MirrorLink Headunit & head unit suggestions

marcusx123

Member
:
2015 CX-5
Has anyone installed a mirrorlink compatible head unit? I'm thinking of getting one so I can view navigation apps from my phone to the headunit.

My questions are:

1. Is it actually usable? I've seen youtube videos where the control is just so laggy that it's pretty much useless.

2. Does MirrorLink support phones with android 4.4? I heard that it only supports 4.3 and below.

3. Any suggestions on headunits that are in the $500-700 range that can either display navigation or has a navigation module built-in?

Things I've considered:

-the Asteroid Parrot Smart but someone from this forum said that it doesn't work well with our cars (steering wheel control problems)
-Sony XAV-602BT. Looks nice, but I'm afraid that mirrorlink won't work with my 4.4 android phone
 
Just my opinion, but in my headunit planning it looked like the Pioneer AppRadio-capable headunits were the more reliable way to go for Android phone mirroring. See the ARunchained app on XDA Developer forums and YouTube.

As for the Asteroid Smart, I've had it for about a month now and am really enjoying it.

Hey danieljw, didn't you mention that the Asteroid Smart doesn't work well with the CX-5? Did you get that issue fixed?

This is a quote of what you said on a different thread, "Just avoid the Parrot Asteroid Smart. It will NOT work well with the CX5 due to their proprietary steering wheel interface adapter."
 
Hey danieljw, didn't you mention that the Asteroid Smart doesn't work well with the CX-5? Did you get that issue fixed?

This is a quote of what you said on a different thread, "Just avoid the Parrot Asteroid Smart. It will NOT work well with the CX5 due to their proprietary steering wheel interface adapter."

Yes, I did say that! At the time, the only option for steering wheel controls was Parrot's UNIKA interface, which is a total headache. However, by some miracle, Axxess released an adapter back in February that allows one to use the ASWC-1 steering wheel control interface instead. It is part AX-SWC-PARROT, and is just a simple four-pin to stereo-plug adapter. It works very well and all the steering wheel buttons function properly and reliably. I also listed my parts list in the last post of my build thread.
 
Ah i see! I knew I was missing something. Thanks so much for the clarification.

I'm really thinking on buying the asteroid smart, is there anything you dont like about it or anything that you think that could be improved?

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk
 
Ah i see! I knew I was missing something. Thanks so much for the clarification.

I'm really thinking on buying the asteroid smart, is there anything you dont like about it or anything that you think that could be improved?

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

Let me first ask: what are you wanting your car headunit, or the Asteroid Smart in particular, to do?

I chose this headunit because I liked the native Android interface, snappy controls, and ability to hook up as big of a hard drive as I can afford/have space to install. I liked that it had WiFi and that it is easily rootable to allow installation of any Android application (that's compatible with 2.3.7). Someone has even created an app called Asteroid Tweaker that allows tweaking of various hardware settings without root. This app has mitigated many of the user complaints that I have seen, such as the radio auto-start thing (by resuming previous source instead), long startup times (by allowing instant startup after temporary car shutdown), volume issues, and more.

The only inconvenience to me would be the slightly longer than usual bootup time from a cold vehicle start. It takes about as long as an older Android phone takes to boot, 30-60 seconds. This isn't a big deal unless there is some music or navi waypoint that I want to queue before I start driving, or unless I need to use the rearview camera. Again, I consider this to be a minor annoyance, a quirk I was willing to accept in exchange for being able to use external hard drives and Waze, Google Maps, Torque, MX Player, Google Play Music, Pandora, Netflix, YouTube, etc. directly on the device by tethering to my mobile service. (In case it needs to be said again, I do not and you should not use video apps while driving.) Now, this thing is hardware limited with only 1 GB onboard space but various app-to-SD applications will work to open up further app installations. It should be understandable that the unit slows down a tiny bit if you have more than five or so apps open at once. I have only found myself in that situation when I'm just experimenting.

You mentioned that you were looking at MirrorLink possibilities for Navigation apps. Google Maps works very well on the Asteroid Smart, but understand that it doesn't get all the new features because it must use a version compatible with Android 2.3.7. Still, it's quick, reliable and up to date, and it's also really neat to turn on satellite view while driving around. Really helps with navigating, too. Waze is useful for the traffic/police alerts and, because of this, occasionally offers better directions. Google does just fine, though. Finally, I feel that even the included iGO app is passable.

I'm rambling and not sure what else to add right now. In my opinion, this thing waaaay outperforms all previous Pioneers that I owned. The Asteroid Smart is customizable in just about every way an Android phone is customizable. I like that. And like I said, I was aware of and willing to accept its few quirks before I purchased.

If there's anything else you want to know or see, please just ask.
 
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Hey danieljw, thank you so much for the detailed explanation. Don't worry about rambling because everything you've said is very informational to me.
I think I'm going with the Pioneer AVIC 6000NEX for the headunit. I really really like the Parrot but the slow boot time is a deal breaker for me. I'm tinting my rear windows super dark so I prefer to have a rearview camera right away after a cold start especially at night.
But I'm glad you're enjoying your Parrot HU!
thanks for the help and please let me know if you have any other advice/suggestions
 
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