Couldn't agree more.  I was very excited for the promise of CarPlay, and in the end the only feature that I actually use that wasn't in my factory radio is the HD Radio.  I don't use CarPlay anymore in the least bit.  It was a colossal disappointment.  Never again, Pioneer.

I love my 8000. CarPlay works wonderfully. SXM and HD Radio both work great. UI is 100x better than the stock Toyota Nav that it replaced. My only complaint that I've ever had with it is that the audio "blanks out" when you adjust the EQ. And maybe the crappy voice quality on the TTS, but I use CarPlay for NAV more than the built-in.

Also if anyone has had any success with hooking up the 4000 to a rooted note 3 and used it with google chromecast without it being extremely zoomed in the top left of the phone mirroring I would appreciate the advice! Thanks

That's likely a Chromecast issue. There has been a thread on the Chromecast support forums for months with many different people having the same problem with many different screens. I returned my Chromecast for that very reason. I heard though that the latest Chromecast firmware might help. Have you updated to the newest version?

Subscribed, this sounds interesting

so I spent the weekend playing around with the open source files pioneer uploads and I just don't know enough about android to really get it yet. Anyone here know anything about compiling android code or work with AOSP? I posted on XDA a while back but didn't hear anything.

[deleted post]

Here is the official released open source for the x100 units.

http://www.oss-pioneer.com/car/multimedia/files/avic-5100nex/index.html

I'm an NEX4000 user, and just had a quick question. I understand BT audio does not work, if all you ever use is Carplay, does everything work normally there? And does Carplay work any faster/better than it does on 1.08 on a 4000?

I'm an NEX4000 user, and just had a quick question. I understand BT audio does not work, if all you ever use is Carplay, does everything work normally there? And does Carplay work any faster/better than it does on 1.08 on a 4000?

Starting at post #26, you'll find that people couldn't get the CarPlay audio to work either. I don't know if that goes over BT or not, but it doesn't presently seem to work.

CarPlay audio does not go through Bluetooth.

CarPlay audio does not go through Bluetooth.

Yep I know - I was just making sure everything related to Carplay works fine when doing this, and whether or not there is any improvement to Carplay performance.

Ill be happy to report that I preformed the latest update to my chromecast and it works great with screen resolution! well not perfect. It has a slight hesitation for touch controls and when u turn it a certain way in landscape mode it its the complete opposite for touch controls yet again. But hey its wireless and working somewhat properly!

Yep I know - I was just making sure everything related to Carplay works fine when doing this, and whether or not there is any improvement to Carplay performance.

Audio from the phone does not work in CarPlay with this hack right now.

Hey guys update time,

I just bought a 4100NEX to upgrade to but while I have both I'll be comparing the differences physically to see what is happening here.

So far I can boot to 1.08 (4000) on my 4100 and experience similar problems as the other way around so I really am starting to think that they changed some of the hardware and didn't make it clear.

The big difference is the screen. not so much the resolution but the presentation. on the 4100 the screen is actually glass like, not that "film" of plastic on the 4000. Its very dense and gloss like in finish not matte. This is the first thing I noticed right off the bat. 

I'll be looking into swapping the internal SD Card out to see what happens when I do that (pulling the 4100 SD card and using it in the 4000). But I think I will have to find the devices password to get this to work so we shall so how that goes.

Can u swap the screens and test?

Thanks Covert for continuing your efforts, especially now that you have both units!

Hey guys update time,

 

I just bought a 4100NEX to upgrade to but while I have both I'll be comparing the differences physically to see what is happening here.

 

So far I can boot to 1.08 (4000) on my 4100 and experience similar problems as the other way around so I really am starting to think that they changed some of the hardware and didn't make it clear.

 

The big difference is the screen. not so much the resolution but the presentation. on the 4100 the screen is actually glass like, not that "film" of plastic on the 4000. Its very dense and gloss like in finish not matte. This is the first thing I noticed right off the bat. 

 

I'll be looking into swapping the internal SD Card out to see what happens when I do that (pulling the 4100 SD card and using it in the 4000). But I think I will have to find the devices password to get this to work so we shall so how that goes.

Awesome. Thanks for keeping the hope alive

Can u swap the screens and test?

Screen swapping won't work, I know this because thats the safety feature of the devices. you take the head unit off when leaving your vehicle and if someone steals your radio, its useless, they can't just buy another and use that, it has to be paired.

Thanks for the mods everyone. I cannot get the links to work for the 4000/4100NEX in the first post. Any ideas?

Covert_Death.....Awesome dedication towards this topic bro.  I was sooooo pissed when Pioneer had to release a new unit just to update Android Auto.  I bought my 4000NEX during last September just in hopes that Android Auto will be made available as a FW update.  Like everybody else here, I am also ranting about less than 1 year old unit purchase which now does not meet my expectations.  

Covert_Death.....Awesome dedication towards this topic bro.  I was sooooo pissed when Pioneer had to release a new unit just to update Android Auto.  I bought my 4000NEX during last September just in hopes that Android Auto will be made available as a FW update.  Like everybody else here, I am also ranting about less than 1 year old unit purchase which now does not meet my expectations.  

sorry for the delay, it's been a buys week at work. I found the SD card inside the unit but as I guessed it's PW protected and I don't know how to extrapolate the PW from the new unit / old unit to unlock it. I don't even know if this would resolve the issue but at least it would be 100% 4100 SW on a 4000 instead of a partial upgrade like the FW seems to be. 

I need to be able to sell one of my units so I hesitate in destroying them any further haha.

Also I have had no luck getting anyone interested on XDA...

sorry for the delay, it's been a buys week at work. I found the SD card inside the unit but as I guessed it's PW protected and I don't know how to extrapolate the PW from the new unit / old unit to unlock it. I don't even know if this would resolve the issue but at least it would be 100% 4100 SW on a 4000 instead of a partial upgrade like the FW seems to be. 

 

I need to be able to sell one of my units so I hesitate in destroying them any further haha.

 

Also I have had no luck getting anyone interested on XDA...

https://fail0verflow.com/blog/2014/enhancing-the-avic-5000nex.html

This guy was able to obtain the password

On a different note, why on 4000 to 4100 is PJ150OPN.PRG named 150 and not 140 like on the stock firmware?

I take it there are different passwords on the 4000 series and the 4100 series?

Pioneer right now mediocrity in a sea of garbage. The head unit manufacturers are not innovating. Frankly I'm glad for CarPlay and android auto because my radio will receive updates and new functionality over time from apple instead of from pioneer.

 

In the 8.3 beta the album art looks better and once again works with third party apps, the phone no longer needs to be unlocked to use CarPlay,(you just tell the phone to trust this head unit and it auto launches after that) the maps now does this thing where if you don't touch it it hides buttons automatically to dedicate more of the screen to the map, Siri has a new button to let me call the person to reply to a text and I have no doubt in the future there will be a button to send audio messages for iMessage conversations.

 

When the interface comes from my phone I don't have to care about the pioneer one. I already have an interface from apple.

There may not be a payoff. For most new cars, the infotainment is so integrated with the rest of the car both physically and electronically that the market for aftermarket audio may be shrinking.