(car audio) Parrot ASTEROID Smart

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nrtower1

Member
Mar 7, 2013
6
7
I own this device and the previous classic model. The classic model was junk. The Smart is amazing. Absolutely no crashes, great audio and nav. I would definitely suggest installing one. It runs on 2.3.7. The only complaint is it doesn't include Google accounts or any gapps. I have successfully installed the Google framework and managed to get google music, maps, and plus working. Play store functions but crashes on downloads. Google talk crashes immediately. I would like to figure out how to get into the recovery and possibly flash the gapps to see if this fixes the problem. Anyway...super happy with the out of the box product.
 

wessel99

Member
Nov 7, 2007
21
2
I own this device and the previous classic model. The classic model was junk. The Smart is amazing. Absolutely no crashes, great audio and nav. I would definitely suggest installing one. It runs on 2.3.7. The only complaint is it doesn't include Google accounts or any gapps. I have successfully installed the Google framework and managed to get google music, maps, and plus working. Play store functions but crashes on downloads. Google talk crashes immediately. I would like to figure out how to get into the recovery and possibly flash the gapps to see if this fixes the problem. Anyway...super happy with the out of the box product.

Same experce here. Owned the classic in a previous car and just installed the smart this week (including the Unika canbus interface). Steering wheel buttons work perfect and the unit is supersmooth. Multi tasks really well (music, tomtom, radar trap alerts) and also pairs really nicely with my phone. Only have to convince my galaxy nexus to automatically tether bluetooth internet connections, but a GNex problem not the smarts.

No crashes to date (with a lot of sideloaded apps), great soundquality (if maybe not too loud, but loud enough in my alfa 159) and equalizer possibilities and the buttons work instantly, a problem that the classic had (laginess with the unika interface).
 

Khael

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2006
152
9
In the middle

nrtower1

Member
Mar 7, 2013
6
7
I sideloaded adw launcher and have no issues customizing the home screen. Im currently testing just about any app I can....subsonic, opera, pandora, dolphin...work perfectly. Ill try some widget apps and report. This unit has a lot of promise...
 

danger355

Senior Member
Sep 5, 2009
55
19
I'm going to get one of these too for my Pathfinder... as soon as I can find someone to sell me one. I've never had this much trouble even getting in contact with someone at a stereo shop... :confused:

---------- Post added at 01:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:12 PM ----------

...Steering wheel buttons work perfect...

Do you mean the steering wheel control peripheral that is included with the head unit, or is this thing compatible with controls that are built in to the steering wheel from the factory?
 

nrtower1

Member
Mar 7, 2013
6
7
I'm going to get one of these too for my Pathfinder... as soon as I can find someone to sell me one. I've never had this much trouble even getting in contact with someone at a stereo shop... :confused:

---------- Post added at 01:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:12 PM ----------



Do you mean the steering wheel control peripheral that is included with the head unit, or is this thing compatible with controls that are built in to the steering wheel from the factory?

Crutchfield is where I would suggest purchasing one. They offer everything you need to install it, harnesses...etc. for free. Plus, they have a no questions asked return policy. If you have factory steering wheel controls you will need to purchase the UNIKA controller from parrot. It has seamless integration. I don't recall the price.
 

wessel99

Member
Nov 7, 2007
21
2
Thanks for your review.
So TomTom can be used without problem?
If you receive a bluetooth call during Navigation what happens

Is possible to install widget to have a result like this? (http://www.pioneer.eu/images/products/carnavigationpackage/pioneer/avic-f320bt-blue_thumbnail.jpg) using beautiful widget in example?

there is a night mode?

Last question: is possibile to switch mute fastly?

Thanks in advance....but i can't find more information about this unit!

Haven't received a call during navigation yet, good question. I remember using my smartphone as nav and getting called 5 minutes before I arrived, navigating small streets and getting lost by losing directions. Tomtom works without a glitch, very fast and smooth, albeit that it takes some time to boot.

Widgets seem to work, haven't tested a lot yet.

I'm not sure what you mean with switch "mute"? There is no specific mute button, but a pause button which will kill the radio or mp3s playing. Switching between inputs is very fast too (click music -> whichever source you need).

Night mode is switched automatically and has a few options: car iso-lead (if it has lights in the iso lead), unika interface (this is the canbus interface for steering wheel controls and various other info like reversing lights etc. Should even support park distance control in the future as stated in parrots dev forum), and also GPS using sunlight hours.


I'm going to get one of these too for my Pathfinder... as soon as I can find someone to sell me one. I've never had this much trouble even getting in contact with someone at a stereo shop... :confused:

---------- Post added at 01:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:12 PM ----------



Do you mean the steering wheel control peripheral that is included with the head unit, or is this thing compatible with controls that are built in to the steering wheel from the factory?

There is no remote control included, just the radio, the leads and the usb-gps receiver. What I meant is that if you buy the additional Unika interface, this can be configured to listen to the cars resistive (old school) or canbus steering wheel messages and deliver them to the parrot. Added functionality of the canbus option is that is can read more messages on the canbus like when the car is in reverse, lights etc.
 

danger355

Senior Member
Sep 5, 2009
55
19
Crutchfield is where I would suggest purchasing one. They offer everything you need to install it, harnesses...etc. for free. Plus, they have a no questions asked return policy. If you have factory steering wheel controls you will need to purchase the UNIKA controller from parrot. It has seamless integration. I don't recall the price.

There is no remote control included, just the radio, the leads and the usb-gps receiver. What I meant is that if you buy the additional Unika interface, this can be configured to listen to the cars resistive (old school) or canbus steering wheel messages and deliver them to the parrot. Added functionality of the canbus option is that is can read more messages on the canbus like when the car is in reverse, lights etc.

Ah, so that's what the UNIKA interface is, thanks!

FYI, looks like they're sold out at Parrot... looks like I'll have to hunt around for it.

edit:

Looks like newegg has them: newegg.com
 
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0space_monkey0

Senior Member
Feb 26, 2011
133
19
Detroit, MI
contentzero.tv
if you're getting it from Crutchfield, use this coupon: 3A788

you'll get $25 off ;)

Thanks! Your coupon made me jump in and make this purchase. I've been eyeballing this system for awhile!

Ordered mine today and will report back after I get this installed. Super excited to start developing for this. (maybe a custom rom)

---------- Post added at 08:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:43 PM ----------

could you explain how you installed google maps (navigation)?

Tomorrow i'll buy it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD4LSdZ3OBs
 
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hootzter

Member
Mar 20, 2009
11
4
Hi,

I also bought one and installed it in my car. At the moment the device works fine. But I also want to install the play store with a working google account to install my legaly bought license of Navigon. Did someone manage to get the PlayStore and a google account to work?

I'd also be interested in root, a custom rom and recovery mode. Are there any plans in this direction?

Regards

hootzter
 

danger355

Senior Member
Sep 5, 2009
55
19
Thanks! Your coupon made me jump in and make this purchase. I've been eyeballing this system for awhile!

Ordered mine today and will report back after I get this installed. Super excited to start developing for this. (maybe a custom rom)

Welcome :)

Looks like you may have got the last one for now lol.

Mine should be delivered tomorrow (maybe today - fingers crossed). UNIKA interface is out for delivery now :victory: :D

I'm all in for helping out if you need testing. Not too good at coding yet.. still learning, but I'll help out where I can!
 
Last edited:

crater

Senior Member
Feb 16, 2009
145
5
Got my smart this weekend and have been tinkering all week long in my breaks at work. Replaced an an original Asteroid(now called Classic). I had no issues with the classic originally. Didn't like how it was limited to android 1.5, and the non-standard display and controls limited apps that would work. Eventually It developed issues related to heat. Could be 90 out, but my car sitting in the parking lot apparently got the inside of the dash too hot and the radio would over heat, POP all the speakers and lock up till it cooled down. After weeks of battling back and forth with support they shipped me a refurbished unit. Connected it, made sure it was all working and did not have the same issues (yet) and then pulled it out and put it on ebay. Using the cash I bought the smart and have not looked back.

Android 2.3, standard interface and touch controls. So far every app works. some things will causes app crashes, but very few and far between. Installed google framework, Maps/Nav (and used the make offline feature to get maps of pretty much all of LA county and the inland empire and everything in between offline). Pandora, SiriusXM, Spotify, Torque(tho i can't pair my ELM due to non 0000 pair code) and Trapster. Everything working great. Lets you set custom backgrounds and such just like standard android which is nice for a customization feature for a headunit.

Bluetooth has been working nicely to my SGS3 on sprint. Using wifi tether treve mod for internet connectivity.
 

danger355

Senior Member
Sep 5, 2009
55
19
How about going from ODBii > Smart via USB cable instead of bluetooth?

Does Torque support USB?
 

hootzter

Member
Mar 20, 2009
11
4
I found a hint on the parrot developer zone how to adb the parrot asteroid smart, if this is connected to your computer via usb. You need a login to the developer zone, so I post the plain text here. I hope there is someone, who can and will use this information for root, custom rom, add google account and all the other nice things :).

################################################################################################

Developing on an ASTEROID target
If you have an ASTEROID device, you can test and debug your application directly on it. It requires that your ASTEROID device is connected to your computer using a USB cable via the device micro USB port.

For Windows users:
To be recognized by your computer and by Eclipse IDE, you need to define your device as a Composite ADB Inerface:

Locate the Android SDK folder (we call it <android_sdk>)
Go to <android_sdk>/extras/google/usb_driver
Open "android_winusb.inf" file
Look for the list of predefined ADB interfaces blocks such as "Google NexusOne" and add the folowing block:
; ParrotASTEROID
%CompositeAdbInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_0451&PID_D102&MI_01
%SingleAdbInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_0451&PID_D102
%SingleAdbInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_0451&PID_D102
%CompositeAdbInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_0451&PID_D102&MI_01
%CompositeAdbInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_0451&PID_D102&MI_01
Simply restart your adb with the command "kill-server"
That's it !
If you are encountering issues while installing your device, you may refer to the following forum post

For Linux users:
Create a file in /etc/udev/rules.d named parrot.rules with this content:

SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="19cf", ATTR{idProduct}=="1000", MODE="0666", GROUP="plugdev"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="0451", ATTR{idProduct}=="d00e", MODE="0666", GROUP="plugdev"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="0451", ATTR{idProduct}=="cafe", MODE="0666", GROUP="plugdev"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="0451", ATTR{idProduct}=="d102", MODE="0666", GROUP="plugdev"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="0451", ATTR{idProduct}=="d100", MODE="0666", GROUP="plugdev"
This file supports ASTEROID Smart, Tablet and Mini devices

It will permits to have you device accessible by adb (or flash) using the USB connector without running adb usb in root

It is not compatible with ADB over Ethernet.

So, if exist you must remove this line in init.parrot.sh "setprop service.adb.tcp.port 5555"

####################################################################################################################
 

nrtower1

Member
Mar 7, 2013
6
7
I found a hint on the parrot developer zone how to adb the parrot asteroid smart, if this is connected to your computer via usb. You need a login to the developer zone, so I post the plain text here. I hope there is someone, who can and will use this information for root, custom rom, add google account and all the other nice things :).

################################################################################################

Developing on an ASTEROID target
If you have an ASTEROID device, you can test and debug your application directly on it. It requires that your ASTEROID device is connected to your computer using a USB cable via the device micro USB port.

For Windows users:
To be recognized by your computer and by Eclipse IDE, you need to define your device as a Composite ADB Inerface:

Locate the Android SDK folder (we call it <android_sdk>)
Go to <android_sdk>/extras/google/usb_driver
Open "android_winusb.inf" file
Look for the list of predefined ADB interfaces blocks such as "Google NexusOne" and add the folowing block:
; ParrotASTEROID
%CompositeAdbInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_0451&PID_D102&MI_01
%SingleAdbInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_0451&PID_D102
%SingleAdbInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_0451&PID_D102
%CompositeAdbInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_0451&PID_D102&MI_01
%CompositeAdbInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_0451&PID_D102&MI_01
Simply restart your adb with the command "kill-server"
That's it !
If you are encountering issues while installing your device, you may refer to the following forum post

For Linux users:
Create a file in /etc/udev/rules.d named parrot.rules with this content:

SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="19cf", ATTR{idProduct}=="1000", MODE="0666", GROUP="plugdev"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="0451", ATTR{idProduct}=="d00e", MODE="0666", GROUP="plugdev"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="0451", ATTR{idProduct}=="cafe", MODE="0666", GROUP="plugdev"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="0451", ATTR{idProduct}=="d102", MODE="0666", GROUP="plugdev"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="0451", ATTR{idProduct}=="d100", MODE="0666", GROUP="plugdev"
This file supports ASTEROID Smart, Tablet and Mini devices

It will permits to have you device accessible by adb (or flash) using the USB connector without running adb usb in root

It is not compatible with ADB over Ethernet.

So, if exist you must remove this line in init.parrot.sh "setprop service.adb.tcp.port 5555"

####################################################################################################################

I've already been into it with ADB. As far as I can tell there is no stock recovery. I've tried several attempts to root the thing, to no avail. Going to fire up Linux and see if I can make any headway.
 

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    I'm not sure where I found this info, but I don't believe it was here, so I thought I'd leave a little write up about enabling Google Voice Search. First I found and downloaded the old voice search apk. You will need to search for voice search 2.1.4 apk..should be a legitimate free download. However, as I'm sure many have tried and seen, it simply force closes when installed. So, as mentioned, I found a post somewhere that pointed to the missing lib...oh so obviously named libvoicesearch.so. It can be found in the gingerbread gapps zip. Again, you can just search for that...I found it on goo.im/gapps. Now on a basic level, we're done, you can have your voice control icon and a voice input button will be added to maps and the browser.

    voice_search.jpg

    maps.jpg

    browser.jpg


    So, we're just missing one more thing...voice typing from the keyboard into any app. Unfortunately whatever it is that triggers keyboards to display a voice input key is still missing. So, simply installing Gingerbread Keyboard isn't enough to enable the functionality. I tried out quite a few keyboards and obviously they are all keying off the same thing...perhaps it's a bit to flip in some config file...regardless it's not there currently. I did find two keyboards(there are possibly more) that will present the key. One is SwiftKey, the other Kii. Neither are free, Kii only clears it's fancy prediction dictionary when not registered, so I went with it...plus it has a better voice input presentation. Only final caveat is that neither of these will show the voice key as a primary key...you have to hold another key and it will popup as the first option...so it's not too bad. Still looking for a perfect solution, but this functions in the meantime.

    kii.jpg


    I guess I'll go ahead and post up a few other things from my setup that folks might find useful since I'm here.

    1. Tablet Talk - Direct Text message forwarding from your phone. There are a few programs like this, but this one uses a direct link (BT or Wifi) from your phone and doesn't have to go out to some other server to store/fetch messages. Interface it okay, designed for tablets, so a bit cramped on the small screen. But seems to function pretty well. I'm connected via bluetooth and it doesn't interfere with voice call functionality at all. You do have to run a service on your phone also, but so far I haven't noticed any negative impact. Oh yeah, needs an Android phone...but we're on XDA right...so that shouldn't be a problem for most.

    tablet_talk.jpg


    2.Android Weather Widget - I have discovered, along with others, that the majority of weather widgets don't play nicely with the Asteroid. Since it's gingerbread, the widgets basically think it's a phone and even when connected to some wifi network, when it can't get initial location triangulation via a cellular data network...it will never get a location lock. Elsewhere someone found a non-free widget that functioned correctly, but I'm cheap... I finally found the Android Weather Widget after trying quite a few. It's pulls location via the gps and then grabs the needed data from wifi. Works and looks great. Using it with ADW in the screenshot of my current setup. As an aside, so far ADW is working nicely.

    adw_weather.jpg


    3. PerApp - Most of the time I like to use Google Navigation for my mapping needs. I quickly found there was no way to adjust the volume on the Asteroid. It is not tied to master or notification...well it does adjust with master(since, you know, it's the master volume), but it's at a much lower level than the music so can't play nicely. Found PerApp, which allows me to go in and set up to a +15db increase for the app. Works like a charm. Also has rotation functionality(again per app) that functions great. Only caveat can be found in one of my previous posts. Make sure to turn off it's screen timeout functionality. You can't set it to 0(which in this case is no timeout) and it will default to 1 minute. You will then get an annoying clock popup every minute and go crazy trying to find out why. So after installing you might needs something like SOFFT to reset the default timeout.

    4. AsteroidTweaker - Mentioned just above, I basically use this to have a reboot functionality without having to have a paperclip handy along with getting my unit to resume from my USB drive most of the time. Also has various other tweak and fixes. Worth a look. Steering wheel control people, it claims to have some fixes for that also...but I haven't looked into it much as I do not. One negative I have noticed is that when switching between sources, it get's a little confused and jumps back a forth for a second...I don't switch sources that often, so minor annoyance for me.

    5. Droid VNC Server, Dropbear SSH Server(not my first choice and now discontinued, but works). Using VNC to capture screens, it's also nice to play around from the comfort of my house. A bit slow to refresh and makes some actions pretty difficult, but overall works well. Always nice to be able to SSH in and take a look around also.

    6. AdAway - Host file ad blocker.

    7. Mongoose web server - This is actually for running on a windows PC. Just throwing it in because it's handy. Basically just throw the executable in a directory of file you want to access remotely and start it up. Then you can browse to your pc from the Asteroid Smart web browser and download the stuff you are wanting to get on your device. Sure you could also start up the SSH Server and scp, or install and sftp server, but this is just handy sometime.

    Anyway, hope this might help some folks out. I had nice helpful links in place for the apps, but XDA apparently did not care for that within my great wall of text. Not quite sure why it refused to let me post with the links... Anyway, let me know if you have any questions on things I've mentioned...
    6
    Thank you, sounds great. Please keep us updated! :good:

    So, i've managed to build a kernel, compile CWM and i'm in the process of compiling CM10.1

    luckily my Big bro works for HP and has loaned me a VM on one of his HPCloud Farms.

    my current issue is reverting to a working unit. if i replace the current recovery with CWM, i cant just put a stock rom back because the stock rom uses a PLF file. i was hoping that the PLF was just a renamed ZIP, but i dont think it is.

    so, as you can understand i'm a bit wary of just flashing the recovery.img using ADB if i cant but it all back.. i've taken a copy of the mtd0 and mtd 1 devices but they're pretty useless if i cant get the thing to boot and its bricked..

    i'll do some research and maybe even get in touch with parrot themselves to see what my options are..
    5
    Hey everyone,

    After a few failed attempts at getting the Play Store working on my Asteroid Smart I eventually got it to work, to be honest it wasn't complicated just long winded.

    I have gone through the other write up's and some didn't work (at least for me anyway) so I thought I'd share 'my' installation process, if it helps 1 person then it was worth the effort :good:

    1. Install Framaroot from here http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2130276 I used 1.4.1

    I followed this video to install the apps

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD4LSdZ3OBs

    This is the installation procedure I followed for Framaroot

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTFVkjtxaWA

    After installing Framaroot, take the little panel off the left hand side and reboot!

    2. Download Root Browser Lite from here and Install.

    3. Download GoogleServicesFramework.apk here & Vending.apk here and copy both files onto your SD card.

    4, Install GoogleServicesFramework.apk

    I then rebooted the Asteroid Smart.

    5. Using Root Browser Lite, locate Vending.apk on your SD Card and copy the file to /system/app on the root of the Asteroid.

    6. Long press the Vending.apk file and go to 'Permissions' I set Users/Group/Others to Read & Write access.

    Again I rebooted the Asteroid.

    7. Create a shortcut to Vending and login to your google account, at this point I did get an error but I just continued and logged in.

    That was it :D It works perfectly!

    I also installed used Market Helper from here to trick the Google Play Store into thinking my Asteroid was my Samsung Galaxy S3. The only issue I found doing this was that the setup screen didn't fit the Smart too well so I used 'Ultimate Rotation Control' downloaded from the play store to set the screen into Portrait mode while I used Market Helper.

    I now have CoPilot live installed :good:

    I know it's a bit long but it worked for me, hopefully it will be of use to others :cool:
    5
    We now have root :)

    Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
    5
    So, today i created an Amazon AWS EC2 instance with the sole intention of porting Jellybean to the Asteroid Smart.

    i've never port a ROM before and this will be a very steep learning Curve, but i'm hoping that due to the lack of built in Radio Modems and other boards that it should be easier that other devices. Famous last words eh?

    i'll prob make a separate Thread for my progress but if anyone has any experience to share, please feel free.