AMi III - Setup Tips

[AdamV12V]

I can now confirm that the new firmware is available which supports Android Auto (and Apple CarPlay).

The version is:

App : 3.0.1
Base : 1.060

http://thumbsnap.com/sc/1Kwf5aiF.jpg

Additionally new features are :

• Bluetooth symbol at top of screen now blue (was white)
• USB media new shuffle feature
• USB media new repeat feature
• USB media now resumes playing the last track on engine start up
• New USB media search option of "folders". Allows selection of tracks in the same way as you could on the older AMi I system.

This new folder option has had the added benefit of enabling you to listen to an album in the order of the tracks actually on the album, rather than just alphabetically when you select through the Album or Artist-Album option from before.

http://thumbsnap.com/sc/1LEETjY5.jpg

Should be available via your dealer service dept very very soon.

Edited by AdamV12V on Thursday 12th October 21:12

[Thorburn]

Been holding off on getting the car back until I could get the update done by Bristol. Had this through yesterday.

"It looks like Aston Martin are releasing the android update on Monday. So all being well we can apply this on Monday.
I will keep you posted on Monday and let you know hopefully that all has gone well. With a plan to get the car back on Tuesday for you."

Edited by Thorburn on Saturday 21st October 09:37

[AdamV12V]

Thorburn said:

Been holding off on getting the car back until I could get the update done by Bristol. Had this through yesterday.

[quote]It looks like Aston Martin are releasing the android update on Monday. So all being well we can apply this on Monday.
I will keep you posted on Monday and let you know hopefully that all has gone well. With a plan to get the car back on Tuesday for you.

Great news, love to hear what you think of it too.

I love it, its transformed my listening of track on USB media, through the simple addition of the resume and shuffle functions. I was getting really sick of listening to the same track every time I started the car.

The only downside is the mp3 artwork doesn't scale to the full size of the artwork box. I have yet to figure out how to make it fit as the obvious of increasing the size of the embedded art didn't seem to work. Will dig more.

[Thorburn]

AdamV12V said:

Great news, love to hear what you think of it too.

I love it, its transformed my listening of track on USB media, through the simple addition of the resume and shuffle functions. I was getting really sick of listening to the same track every time I started the car.

The only downside is the mp3 artwork doesn't scale to the full size of the artwork box. I have yet to figure out how to make it fit as the obvious of increasing the size of the embedded art didn't seem to work. Will dig more.

Irony is I don't listen to music when driving. Neither my Lotus nor my daily driver even have a stereo - Elise has long dash and no speakers, Fiesta one stopped working and I never cared to fix it. Just made sense to get it all sorted whilst the car was there and didn't have any rush to get it back.

May use the Android Auto stuff for nav, but that's about it.

[Thorburn]

Had a bit of a play with it this evening, definitely glad I waited on the update before getting the car back as the Google Now voice commands are pretty useful.

Music still seemed to be playing by track name, but may be my dads MP3 collection wasn't correctly named/numbered so will try copying over mine which I went through and tagged correctly and name filenames with track numbers at the start.

[AdamV12V]

There is a new firmware available soon which includes mp3 album artwork scaling and the ability to delete the on board mp3 artwork cache. Info on other improvements to follow on full release.

The version is:

App : 3.1.0
Base : 1.100

https://thumbsnap.com/sc/4BbdmqiA.jpg

Should be available via your dealer service dept very very soon.

[robt350c]

Hi,

Is there a way to get hold of the firmware updates for ami iii and install yourself? I appear to be on and old version with no android auto / car play.

If you can't get the firmware any idea how much the dealers charge to update?

Car going into Aston Nottingham next week for a few bits to be sorted post purchase of the car so could ask them to look at it.

Thanks in advance

P. S. It's a Rapide S if that makes any difference

[AdamV12V]

Firmware updates for AMi III are free of charge - it was always stated from launch that AMi III included carplay.

Only the upgrade from AMi II to AMi III was chargeable.

[Felonious]

AdamV12V said:

Only the upgrade from AMi II to AMi III was chargeable.

And what a charge it is! Shame.

I actually find that AMI ii works fine with my iPhone, both via Bluetooth and cable. It's the atrocious Garmin satnav which ages the thing by a decade or more and which is the main aspect of AMi iii which makes it more attractive than its predecessor. I've asked James at Aston Installations for a quote for CarPlay upgrade which would give decent mapping via Waze etc and would render the in-built satnav fairly redundant.

[AdamV12V]

Felonious said:

AdamV12V said:

Only the upgrade from AMi II to AMi III was chargeable.

And what a charge it is! Shame.

I actually find that AMI ii works fine with my iPhone, both via Bluetooth and cable. It's the atrocious Garmin satnav which ages the thing by a decade or more and which is the main aspect of AMi iii which makes it more attractive than its predecessor. I've asked James at Aston Installations for a quote for CarPlay upgrade which would give decent mapping via Waze etc and would render the in-built satnav fairly redundant.

In fairness the opensource Nav on AMi III is brilliant - I really love it! One of the best Nav's I've used and constantly seems to update itself (not sure how). For instance, in my home city of Leeds more and more buildings seem to be getting full colour 3D renders added in, instead of just white block buildings. Not sure how and when it downloads the data, but regardless I like it.

[Felonious]

AdamV12V said:

In fairness the opensource Nav on AMi III is brilliant - I really love it! One of the best Nav's I've used and constantly seems to update itself (not sure how). For instance, in my home city of Leeds more and more buildings seem to be getting full colour 3D renders added in, instead of just white block buildings. Not sure how and when it downloads the data, but regardless I like it.

No, stop! I can't justify, even with my man-maths calculator turned up to 11, spending four figures on a better map. Tell me it's ste.

[robt350c]

AdamV12V said:

Firmware updates for AMi III are free of charge - it was always stated from launch that AMi III included carplay.

Only the upgrade from AMi II to AMi III was chargeable.

That's great to hear, thanks. I've put it on the list of jobs for when it goes back to Nottingham on Thursday. Also got some rust starting underneath the chrome strip on the boot, presumably from a fixing.

Will report back how I get on.

[V12Vin]

Received a 3.1.1 upgrade. Thought not sure what's the difference with 3.1.0.

[chrzesm]

Anyone knows how to upgrade/change Nav map in AMi III? Do I need a dealer to do so, or I can use an opensource Garmin files?
Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

[EVR]

chrzesm said:

Anyone knows how to upgrade/change Nav map in AMi III? Do I need a dealer to do so, or I can use an opensource Garmin files?
Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

I am far from an expert since I have the previous version, but IIRC, you can download maps from Garmin (or another vendor too, can't remember the name, maybe OpenStreet?) save them to an SD card and put them in the Aston to update everything.

I believe a search here with the good keywords will gave you the answers you seek.

[IanV12VSRs]

chrzesm said:

Anyone knows how to upgrade/change Nav map in AMi III? Do I need a dealer to do so, or I can use an opensource Garmin files?
Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

I no longer bother with the Sat Nav on my AMR and use Apple CarPlay and the Waze App. No need to worry about updating and the added benefit of speed camera/police information. Makes you wonder why manufacturers bother putting sat navs in, at a huge price for the consumer, when you can use Waze or similar for free?

[Thorburn]

IanV12VSRs said:

I no longer bother with the Sat Nav on my AMR and use Apple CarPlay and the Waze App. No need to worry about updating and the added benefit of speed camera/police information. Makes you wonder why manufacturers bother putting sat navs in, at a huge price for the consumer, when you can use Waze or similar for free?

I'm amazed by how bad the (2018) VW system in our Skoda is - it has this nasty habit of on certain motorways and dual carriageways deciding to get ask you to take an exit, drive across the roundabout, and rejoin the road you were just on!

The AMI III system isn't that bad, but being able to just set things up on the computer, send it to the phone and then plug it into the car is far better in most cases for me.

[Octavarium]

EVR said:

I am far from an expert since I have the previous version, but IIRC, you can download maps from Garmin (or another vendor too, can't remember the name, maybe OpenStreet?) save them to an SD card and put them in the Aston to update everything.

I believe a search here with the good keywords will gave you the answers you seek.

garmin.openstreetmap.nl if I recall. Not sure you can use postcodes however if you use this. It’s a couple of years since I used this in the V8VS, so I’m not 100% certain. I use Apple CarPlay with Waze now In the DB11, recently installed by those very nice people at Aston Installations.

[chrzesm]

EVR said:

I am far from an expert since I have the previous version, but IIRC, you can download maps from Garmin (or another vendor too, can't remember the name, maybe OpenStreet?) save them to an SD card and put them in the Aston to update everything.

I believe a search here with the good keywords will gave you the answers you seek.

EVR, thank you for your reply. The AMi III does not have any SD slot, there are 3xUSB ports, which probably could do the job, however a stick put into USB with Gamin’s maps copied does not work. I did a search before as you suggested to find a method for a map update, no luck. There are almost no info available on AMi III, while the Vanquish manual is basically useless. This is why I tried to ask the experts here.

[EVR]

chrzesm said:

EVR, thank you for your reply. The AMi III does not have any SD slot, there are 3xUSB ports, which probably could do the job, however a stick put into USB with Gamin’s maps copied does not work. I did a search before as you suggested to find a method for a map update, no luck. There are almost no info available on AMi III, while the Vanquish manual is basically useless. This is why I tried to ask the experts here.

I might be wrong then. My understanding is:

AMi 1: The very first system you can find in a 4.3 Vantage, no hard disk, the GPS reads the map out of a DVD player in the left side of the boot, behind some carpet.

AMi 2 (the one I have): The second system you can find in a 4.7 Vantage, hard disk, the GPS data is copied to the HD through a DVD player in the left side of the boot, behind some carpet. I updated mine this summer with the latest Volvo data I could find.

AMi 3: The latest one, this one to be precise:



That has a completely new software and features and an SD card slot somewhere to update maps via Garmin/OpenStreet.

No?