[Enigmatic]

Navin,

My erstwhile headunit i.e. Pioneer AVH-X5890BT might be able to cater to all your needs.

It comes with bluetooth and after the first sync with my iPhone, everytime I would get into the car, it would automatically connect over bluetooth to my iPhone. Once connected, all calls would appear on the headunit from where you can accept or reject the calls. Your phonebook also gets synced and you can choose to make a call from the headunit however, I always found it faster and more convenient to use my phone.

It has a USB port to which you can connect your iPod to play music and album art also show up on the display (I have never connected an iPod however the album art from my iPhone always showed up).

When I had bought the headunit about 6 months back, there was an offer going on Paytm which got the price down from 26k to 20k. Hence this might be within your budget.

And above all, it is a very capable headunit so you won't be left asking for more.

Best,
Enigmatic

[navin]

Originally Posted by Ruchir031

Really sorry that I couldn't revert back to you on time and I possibly wont for another few weeks as my Father has passed away last Friday.

I am extremely sorry about this. Take your time. Family comes first. Please accept my condolences. Losing a parent can be quite traumatic. Only time helps.

Originally Posted by navin

Edit (Update): Just got a call (about an hour after the above post) from a Mr. Joshi at Kenwood. Apparently the word has gotten out about this challenge I have been having with my Kenwood. They believe it is a software glitch with their Head Unit. Fortunately Kenwood has a service center not far from where I live so they have asked me to wait a day so they can get back to me on when they can service (upgrade the software) the Head Unit. Let's see.

Since I do not drive regularly I don't get the chance to test the Kenwood HU often. Today I tried it again.

Meanwhile I did talk to Mr. Joshi last week and he insists the HU is fine and my iPhones are the culprit so I must switch to Android! Such rubbish.

It took 8 minutes (7:35am to 7:43am) to establish a connection with my iPhone 7. I have 2 iPhones - an SE and a 7. So I switched the SE's Bluetooth on and it connects fast but then keeps connecting and disconnecting. Meanwhile my iPhone 7 is also connected. Sadly my drive was only 10 mins so I never got the end of this mystery.

Need to spend a day fixing this or moving to a Pioneer or the Sony AX100. JVC is owned by Kenwood and might suffer the same issues.

[navin]

Ok I got some bad news.

The Kenwood 6016BT is NOT compatible with iPhone 7. A compatibility test says "You cannot connect iPod as a source"
http://www.kenwood.com/cs/ce/ipod/

The 7017BT is but only for the following functions:
via KCA-HD100 High Speed HDMI cable
via KCA-iP103 USB Direct Connection Cable for iPod (Audio)
via Bluetooth To listen to music via Bluetooth

even the iPhone SE is not listed as compatible but the 6S is.
https://www2.jvckenwood.com/cs/ce/bt/index.php

[noopster]

^^That May be an old list. iPhone 7 wasn't launched when I bought the Pio 90BT but it works fine anyway.

[navin]

Originally Posted by noopster

^^That May be an old list. iPhone 7 wasn't launched when I bought the Pio 90BT but it works fine anyway.

Why do the instructions for the 7017BT include iPhones (even the SE has an issue) but the instructions for the 6016BT do not?

Look at the iPhone compatibility list for the 6016BT and 7017BT. BOTH are current models.