Charlienofun

So I really wasn't happy with the stock non-nav touch screen. I did a bunch of research and found an android based double din radio by the brand Pumpkin on amazon. If you have never seen this before these head units are basically hybrid devices with an android tablet as the front end for an car stereo. The car radio end of the system works as a bluetooth host so you get A2DP streaming and audio hands free functions but no data connection. There are tons of variations of this thing available but I picked this one specifically because it has a dual core processor and built in wifi. Its a little cheaper via eBay directly from China but I didn’t mind paying slightly more to be able to return to amazon if needed. It also has built in USB host support I had an old ELM327 USB adapter laying around and it works perfectly with Dash Command! I can install pretty much anything from play store when close enough to a wifi signal and I'm considering getting a 3g dongle for it. I have had the unit up and running for a few days now so far I love it, the music streaming from bluetooth can break up a little when its opening apps or has a few already running but so far thats the only flaw I have experienced. One other really nice feature is it has an built in steering wheel adapter, I actually bought two metra harnesses and cut up one to get two extra pins in the other as I refuse to cut or "tap" the car site wiring harness. In the settings there is an app that lets you map the steering wheel buttons to any function you want - All the buttons work including the bluetooth call answer etc.

Install notes:
Order 2x metra harness (I didn’t use the one included with the american international dash kit at all) I dremeled one of the metras down to where I could just pop two pins back out. Use the pins from the hacked up harness to populate the good harness’s steering wheel connections. Ground the steering wheel control ground to one of the lugs on the din mount not in the radio harness itself (will introduce noise). Connect the signal wire to “KEY-1” we don’t use “KEY-2”. There is a service menu that requires password: 126 once in this menu you can set the boot logo to the mitsubishi diamond, Be careful don't try to enable the CANBUS or you will lose your steering wheel controls we don't use that and its not populated on the metra harness. There is also a menu for setting the button colors they are full RGB so you can set any color you like.

Deck:

Dash Kit + Wiring harness - I couldn’t find it from any sellers that ship prime was the last thing to get here:

XDA Thread on a similar version of this unit:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=2660662

Quick video of an issue i'm having with Torque (new OBD adapter on order)

Veronica

iTrader: (2)

Excellent write up! Thank you!

I was an early adopter with the Pioneer AppRadio2 (using the IPhone4).
Running DashCommand and Wayze...

Sounds like a lot of my issues do not happen with your set up...

Charlienofun

Thanks Veronica - Dash command on android is really well polished. I'd like to get torque to work so I could enable mode23 and get that plugin but so far I can't get the pro version to work with my USB OBD adapter. Same setup works perfectly with dash command. I'll try and get a quick video done tomorrow I just need to borrow an camera that isn't my phone

Veronica

iTrader: (2)

Or get the BT OBD dongle...

Charlienofun

Most likely I will do this. Its just that I already have the old USB one also I need a wifi one for Harrys track timer so in the end i'll have all three versions! Also went in on a tactrix cable with a friend so yea I think I have every darn OBD adapter..

Ancyker

Any particular reason you chose this over the parrot?

Charlienofun

I tried it at Frys about 10 months ago. Not sure if thats a newer version you linked to but back then I didn't think it was very well executed the UI was not good looking. It also only installs apps through its own store this one just has play store.

Made a video I posted to the android torque app forum because I can't get it working with my same ELM adapter that dashcommand works with. None the less can still get an idea about this thing..

Quick video of it in action

nvmaddog

iTrader: (1)

If they stock nav was half as good as this setup above is I'd be thrilled. One one of the biggest failures of all time.

Ancyker

You can side load the play store. The Parrot is also ridiculously easy to root. I'm not sure, your video looks pretty good, but I just feel like that unit has too many physical buttons. It makes it look a bit cluttered.

The quest for in-dash Android that doesn't suck continues... hopefully cyanogenmod will pick up one of these and we'll get a better experience for it. Pure in-dash Android... so simple yet so hard to find.

rydogg008

Nice write-up. I need to do this soon!

Nimpoc

iTrader: (17)

Any hope of getting Evoscan working on this?

GregEvoX

@ Charlienofun
Hi your setup seems great ! I would like to do the same on mine... but I had a couple of questions...
On your car you have 2 plugs from the dash, a 20 pin and an 18 pin. You use the 20 pin and link it up to the stereo for controls and all but what do you do with the 18 pin ?
And how many pre-out does the stereo have ?

Charlienofun

Yea I never use those buttons. Esp after I got the steering wheel controls to work. Its really a situation of least worst when it comes to car radios (at least in my opinion they all sorta suck and are a compromise of sorts). There are some hacks you can do to it I read about on XDA Forum but because its a hybrid device with a lot of the car interface stuff on a separate board I didn't want to risk being able to control the hardware portions.

A friend might also purchase a version they are selling that runs android 4.4 instead of 4.2 like mine. Depending on how that one is I might ask the amazon seller for an way to update mine to 4.4 as well. Time will tell but overall I'm still very happy with it after the first few weeks.

Charlienofun

It supports USB Host right out of the box. I guess its really up to Hamish to release the app on android play or directly sell it. As of right now I think he only offers it if you purchase his full tablet I should email him and send him a pic of my setup, I have been a evoscan customer since beta..

Alternatively you can use this thing with a $10 dollar bluetooth OBD dongle and the torque pro app has a plugin that enables mode23 logging. I think with that it would be possible to capture evoscan compatible logs.. I don't have mode23 enabled on my car yet because that portion of it is still stock When I can I will confirm.

Charlienofun

You only need the one harness for a after market head unit. I ended up using two meta harness's because I hacked one up to get the pins needed for steering wheel controls without cutting my car side harness. I think the other harness has wires for things like reverse and speed sensor. Didn't need any of those connections so its just zip tied out of the way with some other unused factory connections.

I think it has at least 4 preamp outputs possibly 6 but don't recall as I didn't hook up an amp or anything to those RCA connectors. I want to say it was 4 channels out and one more for sub but don't quote me..