Crazylegs
Advanced Member
- Messages
- 5,224
Hi guys,
After much research and some help off here mainly from Porthos but others too (Thanks again) I had my Pioneer AppRadio 2 installed on Thursday and it's brilliant I love it!
I'd done a fair bit of looking into this stereo and how it works as my phone is an Android phone - Google Nexus 4. It turned out that in order for the Nexus 4 to work with the AppRadio you need quite a few things doing so I'm going to list what I've purchased and what extra I needed to do in order to gain full touchscreen compatibility with my phone and this stereo.
Most of you are probably aware that the AppRadio 2 isn't that compatible with Android out of the box and is a lot better with IOS/Iphone 4 and 5 etc, why I don't know.
Anyway. In order to get it to work firstly you need to root your phone. I'm fairly confident you will need to do this with any Android phone not just the Nexus 4. Now I'm not that tech savy, well at least I don't think I am and I managed to Root the Nexus 4 myself. I did have a few challenges doing this as I thought I'd bricked my phone at one point as it just kept re-booting but I was assured that it's a very difficult phone to brick.
I had to go back into the toolkit and click on one of the options to root it and it was fine luckily. Bear in mind that if you root your phone the warranty is void however this toolkit does have the option to revert back to the OEM settings if needs be so your warranty will still be valid.
In order to root it you need to download the following kit from XDA developers. It's a fantastic kit developed by Mskip.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1995688
I also followed the following Youtube instructions bit by bit to root the phone which I found really easy to follow as I wouldn't have had a clue otherwise. You'll find though in the process of rooting the phone that there have since been updates to the toolkit from when this video was made but you can still follow it as it's pretty much the same anyway.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=g88PPZyvfDI#at=1108
Next I will list all the things needed in addition to the above to get it to work.
You have to pay for and download an app called ARLiberator from Google Play - Now this app is amazing it really is. It's not cheap, it's £22 but it's worth every penny. If you don't have this app your phone will not work it's as simple as that.
Basically what this app gives you is full touchscreen functionality on the AppRadio as you would on your phone so you can then leave your phone resting and just use the stereo screen to navigate through your apps. Once it's all connected to Bluetooth all you do is turn your Bluetooth on before getting in the car, turn your engine on; it will then ask you to connect to your smartphone, give it a minute or two to connect and pair up and you will then have all your apps on the screen - it's that easy.
The very first time you do this it will take a few minutes for the stereo and your phone to pair up and you have to go through a calibration thing at first but once your device is paired to the stereo you don't need to do that again as they will simply recognise each other each time you plug your phone in (Remember to have your Bluetooth on before you plug it into the adapter otherwise the functionality won't work and the phone will automatically re-boot itself which is a royal PITA!).
Do not download the Pioneer AppRadio app as it's shite and it will conflict with ARLiberator, it's really important that you only have ARliberator as your main app.
I also downloaded an app called Franko Kernel which has a rapid battery charge to charge your phone while your driving, you don't have to download this it's out of choice but it helps, again this is something I stumbled across while researching what was needed.
As a power source for charging the phone whilst driving you will need an in-car charger which has a a Micro USB connector as this then plugs into the Slimport HDMI adapter which I will come to in more detail in a moment. Something like this one below is fine however you can get them cheaper. I paid £8 for mine from Maplin about a year ago and it came with multiple adapters but it must have a Micro USB adapter on it in order for it to charge your phone, well on the Nexus 4 it has a Micro USB so I imagine most modern smartphones will be the same.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Micro-USB-cellphone-direct-hardwire-adapter-charger-kit-/190548367845?pt=US_Cell_Phone_PDA_Cables_Adapters&hash=item2c5d9159e5
Now this adapter below is really important, it's called a Slimport HDMI adapter and is really important as none of the above will work if you don't have one. This plugs into the back of the unit and then into your phone, it also has another port so that you plug the above mentioned in-car charger into so that your phone is being powered as having Bluetooth and GPS on if you're navigating somewhere does use a lot of power.
It may be a different HDMI adapter that you need depending on your phone, this one below is for the Nexus 4 so if you have an Android phone and are contemplating going for an AppRadio 2 then I suggest you find out which adapter you need. They're also known as an MHL adapater not necessarily a Slimport. I believe what they do is transfer the HDMI code over from your phone so that you can have full functionality on the touchscreen in conjunction with ARLiberator.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Slimport-HDMI-adapter-Connect-projector/dp/B009UZBLSG
In addition to this you will need another USB HDMI cable which connects to the slimport, again you can buy this from any decent electrical place or online, Ebay/Amazon or wherever. Once you have all the above and have downloaded everything and everything is set up you will have full connectivity and full touchscreen capability via your phone, it's amazing guys it really is.
I've uploaded some pictures of the install. I paid a local place to do it for me, wasn't cheap at £94 as it's not a two minute job but they've done a cracking job. As you can see the leads come from the back of the Head Unit through the glove box so you can close the glove box whilst driving and just have the Slimport HMDI adapter hanging out plugged up to your phone, it's really neat and tidy. You then just use the AppRadio touchscreen to navigate through your apps, you can even make a call and have someone on loud speaker hands free it's brilliant.
Apologies that the pictures aren't great I'm sorry about that. Hopefully this will have been of some help for anyone looking to install one of these, mainly those of you who have android phones more than anything. Any questions just give me a shout!
Cheers.
Marc
After much research and some help off here mainly from Porthos but others too (Thanks again) I had my Pioneer AppRadio 2 installed on Thursday and it's brilliant I love it!
I'd done a fair bit of looking into this stereo and how it works as my phone is an Android phone - Google Nexus 4. It turned out that in order for the Nexus 4 to work with the AppRadio you need quite a few things doing so I'm going to list what I've purchased and what extra I needed to do in order to gain full touchscreen compatibility with my phone and this stereo.
Most of you are probably aware that the AppRadio 2 isn't that compatible with Android out of the box and is a lot better with IOS/Iphone 4 and 5 etc, why I don't know.
Anyway. In order to get it to work firstly you need to root your phone. I'm fairly confident you will need to do this with any Android phone not just the Nexus 4. Now I'm not that tech savy, well at least I don't think I am and I managed to Root the Nexus 4 myself. I did have a few challenges doing this as I thought I'd bricked my phone at one point as it just kept re-booting but I was assured that it's a very difficult phone to brick.
I had to go back into the toolkit and click on one of the options to root it and it was fine luckily. Bear in mind that if you root your phone the warranty is void however this toolkit does have the option to revert back to the OEM settings if needs be so your warranty will still be valid.
In order to root it you need to download the following kit from XDA developers. It's a fantastic kit developed by Mskip.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1995688
I also followed the following Youtube instructions bit by bit to root the phone which I found really easy to follow as I wouldn't have had a clue otherwise. You'll find though in the process of rooting the phone that there have since been updates to the toolkit from when this video was made but you can still follow it as it's pretty much the same anyway.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=g88PPZyvfDI#at=1108
Next I will list all the things needed in addition to the above to get it to work.
You have to pay for and download an app called ARLiberator from Google Play - Now this app is amazing it really is. It's not cheap, it's £22 but it's worth every penny. If you don't have this app your phone will not work it's as simple as that.
Basically what this app gives you is full touchscreen functionality on the AppRadio as you would on your phone so you can then leave your phone resting and just use the stereo screen to navigate through your apps. Once it's all connected to Bluetooth all you do is turn your Bluetooth on before getting in the car, turn your engine on; it will then ask you to connect to your smartphone, give it a minute or two to connect and pair up and you will then have all your apps on the screen - it's that easy.
The very first time you do this it will take a few minutes for the stereo and your phone to pair up and you have to go through a calibration thing at first but once your device is paired to the stereo you don't need to do that again as they will simply recognise each other each time you plug your phone in (Remember to have your Bluetooth on before you plug it into the adapter otherwise the functionality won't work and the phone will automatically re-boot itself which is a royal PITA!).
Do not download the Pioneer AppRadio app as it's shite and it will conflict with ARLiberator, it's really important that you only have ARliberator as your main app.
I also downloaded an app called Franko Kernel which has a rapid battery charge to charge your phone while your driving, you don't have to download this it's out of choice but it helps, again this is something I stumbled across while researching what was needed.
As a power source for charging the phone whilst driving you will need an in-car charger which has a a Micro USB connector as this then plugs into the Slimport HDMI adapter which I will come to in more detail in a moment. Something like this one below is fine however you can get them cheaper. I paid £8 for mine from Maplin about a year ago and it came with multiple adapters but it must have a Micro USB adapter on it in order for it to charge your phone, well on the Nexus 4 it has a Micro USB so I imagine most modern smartphones will be the same.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Micro-USB-cellphone-direct-hardwire-adapter-charger-kit-/190548367845?pt=US_Cell_Phone_PDA_Cables_Adapters&hash=item2c5d9159e5
Now this adapter below is really important, it's called a Slimport HDMI adapter and is really important as none of the above will work if you don't have one. This plugs into the back of the unit and then into your phone, it also has another port so that you plug the above mentioned in-car charger into so that your phone is being powered as having Bluetooth and GPS on if you're navigating somewhere does use a lot of power.
It may be a different HDMI adapter that you need depending on your phone, this one below is for the Nexus 4 so if you have an Android phone and are contemplating going for an AppRadio 2 then I suggest you find out which adapter you need. They're also known as an MHL adapater not necessarily a Slimport. I believe what they do is transfer the HDMI code over from your phone so that you can have full functionality on the touchscreen in conjunction with ARLiberator.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Slimport-HDMI-adapter-Connect-projector/dp/B009UZBLSG
In addition to this you will need another USB HDMI cable which connects to the slimport, again you can buy this from any decent electrical place or online, Ebay/Amazon or wherever. Once you have all the above and have downloaded everything and everything is set up you will have full connectivity and full touchscreen capability via your phone, it's amazing guys it really is.
I've uploaded some pictures of the install. I paid a local place to do it for me, wasn't cheap at £94 as it's not a two minute job but they've done a cracking job. As you can see the leads come from the back of the Head Unit through the glove box so you can close the glove box whilst driving and just have the Slimport HMDI adapter hanging out plugged up to your phone, it's really neat and tidy. You then just use the AppRadio touchscreen to navigate through your apps, you can even make a call and have someone on loud speaker hands free it's brilliant.
Apologies that the pictures aren't great I'm sorry about that. Hopefully this will have been of some help for anyone looking to install one of these, mainly those of you who have android phones more than anything. Any questions just give me a shout!
Cheers.
Marc
