This weekend I installed one of those Chinese Android based VW specific headunits - thought I'd give my impressions and answer some questions.
pictures http://imgur.com/a/K38G2
This is the one I purchased
It's a quad core, 1gb ram, 1024x600 8" screen, 16gb on board storage, runs android 4.4.4. Got it on Amazon, prices are pretty much the same wherever, but this one was on Prime.
The thing you need to know about these is that they are all basically the same. The majority of them are all built by the same company and then resold by various 3rd parties with minor tweaks and changes to the software. So this info about a Joying unit is going to be very similar to Eonon or whoever else, and reviews about one for one for a VW are going be basically the same as one for a Toyota. This monster thread can explain a lot about these things XDA HuiFei
I also purchased a backup camera to go with it.
This was all installed in my 2012 GTI Autobahn, equipped with the RNS-315, so factory nav, bluetooth, etc.
Good things out of the box, no modifications:
Build quality/Hardware is good. Buttons/knobs arent quite OEM, but passable and no complaints. Apps load fast, no lag with switching between things. Was initially worried about the 1gb of ram, but so far, no issues.
Fits perfectly in the dash. Looks like it belongs there, doesnt look too out of place. The lighting color can be changed and matches the rest of the red interior lighting well enough.
The screen is very nice. Good colors, contrast, brightness. Resolution sounds low, even though this is the higher res screen (many of the others are 800x480) but you wouldnt know it day to day. The touch screen is quick to respond, text is easy to read, apps scale pretty well and fit the screen fine.
UI The stock UI/Launcher isnt bad. Basic, but functional and easy. Cant seem to remove the clock/weather widget though, which would be nice.
Installation was a piece of cake. Took all of 10 minutes to get the RNS out and the Joying unit in. Wiring was plug and play, didnt have to make any changes to anything. The antenna cables were a little off, factory has 2 plugs, while this one has 1 plug with 2 connectors. One cable fit fine, the other not so much, too tight, however I was able to trim the connector a bit and make it fit.
AM/FM radio works just as well as the RNS did. I read a lot about these having issues with the radio signal, but this one seems just as good, at least in my area. The unit supports RDS on FM, so station names, song titles show up. That works mostly, not really any worse than it did on the RNS, but maybe a little less consistent.
GPS/WIFI/Bluetooth signal all strong, quick to connect, no issues. The factory GPS antenna wont work, but the unit included a new one and it plugged right in. I just stuck it behind the dash somewhere and its been fine. The wifi antenna is external to the unit, just sticks out the back, better design than the Eonon where its integrated. Can get signal in my drive way no problem.
Nav software - iGo 8 was included with the unit, maps installed on an SD card. I played with it briefly and it seemed ok. I have since replaced it with Here by Nokia, but any Android nav app will work.
Backup Camera - it has an input for the RVC, which includes a switched power wire to signal the camera to turn on when you put it in reverse. I ran the combo RCA/power cable back to the hatch and installed the camera in the license plate light. Didnt have to tap the reverse signal wires, its all controlled through the CAN Bus. The unit will switch immediately to RVC when you put it in reverse, even if it hasnt fulled booted.
Steering wheel controls - Volume up, volume down, next track, next station, all work as they should. There are also ways to remap the buttons. Voice command button is now mute, but the phone button does launch the dialer.
The bad/mediocre things
The stock music app is crappy. It is very basic, hardly any functionality, no album art, no folder reading, just bare bones play a song. You can of course use whatever app you want, but it'll take some additional tweaks to get it to replace the stock player and to map the hardware buttons to another app.
Boot time is not very fast. Takes about 25 seconds from cold boot. There is a function add a shut down delay for up to 2hrs. I believe the purpose of this is to keep the unit in a standby mode. Factory setting is 30 secs. From standby, it boots instantly. Will have to play with this a bit. However, its not too annoying and the rear camera does not have to wait for this boot up before it works.
Sound Quality - eh. The included EQ is pretty basic and the presets are not good. Its tolerable, but I was quickly looking for other software solutions to clean up the sound. There is also a very annoying hiss in the background when playing at low volume. Its not too bad with music, but if you listen to talk radio or podcasts, etc - you're going to hear it. I've been able to minimize it a bit with some EQ tweaking, but its still there. I spoke to the manufacturer about it and they say its a known issue and has no fix, so I'm assuming its a hardware thing, crappy amplifier would be my guess.
MFD Integration - there really isnt any. The MFD will display radio station and will display song name from the stock music app, but that's it. No nav, no phone book, you'll loose the compass function as well. If you use a different music app, you'll wont see anything from it. I never really use the MFD for that stuff anyway, so I dont miss it, but it is what it is.
SD Cards/USB The unit is limited to 32gb max FAT32 formatted cards/thumb drives. Kinda small these days. Supposedly there are ways around this, tricks to format a drive with FAT32 but with larger than 32gb partition size. Havent tried it yet.
Now - with all that said, these are Android. With that, if you dont like something, there's probably 1000 other smarter people out there who didnt like it either and have come up with a fix or a work around. Rooting these things is a piece of cake. XDA thread at the top details all the available ROMS and has a crap load of info, tweaks, fixes, etc. I rooted mine to be able to remap the hardware buttons, change default applications, change SD card app storage, and to install Viper4Android which greatly improved sound quality. There is so much more to get into, but figure this is a good enough start.
pictures http://imgur.com/a/K38G2
This is the one I purchased
It's a quad core, 1gb ram, 1024x600 8" screen, 16gb on board storage, runs android 4.4.4. Got it on Amazon, prices are pretty much the same wherever, but this one was on Prime.
The thing you need to know about these is that they are all basically the same. The majority of them are all built by the same company and then resold by various 3rd parties with minor tweaks and changes to the software. So this info about a Joying unit is going to be very similar to Eonon or whoever else, and reviews about one for one for a VW are going be basically the same as one for a Toyota. This monster thread can explain a lot about these things XDA HuiFei
I also purchased a backup camera to go with it.
This was all installed in my 2012 GTI Autobahn, equipped with the RNS-315, so factory nav, bluetooth, etc.
Good things out of the box, no modifications:
Build quality/Hardware is good. Buttons/knobs arent quite OEM, but passable and no complaints. Apps load fast, no lag with switching between things. Was initially worried about the 1gb of ram, but so far, no issues.
Fits perfectly in the dash. Looks like it belongs there, doesnt look too out of place. The lighting color can be changed and matches the rest of the red interior lighting well enough.
The screen is very nice. Good colors, contrast, brightness. Resolution sounds low, even though this is the higher res screen (many of the others are 800x480) but you wouldnt know it day to day. The touch screen is quick to respond, text is easy to read, apps scale pretty well and fit the screen fine.
UI The stock UI/Launcher isnt bad. Basic, but functional and easy. Cant seem to remove the clock/weather widget though, which would be nice.
Installation was a piece of cake. Took all of 10 minutes to get the RNS out and the Joying unit in. Wiring was plug and play, didnt have to make any changes to anything. The antenna cables were a little off, factory has 2 plugs, while this one has 1 plug with 2 connectors. One cable fit fine, the other not so much, too tight, however I was able to trim the connector a bit and make it fit.
AM/FM radio works just as well as the RNS did. I read a lot about these having issues with the radio signal, but this one seems just as good, at least in my area. The unit supports RDS on FM, so station names, song titles show up. That works mostly, not really any worse than it did on the RNS, but maybe a little less consistent.
GPS/WIFI/Bluetooth signal all strong, quick to connect, no issues. The factory GPS antenna wont work, but the unit included a new one and it plugged right in. I just stuck it behind the dash somewhere and its been fine. The wifi antenna is external to the unit, just sticks out the back, better design than the Eonon where its integrated. Can get signal in my drive way no problem.
Nav software - iGo 8 was included with the unit, maps installed on an SD card. I played with it briefly and it seemed ok. I have since replaced it with Here by Nokia, but any Android nav app will work.
Backup Camera - it has an input for the RVC, which includes a switched power wire to signal the camera to turn on when you put it in reverse. I ran the combo RCA/power cable back to the hatch and installed the camera in the license plate light. Didnt have to tap the reverse signal wires, its all controlled through the CAN Bus. The unit will switch immediately to RVC when you put it in reverse, even if it hasnt fulled booted.
Steering wheel controls - Volume up, volume down, next track, next station, all work as they should. There are also ways to remap the buttons. Voice command button is now mute, but the phone button does launch the dialer.
The bad/mediocre things
The stock music app is crappy. It is very basic, hardly any functionality, no album art, no folder reading, just bare bones play a song. You can of course use whatever app you want, but it'll take some additional tweaks to get it to replace the stock player and to map the hardware buttons to another app.
Boot time is not very fast. Takes about 25 seconds from cold boot. There is a function add a shut down delay for up to 2hrs. I believe the purpose of this is to keep the unit in a standby mode. Factory setting is 30 secs. From standby, it boots instantly. Will have to play with this a bit. However, its not too annoying and the rear camera does not have to wait for this boot up before it works.
Sound Quality - eh. The included EQ is pretty basic and the presets are not good. Its tolerable, but I was quickly looking for other software solutions to clean up the sound. There is also a very annoying hiss in the background when playing at low volume. Its not too bad with music, but if you listen to talk radio or podcasts, etc - you're going to hear it. I've been able to minimize it a bit with some EQ tweaking, but its still there. I spoke to the manufacturer about it and they say its a known issue and has no fix, so I'm assuming its a hardware thing, crappy amplifier would be my guess.
MFD Integration - there really isnt any. The MFD will display radio station and will display song name from the stock music app, but that's it. No nav, no phone book, you'll loose the compass function as well. If you use a different music app, you'll wont see anything from it. I never really use the MFD for that stuff anyway, so I dont miss it, but it is what it is.
SD Cards/USB The unit is limited to 32gb max FAT32 formatted cards/thumb drives. Kinda small these days. Supposedly there are ways around this, tricks to format a drive with FAT32 but with larger than 32gb partition size. Havent tried it yet.
Now - with all that said, these are Android. With that, if you dont like something, there's probably 1000 other smarter people out there who didnt like it either and have come up with a fix or a work around. Rooting these things is a piece of cake. XDA thread at the top details all the available ROMS and has a crap load of info, tweaks, fixes, etc. I rooted mine to be able to remap the hardware buttons, change default applications, change SD card app storage, and to install Viper4Android which greatly improved sound quality. There is so much more to get into, but figure this is a good enough start.
