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I'd be all over the replacement head unit, but that 'PHONE' button font would trigger me every time I saw it. It sends the message, "Meh, close enough."
I assume you can use something other than a giant Porsche logo as the wallpaper? That would be on the list of things I'd want to change as well.
The screen is totally customizable. I just downloaded that Android screen loader. Didn't know there was anything wrong with a Porsche logo in a Porsche lol. Hey to each their own.
Last edited by Live Steam; 12-10-2023 at 11:28 PM.
As with any system, mine included, one solution does not fit all applications or users. In my case I don't like the look of the unit you speak of. I don't really like the look of any of the current PCM replacement units short of the big wide one on the Panamera, but it has ventilation issues. To me these aftermarket options feels out of place among the trim on the dash. Some people wont notice, or care, but I'm more a purist and i love the way my car looked like when I got it and still do today. What i do know for sure is that if i were buying one of these cars for myself id go for a look as genuine as possible.
There is no denying that an aftermarket unit isn't going to look like the PCM (3.1). Some think that is a good thing, as the PCM is so out-of-date now. Others disagree. Personally, the unit I installed in my wife's Cayman (the one that @Live Steam refers to above) looks, to my eyes, more or less the same, physically, as the old PCM. In fact, it looks to me like what Porsche should have produced to begin with (but that is just me of course). The big difference is that in every way it functions better than the PCM it replaced.
And, of course, if my wife decides to sell her car and the new buyer really wants the PCM, it will take less than 20 minutes to restore the PCM and the original OEM look. Seriously - less than 20 minutes, to undo 4 bolts, pull the aftermarket unit, unplug a few connectors and reverse the process for the PCM. All back to factory in (not quite) the blink of an eye.
Regarding the wide-screen aftermarket HU for the Panamera, there is only a 'ventilation issue' with the unit I installed. The unit @Santirx has installed is a different design 'behind the scenes' and the ventilation is the same as the OEM arrangement wrt to airflow etc. I couldn't use that same unit in my car since my car is RHD, and they didn't produce a RHD version at the time. Somewhat annoyingly, they DO make a RHD version now, but too late for me. If I was buying today, I would have the same version Santirx uses.
HST, the 'ventilation issue' is overplayed to some extent. I am, here in the UK, finding zero issues with it. I still get warm or cold air from the center vents, but the flow is definitely reduced. Not non-existent -- reduced. In many climates, nobody will care at all (like me), but those in very hot or cold regions may. Since the airflow is restricted from the centre vents, I get more flow from all the other vents, which compensates in a way. But if I was going around again, I would choose the Santirx version, in RHD form, for sure, just to remove what is just about the only criticism I can find for this widescreen unit.
The good news is that there is now something for everyone - Mr 12 Volt, GTA, Isudar, aftermarket HU, and choice is always a good thing.
I assume you can use something other than a giant Porsche logo as the wallpaper? That would be on the list of things I'd want to change as well.
One of the great things about these Android units is that you can make the appearance of the 'home screen' pretty much anything you want, just by downloading one of the hundreds of 'launchers' from the app store. There are launchers specifically designed for in-car use, or more 'general' launchers that can be adapted to personal taste. There is even a launcher (Penguin) that does a pretty good job of emulating the current Porsche design.
Here's an attractive-looking one, IMO:
But really, since one of the main reasons people install these units is to get Carplay or Android Auto, for the most part they will be seeing the Carplay/AA interface anyway. The only time I see the unit's launcher is for about 5 seconds after switching on, before AA launches.
Just out of interest, the Penguin Launcher I mentioned above looks like this:
These very much echo the latest Porsche user interface. I haven't tried the Penguin Launcher so I can't say if it is good to use or not, but it shows how flexible the design of the Android units' home screens can be.
One of the great things about these Android units is that you can make the appearance of the 'home screen' pretty much anything you want, just by downloading one of the hundreds of 'launchers' from the app store. There are launchers specifically designed for in-car use, or more 'general' launchers that can be adapted to personal taste. There is even a launcher (Penguin) that does a pretty good job of emulating the current Porsche design.
Here's an attractive-looking one, IMO:
But really, since one of the main reasons people install these units is to get Carplay or Android Auto, for the most part they will be seeing the Carplay/AA interface anyway. The only time I see the unit's launcher is for about 5 seconds after switching on, before AA launches.
It's one of the stock launchers included with a particular seller's version of the unit. It isn't available for download from the Play Store - my bad for not making that clear earlier. HST, you could replicate it using the incredibly flexible Nova Launcher plus an icon pack.
Yes, Sirius/XM provides free phone apps for both Apple and Android. It works great with CarPlay in my solution, which was Mr12Volt in my PCM 3.1-equipped car. Since Mr. 12Volt leaves the PCM system intact, you can also switch back to PCM and use it with the OEM-supplied sat radio.
Interestingly enough, Sirius/XM sounds better to my ear with the CarPlay app, than it does through the PCM and sat receiver, as if there's greater bandwidth streaming through the app than the direct satellite signal.
I'd rather have everything on my phone rather than downloading to a HU. Any CarPlay compatible app on your phone automatically appears on the CarPlay screen, and Sirius/XM is one of those along with Waze, Google Maps, Amazon Music, Pandora, along with the regular functions like phone and text.
Last edited by Foosh; 12-12-2023 at 02:00 PM.
Reason: typo
Yes, Sirius/XM provides free phone apps for both Apple an Android. It works great with CarPlay in my solution, which was Mr12Volt in my PCM 3.1-equipped car. Since Mr. 12Volt leaves the PCM system intact, you can also switch back to PCM and use it with the OEM-supplied sat radio.
Interestingly enough, Sirius/XM sounds better to my ear with the CarPlay app, than it does through the PCM and sat receiver, as if there's greater bandwidth streaming through the app than the direct satellite signal.
That's possible I guess if you have a good, high-bandwidth internet connection. I have always though that satellite radio sounded 'compressed', as though it was restricted at the HF end. I don't find that with Tidal, using their highest res streaming, so I am thinking it will also be possible with a radio app.
Originally Posted by Foosh
I'd rather have everything on my phone rather than downloading to a HU. Any CarPlay compatible app on your phone automatically appears on the CarPlay screen, and Sirius/XM is one of those along with Waze, Google Maps, Amazon Music, Pandora, along with the regular functions like phone and text.
Yes, me too. I pretty much always use Android Auto since I find it more convenient. We don't get Sirius/XM here in the UK so I am using TuneIn for my radio needs. Very happy with that solution and it also works properly with Android Auto.
So, I took the plunge. Reading the various posts here and seeing the pics convinced me to give it a try, especially those from @ZedZed. Big, huge, shoutout to Zed. His encouragement, enthusiasm, and knowledge were THE reason I decided to try an Android Head Unit from China. Zed’s help was invaluable to my successful installation (with bumps in the road).
While Zed’s HU is a proven winner that looks great, has no fitment issues, and works PNP, I wanted a unit without ***** and more screen real estate. After much research, I found one. The Android head unit is awesome. It brings the latest tech to my 8-year-old car, and I finally get to get rid of the antiquated PCM and move into the modern world. I think it looks great and even enhances the interior. Now I get to browse the web, add or delete apps, watch movies/videos. It is just great to have this ability to explore and add things, even if you do not use it.
Sound is great and the equalizer allows me to tailor the music the way I like it. My unit comes with equalizers and DSP.
Note that I am a novice at this sort of thing. Never changed any head units in any cars I have owned. I don’t know anything about quad cables, optic cables, canbus or RCAs. Zed was instrumental in helping. I was so frustrated at one point, I was ready to return the unit until Zed talked me off the cliff. A major part of the problem was that the unit did not come with instructions, and the seller was not much help. Translation issues and a 12-hour time difference made things stressful. Example – I was only getting sound from the dash speakers, nothing from the doors or the rear. They told me it was a faulty optic box. I was ready to swap them out when I found a button that turned on all speakers. Note: bad support was the case with my unit, but it is my understanding that other units provide very good customer support.
There were other issues that seemed to fix themselves, most of them user errors. The only remaining issue is that I have no video from the factory installed backup camera. This is a bit different from the issue Live Stream is having, as I am getting no picture at all. Proximity sensors work. All in all, very happy with the unit!
If I can do it, anyone can! Here are the pics. Sorry for some of the sloppiness as I did not button up the interior yet as I have some more mods to work on.
Nice work gents.
I had an android unit in my 08 Cayenne GTS couple years ago. There i had basic CD21 unit so i had no choice but to upgrade. Wife and I pretty much just listen to Spotify. And time we need nav we use phone as well with audio automatically coming through to the speakers since we're on Spotify all the time....
The issue i find with most of these units is that when you want to listen to music through Bluetooth you always have to go to the phone app on these Chinese units and go to Bluetooth sub menu. To me that is so annoying to no end.
Setting up internet connection of some sort to use native apps for music and navigation is also annoying. Also don't forget when giving the car to valet they will have access to all your aps as well with you accounts already logged in. do you really want that?
The prospect of nice new bigger screen is nice, but after a while of using these things im afraid it'll wear off and not going to be as glamorous or as user friendly as you think. I loved mine for first couple months, then annoyances set in with all rough edges of these things when it comes to software. But that's just me YRMV.
I did just buy Mr12v for my carrera but thats just so i can get a rearview camera installed
If you are looking for a simple and clean launcher to try, i would recommend Smart Launcher 3 - Classic. you are able to control how many icons you want on your home screen, allot of skins and has ability to hide apps behind a password in your app drawer.
So, I took the plunge. Reading the various posts here and seeing the pics convinced me to give it a try, especially those from @ZedZed. Big, huge, shoutout to Zed. His encouragement, enthusiasm, and knowledge were THE reason I decided to try an Android Head Unit from China. Zed’s help was invaluable to my successful installation (with bumps in the road).
While Zed’s HU is a proven winner that looks great, has no fitment issues, and works PNP, I wanted a unit without ***** and more screen real estate. After much research, I found one. The Android head unit is awesome. It brings the latest tech to my 8-year-old car, and I finally get to get rid of the antiquated PCM and move into the modern world. I think it looks great and even enhances the interior. Now I get to browse the web, add or delete apps, watch movies/videos. It is just great to have this ability to explore and add things, even if you do not use it.
Sound is great and the equalizer allows me to tailor the music the way I like it. My unit comes with equalizers and DSP.
Note that I am a novice at this sort of thing. Never changed any head units in any cars I have owned. I don’t know anything about quad cables, optic cables, canbus or RCAs. Zed was instrumental in helping. I was so frustrated at one point, I was ready to return the unit until Zed talked me off the cliff. A major part of the problem was that the unit did not come with instructions, and the seller was not much help. Translation issues and a 12-hour time difference made things stressful. Example – I was only getting sound from the dash speakers, nothing from the doors or the rear. They told me it was a faulty optic box. I was ready to swap them out when I found a button that turned on all speakers. Note: bad support was the case with my unit, but it is my understanding that other units provide very good customer support.
There were other issues that seemed to fix themselves, most of them user errors. The only remaining issue is that I have no video from the factory installed backup camera. This is a bit different from the issue Live Stream is having, as I am getting no picture at all. Proximity sensors work. All in all, very happy with the unit!
If I can do it, anyone can! Here are the pics. Sorry for some of the sloppiness as I did not button up the interior yet as I have some more mods to work on.
By chance did you happen to take a photo of the wiring harness and backside to the HU? I have read where several members who have installed these types of HUs with OEM backup cameras are having the same issue (No Video Display). I installed a HU earlier this year just like the one on your photo. I have zero issues with an aftermarket backup camera. I’m just wondering how you terminated the backup camera OEM wiring.
I connected this Reverse wire, located as part of the AV/In/Out HU harness to the blue/black wire on the car main harness. According to the schematics, the blue/black wire supplies power to the reverse back up lights. I think connecting to an aftermarket back up camera is easier than finding the wire connection to the factory installed back up camera.
@ZedZed Well the unit finally arrived Monday night took forever for Aliexpress to ship it. Anyway I pretty much had everything working within an hour or so. I have not tackled the backup camera yet that is going to take a weekend with bumper removal and wire routing. BUt it works really well and is pretty much plug and play except for wiring up power to the MOST box.
Bluetooth CarPlay works no problem, apps, audio, etc... I guess the strange part is you have to launch Zlink for CarPlay to work or if you want to get to the CarPlay screen. Is there a way to add a CarPlay button on the home screen?
One issue I am having is I cannot get the phone to connect to the HU over any of the 3 USB ports. I disabled BT on my phone so and plugged it into every USB port (I plugged the OEM gold connector to the HU) and the HU does not recognize the phone. I think you mentioned in one of your post wiring in teh OEM USB would make one of the provided ports non-functional. All three USB ports are charging the phone. Does the unit not support wired CarPlay?
Also I am not a an Android person and I have seen some of the cool screens that you and others have posted, I am not fond of the default screens it comes with. I think I saw it mentioned that you used Screen Loader, I assume you tether to your phone from the HU and go to the Google app store and download the app. Also I thought you or someone mentioned a posting video going through the screens of the HU, the detailed instructions leave a lot to the imagination, would have been lost without this forum!!!!
When I get the USB issue addressed I will post installed pictures and give some feedback on things I learned.
I connected this Reverse wire, located as part of the AV/In/Out HU harness to the blue/black wire on the car main harness. According to the schematics, the blue/black wire supplies power to the reverse back up lights. I think connecting to an aftermarket back up camera is easier than finding the wire connection to the factory installed back up camera.
The wiring harness for the HU should have a yellow RCA Video connector for the backup camera. I found these pictures in the Porsche manual for the OEM backup camera. The issue is that there is zero reference to the color coding and identification for the OEM wiirng harness.
The factory back up camera in my 2016 works - well it works only when I select it from the apps menu (there's an icon for Rear View). When I touch that icon it will display the car rear view and when shifted into reverse (my car is manual) it will then also display the parking guidelines. This is without making any additional wiring connections to the Android HU. This is with just the quad lock connector plugged in and the two associated pigtail connections supplied by the vendor for the HU plugged in. The parking sensors also work and display on screen when in close proximity to something. So evidently there is a video signal that is being input to the HU and it also switches the parking guidelines when the car is shifted - I suspect the latter is triggered by the power relay for the backup lights. However, I have no idea why the screen doesn't enter into rearview when shifted into reverse. There must be another mechanism/signal that needs to tell the HU to switch input displays. For some reason I believe the canbus would be responsible for this. This particular HU has an onboard canbus, which is unlike some others that I've seen. So in someway, this may be a programming issue vs a wiring/hardware issue. I've tried wiring to the BLU/BLK wire with no success. I've tried a number of other low voltage wires in the small wire loom the BLU/BLK wires is part of. No success with any of them. For now I have use of the rearview camera when needed. It's just a little inconvenient to do it manually. For better or worse, this is not my area of expertise.
Last edited by Live Steam; 12-13-2023 at 10:37 PM.
12-10-2023, 11:27 PM
A major part of the problem was that the unit did not come with instructions, and the seller was not much help. Translation issues and a 12-hour time difference made things stressful. Example – I was only getting sound from the dash speakers, nothing from the doors or the rear. They told me it was a faulty optic box. I was ready to swap them out when I found a button that turned on all speakers. Note: bad support was the case with my unit, but it is my understanding that other units provide very good customer support. 
