Stay tuned, Android 11 based head unit with large screen.

The good:
large oem looking screen, CarPlay, Google map, SIM card, 360 camera capability, oem mounting points, retains all oem functionality including steering wheel controls!!!

the bad:
a lot of wire…
requires transfer of oem head unit circuit board

the ugly:
no manual supplied or available, close to 0 factory support


i will update as i progress, worst case scenario it will be a better version of UAD CarPlay kit which i had before for not much more money.

 

Nice post. Does the system use the car's GPS antenna or the phone's GPS or its own GPS?

 

oem nav still works, it also came with a gps unit, CarPlay should be using everything from the phone, provided sim has no signal, in short, i don’t know 😂

 

Is it the Merryway unit?

 

Not sure, no branding on the unit, I got it straight off taobao instead of ali, but the seller(store) might as well be different than the manufacturer

 

So my T-Mobile SIM and the included SIM did nothing, as expected, probably gonna use it as carplay only, it will be a huge pain to change the SIM once installed, oh well.

I will keep the gps unit plug in, if it does nothing I will fix it away.





Lte stick

 

So this is a large screen for "small screen" cars? Very interested, keep the updates coming!

 

FYI - You may find valuable information here:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/f...thread-210198/

 

Yes, works for both small screens from 13/-18 us model year, I confirmed with the seller before buying.

Thanks, read through this thread years ago and thought it was stuck in the past, nope, last few posts actually have people discussing the Android 11 unit, and to my surprise, my unit is actually merryway, revealed by an QR code in he settings.

Full circle back to a merryway😂 nothing against it, but I remember reading here someone fried the mother board and stuff like that, hence why I chose UAD last time.


Quick summary for the day:

Everything fitted except cameras, everything works, kind of..

Steering wheel volume works, volume knob does not, carplay has no sound, Android auto does(my Android phone), previous/next track does not work on steering wheel, included mic works perfectly(my UAD did not), original interface physical buttons are wrong and does not work except home and power button.

I'm suspecting the software on the unit is wrong for my model year, contacting tech right now.

Gonna test out the native Google map tomorrow, mainly to see if the external gps unit is required or not, I know it is not required/does nothing for carplay or Android auto mode.

 

What cameras are supported? Does it come with sides/front?

 

they are labeled 4k on the camera themselves, though the screen is only 12xx x 7xxp, front rear and 2 sides included, plugs into a wire loom supplied which connects to the unit, the cameras used plastic 4 pin connector.


​​​​​side cameras requires drilling out a hole for mounting, I’m assuming it’s the bottom of the mirror housing, a drill template was provided. Reader might require drilling also, not sure if original backup camera hole works.



tried to test out native Google map today, unit connects to phones hotspot, sign in was required and between trying to remember my password and the awkward interface( keyboard too small and stretched, hard to reach keys on the edge of the screen, icon and texts too small and not optimized for in car use), i decided CarPlay/android auto is the way to go and it’s probably not ideal to use the native android 99% off the time.



CarPlay audio has been worked out, it was probably my phones setting.

Good news: CarPlay behaves exactly like an oem CarPlay
20 seconds from car off to CarPlay ready

bad news: steering prev/next track button does not work in CarPlay, intermittent audio jerk when playing music, seems to get better after a while, need more driving to see if it’sa problem.


Quick summary: it’s turning out to be a better looking and faster UAD unit for a bit more money (depending on how you buy it and if you get the 360)

 

Progress is made today, original screen physical button fixed and working.

Back up and 360 working. Very pleased with the image quality, they will be mounted later.

Only issue remains is intermittent audio jerk in CarPlay, tried android auto and it happens there too. All connectors are double checked and tight..

i will write a final verdict after some more seat time, so far, it’s a keeper and I’m generally happy with it.

Back up at night interior lights on

Back up at night interior lights off

 

I believe i have solved the intermittent audio jerk issue, 40 minutes drive today no hiccup, my connection the the amp might have been loose, clicked that bitch in and all have been fine so far.

i also disable all options on my phones Bluetooth (contact sharing etc as per Google search), that might have helped also.

It’s a keeper, in depth review and installation/set up guide coming soon!

 

Hi Ray Ray,

I just went for a similar solution, but my system is the newer harman with the small screen (2017 car), Interestingly, I also only have sound buttons working (because they act on the original amp, they don't actualy change the Android volume), so there is anything in the Android system that is being controled by the Steering controls.

Do You have any kind of FM app?

I think the way to live with this units is to solve little issue by little issue, mine started like a mess, and after few days is pretty acceptable, to be perfect I just wanted the steering wheel controls to fully work and the if possible the "virtual" original buttons to work fully normally (this is not needed but would be really nice).



Diogo

 

hello, i believe the steering wheel prev/next track buttons will not work without further physical alteration, it does not control anything in the new unit, volume only works because it controls volume on the amp like you said, even that has to be marked by an asterisk since the android unit has its own volume that’s only adjustable in the touch screen.

I’m guessing there is a physical connection that needs to be made between the steering wheel control(not sure if it is even a plug type connector underneath or something else) and the android head unit (not present in this unit).

my guess is that connection cannot be easily done, easily accessible, or too intrusive to be done, so no aftermarket unit is able to do it, similar to how no aftermarket unit is able to use the factory mic(correct me if I’m wrong).

i don’t find it annoying anymore since prev/next in CarPlay has large buttons and easy to tap even while driving. And volume change works well enough i can’t find a situation where i need to use the screen to adjust it separately.

i do not use radio but i believe they work whether through CarPlay or original unit.

Virtual buttons are labeled correctly for me after finding the setting for it, weirdly they actually still don’t work except for the home and power.

If the audio jerk does not come back(need more seat time), I’m really happy with the results and have no problem living with some minor annoyance it carries.

 

Sounds like we have similar "problems", I also have the original virtual buttons but only some work (the ones that are controlled by the Android unit) Problem for me (on my unit) is pretty clear, the unit loom only has two wires trying to control 8 or 10 buttons, while the original button frame has 8 or 10 wires...

I have a thread about my unit posted yesterday I think, have a look!

Diogo

 

i checked and left a reply, you might have missed it.

My physical button cable indeed has about 8 wires in it, yet they are still not working😂

the individual virtual buttons do light up upon pressing, they just do nothing, so I’m guessing mine is a software/setting issue.

 

A few more days, a few more progress, was able to get virtual physical buttons work by changing some settings, all 8 works and goes into the correct page except the Nav button for whatever weird reason, and yes, the Nav is still there and works when accessed from the screen.

360 looks very promising, i have most of my interior out for some other upgrades so routing shouldn’t be too much work, picture quality is unreal, many many settings to be adjusted and no glitch/dropout so far.



Front view is amazing, camera was temporarily mounted in grille. Side and rear cameras enter just dangling.

 

The 3D view looks very interesting, how are You planing to instal the cameras on the mirrors? I never considered that until now, was only planing to intall a front view camera.

Cheers

 

It’s going to the base of the mirror assembly, drilling is required and a drill disc bit were provided, alone with rubber grommets.

Factory Nav button is working today, without changing anything😂

i also found the factory gps connector, right there behind the Bluetooth unit, a simple gps splitter/extender cable and you can forgo the extra gps receiver. Only needed if you use Google maps on the native android, CarPlay still uses phone gps only.