AMi III - Setup Tips
Discussion
AMi I or II or III ?
Given there was some confusion later in this thread I thought I would start it off with a section to clarify which versions of AMi were fitted to which cars.
And so onto the features and how to setup AMi III to get the best out of it....
I have found very little information either in the owners manual, here on PH, or elsewhere I thought it might be useful if I created a tips thread for how to get the best out of the audio system. My notes are based on the Premium Audio option, as the old std 160W Audio is discontinued from MY17 making Premium 700W the basic and NO COST option, with B&O costing a cool £5,495 more plus another £495 for the black grills.
Please note I have no experience of AMi II, so some or all of what I have posted may apply to this also.
Specification
Fairly obviously, but perhaps worth saying anyway is that there is no CD-interchanger in the dash.
The single USB and apple adapter port are gone and replaced with two USB 3.0 slots and a 3.5mm connection port, all in the centre armrest . Very handy if you listen to music from a USB stick and want to connect your phone to charge or for Apple CarPlay. There is no mention in the manual but the factory have confirmed to me that both USB slots are USB3.0, so this is worthwhile noting as if you use a USB3.0 memory stick you will get significantly faster read speeds compared to when using USB2.0 sticks. At the time of writing the car seems to read / index all tracks every time the car is started so this should help with the speed of the start up process.
The audio "Equaliser" settings are missing from the new AMi III too, but based on the detailed information on the speakers and Amps in the Owners Manual it appears to be the same basic setup as the old Premium Audio (good news, because it's great), but the user interface (so in effect the Streamer and Pre-Amp stage) has different settings available.
Personalisation
A rather nice surprise this one - you can customise the colour and background of the interface and menus to match your car!
There are 7 colours to choose from:
Initially I thought the loss of the 5 band equaliser settings wasn't going to be good news, but there are now more variances in other aspects of the setup which compensate and with a little time and effort I have managed to get it sounding pretty great again.
These are the settings I ended up with, which I believe sound a lot better than stock.
Setup on "Premium" Audio in a Vantage
Blutooth Streaming
Works beautifully out of the box as you would expect. Just BT pair your device / phone and bingo....
However, and this is a big however for me, the sound quality is a lot lower than listening to 320kbps MP3 files from a USB stick. I loaded the same tracks up on my iPhone6 and streamed them back to back against a USB stick, and the quality of the direct USB wins hands down. Its almost certainly the transfer rate for BT streaming that is the weakpoint, as the source files were identical and I did not allow iTunes to convert the files, so both were 320kbps MP3's. So for me, it's non-option, but if you are happy listening to low quality MP3 files, you may well like the convenience this option offers.
Compressed file format playback (MP3/WMA/AAC)
MP3 - works fine up to 320kbps.
WMA - works fine at 160kbps. Not tested 192kbps yet.
AAC - not tested.
Lossless file format playback (WAV/FLAC/ALAC)
WAV - works fine, but even when tagged the tags are not read, and neither are the folder names on the USB stick. So all tracks are just listed as Unknown Artist, Unknown Album, Unknown Track, no artwork. So realistically this is almost useless.
FLAC - tested both regular and HD FLAC files, and neither were shown. This format appears therefore to be unsupported.
ALAC - not tested.
iPhone/iPod using a USB cable
This now works fine - but only when your firmware has been upgraded to support Carplay or later (see below). On previous versions of the firmware it did NOT work at all.
Audio quality appears to be comparable to USB playback of mp3 files, and both give considerably better quality input than the use of Bluetooth streaming.
Recommendation
So either a direct cable connection to your phone or simply plug in a USB stick is therefore my strongest recommendation for best quality and functionality combined.
320kbs MP3 files stored on the phone/stick give the best combination of audio quality and enable the display of artwork and album names etc from the mp3 tags.
WAV files will give the absolute best audio quality, but due to the lack of tags really do suffer a significant loss of functionality and usability, so these are can not be recommended unfortunately.
Apple Carplay
Although not available on earlier cars this has now been released as a firmware update.
The firmware level which was the first version to support Apple CarPlay is:
App : 2.3.1
Base : 1.053
It appears to do everything you would expect from Carplay, and although the default number of Apps that support Carplay appear limited, the obvious stuff including Music, Maps and Messaging all appear to work fine.
Note that the iPhone must be connected in the right hand side USB port as that is the only one to support Carplay, and you must use an official Apple cable. I tried an Amazon Apple certified cable that worked for everything else I tried but it did not work with CarPlay.
http://thumbsnap.com/sc/Uv7hjpS0.jpg
Android Auto
Although not available on earlier cars this has now been released as a firmware update.
The firmware level which was the first version to support Android Auto (and Apple CarPlay) is:
App : 3.0.1
Base : 1.060
I do not have an Android phone to test this with at the moment, so will try to do so and update later. For now I can confirm it appears in the menus so I have to assume it works as intended.
http://thumbsnap.com/sc/1Kwf5aiF.jpg
USB Track Selection
The shuffle feature and track resume on start up on USB media were missing from early releases but are now back as at the version above which supports Android Auto. In prior versions of the firmware the car would start playing the (alphabetically) first track on the USB stick every time the car was restarted from cold, which was very annoying. The car now resumes playing the track it was on before, much as you would expect it to.
Folders on the USB drive can now also be navigated in the Search option in the same way as they could be 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. Again as was available on the older AMi I system, but not available of previous versions of the firmware (you could only listen to them in alphabetical order by choosing Track or Album or Artist).
http://thumbsnap.com/sc/1LEETjY5.jpg
MP3 Tags
The system reads MP3 tags for the Artist, Album, Track Name and Album Art. Unlike other systems it does not read the folder and file names, nor does it pick up the artwork from a "albumart.jpg" file in the folders, so if you want the album art and indeed the other name tags to work properly in AMi III you will need to tag your MP3 files and embed the album art.
This is pretty painless to do with mp3tag. It has just taken me less than 1 hour to tag over 1800 MP3 files that I had on my USB stick, of which 95% were incorrectly tagged before, so I can recommend this software as a quick and painless solution to the problem.
(New bug in the Andriod Auto release - seems the artwork files need to be at least 250x250 pixels otherwise they do not occupy the full space on the screen - i.e. an image of 225x225 is about 10% short in each direction. Update - This bug is fixed in release App : 3.0.1 / Base : 1.060).
Artwork is cached to the internal HD the first time a new track is seen. The artwork cache can be deleted in the Audio Setup Menu (new feature from release App : 3.0.1 / Base : 1.060).
Top Level Menu
The top level menu gives access to all the various items, such as Reversing Camera, Vehicle Info (Tyres / Power Meter), Audio / Radio, Navigation, Phone, Settings. It looks like this
http://thumbsnap.com/sc/Ayrf2Fsm.jpg
Audio Display
When fully correctly tagged music files appear like this in the Now Playing Section:
http://thumbsnap.com/sc/ZRe8mCBu.jpg
Sat Nav Display
Now all new HD, opensource maps based Nav. Much improved all tound and lots of options to the display mode including showing large nearby buildings in modeled in 3D. Current road speed limit shown.
Maps are updated as part of an annual main dealer service when the car is connected to AMDS. The maps download in the background during the AMDS service system checks.
Power/Torque Meter
A nice little toy to show your mates, but actually quite interesting to see just how little of the power you use in normal driving!
Power units can be changed in the settings menu to show either BHP or PS, and Torque can be changed to show either NM or lb-ft.
http://thumbsnap.com/sc/eLysmEfe.jpg
Tyre Pressures
A clear display of current tyre pressures and temperatures can be displayed, together with any warnings for low pressure.
In very earlier versions units could be togged between BAR or PSI, but in later versions this changed to the choice of kPa or PSI, and the setting became linked to the MPH/KPH speedo choice. MPH paired with PSI for pressure, and KPH paired with kPa pressure.
http://thumbsnap.com/sc/ODD4UcuU.jpg
In addition a miniature version can be toggled to display in either right display panels in the main instrument panel.
Screen Folding and Raising
The display screen can be lowered and raised back up again by pressing and holding the lower central rotary for 2 seconds. There is a setting in the system settings called "Screen Mechanism - Remember screen down at poweroff", which when set "on" causes the screen not to automatically pop up on start up if the left in the lowered position at last power off.
(Thanks to PH member DB9VolanteDriver for the tip in another thread)
System Settings
Lots of things can now be set to personal preference in the main settings menu. There are the following options:
http://thumbsnap.com/sc/2ofwD0pk.jpg
http://thumbsnap.com/sc/ssYuPvae.jpg
http://thumbsnap.com/sc/FceAV6Al.jpg
The final option shows system info and patch levels.
EDITS
1) 03/01/17 - Changed embedded images to be links to save post length.
2) 06/03/17 - Added info on release 2.3.1/1.053 which includes Apple CarPlay support, and new System Settings menus.
3) 12/05/17 - Added info that the USB slots are USB3.0 devices - and comments on possible speed benefits of such.
4) 20/07/17 - Added that Android Auto support is due in the next firmware release, as are the shuffle and track resume on start up for USB Media.
5) 14/08/17 - Added that the display can be lowered and raised again by pressing the lower central rotary for 2 seconds.
6) 03/09/17 - Added Apple lossless ALAC to the lossless file playback options - untested at this time.
7) 12/10/17 - Added info on release 3.0.1/1.060 which includes Android Auto support and USB Shuffle, Repeat and Resume track on start up features also now supported. Also new "folders" feature available for selecting tracks from USB media. New bug of small artwork files in mp3 tags do not stretch on screen - use images of 250x250 or larger.
8) 04/02/17 - Added info on release 3.1.0/1.100 which includes mp3 album artwork scaling and the ability to delete the onboard mp3 artwork cache. Info on other improvements to follow.
9) 16/12/21 - Added limited information on two later releases 3.1.8/1.107 and 3.1.12/1.108, both of which were bug fixes.
10) 30/12/21 - Added information on the very last release 3.2.0/1.107
11) 02/02/21 - Seems 3.2.0/1.107 is VERY UNSTABLE when using the built in Nav. It is otherwise fine however. If you use the Nav do NOT get this version applied.
12) 02/02/21 - My car rolled back to 3.1.10/1.107 to resolve the Nav issues. So far all looks fine and Nav certainly seems stable so far. At the moment this is the version I would recommend, not the apparent later version(s).
13) 21/04/21 - Added info in Tyre Pressure section on how to toggle between PSI and kPa from information provided by another member.
14) 26/03/23 - Added information on how the sat nav maps are updated.
Given there was some confusion later in this thread I thought I would start it off with a section to clarify which versions of AMi were fitted to which cars.
- AMi I was fitted to all Vantages and other VH2 thereafter between MY05 to MY15 inclusive. It covers both of the two earlier waterfall dash layouts the ones with where the CD slot in the dash. It can not unfortunately be upgraded to the later AMi II or III
- AMi II was rather shorter lived and fitted only to MY16 built cars. It comes with the revised and haptic centre waterfall, with no CD slot and is visually identical to AMi III. It can be upgraded to AMi III by your main dealer at cost.
- AMi III was the final iteration fitted to VH2 Astons, from MY17 to end of life. It comes with the revised haptic waterfall, with no CD slot and is visually identical to the earlier AMi II. AMi III had a number of improvements over AMi II, including perhaps most critically Apple Carplay and Android Auto, but many of the features were otherwise the same or very similar.
And so onto the features and how to setup AMi III to get the best out of it....
I have found very little information either in the owners manual, here on PH, or elsewhere I thought it might be useful if I created a tips thread for how to get the best out of the audio system. My notes are based on the Premium Audio option, as the old std 160W Audio is discontinued from MY17 making Premium 700W the basic and NO COST option, with B&O costing a cool £5,495 more plus another £495 for the black grills.
Please note I have no experience of AMi II, so some or all of what I have posted may apply to this also.
Specification
Fairly obviously, but perhaps worth saying anyway is that there is no CD-interchanger in the dash.
The single USB and apple adapter port are gone and replaced with two USB 3.0 slots and a 3.5mm connection port, all in the centre armrest . Very handy if you listen to music from a USB stick and want to connect your phone to charge or for Apple CarPlay. There is no mention in the manual but the factory have confirmed to me that both USB slots are USB3.0, so this is worthwhile noting as if you use a USB3.0 memory stick you will get significantly faster read speeds compared to when using USB2.0 sticks. At the time of writing the car seems to read / index all tracks every time the car is started so this should help with the speed of the start up process.
The audio "Equaliser" settings are missing from the new AMi III too, but based on the detailed information on the speakers and Amps in the Owners Manual it appears to be the same basic setup as the old Premium Audio (good news, because it's great), but the user interface (so in effect the Streamer and Pre-Amp stage) has different settings available.
Personalisation
A rather nice surprise this one - you can customise the colour and background of the interface and menus to match your car!
There are 7 colours to choose from:
- Flugplatz Blue
- Volcano Red
- Cinnabar Orange
- Sunshine Yellow (recommended for anyone with an AMR in Halo or with AMR Lime highlight packs as this option matches the colour of "AMR Lime" better than any other of the options)
- Appletree Green
- Lightning Silver
- Transparent
- None
- Highlight
- Carbon Fibre
- Water Droplets
- Leather
- Cedar
- Sand
Initially I thought the loss of the 5 band equaliser settings wasn't going to be good news, but there are now more variances in other aspects of the setup which compensate and with a little time and effort I have managed to get it sounding pretty great again.
These are the settings I ended up with, which I believe sound a lot better than stock.
Setup on "Premium" Audio in a Vantage
| Set Up | Setting |
|---|---|
| Bass | +2 |
| Treble | +3 |
| Balance | 0 |
| Fader | -1 (i.e. to rear) |
| Surround | +8 |
| Subwoofer | +1 |
| Centre | +1 |
| Surround Equaliser | Dolby Pro Logic II On |
| Auto Volume Control | Low |
Blutooth Streaming
Works beautifully out of the box as you would expect. Just BT pair your device / phone and bingo....
However, and this is a big however for me, the sound quality is a lot lower than listening to 320kbps MP3 files from a USB stick. I loaded the same tracks up on my iPhone6 and streamed them back to back against a USB stick, and the quality of the direct USB wins hands down. Its almost certainly the transfer rate for BT streaming that is the weakpoint, as the source files were identical and I did not allow iTunes to convert the files, so both were 320kbps MP3's. So for me, it's non-option, but if you are happy listening to low quality MP3 files, you may well like the convenience this option offers.
Compressed file format playback (MP3/WMA/AAC)
MP3 - works fine up to 320kbps.
WMA - works fine at 160kbps. Not tested 192kbps yet.
AAC - not tested.
Lossless file format playback (WAV/FLAC/ALAC)
WAV - works fine, but even when tagged the tags are not read, and neither are the folder names on the USB stick. So all tracks are just listed as Unknown Artist, Unknown Album, Unknown Track, no artwork. So realistically this is almost useless.
FLAC - tested both regular and HD FLAC files, and neither were shown. This format appears therefore to be unsupported.
ALAC - not tested.
iPhone/iPod using a USB cable
This now works fine - but only when your firmware has been upgraded to support Carplay or later (see below). On previous versions of the firmware it did NOT work at all.
Audio quality appears to be comparable to USB playback of mp3 files, and both give considerably better quality input than the use of Bluetooth streaming.
Recommendation
So either a direct cable connection to your phone or simply plug in a USB stick is therefore my strongest recommendation for best quality and functionality combined.
320kbs MP3 files stored on the phone/stick give the best combination of audio quality and enable the display of artwork and album names etc from the mp3 tags.
WAV files will give the absolute best audio quality, but due to the lack of tags really do suffer a significant loss of functionality and usability, so these are can not be recommended unfortunately.
Apple Carplay
Although not available on earlier cars this has now been released as a firmware update.
The firmware level which was the first version to support Apple CarPlay is:
App : 2.3.1
Base : 1.053
It appears to do everything you would expect from Carplay, and although the default number of Apps that support Carplay appear limited, the obvious stuff including Music, Maps and Messaging all appear to work fine.
Note that the iPhone must be connected in the right hand side USB port as that is the only one to support Carplay, and you must use an official Apple cable. I tried an Amazon Apple certified cable that worked for everything else I tried but it did not work with CarPlay.
http://thumbsnap.com/sc/Uv7hjpS0.jpg
Android Auto
Although not available on earlier cars this has now been released as a firmware update.
The firmware level which was the first version to support Android Auto (and Apple CarPlay) is:
App : 3.0.1
Base : 1.060
I do not have an Android phone to test this with at the moment, so will try to do so and update later. For now I can confirm it appears in the menus so I have to assume it works as intended.
http://thumbsnap.com/sc/1Kwf5aiF.jpg
USB Track Selection
The shuffle feature and track resume on start up on USB media were missing from early releases but are now back as at the version above which supports Android Auto. In prior versions of the firmware the car would start playing the (alphabetically) first track on the USB stick every time the car was restarted from cold, which was very annoying. The car now resumes playing the track it was on before, much as you would expect it to.
Folders on the USB drive can now also be navigated in the Search option in the same way as they could be 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. Again as was available on the older AMi I system, but not available of previous versions of the firmware (you could only listen to them in alphabetical order by choosing Track or Album or Artist).
http://thumbsnap.com/sc/1LEETjY5.jpg
MP3 Tags
The system reads MP3 tags for the Artist, Album, Track Name and Album Art. Unlike other systems it does not read the folder and file names, nor does it pick up the artwork from a "albumart.jpg" file in the folders, so if you want the album art and indeed the other name tags to work properly in AMi III you will need to tag your MP3 files and embed the album art.
This is pretty painless to do with mp3tag. It has just taken me less than 1 hour to tag over 1800 MP3 files that I had on my USB stick, of which 95% were incorrectly tagged before, so I can recommend this software as a quick and painless solution to the problem.
(New bug in the Andriod Auto release - seems the artwork files need to be at least 250x250 pixels otherwise they do not occupy the full space on the screen - i.e. an image of 225x225 is about 10% short in each direction. Update - This bug is fixed in release App : 3.0.1 / Base : 1.060).
Artwork is cached to the internal HD the first time a new track is seen. The artwork cache can be deleted in the Audio Setup Menu (new feature from release App : 3.0.1 / Base : 1.060).
Top Level Menu
The top level menu gives access to all the various items, such as Reversing Camera, Vehicle Info (Tyres / Power Meter), Audio / Radio, Navigation, Phone, Settings. It looks like this
http://thumbsnap.com/sc/Ayrf2Fsm.jpg
Audio Display
When fully correctly tagged music files appear like this in the Now Playing Section:
http://thumbsnap.com/sc/ZRe8mCBu.jpg
Sat Nav Display
Now all new HD, opensource maps based Nav. Much improved all tound and lots of options to the display mode including showing large nearby buildings in modeled in 3D. Current road speed limit shown.
Maps are updated as part of an annual main dealer service when the car is connected to AMDS. The maps download in the background during the AMDS service system checks.
Power/Torque Meter
A nice little toy to show your mates, but actually quite interesting to see just how little of the power you use in normal driving!
Power units can be changed in the settings menu to show either BHP or PS, and Torque can be changed to show either NM or lb-ft.
http://thumbsnap.com/sc/eLysmEfe.jpg
Tyre Pressures
A clear display of current tyre pressures and temperatures can be displayed, together with any warnings for low pressure.
In very earlier versions units could be togged between BAR or PSI, but in later versions this changed to the choice of kPa or PSI, and the setting became linked to the MPH/KPH speedo choice. MPH paired with PSI for pressure, and KPH paired with kPa pressure.
http://thumbsnap.com/sc/ODD4UcuU.jpg
In addition a miniature version can be toggled to display in either right display panels in the main instrument panel.
Screen Folding and Raising
The display screen can be lowered and raised back up again by pressing and holding the lower central rotary for 2 seconds. There is a setting in the system settings called "Screen Mechanism - Remember screen down at poweroff", which when set "on" causes the screen not to automatically pop up on start up if the left in the lowered position at last power off.
(Thanks to PH member DB9VolanteDriver for the tip in another thread)
System Settings
Lots of things can now be set to personal preference in the main settings menu. There are the following options:
http://thumbsnap.com/sc/2ofwD0pk.jpg
http://thumbsnap.com/sc/ssYuPvae.jpg
http://thumbsnap.com/sc/FceAV6Al.jpg
The final option shows system info and patch levels.
EDITS
1) 03/01/17 - Changed embedded images to be links to save post length.
2) 06/03/17 - Added info on release 2.3.1/1.053 which includes Apple CarPlay support, and new System Settings menus.
3) 12/05/17 - Added info that the USB slots are USB3.0 devices - and comments on possible speed benefits of such.
4) 20/07/17 - Added that Android Auto support is due in the next firmware release, as are the shuffle and track resume on start up for USB Media.
5) 14/08/17 - Added that the display can be lowered and raised again by pressing the lower central rotary for 2 seconds.
6) 03/09/17 - Added Apple lossless ALAC to the lossless file playback options - untested at this time.
7) 12/10/17 - Added info on release 3.0.1/1.060 which includes Android Auto support and USB Shuffle, Repeat and Resume track on start up features also now supported. Also new "folders" feature available for selecting tracks from USB media. New bug of small artwork files in mp3 tags do not stretch on screen - use images of 250x250 or larger.
8) 04/02/17 - Added info on release 3.1.0/1.100 which includes mp3 album artwork scaling and the ability to delete the onboard mp3 artwork cache. Info on other improvements to follow.
9) 16/12/21 - Added limited information on two later releases 3.1.8/1.107 and 3.1.12/1.108, both of which were bug fixes.
10) 30/12/21 - Added information on the very last release 3.2.0/1.107
11) 02/02/21 - Seems 3.2.0/1.107 is VERY UNSTABLE when using the built in Nav. It is otherwise fine however. If you use the Nav do NOT get this version applied.
12) 02/02/21 - My car rolled back to 3.1.10/1.107 to resolve the Nav issues. So far all looks fine and Nav certainly seems stable so far. At the moment this is the version I would recommend, not the apparent later version(s).
13) 21/04/21 - Added info in Tyre Pressure section on how to toggle between PSI and kPa from information provided by another member.
14) 26/03/23 - Added information on how the sat nav maps are updated.
Edited by AdamV12V on Sunday 26th March 22:43
wtdoom said:
Great post , would you be so kind as to include pics of some of the different screens (sat nav , iplay etc)?
Very interested , especially now that I've speeded my car
Sure - now updated and included above!Very interested , especially now that I've speeded my car
DocW said:
Many thanks Adam , thats all very useful. With the section where you say you cannot get the i-phone/ipod USB compatible bit to work, in mine only the lefthand side USB socket works with my iPod and iPhone. I use an Apple lightning to USB lead and discovered accidentally that only one of the two sockets is "compatible" and the other works with a memory stick. Also not all Apple devices seem to work, I bought an ipod nano for car use and it didn't work but an older iPod touch works well. Finally other leads from third party suppliers are sometimes incompatible but you can see this on your phone if you plug it into your computer it will warn you of this possibility.
Well I have tried both left and right USB slots tonight and neither work with my iPod (in fairness it's old) or with my newer iPhone6 (which is running the latest iOS v10.2), both using official Apple cables. 
Can I ask which iPhone and iOS are you running that works?
Finally I have tested lossless WAV, FLAC, and HD FLAC file formats tonight with mixed success, as well as compressed WMA files. Comments also now updated above.
DocW said:
OK I've been sitting in the car trying different combinations. The iPod touch is one of the originals like the iPhone 3Gs (only difference at the time was seemed it wasn't able to make calls) so thats 8 years old I think, it runs on the original software. It works well in the left USB. I put my iPhone 7plus in to the same socket and it works, it has the latest software installed.
It seems that there might be a fault in the unit in the car I guess as you have been thorough in checking. My last suggestion is a bit of a long shot, are you in Yorkshire by any chance? I am in South Yorkshire and if you wanted to meet somewhere you could try my iPod/phone in your system before you have to visit the dealer. PM me if thats easier. Best wishes. Malcolm
That's interesting and very useful to know, many thanks! I popped down to JCT at lunch today but ran out of time, but basically it definitely isn't working as it should and the tech confirmed that. There is more than one problem as mine now seems to have started rebooting everytime I start the car, which causes the screen to flip up/down twice and a big hang while it reboots - then starts playing at the first track on the USB again! All rather irritating. He was going to flash the AMi firmware to the latest one to see if it helps, but it takes 15mins and I ran out of time, so its booked in again for Friday for a full day of investigation and re-flash. I told him about the USB cable issue, so that's on the agenda too.It seems that there might be a fault in the unit in the car I guess as you have been thorough in checking. My last suggestion is a bit of a long shot, are you in Yorkshire by any chance? I am in South Yorkshire and if you wanted to meet somewhere you could try my iPod/phone in your system before you have to visit the dealer. PM me if thats easier. Best wishes. Malcolm
Yes I am in Yorkshire, so many thanks for the offer, but I have a great relationship with JCT and only live 5mins away, so its no prob me popping in there, and to be honest you are a lot further away in Sheffield. If all else fails though and we hit a brick wall, I might yet take you up on that offer!
Ok the good news chaps is that Apple CarPlay is now supported and I am pleased to be able to report that it works perfectly and even better news is that this version of the software also seems 100% stable - no crashes at all since the upgrade.
The firmware levels of the version I have (I am told its the first version to support CarPlay) is as follows:
App : 2.3.1
Base : 1.053
I have updated the first post with additional info.
The firmware levels of the version I have (I am told its the first version to support CarPlay) is as follows:
App : 2.3.1
Base : 1.053
I have updated the first post with additional info.
Edited by AdamV12V on Friday 10th March 00:36
HBradley said:
Anyone know if AMi II can be upgraded to AMi III? Software upgrade or is it hardware-related?
It was most definitely said in the early announcements of AMi II that it could be upgraded to AMi III, but I'm not sure if they have got round to doing this yet. There was no mention of it its hardware ,software or a combination of the two.With regard to the software there is still quite a focus on ironing out the last few bugs in AMi III, so it could be the upgrade itself hasn't had the time allocated to it yet that is needed.
Thorburn said:
Ta, will enquire with the dealer. Is it going to be a free firmware update? Can't imagine dad will be too pleased if not having forked out for the upgrade to AMi III a couple months ago!
Yes as far as I am aware it will be free. The only chargable upgrade is from AMi II to AMi III as far as I am aware.Thorburn said:
Heard anymore on this? Car booked in for October 10th for a service, but they hadn't seen any details on an AMi III update yet.
Yes I have - sorry I should have updated here. I am told the current release data is scheduled for early-mid Oct and hopefully I should be able to test it in my car a few days earlier.Vibb said:
Adam any confirmation on what the upgrade will include when finalised? I know there was some speculation around Android etc.
Your local dealer is Reading right? Or have I got that confused.
I am told Android Auto yes, but the two biggies for me personally are:Your local dealer is Reading right? Or have I got that confused.
- USB resume track on startup bug which causes the car to play the same track (the one alphabetically first on the USB stick) every time the car is started from cold.
- The restoration of the missing USB track shuffle feature
I'm Leeds, not Reading.
Thorburn said:
Still no news on Android Auto? Car is going in tomorrow.
I am told I should have it to test on my car this week all being well, so sounds like you are a few days early. If all goes well it should be on general release very quickly after that.I will update as soon as I can.
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 :
http://thumbsnap.com/sc/1LEETjY5.jpg
Should be available via your dealer service dept very very soon.
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.
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 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.
[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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
OK the final two versions of AMi III as far as I know were
3.1.8/1.107 and 3.1.12/1.108
I am trying to dig through my info to work out which one is the recommended most stable one, and once I get it applied to our car I should be able to post any changes that may have been included too.
3.1.8/1.107 and 3.1.12/1.108
I am trying to dig through my info to work out which one is the recommended most stable one, and once I get it applied to our car I should be able to post any changes that may have been included too.
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