Best android unit options

[Bigjule1111]

Originally Posted by mjposner

Mine has started a bad habit of turning off calls in bluetooth, forcing me to reset in the phone, and now callers are getting their own voice as feedback. Waze also no longer works, uninstalled in android and reinstalled and still not working. About to give up and go back to iDrive.

That sucks ..how about trying to update the software?

[mjposner]

"That sucks ..how about trying to update the software?"

I am running the latest software.

[standslanted]

Had nothing but problems with my unit. The two (2) green fiber cables/connections do not work when moved over to the new harness. I suspect the harness is not OEM spec. Recall, you need to manually move those cables to the new harness. When I test the system, I get an error that the emergency call feature has malfunctioned (in the dash) and the SOS light (green) constantly blinks on/off. The BMW SOS/Emergency call system uses these cables (along with other systems) to communicate. As soon as I move back to the old harness (factory) the error goes away. Anyone experience anything similar?

[hugo_nz]

Originally Posted by standslanted

Had nothing but problems with my unit. The two (2) green fiber cables/connections do not work when moved over to the new harness. I suspect the harness is not OEM spec. Recall, you need to manually move those cables to the new harness. When I test the system, I get an error that the emergency call feature has malfunctioned (in the dash) and the SOS light (green) constantly blinks on/off. The BMW SOS/Emergency call system uses these cables (along with other systems) to communicate. As soon as I move back to the old harness (factory) the error goes away. Anyone experience anything similar?

There is no such thing as a “spec” cable harness with these units. It connects all the pins from the original harness to the head unit, including empty ones. The only thing that could be causing the error is, as you pointed out, the green MOST connector not being properly connected. In my experience with these quadlock connectors you sometimes need to push down quite hard on the locking arm to ensure that it properly clicks into the head unit . Also, be sure that you are inserting the MOST connector into the correct slot in the harness end that goes into the head unit...there’s space for two MOST connectors on the quadlock and if you have MOST connector in the wrong one it obviously wont make contact with the MOST terminal on the head unit.

[hugo_nz]

Quick update. I’ve switched from Android to iPhone and the Wireless Carplay on this unit is 100x better than the wireless android auto. It just works. With wireless AA the system would slow down to a crawl after maybe 30 minutes of use, requiring a complete reset. No such issues with Carplay.

[mjposner]

I may sell mine and go back to iDrive. Maybe someone with an iPhone. I paid $300 a month ago....

[iamvanja]

Just FYI, wired (non-wireless) CarPlay unit is working for me flawlessly for over a year now. I briefly had an "upgraded" (wireless) unit and it was a mess.

[mjposner]

When mine works it works wirelessly well, just to many issues, slow to connect, waze won't work and phone calls result in feedback loop at the other end. It will then work fine for awhile then have issues again. Arrgh

[Mnfamilyguy2020]

I must be lucky, for my iPhone this works flawlessly. I also just upgraded to the 12 pro with no change in operation. Once the module is connected to the phone the phone remembers which Bluetooth output to use for audio and then for the phone, I use both. I do not use CarPlay for the phone I have the phone Bluetooth set for the iDrive which eliminates the feedback loop issue.

Also there’s been a few people that have said that you can use the steering control wheel for control of the the CarPlay module, I have found that not to be the case. Mine still operates the phone through Bluetooth only when it’s connected separately to the iDrive, any attempt to use the control wheel on the steering wheel for audio etc. on CarPlay shows no function because of auxiliary input.

I did try to connect to my daughters android, and I found it to not nearly be as functional as it is with the iPhone. But in fairness we have found that same issue in our Range rover which has a factory-based CarPlay system which also accepts android, i truly believe this has more to do with android than the module.

[Greekstyle]

Finally got to upgrading my unit to custom 2.0. Worked perfectly with a crappy old 512mb usb stick( sample garbage from a trade show). i tried with an 8gb and 16gb data traveler with no luck. Copied the file over to this relic and it worked perfectly. I am enjoying the experience so far. I'll check out Carplay as well but worried about having a locked EQ on my music. I know this has a built in eq but I dont want to have to touch that as it introduces another layer of potential quality loss and distrotion.

[Bigjule1111]

Originally Posted by Greekstyle

Finally got to upgrading my unit to custom 2.0. Worked perfectly with a crappy old 512mb usb stick( sample garbage from a trade show). i tried with an 8gb and 16gb data traveler with no luck. Copied the file over to this relic and it worked perfectly. I am enjoying the experience so far. I'll check out Carplay as well but worried about having a locked EQ on my music. I know this has a built in eq but I dont want to have to touch that as it introduces another layer of potential quality loss and distrotion.

I wonder if that's my issue ? For the life of me I can't get it to download correctly.. icons do appear but won't open .. i tried Saturday with a new 32gb SanDisk and still nothing changed I was successful downloading other upgrades without any issues

[Bigjule1111]

Originally Posted by Greekstyle

Finally got to upgrading my unit to custom 2.0. Worked perfectly with a crappy old 512mb usb stick( sample garbage from a trade show). i tried with an 8gb and 16gb data traveler with no luck. Copied the file over to this relic and it worked perfectly. I am enjoying the experience so far. I'll check out Carplay as well but worried about having a locked EQ on my music. I know this has a built in eq but I dont want to have to touch that as it introduces another layer of potential quality loss and distrotion.

what issues were you having flashing to the v2.0?

[Greekstyle]

Originally Posted by Bigjule1111

what issues were you having flashing to the v2.0?

I never had an issue with downloading the zip files. My issue is when I selected the software update option and entered my PIN to start the update, it would kick me back out to iDrive (which it is supposed to do) but then when I went back in to see the update status, it never updated....just rebooted the unit. I transferred the same file from my desktop to a lower capacity USB stick and it worked.

See if you can find a USB stick that is 2GB or smaller in size. Dont forget to format it first in Fat32.

[R0N]

Originally Posted by Bigjule1111

Not sure , I like you having trouble updating certain software . Doesn't make any sense, like I can upload certain software but the one I want to update i can't .. i updated the mmi about 5 times already ..flip flop from the original carlinkit software to the custom firmware for carlinkit v 1.0 without any issues

I have the carlinkit like yours. I was able to upgrade to v2.0.B0.mod. What I did first was upgrade the MCU to MCU 20.06.02, after it rebooted then turned off my bluetooth and wireless on my phone so it would not connect. Went to the System upgrade. It connected much faster.

I don't know if this matters but I also turned off the factory Bluetooth.

[Bigjule1111]

Originally Posted by R0N

I have the carlinkit like yours. I was able to upgrade to v2.0.B0.mod. What I did first was upgrade the MCU to MCU 20.06.02, after it rebooted then turned off my bluetooth and wireless on my phone so it would not connect. Went to the System upgrade. It connected much faster.

I don't know if this matters but I also turned off the factory Bluetooth.

i finnaly got it to update .after weeks of attempting it ..i tried again this morning ..same thing ..AA wouldn't open... So I decided to try my daughter's iphone ..and that connected with no issues ..so.that told me it was a phone issue ..so I deleted AA and reinstalled it and VOLLA! IT WORKED

[Bigjule1111]

Now just having small issues with autolink app ..after i deleted to clean all the BT connections the app doesn't want to connect .. haven't played with it to much ..ill try again tomorrow and see if I can get it to work .but besides that ..love this mmi unit ..works like a charm

[R0N]

Glad to hear you got it working. I was having issues with the autolink app before the update. I haven't had a chance to fully try it out. I installed the unit yesterday and updated this morning.

I setup Android Auto to automatically launch when connects the Carlinkit via Bluetooth. I noticed it would first connect via Bluetooth then when Android Auto launches it disconnects the Bluetooth seconds after and connects via WIFI. Only annoying part is when I go in the garage it would start the Android Auto even if the car is not on. That tells me the Carlinkit is always running.

Btw, when I first connected after the update it would go through an Android Auto setup which sets up the WIFI automatically.

[Bigjule1111]

I wonder if there's a alternative to autolink? Still not working since deleted and reinstalled it .. wasn't working that great to start with .rarely played sound thru the cars speakers...now it just doesn't pair ..

[R0N]

Originally Posted by Bigjule1111

I wonder if there's a alternative to autolink? Still not working since deleted and reinstalled it .. wasn't working that great to start with .rarely played sound thru the cars speakers...now it just doesn't pair ..

What firmware are you using? I am using v2.0.B0.mod. Seems to be working good. When I get in a car and turn on the car it launches to Android auto automatically. Goes to Google Maps with Spotify ready to play.

See if you can reset android unit to the default settings and remove unpair/forget bluetooth and wireless.

[Bigjule1111]

I think I got it figured out .. looks like , atleast in my case ..if I want to mirror my phone using auto link ..i have to connect the wire as soon as I get prompted to do so ..if I have it connected before I hit the mirroring then the autolink won't open and mirror my phone

[Thewrench86]

I never got it working so just forgot about it. I will give this method a go.

Btw side note my android auto doesn't auto load I always have to gold menu down for 3 seconds then select the android pop up for wireless connection. Probably a setting wish i knew which one.

[Greekstyle]

Originally Posted by Bigjule1111

By the way I had a issue were I lost my HUD .. I reset the ecu to the system and HUD came back

How did you do this? Did you just unplug the battery for a while? My HUD is gone as well. Did not notice as i have been using AA this whole time. Went back to idrive to compare audio quality against my ipod and saw it is not working.