Avin Avant 2: Probably the coolest Android head unit I've ever seen.

[mtucker]

Close enough to see some detail, but hopefully far enough out to give you overall fit. It looks like a lot of it depends on your vehicle. The plastic on my Tacoma truck comes over the front of the radio sides and that plastic is close to the back/home/volume capacitive buttons along the left and the mic/reset holes on the right. Looking at Ironcat21s pictures, the entire front of the radio appears to stick out of the dash a little which seems the most convenient for pressing the capacitive buttons.

I hear a new software release is due out....... very soon.

 

[IronCat21]

I like yours tucker. It almost looks like a stock radio. Mine sticks out a tiny bit. It makes it easier to get to the touch screen buttons.

Tucker, on your home screen, are the usb, nav, radio, ect, on the left or right?

 

[mtucker]

I like yours tucker. It almost looks like a stock radio. Mine sticks out a tiny bit. It makes it easier to get to the touch screen buttons. Tucker, on your home screen, are the usb, nav, radio, ect, on the left or right?

Thanks. It does look fairly stock. My home screen has the time/weather on the left side (over a black leather looking background) and the Nav/USB/radio buttons to the right.


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[IronCat21]

Wow and there's another update coming? Can't wait.

 

[mtucker]

I had some time this weekend so I pinged Tommy to see if the update he mentioned in early April was available. It was (4/28/2015) so I loaded it up and tried it this weekend. It is a beta R4.0.0.2 There were quite a few changes that weren't listed in the change log. The biggest and most appreciated changes were
1. The internal cache (partition) has gone from about 670MB to 1.3GB. I had what I thought was minimal apps loaded and I would sometimes get insufficient memory errors when trying to install a new app or even update an existing app. This is a big improvement.
2. The Radio app now continues to play when I have it in the background. Before it would play for about 30 seconds and then stop playing if I went into the settings or doing other things. I also noticed the radio app will automatically start playing if you were listening to the radio when the stereo was turned off.

IronCat21, I want to compare notes on Google Voice search / OK google. I assume OK google doesn't work for you since it is listed as needing Android 4.4 or higher? What is weird though is you can see it working in this demo of a BMW specific Avin Avant 2 radio. (skip to 1:20 into the video)
https://youtu.be/qX74pzBqPWU?t=1m20s

1. OK Google. I can enable the "OK Google" option in input settings. If I run the "Google" app, I can say OK google and it is recognized by the radio. It then dictates what I say, but when you would expect to see the answer to your inquiry the app closes without an error message.
2. Voice search. OK Google is nice, but as long as I can do a voice search (not several year old voice search, but the voice search that is used with Google Now and OK Google) using the Google app I don't care about OK google not working. A work around was to run the Google App (you can enable Google now or not.... doesn't matter). The rectangular search box comes up, but unlike my cell phone there isn't a microphone button in the far right of that search box. I figured out that a well placed touch to the very far right of that box would bring up the voice search button (as though the microphone icon is there, but you can't see it). It can be a little picky on the exact placement of the touch. I found a free app that is basically a shortcut to the voice search on the Google App. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.companion.VoiceShortcut&hl=en You touch the shortcut and the Google voice search opens up and is already listening for your command. It looked like there was another way to do the same thing spelled out here. http://forums.androidcentral.com/htc-evo-4g-lte/177215-missing-voice-search-button-here-s-fix.html

Matt

 

[IronCat21]

I'll check on this as soon as I can. I know Okay Google always gave me an error in the last version. It wasn't the mics fault, since voice typing worked. I'll spend some time messing with it over the next couple days and get back to you.

It could just be he uses a different version of Android for his vehical specific radios. The interface is very different for those. Did you get steering wheel controls?

 

[IronCat21]

Okay so I finally got some time to try it out. Okay Google works in regards to opening up when I say "Okay Google". It recognizes my words perfectly, even weird Pennsylvania towns. But 3 out of 4 times, it just crashes when it goes to search. I was going email Tommy about that.

Voice Search doesn't really work for me. I do have voice to text for my keyboard, so I just use that in my Google app. It could just be the Google app that is buggy?

I also don't have a mic button.

 

[mtucker]

OK thanks. Sounds like we are seeing the same thing then.
Are you using an aftermarket keyboard? I ask because you said you use the voice to text for your keyboard in the google app. When the default keyboard comes up in the google app, the microphone is not shown. If I bring the keyboard up in just about any other app (Poweramp, Copilot), the mic is near the bottom left corner and available.
I took some video tonight of the search features (my work around using the ICS Voice Search Shortcut app) as well as some general Avin stuff. I'll have to edit that and post some of it up. I'll start with the voice search features.

 

[mtucker]

Below is a video I made about using the voice search feature on the Avant 2. Both the off-line and on-line searches needed a little trickery to work, but now they work great. I start off with google search using data and then cover general voice/text search without a data connection.

 

[mtucker]

More video. This time likes and dislikes of the Avin Avant 2 (overall I like it a lot).

 

[Ronnytje]

Hi all! I just bought this universal unit and it looks great! But I'm having trouble with the steering wheel controls of my Chrysler 300 c. I use the CHTO-03 from Axxess as harness in conjunction with the ASWC-1. Also I have no idea where the SD card slot is... I still have so much to learn!

 

[mtucker]

There is a lot to learn. I spent a few weeks learning and playing. Try Tommy at Avin if you can't figure out the steering wheel controls. He is very helpful. I don't have steering wheel control in my truck.
There is not a SD card slot on the Avin universal. You have two USB ports so you can use thumb drives. Tommy told me the USB ports support USB hubs and I confirmed they work great so you can expand your two USB ports to many. I keep a 64GB thumb drive in one USB port that has music and videos on it. The other port I ran to my center console so I can plug in my cell phone to share its data connection (via USB) and charge at the same time.

 

[Ronnytje]

You answered another question I had: if it supports USB hubs... so glad it does. Regarding the steering wheel controls: Tommy told me it should work, but he didn't knew the exact settings, so I'll have to go through all possible options :-(

 

[llmgtab]

I have one of the units being delivered today. Thanks to all on this thread for letting me see some info up front. I have asked Tommie lots of questions, he responds very quickly, which is part of the reason I choose this init.



Sent from my LGLS990 using Tapatalk

 

[IronCat21]

Yup don't be afraid to ask questions, you paid almost 400 for it, you deserve good service. It's worth it though, it's definitely the best Android based radio I've seen. The little glitches are worth it.

Mtucker, did you load a different launcher? My main menu looks nothing like yours!

 

[mtucker]

Yup don't be afraid to ask questions, you paid almost 400 for it, you deserve good service. It's worth it though, it's definitely the best Android based radio I've seen. The little glitches are worth it.
Mtucker, did you load a different launcher? My main menu looks nothing like yours!

I use Car Dashdroid. I like the big tiles. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nezdroid.cardashdroid
I use Llama to get me to Car Dashdroid easily. When Llama sees a system boot or the default home screen, it automatically runs Car Dashdroid. I noticed app icons look pixelated and jagged when displayed in Car Dashdroid . I used Desktop VisualizeR to be able to make my shortcuts in Cardashdroid use high res icons. The shortcuts still aren't super sharp, but they look a lot better.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.co.bii.android.app.dskvzr&hl=en
There is a thread on XDA about Car Dashdroid started by the apps creator
[app] Car dashdroid a Google like car dashbo… | Android Development and Hacking | XDA Forums

 

[IronCat21]

I use Car Dashdroid. I like the big tiles. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nezdroid.cardashdroid
I use Llama to get me to Car Dashdroid easily. When Llama sees a system boot or the default home screen, it automatically runs Car Dashdroid. I noticed app icons look pixelated and jagged when displayed in Car Dashdroid . I used Desktop VisualizeR to be able to make my shortcuts in Cardashdroid use high res icons. The shortcuts still aren't super sharp, but they look a lot better.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.co.bii.android.app.dskvzr&hl=en
There is a thread on XDA about Car Dashdroid started by the apps creator
[app] Car dashdroid a Google like car dashbo… | Android Development and Hacking | XDA Forums

Hmmmm okay I'll look into that, looks cool!

 

[llmgtab]

Has anyone found alternatives for phone calls? The included app is a bit awkward with my large work contact list.

Sent from my LGLS990 using Tapatalk

 

[IronCat21]

Has anyone found alternatives for phone calls? The included app is a bit awkward with my large work contact list.

Sent from my LGLS990 using Tapatalk

I didn't like the way it syncs either, so I still find my contacts on my phone and then just talk over bluetooth. The radio is too far away from my steering wheel to scroll through to find people. I answer from the radio though.

 

[mtucker]

FYI an operating system update came out yesterday. E-mail Tommy if you are interested. The 1st item in the change log is the BT echo was fixed which is big for me (I haven't tried BT calling to confirm the echo is gone...... my wife complained a lot about the echo). There are a few other additions. The update is dated today (8/14/2015) although Tommy uploaded it yesterday. I have installed it and got everything to where I like it.
Matt