[Grangey.]

Guessing this is the Unichip solution available for around £500

Looks fairly good actually, I’ve dabbled with car play a fair bit too in the 2017 A5 I’ve been loaned... it’s ok, but I don’t think it’s worth £500 to me really. £300 would be my sweet spot!

Still, nice to have a retrofit solution at long last!

 

[Grangey.]

I thought the unichip one was 2016 onwards only?

No, Audi themselves do a kit for that... Unichip provide one for All B8/B8.5s. Two versions infact, one for touchscreen, one for OEM control

 

[Grangey.]

Thanks for the feedback Chris!

Few points;

Seems incredibly odd your kit came with cameras, since this has absolutely nothing to do with Carplay and would be an MMI/Car feature and need coding appropriately. Did you specify them? As if not I'd say its poor since you're being charged for items not necessary. Also the camera you're provided is not a guenine or even a close match, OEM does not include have a number plate light, it houses the handle to open the boot as seen here http://autofidelity.com.au/wp-conte...-Reversing-Camera-System-for-Audi-A5-8T-2.jpg

Where did you buy this from and how much?

Im almost certain all these kits are basically Unichip just sold through different distributors. RSNAV seems to be the easiest to deal with so far but I do wonder who else sources these.

If there's enough interest in a group buy I might make some enquiries and see if we can get any better rates... I know RSNAV for example initially sold these kind of units a fair bit cheaper as an introductory offer than they do now.

I am tempted at these as I should be able to get them for about £350.. I just cant decide if I'm going to get the use out of this at the moment for that kind of investment!

 

[Grangey.]

Chris, also one crucial question thats come to my attention; since these boxes do nothing more that "hijack" your system, all OEM controls used.... will still be operating the MMI behind the scenes, meaning you are most likely entering destinations into your nav system etc without realising it... but worse still- hit "back" too many times and you'll be in the main menu without knowing it, and quite possibly changing some basic car settings without realising it.

I like Im sure most other members would love to know, what in reality this is like for you. Ie using carplay as you'd expect, going in and out of apps, scrolling through podcasts, entering destinations in maps- all via your car controls.... Id love to know what you find behind the screen when you come out of Carplay (I'd assume by unplugging your phone or something similar).

Thanks
Grangey

 

[Grangey.]

jw505 this will be easy to install. I too have done my trawling of the various sites and found pricing similar to you (currently negotiating the best price I can get).

From someone that had no prior car experience, but have now done many things on my own A5, installing this should be fairly straight forward. The only "complicated" bit will be putting your lightning connector in the location you desire, since ideally you might want this under your arm rest in which case its just pulling the cables through the gaps. Ive seen some do this by removing the cigarette lighter which I might do. Others simply run the cable from the closest gap from the headunit to the steering wheel compartment- feeding it straight into a mount.

Please note my upper reply before ordering anything though in case you're worried. Im still on the fence over this because of it.

The MMI is almost certain to be still functioning and following the control operations in the background, that's the only drawback I can think of with this product (other than obvious warranty issues)

 

[Grangey.]

You wont get carplay over BT if thats what you're waiting on? Its a chip limitation, even the 2017 A5 that has genuine carplay only supports it over cable. You will however be able to have a symultanious BT and Carplay connection, not that Im sure what benefit this offers.

 

[Grangey.]

How much did you buy it for in the end jw505? Still deliberating if its worth it for me

 

[Grangey.]

Well shucks, thats clearly spam but they made a fair point, it appears I was mistaken and there are other units than the Unichip box availble, and it looks like the latter is what the OP has recieved since his came with Cameras.

I've done what said spam suggested, found the listings mentioned, and correct they are MUCH cheaper, and for that kind of money I've taken the gamble and ordered.

I've got a 3G+ unit in mine, and have paid circa £155 for the unit inc shipping. I cannot see how this isnt going to send my nav barmy since it'll just be overlaying the MMI actions, and being familiar with Carplay and the steps taken to get to something, I cant see how its not going to set navigation courses all over the UK while changing podcasts or spotify tracks... but hey I could be mistaken!

Not due for a while now, but will report back when the unit turns up.

I'll also do a how to guide since I've done a fair amount of work on my A5 now and know this will be a breeze.... so long as I remember.

 

[Grangey.]

Hi Grangey, where did you find yours? it sounds quite cheap. I'm still waiting for my ordered one. If it's the same I would like to cancel my order and reorder yours

Aliexpress is where you'll find them, sold by 2 different sellers it seems at slightly different prices. Currently with a discount of 20% too and free shipping! Its definitely different to the Unichip solution, whether that makes the unichip better or not I cant say, but they appear to do the same thing and that's what we all want right!

 

[Grangey.]

By the way, unless I missread the OP's most- he may have ordered the wrong kit (or the seller just bundles them all togetherregardless).

Only NON MMI units support/come with rear camera as an available option, this is NOT available for MMI users. I don't know if all kits come shipped with the cameras regardless, but the seller I ordered from clearly had 2 different types available and you had to select which one (MMI or non MMI). Id expect the MMI verson not to come with cameras, but that's only theoretical and assumes they're actually shipping different kits.

As per the ad I've purchased from- this is for non MMI units;

and this is for MMI units

So logically not sure why they'd ship MMI kits out with cameras if its not supported, but then nothings logical from these kinds of websites so who knows!

 

[Grangey.]

Well, nice surprise - I was expecting this to take over a month to arrive...

Nope, being delivered Friday! Speedy turnaround!

How to and feedback coming soon

 

[Grangey.]

Well... wasnt expecting that.. its out for delivery- TODAY. China to my door in 6 days, Amazon dont even offer that!

How to thread and feedback soon

 

[Grangey.]

Well, its here... instructions are far from great, but if Im honest you dont really need any, for the same reason Im now questioning if a "how to" is really required, its plug and play after all.. all I'll be doing differently is make it fully OEM inspired from an installation perspective, but if you're not doing this its just a case of taking your headunit out, plugging in the box, and putting it back... don't think it will make for much of a post .

Anyway, will probably install friday (unless my related amazon delivery arrives early tomorrow) so will report back.

 

[Grangey.]

Well, its installed - spent a little more time making a proper job of it by fitting the USB connection under the armrest, really happy with the result as it looks properly OEM

Still need to have a play with the unit in the car, but early signs surprise me as it doesn't seem to hack the MMI but it might be too early to confirm.

The one issue I am having is I don't get audio over Aux, only bluetooth. I've contacted the supplier to find out what could cause this. Ok Im no worse off but I was looking forward to having it over Aux for the higher audio quality, although the benefit of Bluetooth is track names will still show on the speedo!

Will report back when I've had proper time to test the unit, it does definitely support android too.

 

[Grangey.]

Aux issue resolved itself, now works fine. Reverse camera doesnt seem to work while in Carplay... but my reverse camera is incredibly tempremental at the moment so cant say for sure this is a result of this box, the camera, or me not noticing while in "nav" the camera doesn't work. Interestingly Aux doesn't seem to have a higher quality of sound (like it did in the 2017 A5 I had for a few months), so if you've got 3G+ like myself with audio streaming over BT this is no big deal, for everyone else though this will be nice anyway.

Only real negative (camera issue a side which could be my own) which you'd expect if you thought about it, is you cant see the volume dial display, or thermostat readings on the display when you adjust them like you do in the OEM screen but no big deal.

Siri works over the steering wheel just fine too, everything just works as it does in the 2017 audi so yeah, all good at the moment!

 

[Grangey.]

Seems at least 80% certain the camera issue I'm experiencing is unrelated to the carplay module, more testing will confirm. This isnt that surprising as I do have issues with my camera (likely potentially water damaged related). Today for the first time I put it in reverse and it behaved as expected, went from Car play into my camera, and back again.

I've also just been sent English translated firmware for the "top" menu so I can understand better what this can do. So far I can already workout theres Apple Car play, Full iphone Mirroring, and Androids version of Carplay. There are 2 other things in the menu which I cant workout yet which I'll report back on.
@Blue as a reminder if you have 3G MMI this will not come with a camera, if you dont then it will I think and would safely presume it to work. I also assume youre not familiar with carplay? It is basically your phone in your car, only with limited apps. So as you'd expect, when you get a call its handled through carplay. Blutooth is simple an "alternative" audio connection (ONLY if already available in your car- this has NOTHING to do with this module). By default you have to set your media to look for Aux to get audio from the phone, and by default your phone when plugged in will switch to playing over USB. In either case if you switch both your phone and car audi to bluetooth it (while plugged in) it makes zero difference, its purely where your audio is being sent from your phone- for me the only tiny benefit is when audio is streamed over bluetooth, my speedo displays shows track/call info as it did before. You will not get this over USB, otherwise there's no difference.

In terms of calls, it depends how you "exit" car play. If Im in car play, then change the input to say radio by pressing the button, car play is left open in the background, and therefore my phone still thinks its connected and will be sending audio over Aux- I imagine this will slightly effect calls as you'd need to remember to change from radio to Aux when a call comes in at least.
However when you "exit" car play, properly, your phone knows its no longer over carplay. The bit I dont know is whether when you exit car play, whether it disconnects the phone from sending audio over USB or not. Theoretically your phone will be a normal phone... but still being charged by the USB port... however I'll need to check, but I have a suspision it will still be defaulting audio over USB (so you can still hear your music and nav directions over Aux.. but you'll be controlling your phone manually). So I think you'd need to treat it as all or nothing to avoid confusion, ie phone's plugged in, use car play, dont want to use car play, don't plug your phone in... I will test this for you though.

For absolute clarity as I've mentioned, my car was already heavily equipped before this module, so could stream via BT etc natively already since I have 3G High and had reversing camera etc. Most of what I'm mentioning will not be relevant to a lot of people who don't have this.

 

[Grangey.]

All fine, the occasional "drop out" when first eagerly loading it up when starting the car- but this could also be due to the cheap lighting cable Im using as much as anything (literally imagine hitting ignition start, then holding down nav to boot this up... most the other cars components dont boot this quickly so Im just pushing my luck).

Yes you can answer calls via Carplay this is a standard feature of it.

No disadvantages that are unique to this retrofit unit, anything you dont like will be down to CarPlay itself.

AppleMaps was updates since I'd last used it in the 2017 A5, cant say its better or worse per say but it does exactly what it needs to (although a bit fiddly if you want to find "alternate routes" from an assumed destination (it learns your journey patterns and suggests if you're route if you're heading home from work example- but the route it suggests is fixed, to look at the alternatives you have to navigated to destinations) - anyway this is all non unit issues, its carplay itself lol.

The unit itself works flawlessly, if you don't currently have Bluetooth steaming you'll have zero issues. If you do, I rarely but once in find my phone connected to the cars bluetooth for audio, and the carplay did not tell it to send audio via external. So you'll have to change this on your phone, or just unplug your phone and plug it back in to Carplay (this is what I do 9/10).

The only thing to remember is if your phone is on silent, it wont ring even if its plugged in to Carplay, it will just prompt on screen as you'd expect (so keep an eye out).

The phone/call experience is still delivered over bluetooth, ie I can end the call using my OEM steering wheel functions/screen options etc. Carplay just gives you all the navigational (and Siri) benefits of actually leading to making the call.

Siri works fine, although I find is VERY short for responding to texts. This might be unit issue, it might be carplay. But literally you can say as much as say "I'm heading to you now, see you shortly" quickly, before it will cut of and assume you've finished. So don't think you can have a nice lengthy transcription while you're driving as itl only actually get your first say 8-10 words.

My reverse camera does work fine (when it works) so my previous issues we're entirely unrelated to this retrofit.

In summary, it just works as it should, just like its OEM, and just like any current car with CarPlay would. I've not used any of the other features in the unit, cant see me needing to - so it would be nice to be able to just had it default boot into CarPlay rather than first selecting it but that's only a single button press so again, not really a problem.

 

[Grangey.]

It should be obvious from the listing which box is appropriate for you, as the choice will be between MMI and non MMI. I won't link for this reason, you can find the listing simply enough from searching on there and should be able to distinguish the correct version from your car. I won't be liable for wrong orders placed so no links I'm afraid.

 

[Grangey.]

No never had it do anything like that, Ive seen it maybe once or twice theres been a big lag after I pick up a call and the screen showing the calls in progress for example, and occasionally my first "siri" request doesnt really load on the screen (ie the animation doesnt move), but generally its always operational.

Does seem like your unit is on the blink, hope they get you a replacement sorted pretty sharpish!

 

[Grangey.]

Does this unit also function with Android Auto?

yes