[geekyengineer]

I own a 2013 Chevrolet Sail. About a year back going with the trend, I upgraded the head unit on my car with a Android Head Unit. The unit was procured from Foxfire (Delhi based) and I was promised that I will be sent the 2GB RAM & 16GB Internal memory unit. The unit shows the same configuration under system settings along with Android version as 8.1Go. I opted for higher RAM since I knew that android slows down with version upgrades having experienced the same in case of android based mobile phone.





The unit is working well and honestly I don't have any issues with the unit until now except for the fact that at times the lag is too much and also I like the maps to be minimized instead of taking the whole screen space.

So I started looking up on internet and also on XDA forum. This is when I came across a thread which basically talks about a fact that:

- The units have only 1GB Ram but on the system setting interface of unit they fake it as 2GB.
- Also all this units are running on Android 6 which is re-christened as higher versions again by fudging some system setting files.

The method to verify the same is that you need to download an app called CPU-Z and then it reads the hardware level specifications of your device. The API level is shown as 23 (indicated Android 6.0) and CPU speed is 1.13GHz. I can discount the CPU speed considering that it may be under clocked but RAM is a clear case of Chinese manufacturers cheating us..





Shout out to the forum members who have an android head unit to check their system and confirm if it shows correct RAM and CPU speed as claimed by the seller.

P.S.: Its been more than year that I bought unit from the seller and at the time of selling he had clearly indicated that he will help in case of issues but didn't provide any warranty on the unit.

[vishy76]

Some very important food for thought here. Thanks a lot for sharing this.

I have always been against Android HUs in general. Never liked the UI or the fact that most use a dated version of the Android OS such as KitKat. It's only now that makers are shifting to better versions. Your thread only raises doubt on what crap most vendors are peddling in the market these days. foxfire is not precisely an Ali Express ripoff either. It's a well known brand based on what I have heard on this forum.

All in all, I have always found it better to have an HU with a cleaner UI even if it lacks apps like YouTube which I think is pure junk. Give me Android Auto and Apple carplay anyday over these.

[praveesh4u]

I just realized this today and reached this thread through a Google search on "foxfire head unit cheating".
I have been on the lookout for a head unit upgrade for my 2018 Honda Amaze and approached the Honda dealership for the same. They informed me that they are currently providing FoxFire head units with 1-year warranty. Earlier, at the time I bought my car, they were providing Blaupunkt head units. One of my major concerns regarding the head unit upgrade was whether it would affect the car's warranty in any manner. The Honda dealership assured me that there won't be any issue with the car's warranty if I get the head unit installed from them. They quoted me 26k for FoxFire model FF002 with 16GB ROM and 2GB RAM. As per their website, the HU has Android 9.1, 1080p screen resolution, and a 1.8Ghz quad-core processor.

Specs reported by the UI


I got the HU installed on January 27th and it looked okay. The system info option on the UI claimed the promised features. The display was not the crispest, to say the least, but then I thought it could be due to the low pixel density. I didn't get much time to fiddle with the HU in the following days as I was busy. Today, someone from the Kerala Honda Amaze group asked me to share a video with the feature walk-through of the HU so that he can decide whether to purchase the HU or not. So, just for the sake of shooting the video, I installed CPU-Z and was quite shocked to see the details reported by CPU-Z. The CPU was 1.12 Ghz quad core processor, the RAM was just 1GB and the display was 1024x600 pixels with a pixel density of 159dpi. Confused, I installed Devie Info HW to re-check the specs. It reported the same specs as what CPU-Z has reported and in addition reported one more thing - Android version was 8.1 as opposed to 9.1 claimed by the HU UI. To be precise, the android version was reported as 8.1(fake 9.1). So I decided to check the details further. Even in the Android device info the Android version was marked as 9.1 and they even had the animation corresponding to Android Pie. Also, when I checked the RAM details after enabling the developer options, it showed 1 GB as RAM.
CPU-Z Specs

Device Info Specs

Device Info RAM

Android RAM


So, In summary, FoxFire is selling low spec Android HUs as high spec HUs by editing the details in the UI. I am sure that this is not the case with just me or the OP. Most probably a lot of users had fallen for this scam. I am not sure what to do next

[geekyengineer]

Originally Posted by praveesh4u

I

So, In summary, FoxFire is selling low spec Android HUs as high spec HUs by editing the details in the UI. I am sure that this is not the case with just me or the OP. Most probably a lot of users had fallen for this scam. I am not sure what to do next

I havent reached out to Foxfire as yet and plan to do so in coming week. May be the owner Sunny Gupta was also taken for a ride by the Chinese.

I would love to hear feedback from folks who have installed units that are 4GB RAM and beyond. Those were sold real expensive.

[praveesh4u]

Originally Posted by geekyengineer

I havent reached out to Foxfire as yet and plan to do so in coming week. May be the owner Sunny Gupta was also taken for a ride by the Chinese.

I have got in touch with him on WhatsApp and he said he would look in to this and find a resolution today. Looking forward to it. According to their website, none of the models that are compatible with Amaze(2018) are spec'd 1GB RAM. I wouldn't jump to any conclusions regarding who is taking who for a ride as we live in a country where Freedom 250 was launched

[pavi]

I had also tried android head unit one year back. It was of Hamaan brand, basically all these android head units are just sticker jobs. Get the android head unit from China and stick your brand name. I do remember once after resetting my head unit, I immediately checked the specs where it was shown 1GB RAM and Android 6.1. Then after some seconds when I checked again, it was back to 2GB RAM.

I dumped that head unit in 6 months and went for a complete audio upgrade with pioneer DMH-5290BT and Rainbow DL components. Based on my experience, these android stuffs can be equated to the feature packed cars in our market. When you dig more deep into these, you will understand the fact that 'these lack soul'. I know there can be different opinions here, because your definition of soul may be different to mine.

[Comrade]

Yes. This is very common issue with Android HUs in general. Faking the ram and CPU and OS version is very old trick in the bag.

Regarding Foxfire, all these units are manufactured in Taiwan or China, and use same SoC and other components among 10s of cheap assemblers. Foxfire has nothing properiety here but charges a huge markup for importing from these assemblers and rebranding. Even car installation is outsourced to your local accessory wala, who himself imports similar units directly from TW/CN without his own branding, and charges cheaper price than Foxfire. I have nothing against foxfire but having seen the HU myself, its clear they are the same generic HU available from aliexpress for 10000 rupees but this guy charges 25000 rupees. Thats huge markup.

[GTO]

Mod Note: Thread moved to the ICE forum. Thanks for sharing!

[Reinhard]

Thanks for sharing & thanks @GTO for making a new thread for this. This isn't new in fact and its a typical ploy that the Chinese manufacturers are playing in these mass produced Android HUs. I had procured what was supposed to be a 2GB RAM system. I installed it myself in my car last year. Before installation, simply out of curiosity - I peeped inside the system and checked the RAM chips. They turned out to be 2 chips of 512 MB each. I checked with the seller & he confirmed that the sets he has - all have same chips even when its saying 2GB on the system. The seller being pretty genuine - immediately refunded my money difference and charged me for just 1GB system. He went ahead and also removed 2GB systems from his listings on his portal & just left 1 GB RAM mentioned.

I had shared my thoughts on this in my thread at the bottom of the last post of my thread here - Link to Post - Android Head Unit closing comments & about RAM grey area. (DIY - ICE ICE Baby! Audio System Revamp in my Alto K10)

[Yieldway17]

This is a well known scam in the Android HU world. I even posted about this as a warning about an year back here - https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/car-e...ml#post4733988 (The Android Head-Unit buying guide)

[sarav100]

Yes these specs could be easily faked. Most unknown brands are involved in such practices.

Back in 2004/2005, I had brought a mp4 player which was sold as 512 MB MP4 player. After I brought it home, I realised I couldn't copy more than ~128 MB of video to it. I contacted seller who mentioned I have to use a special software for sending 512 MB of video data to it. I kept on using software to transfer movies for a year or two and kept on watching them. The screen was so tiny, I couldn't figure out the real resolution. Then one day I formatted it using Windows XP, only to realise the new formatted size is 128 MB. Later on, I figured the software used to transfer videos did not transfer 512 MB of data, rather it used to reduce the video resolution/frame rate and actual video data transferred was way less than 128 MB only.

So, it can be concluded that this is an old trick, only the medium changes.

[iamitp]

Just wish Auto manufacturers or consumer electronic giants like Samsung or Oneplus would offer HU upgrades. Would generate a new revenue stream for them.

[srishiva]

Isnt there a terminal app that you can install on the units and run the linux command to see what the memory size is ? Do you have access to play store at all on these or side load them ?

[Comrade]

Its unfortunate that OEMs like Skoda and established brands like Blaupunkt are resorting to using these cheap generic HUs from far east instead of investing in R&D and developing an ecosystem.

Atleast Sony and Pioneer are still making decent HUs that support Android Auto and Apply CarPlay. My only complain is they are still sticking to double din format instead of making these HUs look OEM. I am sure that if Chinese no-names can make OEM looking HUs for almost all Indian car models, then Sony and Pioneer can definitely do it.

[shancz]

Thanks for this thread

I would have never imagined that they could do something like this. This is unacceptable.
Phones/tabs(not all) have lag too but with cars costing lakhs spending 5-8k more to get a better HU should be a no brainer right ? Or am I missing something ?