[timp7748]

Morning all, I've been looking at solutions to add a multimedia package to my car, which is completely standard apart from the OEM Alpine upgrade.

I have been thinking about a CIC retrofit but due to the cost, amount of work involved and also being situated in Cornwall (not many people down this way offering retrofits); I think it may not be an option.

The other options available is the double din units like Dynavin and Andrive. Dynavin seems widely available however having to pay for extra options such as TV tuner and DVD drive is putting me off (Andrive have both built in)

My question is, is the Andrive any good?

[Waspo]

You probably need to speak to Makkan00, he is an expert in the CIC retrofit and i believe he is looking into fitting an aftermarket DD head unit in his other cars.

What This guy does not know about this subject is really not worth knowing. Pop him a PM!

Cornwall is nothing he has had people come over from Scotland and even Norway to have him retrofit a CIC system!! Treat yourself to a weekend in London, leave you car in his hands and it will all be done for you!

I know, as he did my Combox fitout!

[timp7748]

Thanks man. Yeh im sure Sam will chime in when he sees the post. If the topic can be discussed here it may also help other people in a similar situation to myself.

[richk84]

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...hlight=Andrive

[timp7748]

Originally Posted by richk84

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...hlight=Andrive

Ideal. Thanks mate.

[makkan00]

Originally Posted by Waspo

You probably need to speak to Makkan00, he is an expert in the CIC retrofit and i believe he is looking into fitting an aftermarket DD head unit in his other cars.

What This guy does not know about this subject is really not worth knowing. Pop him a PM!

Cornwall is nothing he has had people come over from Scotland and even Norway to have him retrofit a CIC system!! Treat yourself to a weekend in London, leave you car in his hands and it will all be done for you!

I know, as he did my Combox fitout!

Thanks for the kind words.

[makkan00]

Originally Posted by timp7748

Morning all, I've been looking at solutions to add a multimedia package to my car, which is completely standard apart from the OEM Alpine upgrade.

I have been thinking about a CIC retrofit but due to the cost, amount of work involved and also being situated in Cornwall (not many people down this way offering retrofits); I think it may not be an option.

The other options available is the double din units like Dynavin and Andrive. Dynavin seems widely available however having to pay for extra options such as TV tuner and DVD drive is putting me off (Andrive have both built in)

My question is, is the Andrive any good?

I have a second car and to keep myself interested in that car, I started modyfying it (could not resist ).

Going from E91 with NBT and full media stuff to standard bog toyota....it did not help much.


So, I researched and looked for best Android units out in the market.
Shortlisted two and ordered both models to compare. My friend wanted one and he opted for relatively cheap and I went for full option including TV kit.


I have installed both in my car to play with them and have found multiple issues with each unit. I want to write comprehensive review on both units v/s CIC/NBT but its a matter of time and sitting on laptop which is difficult in these days (considering that I have two little ones...)

Quick summary and review:

I had to find solutions to multiple issues on both units.
One was 1Ghz and other was 1.6Ghz, both dual core processor with 1GB ram running on 4.2.

Now, First unit still has an issue.
When you are playing with different settings, it changes the track/ radio stations randomly. So touching the screen is still changing the track/ radio station so background application is not actually in the back ground.
Radio reception is poor on this radio.
There were some other issues which I have managed to resolve one by one.
This unit is in my friend's car and he is happy with it. He hates when it changes the track but it is something which he can live with.



Second unit which was 1.6Ghz and considered as one of the best (if not best unit) had these issues. (HuiFei)
1- When you go to radio, you hear popping sound. Its more evident as I have added under seat sub (to compare it to beamer sound system). If there is no sub, then it is not that evident.
2- Unit restarts, each time you start the car.
3- Cheap Chinese TV units do no work. I have ordered 96DB amplified aerial to see if that helps. Apparently, proper diversity antennas and TV module with two antennas will work in UK. (EDITED: 96DB antenna is delivered and tested. I can get TV reception in less built up area which is great. As if I am waiting for somebody, I can hear news or listen to music).
4- iGo (navigation application) looses gps signals. Sygic does not work on this unit. So Tomtom is the only one which works but takes ages to find gps. Also, tomtom is heavy on android unit which effects the music player in the back ground. So expect that sound will pause for a split second (used to happen on windows 98 when you were running games with the winamp in the background).

However on a bright side, this unit has better sound IC and good amplification than the cheap one.

Price wise, cheaper one was £230 just for the parts. Second one was £300 including TV module. And these prices are importing directly from the china straight from the manufacturers. UK importer charges you way more than that. And actually there are none UK re-sellers due to these issues and they do not want to hold themselves responsible to resolve these issue. There is one guy on rover forums who sell these units for rovers and E46 at approx £400-500.

People argue that on these units you can use applications and get more flexibility or these are true value for money. My personal opinion is that we have enough phones, tablets and laptops to try applications.

Car multimedia systems is something which we should be able to use without any issues. You sit in your car and it should work flawlessly every time. It is not that we have to resolve issues or live with those issues.


So a quick CIC Vs Chinese Andorid double din unit

1- CIC boots quicker than andorid units. 20seconds VS 40-50 seconds.

2- CIC remembers your last location. These Chinese units seems to do that if you run navigation application every time you drive your car. Be default, navigation application does not run. So you have to run the application every time so it can remember your last location.
If you do not do that, then give it 2 minutes cold boot time to get full GPS signals.
Whereas on CCC / CIC / NBT, navigation is being run all the time.

3- CIC is fully compatible with our cars. These android units are not except if you go for one made for E9x. But then they come with a premium of £500-600.

4- CIC navigation has less functions. NBT has more features. These android units are flexible and you can run different navigation applications. Though some of them do not search with post code, so you end up relying on tomtom application. Sygic is a matter of hit and miss. Navigon did not work either on my units.

5- CIC unit with combox gives you awesome album art.
These andorid units give you alblum art if you use 'power amp' application and you pay for that. After paying for application, quality of pixels / album art is no where near CIC.

6- Sound quality on CIC is way better than best andorid units just with stock speakers. Do not forget that CIC has differential balanced output which is considered better sound carrier.

7- Radio is similar on most units, except cheap android units have poor reception.

8- Phone, and OEM location of mic on bmw is so good. On these android units, phone reception and voice quality is hit and miss. You have to find correct MCU level and andorid version to have best. (Firmwares and operating systems)
Also, you may have to fit external mic to improve the sound quality.

9- Video Quality is very similar on these units. CIC does not allow you to have digital media displayed on CIC. You will have to use DVD. Whereas these android units allow you to play digital media on the memory stick. Which is excellent if you have kids in the car and you want to add rear multi-media option.

So to sum up, if it was my ordinary car without canbus system and I am on budget, I will buy these android units again. They are good value for money though not very reliable. It is hit and miss and you may get a faulty unit.
In my case, both units (from two different manufactures) turned out to have issues. Also, there is no warranty on these. If they run for 1-2 years, expect yourself lucky.


But if we are discussing E9x, I will leave these units alone. I will rather buy double din made by pioneer / alpine / sony which cost approx £400-600.
So if you are budget, look for decent double din unit.




EDITED:
Two more issues on my HuiFei.
1- When I am on bumpy roads or car hits potholes, it changes the track/ radio station. Sounds like faulty switch or boards movement in the unit is doing it.
2- Lower part of touch system is not functional any more. A sign of poor screen used during production.

[timp7748]

Thanks bud. Just pm'd you as you wrote this. Will have a read through your comment a minute.

[Russbmw]

I'd avoid them.

They're a bit backwards TBH.

If I had an e46 or something with no nav or the standard nav, then it would be more of a worthwhile upgrade, as they do look neat and OEM - with decent functions.

As discussed in that thread (if it's the same one I think it is, where we talked about it in some depth), the android system used is now getting long in the tooth, and customer support seems non-existent. Not to mention if you have a decent spec CCC (or CIC) system, you can't use any of those features - ie: DAB needs a new DAB aerial, can't use the stock one.

[mob17]

Can you use BMWhat on these android double dins??