[GTO]

Big thanks to Prabhu Vairakkannu for sharing this information via autohelpindia.blogspot.in.

Honda India introduced a new AVN infotainment console in the 2017 City. Although it is developed in India, it lacks many software features, has cheap buttons without backlighting and a poor digitizer.

I have no idea how Honda missed Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. All small to medium segment cars have these features nowadays. The infotainment system was actually manufactured in Malaysia.

Lets see some hidden menus in the system.

It is simple, no hacks required. Actually, the administration menu is hidden by default.

Follow these steps to play with the hidden menu:

- Go to the Settings menu

- Scroll down and tap About

- Now press the menu button more than thrice. Until you see the below screenshot (CTS option)

- Now tap CTS settings. It will ask for the password = 9876

- You will have full device control once you enter this password

- You can administrate the head unit

- You can debug it

- You can install any Android app, but it is limited in this Firmware. You cannot install all apps and will get a parse error. I'm trying to figure this out




Bluetooth Internet:

- Make sure you have connected your phone to the system for streaming songs

- In the administration menu, scroll down until you see "Bluetooth internet access"

- Tap it and then click the checkbox "Enable internet access over Bluetooth"

- You would now see a list of Bluetooth devices with the address. Just tap and connect

That's it. You are connected. Enjoy!

Software update:

Recently, they have released a software update to fix the Bluetooth and iPod lag.

Expectation: Since the device has capability to support Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, we may expect a software update from Honda anytime soon with these features.

Important Warning:

- Do not root the device. It might void your device warranty

- Don't try to flash the firmware using any Custom ROM unless you are an expert on it. There is no Universal ROM for car head-units now I guess

Facebook Lite installed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-rTY8yUCHA

[Altocumulus]

This is great

Will go down in sometime to my car and check this out. The system definitely needs the Apple Car Play since there are Apple users are pretty common all around.

EDIT:
I tried the above procedure and could connect to the internet. However once I did it, it seems the phone functionality goes off viz. I cant make or receive calls anymore. Also to connect to the internet I have to follow the procedure every time the unit is switched off. Apart from that the unit rebooted and went to factory settings once.

This seems to be a little buggy at the moment, but if rectified will be a good thing specially since one would not require to buy the dongle for internet access and live traffic updates.

NOTE: I tried this with my iPhone 6. Not sure how it would work with Mirror Link. Maybe the phone disabling issue won't happen then.

It would be great if others can post their experience as well.

[pathik]

From the interface, it seems like Honda is using a very old version of Android as base for this Digipad. My guess is it looks like Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), based on the UI of the Settings / Browser.

For the "parser error", have you tried installing APKs which support Android 2.3 only? It is possible that Apps not supporting 2.3 may be the reason for the parser error.

[Durango Dude]

Originally Posted by Altocumulus

This is great

Will go down in sometime to my car and check this out. The system definitely needs the Apple Car Play since there are Apple users are pretty common all around.

EDIT:
I tried the above procedure and could connect to the internet. However once I did it, it seems the phone functionality goes off viz. I cant make or receive calls anymore. Also to connect to the internet I have to follow the procedure every time the unit is switched off. Apart from that the unit rebooted and went to factory settings once.

This seems to be a little buggy at the moment, but if rectified will be a good thing specially since one would not require to buy the dongle for internet access and live traffic updates.

NOTE: I tried this with my iPhone 6. Not sure how it would work with Mirror Link. Maybe the phone disabling issue won't happen then.

It would be great if others can post their experience as well.

I don't switch of the HU at all just hit the engine start stop button and switch of the car: is this a problem as the HU comes on once I start the car! But unable to receive and make calls would be a problem. I think Mirror Link doesn't work for iPhone does it?

[kanuj]

Originally Posted by pathik

From the interface, it seems like Honda is using a very old version of Android as base for this Digipad. My guess is it looks like Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), based on the UI of the Settings / Browser.

For the "parser error", have you tried installing APKs which support Android 2.3 only? It is possible that Apps not supporting 2.3 may be the reason for the parser error.

It's using 2.2. I was able to install old 2.2 supported versions of VLC and YouTube on the head unit. Videos do play, but the YouTube stream hangs after playing a few seconds. It could be that the apps were not optimized for Android 2.2.

[pathik]

It's crazy that at a time where even cheap Chinese manufacturers are moving towards Android 6.0 and higher and that too on cheap Chinese products, our so called Indian companies are stuck using a more than 6 years old OS on a supposedly premium product. Pretty pathetic of Honda to do this.

[kanuj]

The worst part is that I believe the RAM for the unit is limited to 512MB, going by the fact that most apps are very sluggish to operate. I don't think Honda is going to invest time and money to upgrade these devices, we'll have to rely on someone in the Android community to create custom ROM's for them.

[kanuj]

An interesting research: a few days ago when I started my car and the HU came on, it showed a prompt that an app called the "blaupunkt.media.player" had crashed. It made me believe that Honda had ripped this music app from a Blaupunkt HU and put it in the Digipad. I started to look around for Android HU's from Blaupunkt, and lo and behold, the Cape Town 940 looks like an *almost* identical match. Although the 940 has Android 4.1.1 and better stability, going by some of the threads on xda-developer forums. Perhaps the Digipad is a disguised pre-production version of the 940? If this is that case, then there are folks on the forums that've successfully installed Google apps (play store, play services etc) on this HU with some help from Blaupunkt themselves.

[samkat1]

Seeing these videos of 2018 Amaze with Digipad 2.0 featuring Android Auto & Apple Car Play. Is the update coming for current generation of Digipad in Honda City 2017 and WRV?

[kanuj]

Originally Posted by samkat1

Seeing these videos of 2018 Amaze with Digipad 2.0 featuring Android Auto & Apple Car Play. Is the update coming for current generation of Digipad in Honda City 2017 and WRV?

Saw the same in the Amaze PowerDrift review. There have been no updates announced for the v1.0 owners, although I don't think a mere update will bring all the features of v2.0 to our digipads. For starters, the v2.0 seems a lot more fluent, so maybe they upgraded the RAM or the screen, or both. They've added Android Auto/Apple CarPlay support due to increasing pressure from segment competition, and dropped the Browser app from the v2.0.

Can we approach Honda to release the upgrade for us v1.0 owners?

[Guneet]

Just one question guys. How do i start using mirrorlink/phonelink on this headunit. I have 2018 zx cvt. Everytime i connect it tells me to install a mirrorlink app. I've tried various apps available on playstore but no use. My phone is samsung A5 2016 and I've been using usb cable to connect.

[kanuj]

Called Honda-121 and enquired about the digipad update. They redirected my call to Prime Honda, Patparganj who informed there's no update announced as of now. We'll just have to wait and watch this space for more.

[ashishn]

I am getting this error since some days. Tried to pop-out the pop-in the sd card containing the map.

Pls see attached screenshot.

any idea what could be going wrong?

Thanks
Ashish

[pathik]

Your sdcard that contains maps is not getting detected. Either it is removed or corrupt.

[ashishn]

Okay thanks and can we fix it or have to take it to the Honda dealership ?