Android head unit?
 

I have a 2006 X5 with Nav, no DSP.

I'm considering buying a new Android head unit. There seem to be 3 form factors - 7" screen with buttons, 9" screen that sits vertically and goes up to just underneath the center vents, and 10" widescreen, no buttons.

We it's he has all 3, Avin has the first and third, etc.

Any input on which form factor to choose? Why?

I am leaning to Avin, but will consider Seicane, etc.

Another question - Avin sells the I bus for $90. I can buy it for $65 shipped from Dealer. Any reason not to buy direct?

I went with a 10" Xtrons unit and am fairly happy. Has it's issues but all in all it was worth it.

The big screen is nice for my aging eyes, but it can be a bit of a stretch to reach the right side of the screen. Not recommended while driving.

Get a unit with the most RAM. Apps are bit slow to load under 2GB. Even at 2GB it takes mine a a minute or two to load and I don't use a bunch of apps. Basically only IBus which does not like to load on it's own.

I ordered IBus from the manufacturer. It's great but a bit buggy.

I have the Avin Avant 4. Went with the 7" screen because it looks like the stock head unit. I had Nav like you and wanted to maintain a stock look. timmyc is correct about the ram. Get as much as possible. I got the IBUS app and dongle from Avin. Comes preloaded. Seemed simpler to deal with that way. I got the carplay, but I don't use it as it takes over and has to continually be shut off. Drove me nuts.

Thanks to you both for the replies.

Fifty150, what do you mean by "car play takes over and has to be continually shut off"? Did you get wired or wireless car play?

I got wired carplay. It plugs into one of the three usb ports/cables. One of those cables is very short and lives behind the dash as it is for the IBUS dongle. The other 2 can be run into the glove box where you can use one for carplay and the other to plug in a flash drive.

I have 2 X5's both with newer Android units (Xtrons). One is the 10 inch screen with no button, and the other is the the 7 inch with buttons, which I bought after I installed the 10 inch no button unit.

Both are working fine with the reception of poor radio reception and poor phone quality. but I prefer the unit with the buttons. I only use it for blue-tooth music and occasional phone calls.

you might think how you intend to use it. If you were going to use the screen more for navigation or movies, or whatever, you might opt for the big screen

I have the Avant4 with wireless carplay and Ibus directly from AVIN. It was a little more to get everything from AVIN but worth it to me for the simplicity. The ONLY thing I don't like is the internal mic, I have to speak louder than normal volume for people on the phone to hear me. Otherwise its awesome!

I have the android 8 version of this model:
https://xtrons.com/bmw-x5-e38-androi...b-rom-ib9053bl

I really like the form factor and the fit in the dash. If you look closely at the models and how they fit, the 10.25 is a very wide screen, whereas the 9 is much taller. Clearly, 10.25 is bigger than 9, but the usability for the 9 is higher, IMO. The 9 does NOT have any DVD or CD functionality, which my 7 still retained, so keep that in mind. I'm not sure about the 10.25.

I haven't been able to find a car stereo place that can sell/install these android head units. Why is that? All they sell is Pioneer, Jensen, etc.

I'm in SoCal. Any suggestions?

Buy one on Amazon

Or you can buy them directly from the manufacturer/wholesaler/resaler website. Any decent audio shop should be able to install it. If they say they cant then either they are shit at their job or they are trying to get you to spend on their carried products. Also it should be noted that the high end pioneer, jvc, alpine, etc. are likely to produce better quality audio but not by much especially if you buy an android unit with built in DSP.

I installed my own. I asked Xtron many times for various installation tips or guides and was just told, "Have a professional install it." At a guess, the vast majority of Android head units are not being sold by the people that built them and they have a very limited understanding of how it actually works. Talking to the manufacturer in China might be expensive, not to mention the language barrier. If there's a shop that commonly does true custom work, fiberglass enclosures and such, they'd be more willing to give it a shot than some big box store.

AVIN has a pretty good install manual which can really be used for any of these units as they are all copies of each other.

I just put in an AVIN for my son in his 2006 4.8is. with factory nav and DSP. It was NOT an easy job. The quotes I had from install shops was north of $1k. Thus I did it myself. You literally take apart most of the interior to install if you have those two options.

The video showing how to do it is good up to the point that they show the connections, and somehow with 4 wiring harnesses that is supposed to be intuitive.

It works great now that it is all together, would I do it again probably now that I know how but it wasn't a simple job.

Definitely not simple. Straightforward I thought, but time consuming. I also did what I saw on one of the installation videos I found on Youtube and cut the harness going to the back then reconnected it after running the wire to the back. Had to take out very little of the interior to do it that way.

Sorry about that. That was my video. What did I miss about the 4 harnesses? I forget now but I think they gave provisions for the round pin and the spade pin connections so 2 harnesses aren't used.

Yes, it is a very involved install. I've done it 4 times now and that one took about 8-10 hours total? It's a blur.

I have a 10 in XTRONS running android 10 which I got a few months before it showed up on AVIN’s site so pretty sure it’s the exact same unit. Managed to get it on Amazon prime. Had the business cd changer and no dsp. While it was easier in that I didn’t have to disassemble the interior to run wires, it’s much harder on the dash side. The 10 inch is shaped like a single DIN on the back so I thought it would just slide in where the CD changer was, but not at all. It was a sitting at the wrong angle so I actually had to cut out the dash frame in small pieces until I got it to fit (didn’t want to accidentally cut more than I needed). AVIN has instructions on the 8 in model but that is more like a double DIN (I think it’s the same shape as the factory nav). I also had to cut and drill some brackets to mount it since the 2 screws to hold the whole unit in don’t have anything to grab. I’m still not sure if it’s angled correctly and pretty disappointed that there were no guides on what to cut.
Other than that I added a wireless XTRONS CarPlay box (probably just rebranded but IIRC the price was good) and IBUS which I got straight from Resler. I also got the quad lock adapter so that IBUS can plug straight into the head unit harness 2nd quad lock, but Resler got the pins in the wrong place and I had to move the pins around to get it working- pretty disappointed since the point was plug and play.
Anyway here are my 3 main complaints. Bothersome in the daytime- brightness. It’s just a bit too dim for me to see in the daytime, especially with it being angled to fit the dash. With CarPlay, originally I was having a ton a problems and had to unplug and plug in the box multiple times for it to work. It got better though but it still has issues from time to time. My biggest issue is pretty recent. I started having battery drain and couldn’t figure it out. Reset IBUS coding (just had comfortblink, cornering lights, DRL angel eyes, and brake force display options changed) and everything is fine now. Really sad as this tells me the car can’t be trusted when it’s coded with the app. Got lucky I hadn’t driven the car for a bit so it was at home, but scared that it can happen anywhere. Guess I’m stuck not coding :(
Also, another small one which I was expecting: really missing my volume knob lol

All DSP owners should pitch in $20 US to have you do a write up. I really need to replace my head unit but I am not a stereo guy and have a short attention span. I get frustrated easily and start beating on things with hammers.

Thanks all for your input. I ended up ordering the Avin with the buttons. Of course, it's freezing outside now, so install will be delayed...