Android Auto adaptor

[C525LEE]

Hopefully I will be a F type owner this time next week and 1 thing I need is Android Auto, my car is a 17 so comes with the older style headunit. What are people's recommendations I have seen UAD units and @Tim Atkinson mentions integrated automotive are there any other company's that can be recommended.

Not worried about the installation side of it, just want something that will give me full Android auto functionality and no problems. I have also read that skipping tracks from the steering wheel won't work either with the UAD.

Thanks in advance for any advice given and appolagies if its been covered before just need to be sure before ordering the kit.

 

[MajorTom]

Is it a MY18 facelift car or a MY17? That makes a difference to what kind of infotainment hardware you have which is important to know when finding the right kit. For more options than the ones you mentioned, take a look over in the US F-Type forum. There's quite a few examples of people installing other similar kits there.

I have the UAD unit and only use it for CarPlay so I never tried the Android Auto feature. It works brilliantly though, and being a facelift car it boots up instantly in CarPlay mode when you power up the car so I never even get to see the standard infotainment screen unless I choose to switch over to it.

For obvious reasons - it's just an add on which takes over the screen and touch controls, and feeds audio in through the Aux source - there's no integration with the physical track skipping buttons. That's not unique to UAD but applies to any kit that works the same way although I know there are also some with a deeper integration with the car infotainment and the steering wheel buttons. That's never been an issue for me though. Don't know where the track skip buttons would be placed on the screen in AA mode, but in CarPlay I run it 90% of the time with the satnav and audio controls next to each other on the screen and then the skip button is down in the corner of the screen so I know exactly where it is and can tap it without looking at the screen. Thanks to enabling voice controls these systems anyways reduce the need to look at the screen for selecting playlists etc.

 

[CentaX]

I bought an ~180€ AA box for my 2014 My. Older entertainment system, so other hardware required, but the installation should be the same. The AUX did not work properly, could not figure out why. However, you can adjust a setting so the phone can still connect using the car Bluetooth interface. This way, you can still use all steering wheel controls including skipping.

Compared to the videos available which show the installation of the boxes, there is no need to remove the whole backrest anymore including the rollover hubs. The display cable comes as a LVDS Y-cable, for which you don't need to access the main control unit behind the seats - the signal is spliced it from the original display connector. Also the main power plug has an interconnector for the F-Type on the right side of the center tunnel.

This makes the installation pretty easy to do yourself. Guess one could do it in 30 minutes.

The infotainment system is the same as in other JLR products, just placed differently. For the Land Rovers, the headunit is located in the dash, not in the rear - hence the F-Type gets another wire harness but the overall Android auto box is the same for several models. I believe the available kits will be the same hardware with different software or even just splash screens. I was not worried to buy mine from Aliexpress (of course, checked for good reviews)