What's your opinion on android screens?

[SamTheBro]

Hello everyone. I'm going to buy a screen for my IS200d, but first I want to know your opinion abouth these android screens.😀

This is the best one I can find:

https://pt.aliexpress.com/item/32998750124.html

My question is: Does anyone have this one? What's your opinion about it, or what other solutions do you have?

Here is a picture of how my Lexus looks now:

[Linas.P]

I do not have experience with this particular screen, but I was looking at something similar:

https://www.aliexpress.com/i/32923579168.html

My first issue is low spec. for the price - I do appreciate this is specialty item.. but still screen resolution of 600x1024 is extremely low. I do think that android is far better than iOS, but not when it comes to cheap unlicensed Chinese copies. One thing I would be worried about is the version - most of them comes with android 7 at the moment, which is end-of-life and for chinese system you can be sure it will not be updated. The one you posted is Android 8, so you basically have one year lifespan in software. On top of that with 1 GB of ram and "quad core" CPU I would not imagine this thing to be very usable - I mean it would be very slow. For comparison Samsung Galaxy S3 had 1GB ram and Quad core, it was device launched 7 years ago with android 4 and if you would pick-up one now running Android 4.4 it would be so slow that you would hardly be able to launch anything on it.

• So issue 1 is hardware spec. being very low for the price.
• Issue 2 is limited lifespan, which for relatively expensive piece of equipment is an issue.
• 3rd - which applies to any touch screen system (including Lexus own navigation)... it is extremely hard to use when driving. On your current system I am sure you can adjust climate control without looking at it, on touch screen system you would needs to ask passenger to do it or even stop (or just accept that it is blowing 28C in the middle of the summer). These chinese kits will be even worse, because you will need to go into sub menu to actually do it. Add poor screen spec. which will have less than premium touch sensitivity and accuracy + likely poor brightness in sunlight and glare... whole propositions just becomes less practical.

Now as I have said, I considered it myself and I do understand appeal - original system was practically useless when it comes to navigation and using the phone whilst driving is not ideal. If you have good experience with android phone it makes sense that you would like to have same experience in the car navigation system. Sad truth is that even mid range phone nowadays has FHD+ screen, Octa-Core with 4+GB ram and proper licensed system with at least 3 years manufacturer support. This system will have none of that - I feel you will be lucky if it turns on and at least half of features works.

I considered it myself and just decided no to bother. Worst case - get new Tablet for £149 and some decent air-vent mount. After using put it in glove-box and it will be multi-functional and fully working premium device.

Obviously, that is just my opinion and I know there are few people around here who have similar thing fitted and have first hand experience, so you may want to wait for their reviews.

[SamTheBro]

10 hours ago, Linas.P said:

I do not have experience with this particular screen, but I was looking at something similar:

https://www.aliexpress.com/i/32923579168.html

My first issue is low spec. for the price - I do appreciate this is specialty item.. but still screen resolution of 600x1024 is extremely low. I do think that android is far better than iOS, but not when it comes to cheap unlicensed Chinese copies. One thing I would be worried about is the version - most of them comes with android 7 at the moment, which is end-of-life and for chinese system you can be sure it will not be updated. The one you posted is Android 8, so you basically have one year lifespan in software. On top of that with 1 GB of ram and "quad core" CPU I would not imagine this thing to be very usable - I mean it would be very slow. For comparison Samsung Galaxy S3 had 1GB ram and Quad core, it was device launched 7 years ago with android 4 and if you would pick-up one now running Android 4.4 it would be so slow that you would hardly be able to launch anything on it.

• So issue 1 is hardware spec. being very low for the price.
• Issue 2 is limited lifespan, which for relatively expensive piece of equipment is an issue.
• 3rd - which applies to any touch screen system (including Lexus own navigation)... it is extremely hard to use when driving. On your current system I am sure you can adjust climate control without looking at it, on touch screen system you would needs to ask passenger to do it or even stop (or just accept that it is blowing 28C in the middle of the summer). These chinese kits will be even worse, because you will need to go into sub menu to actually do it. Add poor screen spec. which will have less than premium touch sensitivity and accuracy + likely poor brightness in sunlight and glare... whole propositions just becomes less practical.

Now as I have said, I considered it myself and I do understand appeal - original system was practically useless when it comes to navigation and using the phone whilst driving is not ideal. If you have good experience with android phone it makes sense that you would like to have same experience in the car navigation system. Sad truth is that even mid range phone nowadays has FHD+ screen, Octa-Core with 4+GB ram and proper licensed system with at least 3 years manufacturer support. This system will have none of that - I feel you will be lucky if it turns on and at least half of features works.

I considered it myself and just decided no to bother. Worst case - get new Tablet for £149 and some decent air-vent mount. After using put it in glove-box and it will be multi-functional and fully working premium device.

Obviously, that is just my opinion and I know there are few people around here who have similar thing fitted and have first hand experience, so you may want to wait for their reviews.

Hello, the screen you mentioned is not worth it, but the one I mentioned has android 8.1, and you can choose 2GB of ram.

Check out this video:

 

[Linas.P]

Yes, I noted that in my post - the only difference is basically android versions which as I mentioned is borderline obsolete. + all the same issues still applies to the screen.

The positives for the system you posted is that it has physical buttons for climate control, however I have watched review previously and some of the buttons does not work correctly. 

[NewStart]

Hi All

 

This is something I have thought about a lot - for a Long time - I am thinking about changing to an IS and would like to install something like this. One of the big issues to me is that I would retain a stock look - That is the big appeal of THESE aftermarket systems

When I was looking around for aftermarket systems I came across this one

https://www.ebay.ie/itm/182655430616?ul_noapp=true

It APPEARS as though this MIGHT be the one for cars that do not have SatNAv originally installed

However, there is another way to go about it and that is to build your own system. There are at least 2 books about that - One is called "Car PC hacks" by Damian Stolarz. This was published back in 2009 and is Very detailed about how to build an In car PC from the beginning - Damians style is VERY good - He explains things well - even to those with a non-technical background.

One of the challenges of doing this might be Touch Screen integration and of course it would be harder to retain that stock look.

Another book on the subject is "Build your own Car PC" by Gavin D J Harper. This book is a lot less technical and a LOT less detailed.

Obvioulsy building it yourself would be a much bigger project - it would be a challenge to retain the stock look - it may even be more more expensive. 

You would need to install Specific software that is suitable for road use. If you are of a technical nature you may enjoy the project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Axeboy]

I know this is a little bit of an older thread. Got mine working finally after a lot of forum checking. My hard drive had failed so I thought id try it. This was on a Nav car of course. Seems decent so far but time will tell.

I managed to install the Android unit but did need a phase 2 vent to fit correctly. The standard 2008 vents dont quite fit unless you butcher them.

 

[brian.h]

I just updated my IS200d (manual transmission) with a new android unit similar to the one shown in the Youtube link above from Shenzhen Top Navi via Alibaba.

The specs on the unit I ordered were: Android 8.1 with TS9 Octa core, 4G+64G, with built-in 4G and carplay.  I also ordered the DVR (dash cam), an OBD2 scanner, and a USB DAB+ radio accessory at the same time.  Total cost with shipping (to Belgium) was about 425 USD. 

https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/10-1-Car-DVD-For-Lexus_62355789908.html?spm=a2700.9114905.0.0.MfLDPl

I also installed the backup camera shown in the link below.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Reversing-License-Parking-Specific-Integrated/dp/B07T598BB2/ref=sr_1_27?dchild=1&keywords=backup+camera+Lexus+is250&qid=1585486901&sr=8-27

 

Everything is working very good after a decent amount of work.  I wouldn't say it works flawlessly, as there are a few glitches, but it's certainly better than the outdated original option.

Below are my impressions and lessons learned (that are not in the above youtube video 'How to completely transform your driving experience....').

The good:

The android interface works well. Navigation programs all work well.  I mounted the GPS receiver on the windshield as close to centre as the cable would allow, and reception is fine.

Music from Spotify and the music play (mp3) app work well.

Climate control all seems to work fine - although it's currently too cold to test the AC properly.

The bluetooth phone interface works fine, albeit a bit basic - it allows you to answer/make calls and stream music from your phone.

The apple CarPlay interface seems to work.  I think I need to order a dedicated SIM card for the android unit to test it adequately.  Without a SIM card, the android car unit seems to be trying to pull all the data from my phone and this is very sluggish.  When I put my phone SIM in the car and ran my phone off (home) wifi, things seemed to work better - but that's limited to the radius of my home wifi or course.

The annoying:

Most of the steering wheel controls work fine, except the previous/next buttons are backwards.  It is possible to switch them via a software option, but the settings don't seem to stick.  

It's a good thing the steering wheel controls work, because I can't get the software interface that allows you to program buttons to work.  Based on other forums I've read, I guess I should be happy most of the steering wheel controls work fine.

The bad:

The interface with the original car radio is awful on my car.  I had to do a lot of playing to prevent it from turning on randomly.  The interface is extremely basic and difficult to control.  Thankfully the unit offers so many other audio options (Spotify, mp3, and internet radio via 4G) that this isn't so painful.

Lessons Learned during my installation:

1) The reversing camera

The reversing camera I chose was difficult to install.  The IS has a plastic cover on the boot/trunk lid from the tail lights down.  This has to be removed to install the new license plate ligfht/camera unit, and a portion of the plastic needs to be ground away for the camera to fit.  Reinstallation is very tight, and will not work if the camera is connected to the light unit. It needs to be unscrewed and removed - if the unit arrives at your house with the camera glued to the light unit, return it - installation is nearly impossible.  

Second.  For the backup camera to work on my car, the red 'trigger wire' that comes from the yellow RCA adapter that plugs into the android unit (labelled as 'Reverse-in' on the picture/ link below)

https://disk.yandex(blocked word)/i/2OcAUyKD3LqYTf?spm=a2700.12243863.0.0.2ce83e5ffiyBwu

needed to be connected to the brown wire in the pictures/link below that runs between the CANBUS and the android unit (see pictures below).  On the Android unit, this wire was labelled 'reverse detection'.  From my understanding the car/canbus didn't send a signal when in reverse, so I had to cut the brown wire and connect the camera's red trigger wire with the brown wire going into the android unit so it would recognise the reverse camera was on.  Once the reverse camera is on, all sound is muted.  After these adaptations were made, the android unit had no problems recognising the reverse camera and I could select the camera type (NTSC). Of course this is all contingent on the camera being wired correctly to the backup lamp in the boot/trunk (picture above).

https://docviewer.yandex(blocked word)/view/0/?*=PkdMqU7hiqYoiUE8sJs9EuuujPd7InVybCI6InlhLWRpc2stcHVibGljOi8veXN5YzQ1eExSd0tZZ1lRZ01YV1BaTVFDQkZ2ZFBoWVZVV3hLMWIrVVZ0Yz0iLCJ0aXRsZSI6IlNvdW5kIHByb2JsZW0uZG9jeCIsIm5vaWZyYW1lIjpmYWxzZSwidWlkIjoiMCIsInRzIjoxNTg1NDY4MTA1ODEzLCJ5dSI6IjY4Mjg5NzU4MzE1NTAxNzYxNDkifQ%3D%3D

2: Audio/Radio functionality:

After all wiring harnesses are in place, there is an RCA cable that originates from near the original radio - the white/red RCA ends are labelled Aux L IN  and Aux R IN.  These need to be connected to the AUX L and R that are coming out the Android head unit.  My unit came with  a harness like the one below.  

There are FL and FR OUT as well as RL and RR OUT lines - DON'T USE these

I needed to use the two AUX lines, that on my harness were ambiguously labeled as AUX L IN and AUDIO R IN.

Once the wiring was correct, the sound quality was good (no Mark Levinson stereo on my car).  However I had to turn off a number of software options to prevent the radio from turning on automatically and randomly and the interface with the steering wheel controls is awkward.

Important to note, there are several video in options on the harness  above, but the reverse camera on my unit DID NOT connect to these, but rather to a separate RCA input harness

3) The optional DAB+ USB radio I ordered with the unit:

I never did get this to work properly, but for 36 USD, I'm not going to pursue it further.  I have the impression a proper ground is critical (and sticking the antenna's ground to the metallic painted metal frame wasn't adequate), but I haven't pursued this, as the USB adapter also doesn't seem to play well when required to share the USB cable with the dash cam.

4) The Universal Car DVR Camera / dashcam

Works great.  The camera will slide off the mountiing  base to the right, while  the extra  required  microSD card is inserted on the left side.  Consider carefully where you mount the camera.  Mounting to the right of the rearview mirror will allow you to slide the camera from the mount AND have access to the SD slot.

5) the OBD2 connector the comes with the wiring harness connects to the OBD2 connector below the steering/above the clutch.  From what I can see, the only purpose for this is to indicate which doors might be open

Hope this helps anyone who tries this installation.

 

[Axeboy]

The OBD connector also activates the reverse detection and camera, certainly for cars with the camera already there anyway

[Axeboy]

Managed to source a cheap Phase 2 vent. Fitted with a slice off the back but its not perfect, better than it was but once I can be bothered again I might take it out and re-adjust between radio, nav and vents to see if I can get it a little bit better