Atoto S8 Android Head Unit
Discussion
I've been looking for an Android head unit and whilst the Pioneer flip out screen one is tempting it doesn't have wireless Android Auto without a dongle, the screen has to tilt forwards slightly, and you're paying £600 for something that without using Android Auto / Carplay is pretty slow and limited. Oh, and it's pretty much out of stock everywhere.
Atoto do the S8 which has a single DIN version where the screen can extend far enough out to clear the lip above the stereo in the Cerbera. But also it is permanently out which may spoil the lines of the dash and covers up the window buttons a little but as it is sitting quite far out shouldn't obstruct them too much. I’ve done a mock up of what it would look like. What do you think?
Atoto do the S8 which has a single DIN version where the screen can extend far enough out to clear the lip above the stereo in the Cerbera. But also it is permanently out which may spoil the lines of the dash and covers up the window buttons a little but as it is sitting quite far out shouldn't obstruct them too much. I’ve done a mock up of what it would look like. What do you think?
Jabbah said:
That's what I've been doing for quite a while but there's no where good to put a phone mount and then an extra wire hanging about for charging. I want to get away from a windscreen mount, I even tried putting a mount under the stereo but didn't work well.
My solution is tidy, not permanent and discreet.I bought one of these magnetic 360 degree mounts and used a sticky pad to attach it to the front of the ashtray next to the cubby-hole. I then put a MagSafe magnet on top. It now grabs my iPhone 13. It’s been like this for months. The added benefit is the cigarette lighter is next to to it for easy usb charging.
Before I had a MagSafe iPhone 13, I had the same setup with my iPhone 7 and had a small metal sticky plate under the phone case. This worked for a few years until I upgraded my phone.
Edited by ginkent on Tuesday 21st June 17:22
The bigger screen for navigation though would be excellent.
Whats the limitation of the android auto on the Pioneer AVH-Z7200 DAB? Halfords suggest it's built in - connect through a cable which is what I do with the pioneer head unit I have in the MX-5
https://www.halfords.com/technology/car-audio/dab-...
Whats the limitation of the android auto on the Pioneer AVH-Z7200 DAB? Halfords suggest it's built in - connect through a cable which is what I do with the pioneer head unit I have in the MX-5
https://www.halfords.com/technology/car-audio/dab-...
Yeah bigger screen would be nice as well as Android Auto being setup for ease of use whilst driving. Using a phone interface is fiddly and distracting - Android Auto for phones has been discontinued and the replacement assitant driving mode is really bad and can only be used in portrait mode. With an AA head unit you can wire in microphones for better voice control and phone use. I've also got a reversing camera so that would be difficult to support on a phone. With a full Android head unit like the S8 you also don't need to use the phone at all, you can install nav apps and spotify etc directly wheras with the Pioneer you need the phone connected.
Whilst the Pioneer supports Android Auto out of the box it is only wired which means taking phone out and plugging in for every journey or whenever stopping etc. You can get a Carsifi dongle that will convert it to wireless AA for $90, but the S8 will do it natively for half the price. Price isn't a limiting factor, it's just I don't like to feel I'm getting a bad deal.
...On the other hand I've been looking into ways of using my phone. There is an app called Headunit Reloaded that emulates an Android Auto headunit on your phone, doing pretty much what AA for phones used to do. Takes a bit of fiddling but got it working. Then I've used Tasker to auto start it when the phone connects to car BT and close it when BT disconnects. Works surprisingly well. This coupled with a MagSafe wireless charging phone holder mounted underneath the stereo might do most of what I need. Ideally I would be able to connect the reversing camera too, but as I haven't used that for a number of years that's not a huge problem. There are wifi cameras but quality looks shockingly bad, or those oversized reversing mirrors with a screen built in but they look a bit special.
Whilst the Pioneer supports Android Auto out of the box it is only wired which means taking phone out and plugging in for every journey or whenever stopping etc. You can get a Carsifi dongle that will convert it to wireless AA for $90, but the S8 will do it natively for half the price. Price isn't a limiting factor, it's just I don't like to feel I'm getting a bad deal.
...On the other hand I've been looking into ways of using my phone. There is an app called Headunit Reloaded that emulates an Android Auto headunit on your phone, doing pretty much what AA for phones used to do. Takes a bit of fiddling but got it working. Then I've used Tasker to auto start it when the phone connects to car BT and close it when BT disconnects. Works surprisingly well. This coupled with a MagSafe wireless charging phone holder mounted underneath the stereo might do most of what I need. Ideally I would be able to connect the reversing camera too, but as I haven't used that for a number of years that's not a huge problem. There are wifi cameras but quality looks shockingly bad, or those oversized reversing mirrors with a screen built in but they look a bit special.
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