"AN-21 U" - Unbranded 6.2" 2 DIN Pure Android 4.1 Car Stereo Radio Head Unit [ROOTED]

KID52 · Nov 15, 2013

"AN-21 U" - Unbranded 6.2" 2 DIN Pure Android 4.1 Car Stereo Radio Head Unit [ROOTED]

"AN-21 U" - Unbranded 6.2" 2 DIN Pure Android 4.1 Car Stereo Radio Head Unit

To avoid confusion, below is a picture of the unit this thread relates to.

I am aware of a previous unit using the same design, but it runs an older version of Android. This thread is for the unit running 4.1 as standard.

Specification / Features

Hardware
CPU: ARM Cortex A9 MST786 Dual Core 1GHz
GPU: Mali-400 MP
RAM: SKHYNIX 1G DDR3 RAM H5TQ4G83AFR
iNAND: SanDisk 8GB SD1N5C2-8G (1GB system storage, 6GB internal USB storage)
MCU: STM8AH ST
Bluetooth: BlueCore5 CSR
Screen: Capacitive 800*480
GPS: SiRF Atlas V GPS Processor
Radio: Philips TEF6624
Sound Effect Processor: BD37534 ROHM
Outputs: 4x 45w outputs, Toshiba TB2929
Additional Outputs: 1x Subwoofer, 4x pre-outs
Microphone: Built in microphone

Supported Features
Bluetooth connection to phone for calls.

WiFi and 3G dongles. These must be plugged in before turning the device on, and are not hot-swappable.

Compatible 3G Dongles

ZTE MF190 Clone (Qualcomm MSM6280 + RTR6280)
Huawei E171 (Qualcomm MSM6290)
Huawei E180
Huawei E261
Huawei E1752

Non-Compatible 3G Dongles

Generic Orange/Black eBay dongle (Qualcomm MSM6280 + RTR6275)
Huawei E220
Huawei E352
Huawei E367

Connection of multiple USB devices through a USB hub, including wireless keyboards, USB memory sticks, and wireless dongles. These types of devices are hot-swappable.

Multiple USB memory sticks can be plugged in. They mount at "mnt/usb/sda1", "mnt/usb/sdb1", and so on. The limit is not known, three have been tested at once.

Wiki Page

This unit has a very useful Wiki page with a lot of good information.

Tonghai Create AN-21 U Wiki

It would be really appreciated if before posting any questions, you take a read of it, this main post, watch the video review, or do a search of this thread to avoid any repeats.

Video Review

Other videos showing specific features are also available on my channel.

News

2014.01.20

Download links and bugs section updated.

2013.12.05

Root is now possible.

Previous News

File Repository

This site has links to most of the files in this thread, including firmware and MCUs.

Android 4.1 Car Stereo File Repository

All files are of course used at your own risk.

Firmware Updates

To update the unit, extract the update files from the downloaded RAR and copy them to a MicroSD Card, insert the card, go to Settings -> General Settings -> System Update or turn the unit on whilst holding down the 'Menu' and 'Volume' buttons until the update starts.

System Version 2.7.29
Mirror 1 - Click here

Previous Versions

"4.2.2" Versions

Changelog (Unofficial)

System Version 2.7.29

Unknown

Previous Versions

Bugs / Issues

Key

Unresolved
Workaround
Resolved

Updated 2014.01.20

Newest issues will be put at the top, solved issues, or issues with workarounds will be moved to the bottom.

Unable to remove applications that are device administrators without factory reset due to security menu being disabled.

Many applications are unable to "see" the MicroSD card, so the choice of music players is limited. The mount point is "mnt/usb/mmcblk1p1".

Despite selecting "Front Speakers Only" for navigation sound, the sound comes out of the rear speakers too. Setting to "Front Right" appears to work correctly.

Bluetooth is restricted to phones only. (Unsure if this is hardware or software related, talking to manufacturer suggests hardware limitation).

Bluetooth dongles do not work.

There is a "pop" from the speakers sometimes when changing applications that control sound, this is extremely obvious if you have a subwoofer installed. It happens when the unit is turned on, and when going from mute, to a volume level.

Screen brightness when buttons illuminated is not user-configurable. This means it may be too bright or dark depending on the conditions. For example, when it is only mildly dark outside, and you have your lights on, the screen is very hard to see.
Workaround: Enable constant illumination from the "Extra Settings" menu by setting the option to "CLOSE", this will set the keys to always illuminate. Then use an application such as Twlight to control the screen brightness based on sunset and sunrise.

Random issue when downloading large applications. The progress will usually get to more than 50%, and then no progress is made.
Workaround: The only fix I have found so far is to stop the download, reboot the unit, start the download, and repeat until download continues. It should download from where you cancelled. This appears to be caused by a limited download cache size.

Steering wheel controls only work with default applications.
Resolved: Open the radio (this does not appear to work with the music app), then hold the back arrow in the bottom right hand corner, the app will close, allowing steering wheel controls to function with other apps.

Most recent default application always opens on boot and continues to play, even if paused. This includes the radio, music, video, and iPod applications.
Resolved: Open the radio (this does not appear to work with the music app), then hold the back arrow in the bottom right hand corner, the app will close, and no default app will open on boot.

USB Debugging is password protected.
Resolved: The password is "john@tw-desktop". Credit to @nikko82

Screenshot feature does not work, when trying to save the screenshot, a save error appears.
Resolved: This is solved in system version 2.6.60.

Root

Root is now possible thanks to help from some great XDA members.

Credits to @WonderEkin for the Root My AN-21 U app and @bmj67 for supplying SettingsProvider.apk

2014.06.06 - A new rooting tool named Baidu Root has been added to the repository. You can use this tool as an alternative to following the guide below.

Files required
Root My AN-21 U - [ Mirror1 | Mirror2 ]

Root My AN-21 U has been updated since this video was taken, the app should now correctly show "Step 2".

Download the required files above.
Install Android Terminal Emulator on your unit.
Open the AUX application and close it.
Install Root My AN-21 U and create a link on the homescreen.
Run Root My AN-21 U and press the "Step 1" button.
Reboot the unit.
Once the unit has rebooted the screen will likely be black, press the Home button to display the homescreen.
Run Root My AN-21 U and press the "Step 2" button.
Reboot the unit.
Open Android Terminal Emulator and run the following commands.
Code:
```
su
rm /data/local.prop
```
Reboot the unit.

FAQ

Can I root this unit?

HELP! My unit is stuck in a boot-loop!

Can I use Bluetooth OBD devices with Torque?

Does it have the full Play Store?

What is the boot time?

Where can I buy one?

How good is the radio?

Is there a Wiki page?

What is the USB Debugging password?

What is the Factory Reset / Developer Options password?

What is the Extra Settings password?

sciallo · Nov 15, 2013

Orisai said:
Android doesn't have NTFS support, let alone EFS which is built on top of Microsoft's filesystem, but it's capable of using the same cypher algorithms as EFS (AES, SHA, DES) though. The only thing Android needs to be able to decrypt them during the upgrade process, is the manufacturer's or firmware developer's public key, which I believe is stored among the system root certificates.

This, providing EFS or a compatible file encryption mechanism was used to encrypt those files.

If we think about it, Android isn't even part of the equation reading those files really, just a bootloader or the unit's firmware. So the decription layer would have to be built into the bootloader or the raw firmware (read assembly or whatever)... I highly doubt it would be EFS.

As another observation, all filenames remain the same across the two updates and only one file has changed (and it's name remains the same. There goes the hash/sum/md5 like naming theory)...

Code:

diff android-4.1-2.6.40/ android-4.1-2.6.60/
Binary files android-4.1-2.6.40/8e3513e2-ea4a-11e2-8a0f-000c29ba27c0 and android-4.1-2.6.60/8e3513e2-ea4a-11e2-8a0f-000c29ba27c0 differ

That I'm guessing is our system file

@tin2001 @Orisai @chris.r.r <- in case you missed the switch to new thread

KID52 · Nov 15, 2013

sciallo said:
If we think about it, Android isn't even part of the equation reading those files really, just a bootloader or the unit's firmware. So the decription layer would have to be built into the bootloader or the raw firmware (read assembly or whatever)... I highly doubt it would be EFS.

As another observation, all filenames remain the same across the two updates and only one file has changed (and it's name remains the same. There goes the hash/sum/md5 like naming theory)...

Code:

diff android-4.1-2.6.40/ android-4.1-2.6.60/ Binary files android-4.1-2.6.40/8e3513e2-ea4a-11e2-8a0f-000c29ba27c0 and android-4.1-2.6.60/8e3513e2-ea4a-11e2-8a0f-000c29ba27c0 differ

That I'm guessing is our system file

@tin2001 @Orisai @chris.r.r <- in case you missed the switch to new thread

Yes, as you say, it is the only file that changes between the updates, and it is also the largest file so I think we can assume this contains the data we want.

Looking at the third update I have, it seems that file is again the only one changed. I will be testing this update out and uploading it shortly.

The file names must have some importance, as otherwise they could just call them "system.img", or something simple, but still encrypt them.

sciallo · Nov 15, 2013

KID52 said:
Many applications are unable to "see" the MicroSD card, so the choice of music players is limited.

Have you tried to see if it will read an external mass storage attached to usb? (usb stick, card reader, 2.5" portable hard drive)?

KID52 · Nov 15, 2013

sciallo said:
Have you tried to see if it will read an external mass storage attached to usb? (usb stick, card reader, 2.5" portable hard drive)?

The default application yes, although I did not try what happens with multiple USB drives. The doubleTwist music player was unable to read a USB memory stick, or the MicroSD card. The actual unit seems to be able to cope with multiple memory sticks, I have tried three, and all were accessible using the ES File Explorer application.

The internal storage is mounted at "mnt/sdcard".

The MicroSD card is mounted at "mnt/usb/mmcblk1p1".

USB memory sticks are mounted at "mnt/usb/sda1", "mnt/usb/sdb1" etc.

donaldta · Nov 15, 2013

KID52 said:
Many applications are unable to "see" the MicroSD card, so the choice of music players is limited. The mount point is "mnt/usb/mmcblk1p1".

Have you checked for the presence of a hidden file called, ".nomedia" in the MicroSD card? The presence of this file will let most media players to skip this path for scanning for multimedia files.

KID52 · Nov 15, 2013

donaldta said:
Have you checked for the presence of a hidden file called, ".nomedia" in the MicroSD card? The presence of this file will let most media players to skip this path for scanning for multimedia files.

Yes, this file is not present.

sciallo · Nov 15, 2013

KID52 said:
The default application yes, although I did not try what happens with multiple USB drives. The doubleTwist music player was unable to read a USB memory stick, or the MicroSD card. The actual unit seems to be able to cope with multiple memory sticks, I have tried three, and all were accessible using the ES File Explorer application.

The internal storage is mounted at "mnt/sdcard".

The MicroSD card is mounted at "mnt/usb/mmcblk1p1".

USB memory sticks are mounted at "mnt/usb/sda1", "mnt/usb/sdb1" etc.

You might want to try a few different players to see if it's the unit or the player...

From http://www.doubletwist.com/help/question/how-do-i-switch-from-internal-storage-to-sd-card/

We recommend only using one volume to store your media. If you choose the memory card, please do not store media files on the internal storage location.

Also, there is not standardized way of implementing SD card support so each manufacturer implements SD card supportly differently. This is why doubleTwist may not always support the SD card on your device.

Devices reported by users to not work includes the following devices:

LG Motion 4G
LG Optimus L5
LG Optimus LTE2
LG Optimus 4X HD
Motorla Razr i
Motorla Razr M

I don't know if you can without root but you should be able to as normal user in a virtual terminal link /mnt/sdcard to /sdcard

Code:

ln -s /mnt/sdcard /sdcard

... Something to try. I think it won't survive reboot, but if it works you can possibly make a script for it to happen on boot.

KID52 · Nov 15, 2013

sciallo said:
You might want to try a few different players to see if it's the unit or the player...

From http://www.doubletwist.com/help/question/how-do-i-switch-from-internal-storage-to-sd-card/

I don't know if you can without root but you should be able to as normal user in a virtual terminal link /mnt/sdcard to /sdcard

Code:

ln -s /mnt/sdcard /sdcard

... Something to try. I think it won't survive reboot, but if it works you can possibly make a script for it to happen on boot.

It depends on the player.

All file explorer applications such as ES File Explorer, and Astro, have no issues seeing the files. In fact, if you choose an MP3 file and select the player of your choice to open the file, it will indeed open and play, however it does not show up in the list of available songs.

One example of a player than can see the files is Poweramp.

"/mnt/sdcard" is already linked to "/sdcard", but this is the internal USB storage, not external. Perhaps it can be unlinked, and the MicroSD card, "mnt/usb/mmcblk1p1" linked there instead.

KID52 · Nov 16, 2013

Orisai said:
Peter's listing on eBay mentions the headunit supports wireless keyboards, which are bluetooth devices. Also, being it Android 4.1, it should support USB OBD2 scanners like this one on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/OBDLink-OBD-II-Interface-Adapter-425101/dp/B002M07XHO

This one is pretty expensive compared to the bluetooth ones, but I've seen it used by dealers to diagnose their cars during repairs.

Best to keep discussion for the 4.1 unit in this thread now.

My keyboard is not Bluetooth, it has a small receiver that is probably 2.4GHz, and it works fine.

Unfortunately there is no Bluetooth menu on the device. However, there are a few interesting quirks with the unit, one being that the security menu is disabled, however, if you try to enable something (I forget what, maybe storing location data or something), it tells you that a lock code must be set, so you press okay, and what opens? The security menu...

I will try installing Torque at some point, as on my phone it requests to turn on Bluetooth, so maybe it will access the menu on the unit. I don't have much hope for this working though.

Perhaps the USB device will work, but I do not have one, and do not intend on buying one at that price.

Orisai said:
Have you tried a Linux compatible bluetooth dongle yet? I believe, if the headunit supports external wireless keypads, then BT dongles should work, as well as anything connected through them.

Yes, I've tried a couple that I had lying around.

If you can recommend a specific one that isn't too expensive I may trying buying to see if it works.

sciallo · Nov 16, 2013

KID52 said:
Best to keep discussion for the 4.1 unit in this thread now.

My keyboard is not Bluetooth, it has a small receiver that is probably 2.4GHz, and it works fine.

Unfortunately there is no Bluetooth menu on the device. However, there are a few interesting quirks with the unit, one being that the security menu is disabled, however, if you try to enable something (I forget what, maybe storing location data or something), it tells you that a lock code must be set, so you press okay, and what opens? The security menu...

I will try installing Torque at some point, as on my phone it requests to turn on Bluetooth, so maybe it will access the menu on the unit. I don't have much hope for this working though.

Perhaps the USB device will work, but I do not have one, and do not intend on buying one at that price.

Yes, I've tried a couple that I had lying around.

If you can recommend a specific one that isn't too expensive I may trying buying to see if it works.

KEEP IN MIND ALL MY EXPERIENCE IS WITH THE 2.3 OUKU but this might help:

Usb Keyboard is natively supported on all of them, if it's wireless with its own dongle (not bluetooth) that's just all it is, a usb keyboard.

For the bluetooth menu install Quick Bluetooth Lite from Market. I was lucky enough one of the dongles I had lying around worked (one didn't) mine sais "KINIVO" on it.

There is a similar app on the market to use bluetooth keyboards.

...but with both of the above it all depends on the ability to add a BT dongle, the internal one is not visible to android as I understand it (and as it was with the other units OUKU, winCE etc.

I have that exact ODBII reader mainly because I wanted a reliable one that could get the most codes... off topic here, but there is differences. Torque forums are a good resource. I haven't tried USB with it yet. There is cheap usb only out there, but I guess there is two different kinds of usb-to-serial chips... you MIGHT have one of the two installed if they included it....

Bottom line, it doesn't matter what Android supports. What matters is what modules the chinese manufacturer compiled in the kernel or included as a loadable module...

You could get a hint looking at the /home/rick/OUKU/stock/4.1/test/lib/modules/ folder...

KID52 · Nov 16, 2013

sciallo said:
KEEP IN MIND ALL MY EXPERIENCE IS WITH THE 2.3 OUKU but this might help:

Usb Keyboard is natively supported on all of them, if it's wireless with its own dongle (not bluetooth) that's just all it is, a usb keyboard.

Yes, exactly my thoughts.

sciallo said:
For the bluetooth menu install Quick Bluetooth Lite from Market. I was lucky enough one of the dongles I had lying around worked (one didn't) mine sais "KINIVO" on it.

There is a similar app on the market to use bluetooth keyboards.

Thank you for the advice, I will try it out soon, see what happens.

The info you have regarding the OUKU unit may well be relevant to this new one too.

Orisai · Nov 16, 2013

KID52 said:
Perhaps the USB device will work, but I do not have one, and do not intend on buying one at that price.

No, you don't have to buy such devices just for testing purposes. I have plans on buying one for my Santa Fe i45, because USB OBD2 scanners are faster and way more reliable that BT ones, and I'll need it to plug directly into my laptop or the OTG adapter in my SGS4.

KID52 said:
Yes, I've tried a couple that I had lying around.

If you can recommend a specific one that isn't too expensive I may trying buying to see if it works.

Try to plug them when your stereo is turned off. I recall someone saying that you have to plug in WiFi and 3G dongles with the headunit turned off, so they get detected by Android when it boots up. Perhaps this is the case with BT dongles too.

KID52 · Nov 16, 2013

Orisai said:
Try to plug them when your stereo is turned off. I recall someone saying that you have to plug in WiFi and 3G dongles with the headunit turned off, so they get detected by Android when it boots up. Perhaps this is the case with BT dongles too.

Hmm, I said that. I put it in the main post too. Maybe someone said it about OUKU too, I don't know.

But yes, I do usually turn off the stereo and plug the device in before booting.

Orisai · Nov 16, 2013

Then it must be like sciallo said, kernel has to be compiled with the required modules to make bluetooth dongles work, much like Hal9k's firmware.

donaldta · Nov 16, 2013

KID52 said:
Yes, I've tried a couple that I had lying around.

If you can recommend a specific one that isn't too expensive I may trying buying to see if it works.

Might want to get a terminal for android, like Android Terminal Emulator. Then you can check to see what sort of linux modules/drivers are pre-installed. For example:

Code:

$ lsmod
lsmod
blackberry 1084 0 - Live 0xbf10a000
cdc_acm 15311 0 - Live 0xbf100000
sierra 9201 0 - Live 0xbf0f7000
option 13120 0 - Live 0xbf0ea000
usb_wwan 8010 1 option, Live 0xbf0e2000
hso 29290 0 - Live 0xbf0d3000
tnx_mxt_ts 15886 0 - Live 0xbf0c9000
cp210x 10931 2 - Live 0xbf0c0000
pl2303 10925 0 - Live 0xbf0b7000
usbserial 26415 8 blackberry,sierra,option,usb_wwan,cp210x,pl2303, Live 0xbf0a8000
88w8688_wlan 362475 1 - Live 0xbf041000
tun 13189 2 - Live 0xbf037000
omap3_isp 97716 0 - Live 0xbf014000
omap_hsmmc 14041 0 - Live 0xbf000000
$

This will give you an example of modules installed. In the above example is from the Parrot Asteroid Smart. The output gives you an idea of the sort of devices that you'll be able to use with the unit. For example, there are the cp210x and pl2303 drivers for Serial UART to USB devices. So, for example one could use a USB ODB2 cable as long as they use either a Prolific or Silcon Labs UART.

KID52 said:
I will try installing Torque at some point, as on my phone it requests to turn on Bluetooth, so maybe it will access the menu on the unit. I don't have much hope for this working though.

Perhaps the USB device will work, but I do not have one, and do not intend on buying one at that price.

Something that is not well known is that Torque Pro supports USB ODB2 cables. The product linked earlier from Amazon is an ODB2 scanner by Scantool which is a professional model. (Analagous to buying a Fluke Multimeter vs an Innova) They do have another model that costs a little bit more and supports USB and Bluetooth or even WiFi if you prefer. But, there are some less expensive knock offs that you can get for less a fraction of the price. So, if you know the AN-21 U supports a particular Serial to USB driver then you might be able to use one with Torque Pro. The nice thing about USB ODB2 cables over Bluetooth ones is that the data stream is closer to real time and has less lag than a BT ODB2 adapter around the same price.

KID52 said:
Unfortunately there is no Bluetooth menu on the device. However, there are a few interesting quirks with the unit, one being that the security menu is disabled, however, if you try to enable something (I forget what, maybe storing location data or something), it tells you that a lock code must be set, so you press okay, and what opens? The security menu...

Some places hide various menus from the settings control panel, but you can often them bring them up using intents through Activity Manager. However, finding the available intents sometimes requires root but you do not need to be root to execute them. For example:

Code:

$ su
su
# dumpsys package com.android.settings | grep BluetoothSettings
dumpsys package com.android.settings | grep BluetoothSettings
        4068b7e0 com.android.settings/.bluetooth.BluetoothSettings filter 4068bc48
        4068b7e0 com.android.settings/.bluetooth.BluetoothSettings filter 4068ba78
        4068b7e0 com.android.settings/.bluetooth.BluetoothSettings filter 4068ba78
# exit
exit
$ am start -n com.android.settings/.bluetooth.BluetoothSettings
am start -n com.android.settings/.bluetooth.BluetoothSettings
Starting: Intent { cmp=com.android.settings/.bluetooth.BluetoothSettings }
$

However, not all Bluetooth software conforms to the Android standards and will force close if it doesn't. In most cases if a Bluetooth driver is installed then a good app to get is Bluetooth Auto-Pair. It allows the manual settings to pair various devices even if the manufacturer implements an artificial limitation on the devices that they will support.

KID52 · Nov 16, 2013

donaldta said:
Snip.

You definitely seem to know your stuff!

That is an extremely informative post, thank you.

I'll take another read tomorrow and do some tests on the unit, see what I can find out.

donaldta · Nov 16, 2013

Orisai said:
Android doesn't have NTFS support,

This is actually a pretty bad blanket statement. It actually depends on the Linux modules included with the Android device. And in fact, I played with an Android TV device that had fuse.ko modules installed and supported NTFS partitions. The best way to tell what sort of filesystem that your Android device supports is through "/proc/filesystems".

Code:

$ cat /proc/filesystems
cat /proc/filesystems
nodev   sysfs
nodev   rootfs
nodev   bdev
nodev   proc
nodev   cgroup
nodev   tmpfs
nodev   sockfs
nodev   usbfs
nodev   pipefs
nodev   anon_inodefs
nodev   devpts
        cramfs
        squashfs
nodev   ramfs
        vfat
        msdos
nodev   mqueue
nodev   mtd_inodefs
nodev   oprofilefs
nodev   ubifs
$

The first column signifies whether or not the filesystem is currently present on your android device and the second column shows all the various types that it supports.

---------- Post added at 11:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:49 PM ----------

KID52 said:
I'll take another read tomorrow and do some tests on the unit, see what I can find out.

While you're at it, you might consider installing SRT AppScanner. If the device is vulnerable to Master Key either exploit bug 8219321 and/or 9695860 then there's a good chance that Cydia Impactor can root your device.

KID52 · Nov 16, 2013

donaldta said:
While you're at it, you might consider installing SRT AppScanner. If the device is vulnerable to Master Key either exploit bug 8219321 and/or 9695860 then there's a good chance that Cydia Impactor can root your device.

I thought you needed to connect your device to a PC to use Cydia Impactor? Also, not sure if it would be required, but USB debugging is password protected.

donaldta · Nov 16, 2013

KID52 said:
I thought you needed to connect your device to a PC to use Cydia Impactor? Also, not sure if it would be required, but USB debugging is password protected.

Well, technically you don't have too. It works off of Android Debug Bridge and can work over WiFi or USB. However, it does need debugging to be enabled. I missed the part that it is password protected. However, the masterkey scripts might still be able to help gain access to root if it hasn't been patched on the device.

"AN-21 U" - Unbranded 6.2" 2 DIN Pure Android 4.1 Car Stereo Radio Head Unit [ROOTED]

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