Parrot Asteriod Smart Navigation and Multimedia unit installation

[krypto Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close krypto]

I just bought a Parrot Asteriod Smart Navigation and Multimedia unit for $510 delivered.

http://www.parrot.com/au/products/as...asteroid-smart

It's Android based so I'm hoping to use Android apps such as Torque, Androzic and oziexplorer. I'm planning to write a review and some notes on my installation once it's installed.

Now the fun starts as I figure out how to install it and in particular how I get the steering controls to work.

I have some questions for people who've changed the standard head unit for an aftermarket unit.

1. Has anyone used the digioptions fit kit? http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com.au/vi...id=04019468544
2. What does the main connector on the standard GXL head unit look like?
3. What wire (colour) carries the steering controls?
4. Are the Prado steering control codes the same as any other Toyotas eg Camry?

[Joe Lighty Member Find all posts View Profile Close Joe Lighty]

Will be very interested to hear more about this, sounds like an awesome unit!

[krypto Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close krypto]

The unit gets here in two weeks, enough time to work out how to run apps from google play.

I've sorted everything except the steering controls, may have to take a punt on the proprietary Unika interface.

[Cuvier100 Member Find all posts View Profile Close Cuvier100]

Apart from Oziexplorer (beta version) for off road you should consider getting Tomtom for on road. ATM Tomtom for Andriod is $38 including spoken street names and lifetime map updates.

[Guest Close Guest]

MapFactor for Android is free for offline street navigation.

[krypto Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close krypto]

What's the advantage of tomtom over google maps with off line maps?

[Guest Close Guest]

Google maps is useless without a data connection. It cannot recalculate the route without a data connection if you stray enough off course from the original route.

[Cuvier100 Member Find all posts View Profile Close Cuvier100]

The only 3D vector map/GPS system for on road use worth using is either: Tomtom, iGO or Garmin. iGo can use either the navteq or whereis maps. It also has to support spoken street names which these three do depending on the version.

[fourbyfour Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close fourbyfour]

I had a look at their parrot unika site and it looks like the prado is not listed as being compatible with the unit

[krypto Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close krypto]

I had a look at their parrot unika site and it looks like the prado is not listed as being compatible with the unit

Its not compatible with much in Australia according to the site, however it is compatible with the top of the range Hilux which gives me some hope.

[bruggie Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bruggie]

Very interesting unit. I will be checking out this thread for your progress. I had a bit of a look at this unika interface. As I read it, you should be able to connect the head unit to the can bus without it. The question is what the steering wheel controls will actually do. You may not have enough buttons on the steering wheel for all the functions and that is what the unika unit will help with also. Also, you may be able to use one of the many parrot wiring looms. There is a thread from Brains in this forum with pictures of the GXL head unit connections/connectors (panasonic). The parrot wiring looms show all the used connectors for comparison. Still a bit of guesswork i am afraid. I installed a Parrot handsfree kit in my 120 some years ago and found their UK tech support very helpful. Maybe ask them for some advice. Cheers, Fred

[Cuvier100 Member Find all posts View Profile Close Cuvier100]

Autotainment fit these in Perth and have them on display. Autotainment advises they are fully integrated with the Prado's steering controls.

The unit comes with a iGo on an SD card but the maximum card iGO is supplied with is 8GB (licensed copy). He did not know if you can store extra maps on a USB.

The problem is that the unit has its own android market (asteroid market) and therefore if you want torque, Oziexplorer and other android apps you have to root it to allow access to the non market apps.

It supports a USB dongle so you can access the internet etc or you can pair it to a bluetooth smart phone and use this for the internet connectivity.

[krypto Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close krypto]

Thanks for the tip about autotainment. I would have gladly bought it in Perth if it wasn't more than twice as expensive, I was quoted over $2000 and ill be doing it for about $750.

[Cuvier100 Member Find all posts View Profile Close Cuvier100]

He quoted me just less than $2k which included the parrot unit, iGo licensed on an 8GB SD card ($200), the toyota genuine facia kit (I understand these are somewhere between $650 and $900 - Toyota say $900 and another installer quoted $650). I assume the kit is the facia for the VX which they fit into the GXL. They all recommend the genuine kit as they showed me the non genuine kits and they look very ordinary and in my view not for a $65k+ car. Then you have the steering wheel and other adapters (car-solutions sell these for the $150 to $200). Plus he gives you some local 4WD raster maps for Ozi (which you can't buy). He also has installed a number of these units, knows the pit falls and is extremely helpfull as he loves playing with these things. So when you add it all up $2k seems reasonable for a drive in - drive out price.

Anyway I only suggested autotainment as if your stuck I'm sure he (Brian Wallis) would help you out with selling you the interfaces or sorting any problems out. I found he is more than to give you advice.

After considering all the options I think I will go for the Kenwood unit (without it's own sat nav) and get an external sat nav box running either android or wince. This gives me a lot of options as the sat nav box can be swapped easily for less than $100/$150.

[krypto Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close krypto]

I have now installed the unit so here is a write up on the installation and a review of the Parrot Asteroid Smart

Installation
This is the first car stereo that I have ever got installed by someone else, and I am so glad that I did.

The installation was organised by Brian who runs Autotainment in Perth. Brian kindly let me watch the installation which was done by Ainsley. It is great to watch someone work who really knows what they're doing and Ainsley definitely belongs in that category. Overall I was really please with the installation and would highly recommend Autotainment.

Installing the unit itself is pretty straight forward, and while a profesional makes it look simple there are a lot of wires.

If you want the steering control interface, called a Parrot Unika, then I would definitely recommend that you get it done by someone who knows what they are doing. It involves a bit of messing around with existing wires before the interface can be programmed. I'm not sure what Ainsley did, but it works

I have used the mounting kit which retains the GXL data display down in the space where the stereo was. I think it looks really neat and uncluttered. It also means that you still have the various trip computer data. It also gives me a second reversing screen, although it is a bit hard to see clearly. I have it wired so that this bottom screen can stay on while I'm driving for when I tow the camper, while the Parrot screen switches back to normal mode.

The Parrot Asteroid Smart
The unit is quite shallow because it has no CD player which is great as it leaves plenty of room behind the unit for wires, the Unika interface module, various inputs and outputs.

The Smart has 4 USB ports, one of which is used by the dedicated GPS module. One of the USB ports is a 2A port which can be used for Hard Drives, iPods etc. I have plugged a 2TB HDD into this port which has my complete music and audio book collection. In hindsight 2TB is probably overkill but at least its future proof. Incidentally the GPS and Unika firmware seems to update with the Smart when you do an update.

The Parrot stereo microphone (which is mounted above the mirror) is much better than the Prado mic.

The small unit GPS is mounted on the dash next to the pillar. It syncs very fast, before any apps have started. Unfortunately it doesn't have a compass.

The screen is just brilliant, as bright and clear as anything out there. It is readable even in direct sunlight, the installer said it was as good as anything that he's seen.

Using the unit
It is a fully Android unit based on Android 2.3. It has a dedicated app store which is pretty limited, but it is easy enough to get the app apk files and install them off the SD card. I have installed Dropbox on the smart so any files that I want to send to the unit are transferred by Dropbox and then I can use them.

It connects to my home wireless network when it is parked in the garage which also makes transferring files and connecting to the internet pretty easy. On the road it uses my phone for internet via bluetooth. All this happens automatically in the background when I start the car.

Starting the unit takes a few seconds if it has been recently used and about 20 seconds if it has been off for more than 10 minutes. It has a vibration sensor that pre-starts the unit as you get into the car which saves some start-up time. It does let you see the reversing camera after about 10 seconds while the unit is still booting. I find this is the time it takes to put on my seat belt and get comfortable.

Moving between menus and apps is really fast with no noticeable lag, much better than my Nexus 7 tablet for some reason.

Integration with the steering controls is perfect. The voice command button is no longer required, as pressing the connect call button either answers a call or activates the voice control if you are dialing out.

All the other steering controls work as per normal. The hang-up button also doubles as a home menu button when you aren't making a call.

Phone Calls - the smart integrates pretty seamlessly with my Galaxy phone and call quality is excellent. The unit will connect to two phones at once, and can store as many phones as you want with 5000 contacts stored per phone. The contacts sync automatically every time the phone connects to the unit.

What is truly amazing is the voice control. It finds names within my 500 contacts quickly and pretty well spot on every time. If it has problems it asks a question to check whether the right contact or number has been selected.

Even more amazing is the Music voice control. When activated it will find an artist or album from my 10,000 song collection pretty well instantly. Access of the HDD is only through the Android multimedia apps, but it is lightening fast. With over 10,000 songs I was expecting some lag, but it finds stuff instantaneously which is pretty impressive.

Sound quality is a bit better than the OEM unit and there are a bunch of audio options available to tweak the sound including a pretty nifty sound field compensator that you can program for where people are sitting in the car.

Apps
I have installed all the following apps and they work fine:

• Oziexplorer - works as per normal
• Au Weather - BOM weather forecasts and radar
• Spotify
• TomTom
• Dropbox
• Table Talk
• Google Maps and Navigation - the just released version 7 for ICS does not run
• Google Sky
• Torque
• Email - connects to my work exchange server and pops up a message when mail arrives. There is a free Parrot app available that I think actually reads mail out for you.
• Tablet Talk - for sms messages via my phone

As well as working in reverse, it is possible to activate the reverse camera at any time using an app that comes on the unit.


Overall rating 9/10.
Overall I am genuinely impressed that it does pretty well everything that it should, pretty seamlessly and with no obvious glitches. It does help if you have already used an Android phone or tablet. My only real gripe so far is not having the ability to restart music where you left it after it has been off for a while and the lack of a compass.

Edit: There is a great app called Asteriod Tweaker that lets you change settings including music resume. Apparently Parrot are also working on a new firmware to address some issues and improve operation, which is one of the advantages of using Android to run the system. In the mean time the uni does have a few minor annoyances but I feel they are out weighe by the overall performance.