I have a 2013 Elantra with OEM radio/CD player. We drive a lot and go to places where we're typically using the navigators in our phones, but as those who do this know, it's kind of clunky using the phone. So we took a shot at getting one of these Android head units to modernize our car and make life a little easier and fun on the road.
Pros: Fit/finish: is nice – looks like a factory unit when installed. I did have to cut off two tabs from the car's clock/temperature unit because the Android fascia did not have holes large enough to accommodate them. I wasn't too excited about having to do that. Other than that, it was a good fit. Sound: I was actually kind of blown away at the bass and fullness of sound compared to the factory radio. You have a full EQ with the radio app which is nice. It was too loud however with volume set at 3 pushing the limits of comfortable listening, 2 being comfortable. If you turn off "Hi-Fi" mode, volumes are a little more manageable. Another pro: Voice controlled navigation – when it works. "Hey Google, where's the closest CVS?" and, through your phone's access, it will give you options to navigate to. Steering wheel controls: can be learned by the unit and used – awesome.
Cons: Screen: I live in a sunny part of the US and most of the time I was not able to read the screen while driving. If you cannot see where the buttons are, then it's not safe driving having to squint, take your eyes off the road, or guess if you're pushing the right thing on the unit. If the screen could somehow be oriented a little more towards vertical it would help a lot. Instructions: you're pretty much on your own figuring the software for this thing out. Good luck with that. Connectivity: I was plugged in via USB at all times as that was the most stable option. It won't make a call unless I am also connected with Bluetooth, and some things require that the phone be set up as a hotspot – so you're juggling three connection modes it seems for full functionality. On top of that, the unit seemed to be confused when both my wife and I were in the car because we've used our phones to connect so if her bluetooth is on and it connects while my phone is plugged in via USB it was a bit confusing for the unit. I never could figure out how to get the screen mirroring to work, either. Voice commands: You can't use your Elantra's microphone (if equipped) with this unit, so you have to use the external mic supplied. We never had it consistently recognize our commands, having to say "Hey Google!" several times before it would respond. In the same spirit, you also can't use your OEM USB port to connect, so you have to use the USB cable/connection supplied. User Interface: it's just "meh" – if my phone is handling the navigation, which is the only way I could use navigation, switching from radio back to navigation takes too many steps. YouTube music: not a ding on the product itself, but we like to listen to YouTube music from the phones and since this is now an Android Auto thing, the music app recognizes that and requires a subscription to work, where we were just streaming via bluetooth to the stock radio before, no subscription needed. Voice Assistant: the voice assistant volume needs its own volume control. If it exists, I was not able to find it. Sometimes it was way too loud, most of the time you could barely hear it. So, given that it fluctuates I'm sure there's a way to modify it, but I'll be darned if I can figure it out.
Unknown: back up camera. I gave up on the unit before delving into installation of the camera.
Overall: it's just not for us. If the voice commands worked more consistently, and the apps could all be used with just a wireless connection to the phone, better instructions supplied (this is probably the most important thing in my opinion), more intuitive operation, and everything was seamless then this would be awesome. The potential is there, I wanted to love it, it just doesn't seem ready for prime-time yet so it was more frustrating than useful. I've since re-installed the original radio and am returning this unit.
End note: keep in mind, too, that some of these things could be related to your phone. So some people may have a better experience, others will have worse.
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