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Aftermarket Apple CarPlay/Android Auto Mod...AWESOME
Like the thread said, today I had a module installed that gives me Apple CarPlay & Android Auto, as well as a full Android interface with screen mirroring, onboard Google Maps/Waze, YouTube, etc. Haven't played with it a ton, but so far, its awesome. The inspiration for this mod came from this thread on the CL 4RX Forum:
Many members there have these modules and there is a 750+ post long thread about it, basically everything you want to know is there. The device can also give you WIRELESS CarPlay but for now mine is just wired. It took the shop about 4 hours to do it since this was the first install anybody could find on an LS. The unit is behind the carpet on the passenger side of the transmission tunnel, and the plug ends come out below the leather trim on the passenger side of the console.
Looks awesome and perfect! I especially like how the iPhone screen fills the entire 12.3 inch screen in the 2016-2017 cars Looks like the kit + installation cost close to $1K. I think it is well worth the expense.
Where have you mounted the phone? I am also curious to see and know how the wireless feature works.
Congrats on being the first one with that system on a LS. It does look really cool, being able to watch files you downloaded to your phone or streaming video on your car screen is awesome. I was thinking of doing it but I don't even have a Android/Apple phone as my personal phone and it is pretty expensive, the similar Beatsonic system looks like a pretty complicated install.
I am happy with my DVD pass on my GS, used it to watch "Vacation" when stuck in heavy mostly stopped traffic for 45min during a vacation trip to the East Coast which was nice.
Steve - please keep this thread updated. I am very interested if any bugs or issues after you have been using this for a few weeks/ months. I am eagerly waiting to purchase this and get it installed. Thanks for the thread.
Will do for sure. So far the biggest "issue" is that the phone call quality isn't as good as the regular car's BT phone setup, that's not a big deal though because you can set it to use the car's native BT system and still control the phone through the CarPlay. I hear people fine but I sound "far off".
Sound quality wasn't as good as the OEM USB setup, but an OTA update fixed that. Same deal too, you can still use the car's BT profile for audio if you want and control the phone through the CarPlay. With Wireless CarPlay (which I will get and try) you could also still use the car's USB setup and control through the CarPlay.
Used Google Maps for several destinations this morning, works awesome. Voice destination entry is PERFECT, one shot. Totally thrilled.
I don't see why people see this as something revolutionary... Vais Technology have been doing phone integration for years, too bad they are not selling their iVIC module anymore. Their biggest mistake was pushing people to use their phone with it which was pretty much a disaster since displaying HDMI through phone was always finicky and required proprietary cable. Phones also lack peripheral capabilities like basic USB, sure you can usually get an otg cable but you cannot use it as the same time as an MHL cable to display the picture on a screen at the same time. But still, iVIC had an HDMI in port which can be used with literally anything and basically meant you could easily upgrade it by just plugging something more powerful into the HDMI port. Nowadays android boxes running on 12v or usb power are literally everywhere. I personally use a eight cores android stick which also have multiple usb port so I can manually add stuff like gps capabilities, external hard drive and a track pad hidden on the back of the steering wheel. If I want to upgrade to something more powerful in 4 year, just unplug from the HDMI port and plug the new unit in. If I want to plug a windows 10 computer, no problem. Personally I hate those watered down version of the phone OS like android auto and carplay. I much prefer running the full OS than my phone babysitting me on which app I can and cannot use. This thing is basically not upgradable unless you remove the dash and replace the whole thing. My biggest gripe with those Chinese unit is that they usually cheap out on spec and use puny little cpu (even with multiple cores) that can barely get out of their own way 1 year later when the apps get optimized for the next android version.
Hi Vansibel, for a computer-savvy person like you, the Carplay kit that Steve has installed or the iPhone mirroring kit I have may seem to be overhyped. However, I feel that for a vast majority of car owners, these kits or the Carplay/Auto software installed by the car companies are the only way to unlock the utility of the smartphone on our vehicle infotainment systems.
Originally Posted by Vansibel
This thing is basically not upgradable unless you remove the dash and replace the whole thing. My biggest gripe with those Chinese unit is that they usually cheap out on spec and use puny little cpu (even with multiple cores) that can barely get out of their own way 1 year later when the apps get optimized for the next android version.
If I understand correctly, are you saying the hardware/software in the kit that Steve has installed cannot be upgraded to run with CarPlay/Auto optimized for newer versions of Apple/Android OS? Do we know that for a fact? If that's true, wouldn't this be an issue for the CarPlay/Auto functionality that is currently offered by car companies? They don't upgrade the hardware in older cars; heck, they don't even upgrade the software (unless it's a Tesla). All these apps are backwards compatible, so I am not seeing why this would be a problem down the line.
08-06-19, 04:10 PM
Aftermarket Apple CarPlay/Android Auto Mod...AWESOME
Looks like the kit + installation cost close to $1K. I think it is well worth the expense. 
