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Here is an example of a top notch m6 android HU

75K views 257 replies 46 participants last post by  Archerfish 
#1 ·
I have a '14 m6 touring. I use it almost exclusively for commuting to work and nothing more. I unfortunately have a long commute (~40 mins to work, ~45-1 hour return). Since I spend so much time in my car I couldn't stand the stock infotainment system. Garbage screen, garbage nav, garbage voice control. I have non-bose so audio quality is shite too.

In my quest to improve my requirements were to use waze for nav, a feature-rich music player, maintain stock SWC, maintain stock backup cam. Choices are android auto HUs (pioneer, kenwood & some others make some), or a pure android HU. The android auto HUs seem to come with too many compromises for the price, so I was determined to make a pure android HU work. Long story short, I bought a universal double-din android HU, and while it was good the look and certain deal-breaking features made me ditch it (very poor BT call quality). I finally ended up with this one -
11.11 HD 1024*600 Quad Core 1.6GHz Android 4.4 Car PC Audio Video For Mazda 6 Atenza 2013 2014 2015 Auto Radio Navi DVD Stereo-in Car DVD from Automobiles & Motorcycles on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group
and couldn't be happier.

Here are some pics of the unboxed unit.


You can see I got an OBDII module to go with it. It works via bluetooth.



Comes with everything else you need here. Tons of harnesses. Every single stock harness can be connected to this unit without modification. However, to connect the stock backup cam, you MUST get a 12V to 6V step-down transformer, as the cam runs on 6V. This did not come with the unit, but I had one already from my previous android HU. CANBUS works out of the box. SWC works without any PAC or other external device. Despite claims from the seller, I CANNOT get the commander knob to work. I am working with the seller to rectify this, as they insist it should be working. However I am not confident it will work. I connected everything correctly as far as I can see.

Anyway, here is a comparison of old unit vs new unit, side by side.


You can see that although it nearly looks stock, the screen is a full 2" larger. The difference is very noticable. Screen quality is excellent. It is "HD" resolution, 1024x600. Even the top of the line pioneer units are only 800x480. Unit takes about 20 seconds to boot up. This may bother some people, but I find that by the time I turn my car on and back out of my parking spot, the unit is fully booted. Also, you can set the unit to stay powered for up to 1 hour after shutdown. So if I turn my car on <1 hr after last shutdown, it will turn on instantly.

Performance is buttery smooth. It has a quad core CPU with 1GB of RAM. The latest specs you can get with one of these as far as android goes. I am almost certain this will run android apps smoother than any of the pioneer/kenwood/etc android auto HUs.


Here it is installed.


Here is poweramp, which is what I use for music


stock backup cam works


example of canbus working. detects when a door is open. it even knows what door it is


torque via BT OBDII


waze


Finally, here is a video of me demonstrating the features I have talked about. It's quick and dirty.
https://youtu.be/LipKLSLY5sc

I hope I have dispelled the myth that pure android HUs are slow, buggy pieces of junk. To me this is better than any other aftermarket HU you can buy for this car. Hopefully I can get the commander knob working soon.

By the way, I've already upgraded the stock speakers to 8" focal IS200s in the front. I have an amp and sub on the way, so I'll see how well it handles premium audio. So far the verdict is still out, but it already sounds better than the stock HU since this puts out 45W per channel.
 
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#2 ·
Damnnnnnn that looks awesome! Might have to indulge.
 
#4 ·
So-so. They seem to respond when they feel like it. They obviously want your business. They have even tried to help me with the commander knob issue, but after noticing that I have connected everything as they said it should, they seem to have gone silent. Hopefully they get back to me again soon.

Yes it's China. No real recourse if something goes amiss, other than returning the unit and eating the shipping costs yourself. Also, the documentation is terrible, so if you've never installed one of these before you might struggle a bit. But it's not hard to figure out on your own since no cutting or soldering is necessary except for stock backup cam.
 
#5 ·
man that looks really cool! I have a pioneer appradio that I was using Appradio Unchained for to essentially turn it into an android headunit, but since getting an "unrootable" phone, Ive lost that function.
I may look into something like this in the future! thanks for posting this!
 
#6 ·
This may bother some people, but I find that by the time I turn my car on and back out of my parking spot, the unit is fully booted.
Do you have to wait 20 seconds to use the backup cam?

Big thanks for posting this. I'm also trying to make this car better for long trips. Definitely keep us updated on the commander knob. Hell, it may be worth losing the knob for this price/functionality.
 
#10 ·
You connect a separate GPS antenna. It comes with a magnet, so you can easily mount to a metal surface behind your head unit. That's all you need for GPS. My unit came with offline maps pre-installed for sygic. So I can use sygic for offline nav if I want, meaning I don't need a data connection for nav.

But since I prefer waze, I just use waze instead. I may use sygic in the future if I travel somewhere with a weak data connection or something.
 
#12 · (Edited)
Connected aftermarket amp (ARC AUDIO XDI 805) & sub (Kicker 40TCWS104 10") today.

The only issue I am having is a very high frequency "white noise" that I hear with my pre-outs connected. I did not hear this with the amp outs. It is low enough to where I only hear it w/ no music & at idle. If I'm moving road noise drowns it out. I think this has to do w/ the outputs being unshielded. Despite this the SQ is VERY good now that I added an external amp & sub to drive my aftermarket speakers (8" focal IS200s in the front).
 
#13 ·
I'll admit that I am grossly uneducated when it comes to audio systems, so half of what you said here went over my head. I recently replaced the paper 6.5" door speakers on the passenger side with Polk DB651's and notice no difference between them and the stock paper speakers on the other side (if anything, they're quieter). I'm not sure if the stock headunit just doesn't have the output for these or what.

The AliExpress page for this android unit says that it has a "built in amplifier." Do you think that would have enough output to adequately power my 6 speaker setup with 4xDB651's in the doors and 2xDB351's up front? I don't care to add a sub, so I'm hoping that a separate amplifier isn't needed.
 
#24 ·
for me, yes. You can't voice search for contacts like you can on the stock unit. But it will download your contacts, call history, etc via BT, and you can use the steering wheel controls to answer & hang up calls. I personally never used voice commands for calling b/c it was too slow & cumbersome.
 
#25 ·
wow, this looks amazing. i am tired of the crappy stock HU, even after the TSB "fix" it still takes forever to read my ipod when connected via USB and half of the time won't.
a few questions:
1. i don't know what "CANBUS" is, but the fact that it will identify which door is open looks way cool. does the HU come with it?
2. ok, so you are having trouble with the commander knob even though they say it should work. what about the other buttons around the knob, and the steering wheel buttons; do they all work?
3. voice control for contacts doesn't work, i can live without that. but what about voice control in general?
thanks! seriously considering this.
 
#28 ·
1. this is stock. No modification required just connect the harness connections correctly.
2. I just got the buttons around it to work today. It was a simple mod but it does not work out of the box. Follow my instructions and you're good.
3. Voice control in general, not sure what you mean. You have google now, so saying "okay google" works. Also if you watch my video you can see that for navigation, you can use voice control to say an address or POI and it works very quickly and accurately. Much better than mazda voice recognition. Not sure what else you'd need via voice control except maybe music control, which sadly isn't something that can be done easily but probably could be done w/ 3rd party apps if you desired.

so I figured I post the similar unit that has a different layout. It's from the same seller and claims to support Commander Knob. 9" high res screen with capacitive buttons. I choose the clean look over the buttons/DVD player. Same CPU/RAM/Android Version.

I'm only skeptical about the commander knob support. If Hisma's 8" model didn't work, and it's the same layout in the back, why would 9" work? Thoughts?

Big Discount and Gifts for Christmas! Android 4.4 Car Stereo For Mazda 6 Atenza 2013 2014 2015 Auto Radio GPS Navi HD 1024*600-in Car DVD from Automobiles & Motorcycles on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group
Man, nice find! While it doesn't quite have the stock look, I think I like that even better than mine since you give up buttons for more screen real estate. It has the same specs as mine, so you're getting a top spec unit. Using my guide you can map the useful keys to the commander keys, and the steering wheel controls should already work by default. I have had mostly good experience with smart rover so I'd snag it if you're serious about getting one of these.
 
#26 ·
so I figured I post the similar unit that has a different layout. It's from the same seller and claims to support Commander Knob. 9" high res screen with capacitive buttons. I choose the clean look over the buttons/DVD player. Same CPU/RAM/Android Version.

I'm only skeptical about the commander knob support. If Hisma's 8" model didn't work, and it's the same layout in the back, why would 9" work? Thoughts?

Big Discount and Gifts for Christmas! Android 4.4 Car Stereo For Mazda 6 Atenza 2013 2014 2015 Auto Radio GPS Navi HD 1024*600-in Car DVD from Automobiles & Motorcycles on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group
 
#44 ·
Interesting to see that the listing that you linked states that it supports the commander knob, while the same unit listed directly from Smart-Rover says this:

Important: (please note)
No DVD disc
No SD card slot
Cannot support car factory joystick (commander knob)
For TV function, need to buy digital TV box to work via AUX
Plug and play, easy installation and no need to cut any wires, your car warranty is still valid
Thoughts?

Aliexpress.com : Buy 11.11 Smart Rover 9" Android 4.4.4 Auto Radio Stereo For Mazda 6 Atenza CX5 CX 5 2013 2014 Car DVD GPS Navigation Entertainment from Reliable car suppliers on Smart-Rover Navigation | Alibaba Group
 
#29 ·
By the way, the seller smartrover states that if you have the non-navigation unit (I guess the sport model comes without one??) then you will get the commander knob to work without modification. This is why in all the listings it always states "non navigation unit". But as you all know I had the navigation unit before and still got the unit to work. You just lose commander knob but can partially regain it with a small modification.
 
#30 ·
i just heard from the seller on the 9" unit and he claims that commander knob will not work since I have navigation on my GT.

I'm glad that you got the buttons to work around the knob! that's great news! So in summary, to get those buttons to work, you have to cut wires on the unit's harness and not the wires coming from commander knob harness? correct? reason I ask is because I don't have problem modifying new HU, but I do have a problem modifying the original car wires. can you confirm?
 
#32 ·
Dude you are the best! Keep playing with it! Also, o e more very important question. I know the unit has Onboard mic, so what time happens with car's microphone? Does it plug in anywhere? Does the Hu have interface for cars stock wiring? Dual mics anyone? :) Also did you have to cut camera's wiring or is it plug and play? I'm so excited about the prospect of this HU, thanks for all your work, much appreciated!
 
#33 ·
car mic is an active mic and cannot be re-used. However I just dropped the plastic cover on the headliner (2 screws where the sunglass case is), removed the stock mic (it's held in with weak glue, easy to pull out. You can leave the wiring intact), and put the external mic from the HU in its place. So everything still looks stock. External mic is good quality.

As for the camera, unfortunately it is not plug & play. The stock camera requires 6V, and the unit supplies 12V. You need to include a step down transformer to to feed it correct voltage. I THINK you also need to wire an RCA cable to get video in. At least that is how I did it. I followed the procedure in this thread -
http://forum.mazda6club.com/electrical/314481-rear-view-camera-aftermarket-hu.html

The unit comes with a harness connection that plugs into the stock camera. I did not use it, but I tried connecting it to see if it worked & saw that it does trigger the camera on reverse, but comes up with no signal. So to make installation easier you can probably just cut the +6V & ground wires from the unit harness and put the transformer in series and it might work just like that. Try contacting the seller & see what they say. I did my own hack to get the cam working since I already had the wiring all set up from my previous HU.
Good luck. Everything is simple plug n play except the backup cam & commander knob. But you still have to do some other dirty work such as mount the external mic, nav antenna, etc.
 
#34 ·
Both of these units look great and I love the clean look of the 9", but would you be giving up the ability to play CDs and DVDs with that? The ad lists DVD support via USB, so I'm wondering if you could mount something like this in the center console and play through the USB port there:

LG Electronics 8X USB 2.0 Super Multi Ultra Slim Portable DVD+/-RW External Drive with M-DISC Support, Retail (Black) GP65NB60 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ODDE33U/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_LHWwwbDWMH9VQ
 
#42 ·
Would you do the same if you had to do it again today?


I have a 2015 Mazda 6 Touring with touchscreen but not navigation but it's an atrocious system. I'd like to go the same route you went.

Knowing what you know today, would you do it again the same way with the same components? Would you change anything?

I'll use your response to buy my HU and other components. :grin2:
 
#43 ·
Yes absolutely. I'd maybe take that large 9" screen model since I never use optical media or use the physical buttons on the front. But I'm very happy, especially after upgrading the sound. Just some minor quirks that I can easily live with. I'd just say if you are the type that doesn't like to 'configure' things maybe this would be too much.
 
#51 · (Edited)
Seek and you shall find...



I've been looking into Android as a solution for a while (THANKS to @Hisma for making it relevant again, and @Donkey Grundle for bringing this to my attention), and then I saw this and it gave me HOPE!

https://youtu.be/Fn0-DWznhY8?t=5m32s

I looked on the page you shared, and unfortunately it did not mention CANBUS Support...however, these two definitely have it (and clearly mention Joystick Support):



8" Dual-Core Model w/ 8GB, DVD & SD Card: $396.18 (Shipping included)
Aliexpress.com : Buy Android Car DVD for Mazda 6 Atenza 2013 2014 Autoradios gps Head Unit with Mstar CPU Bluetooth Radio RDS Wifi Free 8GB map card from Reliable gps dvd mp3 suppliers on Shenzhen 360Navi Electronics Co.,Ltd. | Alibaba Group




9" Quad-Core Model w/ 16GB w/ rear USB Port: $415.13 (Shipping included)
Quad Core 1024x600 Android Car Radio GPS for Mazda CX 5 with CANBUS Bluetooth Radio RDS Wifi 3G Mirror Link Free 8GB map card-in Car DVD from Automobiles & Motorcycles on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

Each offering have their own benefits and detriments. The good news for us, this seller is a 5 Medallion, 100%r! I can't get mine now, but I should not be stingy. :wink2: Happy Shopping!
 
#54 ·
Well dang. I ordered the 9" Smart Rover last night.

Aliexpress.com : Buy Big Discount and Gift for Christmas! 9" Android 4.4 Car Stereo For Mazda 6 Atenza 2013 2014 2015 Auto Radio GPS Navi HD 1024*600 from Reliable gifts hunter suppliers on CompuCN - Super Store For Car DVD GPS Player | Alibaba Group

We'll see how it looks when it gets here in a month or so. It says that the commander knob will work with my car since I don't have nav, but who knows how true that is. Hisma, would you mind pointing me towards what I will need to purchase to make the back up cam work?
 
#55 ·
Says full refund if not received within 10 days. Mark your calendar[emoji6]

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk
 
#57 · (Edited)
Stupid question but do the buttons glow when you have lights on at night? Also, how hard is it to run the new mic? I've never done anything stereo related and am slightly afraid I'll burn the car down or something. Also what happens if you hit the phone buttons? It can answer or decline a call from what I understand, what about if you hit it without having a call come in ?
 
#60 ·
buttons glow when you turn on your headlights, same as the stock. It even has the same white color to match the dash cluster.
running new mic is easy, depending on where you want it. I ran it up the a pillar and put it in the same spot as the stock mic. You don't even NEED to have the external mic, there is an internal one on the front that works. You'll just get better quality sound output using the external...
Phone buttons work just as they do stock. You can pickup & hang up calls using the buttons. Only thing that is different is the "voice command" button is mapped to mute by default. Kinda useless imo but I haven't remapped it yet. Would be really cool if someone can hack these to make buttons launch specific apps. Other units (like carjoying) have this capability. We need more devs to get on board with this unit so stuff like this can happen. This model of unit is actually only a few months old.
 
#63 ·
So I ordered the 2nd one (9") and, in speaking with the seller, ended up with this exchange:

Seller: Oh, your car is Mazda 6. Can not use this item(Mazda CX-5) to fit in your car. But we have item with 10.1'' screen for Mazda 6 as like attached photo, is it ok for you? With same specification and supports original joystick and rear camera.


Me: I think so. Same price?

Seller: Yes, same price. Only the screen size and frame is different. It's with 10.1'' screen and the frame special for Mazda 6.

Me: Great. So this is same specs: 1024x600 screen, canbus, android 4.4.2, and supports original backup camera and joystick?

Seller: Yes, all right.
It looks like he ships pretty fast too. We'll see how this goes...
 
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