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Phoenix Android Radios

40K views 66 replies 27 participants last post by  Omnicrontheta 
#1 ·
Today I spent some time ( about 5 hours ) at Phoenix Android Radios to do some testing of wiring harnesses, fitment and what is all needed for them to get this product out to us.

If you're not familiar with them here's a link
https://www.phoenixautomotiveinc.com

Phoenix pulled the radio, climate control and button panel off to take pictures and test out some wiring harnesses they already had for a Rogue & Teana. Just what was available today we got the radio to work as well as climate controls, including dual. The guy I was working with stated that rearview camera and 360 will function when complete. The plan right now is Phoenix will order blank bezels from Nissan, send to China for design to fit the 12" screen with all wiring harnesses and then do a actual Titan test fit. This process will take about 2-3 months. Once the unit comes in I will go back and they will install everything, making sure it fits/works and test everything imaginable.

I attached a photo of a setup they make for the Rogue, "hovering" where our Titan ones would fit. This is not what ours will like. The one they are making may/may not have buttons/knobs on it.

Also, I need some feedback on the other photo attached. The part I outlined in green is in the way for the 12' screen. Phoenix will be trying to get this built into the tablet, they believe it can be done. If it can't for whatever reason the possible idea they had was to move them to sides of the screen on the bezel. I need to know if these are the only 4 options of buttons with the Hazards. VDC, Parking, Blind Spot and Heated Steering Wheel ? This is very important as this would have to be built in before production.
I brought up steering wheel controls and they acted like it was no biggie so we should have that. They did ask me how many people want this and I didn't have an answer. I don't know how many people have expressed interest in this but if you haven't please do.

If you have any questions or if there's something I missed please reply to this thread and I will compile a list and send to Phoenix.
 

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#2 · (Edited)
I'm rather interested in this. At the same time, I'm also curious how these run long-term and how this affects our warranties since it also now controls more than one sub-system. How involved is the installation? Would it be compatible with OEM Nav and RF systems?

Also curious about the GUI and verbiage. Hope there's no weird translation errors in the text.. Would hate to spend all the time and money and be stuck with something that has bad English or references to things that don't pertain to the truck if it were copied and pasted code from other vehicles.

Regarding the buttons, I only have the 3 shown in the picture.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk
 
#3 · (Edited)
This would be cool. Sure, would be interested if the sound was good.

The 4th button is the heated steering wheel on the higher trims I believe.

ETA: Go to their website and under the "More" button, click "Requests" and check off the Titan. I bet if there is enough interest, they will move it ahead. They don't need to know that we also told @P's_Titan as well ;)

That pricing looks really good too. A lot less than I paid for my JVC in my last truck, especially if it includes all the harness pieces and adapters required.
 
#8 ·
It'd be great if they could design this, but I think a smaller screen would work better for the titan; maybe a 10" or something. That way, more of the hard buttons could be retained. Relying solely on a touchscreen is kind of cumbersome, especially when you're driving on a bumpy road.
 
#12 ·
I have a PR and am very interested in this. I want to replace the HU and factory stereo altogether. This looks like the best option and surprisingly affordable too. Looks like this syncs to the phone using the phone’s hotspot only, right? Could I use my Amazon Prime music app through my phone’s data plan or would I have to Dow load the app onto the tablet and use wife hotspot?

Thanks!
 
#15 ·
They are taking pre-orders now on the Phoenix site; a little south of a G note. Not sure I want to tie up that kind of money until they actually hit the market though.

I did check some YouTube reviews of the Phoenix radios installed in other vehicles. The interface seems badly outdated, and even though it is Android itself, it doesn't run Android Auto (seems a bit odd). Might wait for it to mature a bit more.
 
#16 ·
I was looking at that for our 2017 Rogue. The unit looks cool, but everything would have to go off a cell signal, so on trips there's no sirius through areas that there is no cell signal. Since the radio can't use the truck's sirius antenna.

I tried contacting them to ask them the specifics on using the vehicle's sirius antenna, I was replied to asking what model it was for (even thought I had it in the subject of the email I sent and they replied to) and then ghosted when I asked if them asking for specific model meant that there was a model of android radio that uses the vehicle's factory sirius antenna. LOL, crickets.

So, I don't think I will deal with Phoenix. I will wait for Seicane , Joying, or Pumkin to get that working and then look into it, for my Titan.
 
#22 ·
Any word on this? I just watched a few video's/ Apparently their customer service is lacking. Seems like a cool way to go. My concerns are replacing the mechanical controls for functionality such as AC etc. Then if there is a crash of some sort or an update that is done, it could possibly cause you to have no AC/Heat or other accessories if this occurs. With the one video I watched with someone having issues, he lost all functionality and took him forever to get any support from Phoenix. When he did, he was on the phone for 6 hours and had no AC controls etc and they couldn't help him. Any more info as well as they're support after purchase would be ideal for any of us that are interested in this upgrade.
 
#23 ·
I'd suggest that people avoid Phoenix Automotive. I have had rather poor dealings with them in regards to my pre-order.

It was already delayed twice and when they finally replied to my e-mail a few days ago they promised that it shipping would start between August 12-15th. The 15th came and went and I received no tracking information or any information for that matter from Phoenix.

I e-mailed again and even tried calling them numerous times to no avail. I thought that they may have been screening phone calls so I decided to install Google Voice and get a number with the same area code as them; low and behold they answer the phone.

I spoke with a young lady on the phone and asked what was going on that it was the 15th and I had not received any shipping information or updates from Phoenix. She told me she wasn't aware of what was going on and had to speak with her manager. Eventually the young lady got back to me and said that there was another 2 month delay on the unit.

I just ended up cancelling my order and getting a refund.

The biggest reason for me cancelling was just the constant delays and lack of communication. To me if they were that dodgy in answering the phone and slow in returning e-mail correspondence what will happen when people start receiving these units and are in need of tech support?

Also, I started having doubts on how the center screen which has the tire pressure, oil levels/pressure/temp and other readouts would work considering that various other Car Audio shops have told me this is virtually impossible since idatalink maestro does not work for the Nissan Titan XD and how you would essentially need to hide the factory unit elsewhere in truck in order to retain these functions.

I'm from TitanXDforums but its been rather dead over there lately so I'll be posting here more often.
 
#24 ·
I appreciate your input and what you stated was what my gut was yelling at me about. Great concept, but too many unanswered questions. The video I watched was from a customer that had similar unit installed in his F-150. Most all of us know that the Big 3 usually has a bigger market for these types of upgrades and usually have not too many issues. With his ordeal dealing with Phoenix, he ended up replacing his HU with a similar system by "LinksWell" and seemed quite pleased. I reached out too them to see if they are planning on developing one for our Titans. Just sent the email, so hopefully I will get some type of answer. Concerning Phoenix; if they would just communicate and give updates on their progress, I probably wouldn't have an issue in pre-ordering. I'm with you on after the purchase and any updates periodically that have to be made, then the whole system crashes, leaving us without important accessories such as AC etc. Also, as far as the other features as oil pressure, temperatures and so on. Usually these are controlled by a sending unit or electronically. How this design is just plug and play and offers these additional features on their interface is puzzling. Unless I'm just way off, which could be possible I guess.
 
#25 · (Edited)
This is information I was compiling on Titanxdforums before I cancelled my pre-order.

I figure I'll post it here for those of you who are still deciding to go this route. If it will help someone at least something positive will come out of my horrible dealings with Phoenix.

There were the topics of concern that I have compiled IF you would be replacing your factory head unit and temperature control module with the Phoenix android radio.

A few of my concerns with purchasing/installing the PX6 were:

LOSS: Sirius XM radio
Apparently there is no support for it.

The only options are to:
  1. Download the Sirius XM app and stream it. This would require having a hotspot or sim card installed (if the unit take a sim card).
  2. Purchase a Siriux XM Touch Commander module and install it in your truck. According to the the product description found on SiriusXMs website it connects via AUX audio cable or FM Radio.
LOSS: Nissanconnect and other infotainment features

Due to Nissanconnect being so heavily integrated into the infotainment system there would be a loss of all features supported by Nissanconnect such as:
  1. Nissanconnect app based - remote start
  2. Nissanconnect app based - flash lights and sound alarm
  3. Nissanconnect app based - flash lights
  4. Nissanconnect app based - lock / unlock doors
  5. Nissanconnect app based - Parked car finder
  6. Speed alert, boundary alert, curfew alert, valet alert
  7. Vehicle health report
  8. Stolen vehicle locator
UNKNOWN: Automatic heater / AC during remote start up
One of the advantages of remote starting is that on hot and cold days the AC or heat is turned on after the remote start is engaged.

I am not sure if this is a feature integrated into the temperature module or not. With the removal of the stock temperature controls this may be a feature which is lost since the temperature controls are now integrated into the Phoenix unit.

I am currently waiting a response from Phoenix support to see if this feature is engaged from elsewhere in the truck.

UNKNOWN: Loss of the factory Bluetooth microphone
Will the factory Bluetooth microphone located in front of the sunglass compartment be compatible with the Phoenix unit? If not can you cut and splice the microphones line into the new line?

LOSS (confirmed by Phoenix): 3.5mm audio jack
There is no auxilary input on the Phoenix headunit. The only thing I can think of is using a RCA red-white plug to female 3.5mm audio jack and mount it in place of the stock pickup.

UNKNOWN: Factory USB port plug housing
It was confirmed that the Phoenix headunit has two USB ports but there was no detail on how it hooks up. In my past experience with other headunits such as Pioneer and Kenwood you would need to use a mini usb adapter to make the factory USB port plug housing work.
 
#30 ·
Gotta love that awesome customer service. I'm pretty sure that Phoenix Automotive is just a reseller of those Made In China units. I've watched numerous YouTube videos of people having issues with getting in touch with them or spending countless hours on the phone with their tech support attempting to resolve issues.

I think that Phoenix Auto themselves do not know how to address half of the issues because they don't know 100% of the product they are pedaling and have to send the tech support questions or issues to China. This in turn causes delays or things being lost in translation and then ultimately getting responded to Phoenix and then back to the end user.
 
#33 ·
Here is some updated info on the Phoenix Automotive Android radio.

Another member from another forum posted it so credit goes to Pinestar for finding the YouTube video.

Installation and minor demo of the unit.

It does not show if source, enter, left/right buttons, answer/hangup buttons work or not. It also does not show if you can access your center dash info display and the demo only shows usage of the volume buttons.



The bozos doing the install are lazy and do not remove the center console so they can pull the vents off completely and at times are just yanking on the older head unit. You can hear them laughing as they are pulling on the bezel and unit so hard you hear it popping and bending.

The harness looks of decent quality with all compatible plugs (making the unit "plug & play") and the unit itself looks well constructed. Its extremely nice that it uses the OEM camera, GPS and antenna hook ups as well.
 
#34 ·
The harness looks of decent quality with all compatible plugs (making the unit "plug & play") and the unit itself looks well constructed. Its extremely nice that it uses the OEM camera, GPS and antenna hook ups as well.
From my experiences with Phoenix (which I highly don't recommend. Their customer service sucks.I'm definitely not paying that much money for no support. ) and others with Android radios.....The only antenna used is the FM antenna. Sirius has to go through an internet connection and GPS will be their own antenna. So, that's actually a nice feature for the GPS.
 
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