Mirroring and CarPlay are totally different things. CarPlay is an interface that is designed for a certain easy user experience you don’t get with mirroring. Nobody else sells this sort of CarPlay interface, BeatSonic is about to come out with one, but it’s not available yet.

As for replacing it, it’s installed in a place where it can be easily removed and replaced with a new unit.

 

According to the manufacturer that is not true. The unit gets OTA updates and I just downloaded the ones for the upcoming iOS 13 updates to CarPlay.

Carplay does not run off the unit in the car, it runs off the phone. The apps are running on the phone, not the unit.

 

Yes, I know that they are totally different. CarPlay/Auto are apps running on your smartphone (Lexus Enform is their poorer cousin ) that can use the car's infotainment system very effectively such as the touchscreen or RTC compatibility. Mirroring doesn't allow this because it is a hardware solution.


It's great to know that your kit can do OTA updates to benefit from the latest versions of the OS and CarPlay/Auto apps. This directly addresses Vansibel's concerns.

 

Software can be upgraded yes, but I don't see user swapping the cpu or ram on this unit. Upgrading the hardware to make it run faster mean replacing the whole unit and remove the stock head unit which is kinda annoying (unless they sell an upgraded unit that use the exact same wiring). Take the iPhone for example, you can upgrade the os but since the newer os get optimized for newer hardware the phone get slower overall and only way to upgrade from a performance point of view is to buy another phone. And I never seen, ever, those kind of automotive unit have enough support from the manufacturer so the android version get an ota upgrade (for example from android 7.1 to 8). If you buy it with android 7 you will run this version until you get rid of the car. Latest android version is 9 but you will never get that supported in this unit unless by a community driven effort / custom rom. Cars get obsolete and while there may be a few critical bug fixes usually the updates are not adding features. Don't get me wrong it still beat the stock nav system any day on features, I'm just saying in my experience that iVIC was a better solution for it's versatility (for example you could install a chromecast and use wireless phone mirroring which worked pretty good) and upgradability but since they don't sell it anymore I guess something like this is the next best thing. And from my experience from buying a bunch of those the software support from those Chinese unit is pretty abysmal. Meaning they may get an update once down the line to fix something as critical as carplay not working anymore and that's about it. Maybe this company is different but I would not hold my breath.

 

Why would you need to? It doesn't do any computing, its just a vehicle for the Apple CarPlay and the CarPlay is running off of the phone's CPU. If you were running apps off of the unit I would say you have a point, but thats not my goal with this unit. Software support has actually been surprisingly good, in fact the developer actually joined CL to provide support in that 4RX thread. People have talked to him over WhatsApp, direct messaging, etc.

You can mirror and use Chromecast and all with this also, but thats not what I'm trying to do. I wanted CarPlay, not a mirroring setup. What does it matter to me what version of Android it's running? I could have had a mirroring setup years ago, so far this is the ONLY CarPlay solution for these cars.

You're trying to accomplish things on another level from what my goals with this unit are. I want Apple CarPlay, thats all.

 

Getting back to the unit, used it a bunch again today and love it. I didn't feel the need to pick up my phone all day, and that was one of the primary goals of this since I use Tidal for music streaming and receive and reply to a lot of texts throughout the day. Navigation over Google Maps, Waze, Apple Maps all works great. No freezing or hiccuping so far.

To solve the lower call quality issue on your iPhone go to Settings -> General -> Accessability -> Call Audio Routing and change that to "Bluetooth Headset" now whenever you answer or receive calls through CarPlay it will use the car's native BT system for the call (CarPlay still controls and displays the call perfectly).

 

SW17LS, how does the unit display the music song, artist, album information from Tidal? Did I read your post correctly that the sound quality is similar to whatever setup the user had before? BT, cable connection or whatever?

Thanks for for your post and write up on this, I am very interested in this but don’t know a lot about it other than the stock display is wholly inadequate.

 

The display when showing song info for Tidal is the same as it is for everything else in CarPlay, I will take a picture of it and post it. iOS13 brings an overhaul for CarPlay and the album art, etc will be better.

Sound quality is just as good as the USB input I was using before since I did the latest update.

 

If any of their systems would have a audio out component- like an amp bypass option, I would buy them in a heartbeat. Unfortunately there is nothing for the LS that can do that. I will be using either an android or apple product through HDMI to a hdmi to toslink converter to a DSP to be able to get audio to run an aftermarket amplifier and have a clean, unmolested signal. Maybe my old eclipse cd7100 in the glovebox for am/fm/cd (something I almost never listen to though) It would be really nice if they developed an amplifier bypass module for the 2013 and up LS. PAC makes one for other lexus models, even with a digital out module. I would much rather keep the original radio functional.

 

Steve, that looks incredibly nice. Like having a new tech package. I love it! Grats!

 

Looks like the one for a 2011 LS will not use Iphone, Android only from what I see.

 

Where's the option for a 2010 unit? There is a gap in the two links you provided

 

When you purchase the unit you buy a CarPlay Dongle, I think all his units work with CarPlay.

id message him about the 2010-2012, I’m sure the unit works.

 

Looking at the kit. It looks like you have to install a speaker and a microphone. Where did you have these installed?

 

You don’t actually. It uses the car’s microphone, and you don’t need to install the speaker (it will come with one), it plays all of the Audio through the car’s speakers.

Still love it, even my kids noticed the new Google map when they rode in it today.