that will retain what you have in your car now are Kenwood (2014 DNN, DNX, and DDX with HDMI) and Alpine 2014 Navi models (INE-957HD, X008U).  The Pioneer NEX series radios are listed as compatible but Pioneer has not yet released the update for the radios to make them work serially with iDatalink. 

That says it to me none of them work with idatalink yet?  He may have been refering to them working serially specific if they can work another way with GM.

Ron

I know right now the Pioneers are not truly compatible with the Idatalink features. It works like any other radio when connected to an Idatalink Maestro. What my fear is......I buy the 8000 and find out the firmware to upgrade it to compatibility either never materializes or is very minimal at best.

Yep I hear that.  That is why if I get a radio this year before it comes out I am getting a kenwood.  If the firmware comes out before I get a radio I may have to see how it works before I buy it.

Ron

I honestly say on all counts wait.

None of the radios from any manufacturer have been listed as supporting android auto.

Only the Pioneer NEX line has been confirmed to support Carplay (with a future update)

Alpine has said nothing about when and how the future Carplay support will be arriving.

None of the other manufactures have been listed as Carplay providers.

So in my opinion, wait. Unless your radio is broken, this is a very good time to be patient. By Christmas things will be much more flushed out and you can get yourself a nice present.

Well for me right now Carplay is a non factor. I won't take my phone out of my pocket to hook it up to a Nav unit, so until they will allow Bluetooth Carplay or even an Android Carplay with Bluetooth (I have a Galaxy 3), Carplay is not for me.

As of right now most are waiting on Pioneer to see what's in this firmware upgrade besides Carplay.......Bug Fixes, Idatalink support, maybe a few more features???

I spoke with Idatalink and they say they get several calls a day about what Pioneer's firmware support will be. As far as GM vehicles are concerned, it will mostly just add OEM Sirius/XM support to the NEX units, with a few more things such as digital fader on factory amps and a other minor things. They will not add any vehicle info or car data.......But I think most of you knew that already.

I want to get one of these but this unit is starting to seem a little half assed until the firmware upgrade comes.......and that may end up being late. No Avicsync and no Idatalink support right now. Support for either or both might end up late as hell. Remember only six months until the next CES and the new units are announced.........And these forgotten.