Android Dash Display Screen

[AnubisZed]

I would be bricking it doing it myself so think to make sure its done correct i would come to you and pay or find someone good in Edinburgh at a local indi auto electrician.

No problem if you want to come down here, I've had members from further afield
Job takes about an hour and half so not too long, if you've not got cruise control and fancy it I could sort that for you as well making it well worth the trip

[Roddy]

The How-To video is now on-line, sorry but it is 1 hour and 5 minutes long, but then there is a lot of detail.
Available at this link...

https://youtu.be/VC9VFJBDFQM

I have just bought a 2012 E89 but doesnt have the I-drive. I called my local BMW garage to see if this could be bought and installed and they said no for my model. After seeing the great video i am now confused. So this would work on a non idrive car?. Do you know of any company that would supply and fit?. I am in Edinburgh so am i best calling Auto Electricians?. Many thanks.
phil

Basically your local BMW garage doesn't know what they are talking about regarding this unit. The Z4 in the video is mine, it is a non-iDrive one and I did the whole installation without issue. The sellers quote for iDrive and non-iDrive Z4's, this is because if you have a non-iDrive then they include the aftermarket iDrive controller to operate it, which if you already have iDrive then you wouldn't need it. A BMW dealer wouldn't know this, so hence their response.
I've fitted quite a few of these since making the video and all, bar one, have been to non-iDrive Z4's.
I don't supply (there is a link in the video description) but I do fit, although I'm down in Grantham, Lincolnshire, so a bit of a drive for you

Dave, how did it play with the iDrive car? I must say the UI is appealing, but the price would have to come down....

[AnubisZed]

Dave, how did it play with the iDrive car? I must say the UI is appealing, but the price would have to come down....

Integration into the existing iDrive system is flawless and works really well, but....
You lose the folding screen, and to some I think that's a big negative, but consider this.......

An original replacement NEW screen costs £2500
A good used screen costs around £500 with an unknown life expectancy and no warranty
The Android touchscreens cost around £750

So if you had an original screen go faulty (and I don't know anyone who offers a repair service) it could be a potential to replace it with an Android screen instead, to which youd then have the advantages of the extra features (like CarPlay etc)

Personally as long as the original screen is working then for most the addition of an MMI box (like the Mr12volt one I currently have) seems to be the best solution

[Roddy]

Dave, how did it play with the iDrive car? I must say the UI is appealing, but the price would have to come down....

Integration into the existing iDrive system is flawless and works really well, but....
You lose the folding screen, and to some I think that's a big negative, but consider this.......

An original replacement NEW screen costs £2500
A good used screen costs around £500 with an unknown life expectancy and no warranty
The Android touchscreens cost around £750

So if you had an original screen go faulty (and I don't know anyone who offers a repair service) it could be a potential to replace it with an Android screen instead, to which youd then have the advantages of the extra features (like CarPlay etc)

Personally as long as the original screen is working then for most the addition of an MMI box (like the Mr12volt one I currently have) seems to be the best solution

There are a lot of CIC units out there and BMW have given up. Nice to know there will be choices

[AnubisZed]

There are a lot of CIC units out there and BMW have given up. Nice to know there will be choices

Whereas I agree with you, you've got to consider this....

CIC (ID3) ran from 2008 until 2016 - Only the Z4 had it from 2013 to 2016 as they'd already replaced it in all other models.

Then came NBT (ID4) which ran from July 2012 through to September 2017

This was replaced by NBT EVO in two different versions (ID5 & ID6) from 2016 up to last year

And now in most models we have BMW Live Cockpit (ID7) which will be replaced by their newest version BMW Curved Display (ID8).

So when you think about it is 6 versions older than the latest, with the last cars being produced in August 2016 which is almost 6 years ago!

[TomZ4]

An original replacement NEW screen costs £2500
A good used screen costs around £500 with an unknown life expectancy and no warranty
The Android touchscreens cost around £750

Something that bothers me with Car parts, I can replace industrial touch screens at much smaller cost than what BMW parts cost to retro fit. There are some cheap Chinese copy for £300 but I really don't trust them, as for £2500 brand new factory deal it's just a theft imho. £500 for a used one, probably not financially feasible in my terms, maybe £250-300, as I will have to replace a back-light on them likely. I would also install a good quality voltage regulator with those screen to make sure literally nothing can go wrong as car power supply is very messy in electrical terms.

[Roddy]

An original replacement NEW screen costs £2500
A good used screen costs around £500 with an unknown life expectancy and no warranty
The Android touchscreens cost around £750

Something that bothers me with Car parts, I can replace industrial touch screens at much smaller cost than what BMW parts cost to retro fit. There are some cheap Chinese copy for £300 but I really don't trust them, as for £2500 brand new factory deal it's just a theft imho. £500 for a used one, probably not financially feasible in my terms, maybe £250-300, as I will have to replace a back-light on them likely. I would also install a good quality voltage regulator with those screen to make sure literally nothing can go wrong as car power supply is very messy in electrical terms.

You think car parts are a problem, BMW wants to start a subscription service to use the parts already fitted to your car? Who thought of this madness?
On a long drive you get an email "sorry, your navigation subscription is about to expire, would you like to renew it?"

[TomZ4]

Thanks to idiots who buy Tesla blind not realizing there are subscriptions you have to pay. Whole car market will pick up on it, its going to be madness.

[Zed Baron]

You think car parts are a problem, BMW wants to start a subscription service to use the parts already fitted to your car? Who thought of this madness?
On a long drive you get an email "sorry, your navigation subscription is about to expire, would you like to renew it?"

Yep, I've seen that, even subscriptions for heated seats... you will probably get a bong then a message when the temperature drops

[EpicWomble]

For those that have one of these, does your Track Selection buttons work the same as on the CD/DVD? ie Up Button on right of Steering wheel a jump to the next Track, Down button, go back one track?. Mine appear to be in reverse and I have tried number of diff options in the factory menu settings, but changes nothing

[AnubisZed]

For those that have one of these, does your Track Selection buttons work the same as on the CD/DVD? ie Up Button on right of Steering wheel a jump to the next Track, Down button, go back one track?. Mine appear to be in reverse and I have tried number of diff options in the factory menu settings, but changes nothing

That is correct.....

Now this is something I noticed when I fitted mine, thought it was a quirk and didn't think any more about it, until I removed it and the radio and retrofitted full iDrive. With the iDrive system the steering wheel buttons are Down for Nest Track and Up for Previous Track, so I'm assuming the original designers for the Android screen system set it this way to mirror that and didn't consider the other type.
Now why BMW would have made them different is beyond me but they have so that's the way it is.

[EpicWomble]

Cheers Dave,

I thought I was going mad trying to resolve this. Another issue I have, is when in the android unit, its sluggish to change track every so often, with many button pushes.. then other times, its skips forward and back without any issue. I thought maybe it was the buttons on the steering wheel, and went and bought a usb dvd writer just so I could make a CD to test the function (not on music CD in the house any more). With the CD and DVD changer, its responsive and... the android hit and miss... maybe just another quirk of these systems.

I dont think I can retro fit an iDrive, as missing the bluetooth factory feature, but at least managed to get decent audio and car play out the android unit with a external usb DAC and a CarLinkit car play dongle... noticeable improvement over using the onboard audio out.

[AnubisZed]

Cheers Dave,

I thought I was going mad trying to resolve this. Another issue I have, is when in the android unit, its sluggish to change track every so often, with many button pushes.. then other times, its skips forward and back without any issue. I thought maybe it was the buttons on the steering wheel, and went and bought a usb dvd writer just so I could make a CD to test the function (not on music CD in the house any more). With the CD and DVD changer, its responsive and... the android hit and miss... maybe just another quirk of these systems.

I dont think I can retro fit an iDrive, as missing the bluetooth factory feature, but at least managed to get decent audio and car play out the android unit with a external usb DAC and a CarLinkit car play dongle... noticeable improvement over using the onboard audio out.

Sorry but got to admit I didn't have any issues with my steering wheel buttons, but then I had the original Android 8.1 operating system, now they have the later operating systems so I'm not sure if that makes a difference, it shouldn't though.

As for retrofitting iDrive, anyone can but saying that I'm about to produce a video for my YouTube channel where I show how to retrofit a Combox to the iDrive (my retrofit iDrive video is already live on there). The retrofit for iDrive is very in depth though but it is certainly do-able, at least two other members have also done it with my assistance, but to be fair I only did it because I really wanted to and it was content for my channel, if you're happy with the Android screen then carry on with it as I found it a great addition to a non-iDrive car

[EpicWomble]

No worries. Mine is android 10. I have a few theories that will explore. It was not installed by me but previous owner with dubious wiring (judging from how the rest of the car was before reverting all the issues I found)

For me the android 10 is ok as this is my weekend suns out car. My main daily is a g01 m40i with all the idrive carplay etc

Cheers

[movan]

I've had my Android 11 head unit with front DVR camera and rear camera and parking sensors installed for six months now. Love it. Many thanks to Dave Harrison for his terrific video and advice whenever I got stuck! One remaining small problem--when I put the car in reverse the camera and sensors come onto the display. However, when going back to park or drive, it says "No Input". This occurred even before I installed the rear camera and sensors. Anybody else with this problem? Would a SW update help? Nervous to do that having read other posts that if you don't do the upgrades starting with the oldest version above the current one and proceeding upward, it could brick the head unit. Thanks!