Phoenix Android Radio 12" touchscreen

KJS Sullivan · December 23, 2018

I didnt even notice that. Thats dumb

Well, at least we've got the volume control on the steering wheel are hardly ever use the knob on the dash itself, keep in mind it's made in China

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KJS Sullivan · December 23, 2018

Bose and sound quality should not be in the same sentence

Don't our trucks have Bose in them? I'm not a audio file so I'm not really up on this type of stuff. But my sound system sounds great if that's what's in it

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Nasty · December 23, 2018

2 minutes ago, KJS Sullivan said:

Don't our trucks have Bose in them? I'm not a audio file so I'm not really up on this type of stuff. But my sound system sounds great if that's what's in it

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Some do my didnt and im thankful for it

Dont take this the wrong way as i am an audiophile. But 90% of people see the bose name and think it automatically sounds good. Most people dont actaully know what sounds good because they havent heard anything else

Nitrousbird · December 23, 2018

1 hour ago, Nasty said:

Some do my didnt and im thankful for it

Dont take this the wrong way as i am an audiophile. But 90% of people see the bose name and think it automatically sounds good. Most people dont actaully know what sounds good because they havent heard anything else

The Bose isn't great but still sounds better than the non-Bose system, so I'm not sure why you would be pleased.

The Harmon Kardon system in my 11 year old BMW sounds better for sure.

Nasty · December 23, 2018

1 minute ago, Nitrousbird said:

The Bose isn't great but still sounds better than the non-Bose system, so I'm not sure why you would be pleased.

The Harmon Kardon system in my 11 year old BMW sounds better for sure.

I prefer my non bose to my wifes bose (both are 2016 silverado)

And yes the harmon kardon beemer systems are very nice. As well as whatever is in the early 2000s lincoln mk2 cars. Some do sound great. However i feel chevy screwed up with the blose

Penguin VII · December 24, 2018

11 hours ago, Nasty said:

I prefer my non bose to my wifes bose (both are 2016 silverado)

And yes the harmon kardon beemer systems are very nice. As well as whatever is in the early 2000s lincoln mk2 cars. Some do sound great. However i feel chevy screwed up with the blose

+1 to that. Pops had an early Lincoln LS that had a THX branded audio system and it's far and away the best stock audio system I've had the ability to listen to.

ford5of5 · December 24, 2018

I have one of these in my 2015 Sierra WT with IO3. It looks pretty nice. It performs sorta ok. I'll echo Penguins concerns about its longevity but it has been working fine since October; that's not long enough to judge anything but I'm hoping to get 2 years out of it. My only cosmetic complaint is that they should have used more leds around the physical climate control buttons, there's a few dark spots.

The cold boot time is horrendous at about 45-50 seconds. I'd put the hot boot at 1-4 seconds. The back up cam will work during boot and it provides a nice view. Also, the climate control and radio will work on their last settings and are controllable during boot up.

It has GPS which works well BUT I can't get an updated version of Google Maps, my go to nav app, to scale correctly on the screen; old, pre-installed version works fine. I've been using the pre-installed iHere app and it's almost a copy of Maps. You can change your default nav app but I didn't bother to try any others.

ford5of5 · December 24, 2018

There is no cd/dvd player. There are no digital inputs other than 2 USB ports. The ES Explorer app, a pre-installed file viewing app, will only recognize 1 usb thumb drive when 2 are plugged in. I've only tried 2 usb thumb drives so, it's possible that a different device may still function from the other port. Another bug is that the machine will open ES Explorer whenever a usb is plugged in and it has been rebooted. This may be a setting but I can't find it.

Video looks good when played from USB or internal drive; I don't see myself using this often. I hate the preinstalled mp3 player, it lacks previous track when in random mode. I use Google Music but it can't be set to one of the default buttons at the top of the screen, kinda stupid. Internet is ok and uses Google Chrome. I think you can change your internet app but I'm not certain, don't remember.

This thing is buggy. There's no doubt about it. It displays temp but always at 0*C. It never changes from 0 so it doesn't matter that I cant get it to change over to Fahrenheit. I just leave the display temp turned off. It has a touch button to dim and brighten the screen which works great on sunny days. When the truck automatically turns on the headlights it auto dims the screen to a user defined preset and locks out the adjustment button. After that you need to go into a menu to adjust brightness. This is only a problem on grey days and during dawn and dusk.

I have no complaints about the blue tooth phone yet. Blue tooth music from my phone works but I don't use it. I loaded all my mp3's onto the radios 32gb internal drive, 26.5gb available. Unfortunately, this unit can not read or display text messages from my phone over BT. I don't know what that means for you folks with higher level trucks that read texts. Basically, this android unit only replaces your screen and leaves your radio and HMI alone so, those functions may still be there for you. I don't believe you will loose all of these functions but may loose factory BT, voice control or Sirius. BUT not all 3. Do not quote me on this. I did run across people discussing these issues but they did not apply to my truck so I didn't pay too much attention to them. I am pretty sure you will loose factory navigation and Onstar integration with the main screen.

Some people can get their radios to mirror their phone. Most people, me included, can't get any phone to mirror link with their radios. I can say that Google Drive is 100% not compatible with this radio. I knew this issue existed prior to purchase but the whole idea of mirroring a phone onto an android tablet didn't make sense to me anyhow.

I can't tell you what options you'll keep in the higher level trucks. This unit is a cheap tablet that has been put into a nice looking package and has been made plug and play. Your actual radio will stay in place, only the factory screen and climate controls will be removed. Its processor is a Rockchip Px3 which was released in 2014. I believe they're up to Px5 at this point. Lag time is there but not too bad, considering. I have an IO3 so this thing is a best bang for the buck upgrade, for me. Although, in my opinion I'd recommend trying one of the other Android devices that cost less if you want to go the Android route. Overall, I like it. I paid $625, shipping included, for it from Alibaba with coupons knowing most of its shortcomings before I bought it. I see the price went up to $800-900 on these units. At this price I DO NOT recommend these units.

I'll add some more things to moan about as I remember them. I'll answer questions the best I can.

ford5of5 · December 24, 2018

Oh, I forgot to mention. The Chinese are not to be trusted. I'm not talking about an entire race of people. Specifically, I'm talking about the manufacturers and marketers of these radios and other electronics. One thing I came across many times with electronics from China is mislabeled products and straight out dishonesty in their advertising, that's from their legitimate businesses. Kiranavi and Phoenix have both been rather upfront with the limitations of this particular unit, a + for them. The manufacturing-pirates in China make things even more interesting with how they trick the machines into displaying higher OS's, more Ram and more HD than these devices actually have. Whether it's through Ebay, Amazon or Alibaba be sure you are dealing with a creditable business and then research the heck out of the product. Generally, many of these products have been rated somewhere.

ford5of5 · December 29, 2018

Here's a thing I forgot, every once in awhile when the backup cam comes on the song I'm playing will skip for a micro second. This doesn't happen with the radio, only mp3. Also, if you buy from Alibaba expect to get many, many advert emails. I had to unsubscribe from them about 5 times and I still get the occasional email. They tried to sell me a diesel engine for $400k; not like a Powerstroke, think Santa Fe Rail Lines.

TRKLGND · January 14, 2019

On 12/23/2018 at 5:24 PM, Nasty said:

I prefer my non bose to my wifes bose (both are 2016 silverado)

And yes the harmon kardon beemer systems are very nice. As well as whatever is in the early 2000s lincoln mk2 cars. Some do sound great. However i feel chevy screwed up with the blose

The non-Bose systems sound completely flat. Don't misunderstand, Bose is not the "end all - be all" but it is a helluva lot better than the non-Bose system.

Nasty · January 14, 2019

The non-Bose systems sound completely flat. Don't misunderstand, Bose is not the "end all - be all" but it is a helluva lot better than the non-Bose system.

I disagree. Ihave both right now

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TRKLGND · January 14, 2019

17 minutes ago, Nasty said:

I disagree. Ihave both right now

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I'm glad you are happy with it. However, the spectrum analyzer doesn't lie.
I am not saying that you are lying. Please don't take it that way. What I mean is that measurements are measurements and not just opinion.

Edited January 14, 2019 by paracutin

Nasty · January 14, 2019

I'm glad you are happy with it. However, the spectrum analyzer doesn't lie.

The bose system sounds to peaky. Like the amp is trying to work to hard. And it not being the best amp thered a lot of distorsion. Iam a sound quality competitor. Ive done this for years and years

Im not saying youre wrong. But ill put money on on my non bose vs the wifes bose i bet if i were to bring both to an iasca event my LT would score higher

Less distorion and more balanced

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KJS Sullivan · January 14, 2019

I still have eight tracks in my old Lincoln's. I love the old-school nasty sound and The Click Click between song wakes you up when you're driving :-). You can tell I am not very fussy audio file type of person so I am easy to please