Ok, couple more notes.... Then I am off to bed.
1. Was not able to get root. Even with USB debugging turned on, none of the USB ports seem to be active against it. Also tried a few other APKs that are suppose to get root, and all failed. Lets hope the manufacture chimes in on this. I did not have time to try to connect via adb wireless over the IP. Will try that this weekend.
2. I was not able to get rid of the ground loop noise using the standard "old tricks" of trade. It would seem that this install is going to take some type of ground loop isolators. Not sure if thats on the power line or on the RCA cables. Im going to check with someone I still know in the car stereo industry to see what is common on the Audi's and how to get rid of them.
3. The built-in wifi seems very touchy about how the antenna on the back of the radio is positioned. This could be just based on my car, but it would be nice if the manufacture would have made this a standard connector with a short antenna, that we then could have replaced with a better performing antenna if we wanted. This would have added pennies to the cost
4. Overall I am happy with my purchase. I was able to get Google Music, Pandora, Mighty Text for Tablets, Torque, and SlideIt installed and workings. Side note about Torque, the radio would not see my USB to OBDII adapter, but its a really cheap China based one. My Bluetooth adapter worked 100% fine though. While their launcher is not the greatest, its not bad, but I still might play with others.
5. The display is crisp and clean. There is a brightness control in settings, but no automatic setting. It would seem its missing an ambient light sensor, but with the daylight we had this afternoon, I had no problem seeing the display set at 75% brightness.
6. The touch screen is extremely responsive. It works as good as my Evo 4G LTE. No complaints here at all.
Now to answer a few questions:
1. The quality of the built in Microphone, i saw some folks over on the AN 21 thread complaining of poor sound quality from the Mic, could you test yours with maybe a phone call or a service like skype?
2. Have you updated the build in google apps, and services yet? would love to find out if you got Google now and the GEL installed and ultimately if the OK Google hotword works well with this unit and if it could power google maps navigation
1. The built-in mic works great. I made a call to my Mom while driving around playing with Torque, and she said I she couldnt tell any difference then when I am on my phone normally.
2. I updated everything it would let me updated. I have not pushed Google Now to it yet, but this is on the todo list
awesome, glad you finally got it!
would love to hear how you resolve the issues you mention before I pull the trigger on getting one myself. so far I like this more than the windows ce unit.
when you get a chance can you take a pic that shows the glossiness of the unit relative to the rest of the center console?
also interested in how Bluetooth streaming works as well as Bluetooth calling/commands
thanks!
As mentioned above, I haven't managed to fix the ground loop yet, but it will happen and I will update once I do.
The video is rendering for upload to YouTube, this will show you what I mean by the glossiness compared to the stock dash pieces. In all all honestly, it looks like I armored-all'd the stereo and not the rest of the dash. I may try that on the dash pieces and see if it makes them match slightly better, but this isn't a deal breaker for me.
Bluetooth streaming from Google Music on my phone worked great. I have almost 19,000 songs, and without a hitch, everything sound crystal clear and great. As mentioned above, the Bluetooth call quality was great, I have not played with any of the voice commands yet. As a side note, was able to run Torque with Bluetooth and stream Bluetooth at the same time. So it seems the Bluetooth receiver is multichannel.
Thats all I got for now. The video shows to have an hour left to render, but I need to crash, will upload it in the morning and will start research more root ideas.