So the man from DHL rang my doorbell today and the ES777A arrived. I can't say "finally" since the delivery only took a couple of days - excellent work on that side then and a good start!
The box looks nice and there's even a Porsche on the cover :)
Everything was packed well. There are two separate user manuals - one for the Android PAD part and one for the actual car stereo part. The Android manual shows the basic functions of the 2.3 Android OS, such as connecting to a Wifi hot spot and the like. However you should really familiarize yourself with the OS in some other way if you are not using it your mobile phone since this is just a really short quick start guide.
The other manual appears to cover the functions of the car stereo part pretty well, but I'll get more into that when I install it into the car.
On the left is the actual car stereo part. There are two screws in place (presumably holding the DVD mechanism in place during shipping) that need to be taken out before installation. The wiring came in a large bag and is quite comprehensive. There is a standard ISO connector set, pre-outs for all four channels + a subwoofer, antenna adaptor, a custom steering wheel control wireset (this is going to be interesting! There are only a few leads and you could probably wire them up pretty easily to a few buttons) which can be customized in the car stereo OS to control different functions and finally a connecting cable for an iPod.
The smaller bag in the picture below the wiring bag contains the wall charger for the unit. I ordered this from the UK so there would be no customs taxes (Finland and UK both belong to the EU so no customs tax...) but the wall charger is the standard Euro type, what a nice surprise!
The PAD comes packaged inside the leather sleeve/pouch and there is a box with the gps antenna + lead and the IR remote control.
The pouch is feels like a quality product and fits the PAD perfectly. The PAD is quite heavy compared to some other (name brand) Android tablets. The battery is a 3000mAh unit so that most likely is the reason for the weight. There is a protective plastic on the touchscreen.
The PAD was charged from the factory and turned on just like a brand new mobile phone with Android. So far everything seems pretty good and this feels to me like more of a quality product than some other "no brand" Chinese Android tablets that I have tested.
I'll install my normal Android "survival kit" to this and do the usual basic configuring and setup and come back with a new post about the PAD as a tablet next time.
Hi I am interested in this for my car however only if I can play music or radio at the same time using the GPS application. Can you please confirm this for me?
ReplyDeleteYes, you can do that. There are a couple of different options for this. You can have the source set to the PAD and listen to a music app in Android while navigating, or you can set the source as the radio or the music player on the head unit and the press the pad-button to activate the Android screen. If you do the latter you will hear the original source while navigating. If you have the voice guidance set on in the navigation app, it will interrupt the radio / other source to give the voice instructions and then switch back to the original source.
DeleteHi! I was wondering if the pad comes sort of rooted, ie if you can download and install navigation software like tomtom from the internet and not only from Market and google maps?
ReplyDeleteHi,
DeleteThe pad does not come rooted as it it, but I have rooted it using SuperOneClick. You can install software from the internet without rooting, just turn on the "Allow Non-market sources" option in the application settings.
does the tablet itself have a bluetooth reviever to use the torque app?
ReplyDeleteNo, the tablet does not have bluetooth. In order to use Torque or other ODB2 apps you would either need something like this: http://www.obdkey.com/wifi/index.asp
DeleteOr you would need to modify the tablet to have bluetooth as I'm planning to do.
Hi, sweden calling =)
ReplyDeleteWhere did you get it from? Nice to have a recemmendation of seller/site that delivers.
I think this will be the choice for my Saab 9-5. Very good information om your site.
What i miss i a seperate sub out, or is there one? Are there any low pass or high pass filters in the unit in that case?
I ordered this straight from Erisin.com, they deliver from a UK warehouse so there are no additional taxes or customs hassle inside the EU. Delivery only took a couple of days.
DeleteThere is a dedicated sub out as well as line outs for all 4 channels. The sub out is adjustable, I think there are 3-4 settings for the low pass on it. No high pass filters for the normal line outs I'm afraid.
Hi Timo,
ReplyDeletegreets from Germany.
Am very lucky that I found your blog. Was thinking to do the same, but struggle with time and fixing my problems ;-)
I ordered a ES777 from Erisin via Ebay and got a ES778 for some little extra money because of supply problems.
Am very lucky as the difference is DVBT instead of analog and an external DVBT box.
So far so good. Am waiting now for the delivery of DVBT antenna for windows installation, an E180 3G Modem for the PAD and a Canbus module which should fix my problems with my Touareg.
A lot of your findings/comments already made my day. Thanks again !!!
Even I'm already an owner, may I ask some questions to compare our experience ?
1) Like to route my PAD as well and I'm familar with that (flashed my TAB and my HD2 several times), but I struggle to find a Windows Driver for the Pad. It asks for a driver for E8. I tried my full Android Pad driver repository, but without success. Could you point me to the driver please ?
2) Looks like my device does not turn off correctly/completely. What I mean is the headunit. Why I'm saying that ?
My phone is connected to the headunit (bluetooth). I leave the car. Ingnition goes down, but hours later my phone is still connected to the headunit and phonecalls are routed to my locked car outside and me sitting in the office :-)
When you leave your car, could you confirm that there's no connection via bluetooth ? So it shuts down completely ?
Erisin is telling me, that this is fixed with the Can-Bus adapter. I cannot really believe this, because I cut the ACC cable from the headunit which should be equal to what the canbus adapter will do, but I might be too stupid to understand this and they are maybe right on this.
3) If you keep the PAD docked, exit and lock the car. Come back and turn the car on, will your screen come-up/turn on automatically ? On my side, I have to undock and redock again and then all is fine.
And to all the others reading that: The device is very cool. I see the same usability issues like Timo has mentioned (MP3 navigation of the headunit is horror !!), but all in all it is far better than the OEM device I had. So the problems I'm describing might really be driven by my Canbus-Car. Let's cross fingers :-)
Thanks m8
MeDroid
1) I just used SuperOneClick. I had trouble finding drivers as well, but there was an option to forcibly install drivers in SuperOneClick and it worked. I had the same E8 driver missing problem before that.
Delete2) Bluetooth does disconnect for me when I turn off the car, so it does shut down completely. Most likely your problem has to do with the fact that you have a much more modern car with lots of advanced electronics that will stay on in hibernate mode when the car is turned off. My car is pretty simple from an electronics point of view, no CAN-bus or anything advanced like that.
3) My screen does turn on automatically when I leave the pad docked.
Thanks for the nice comments!
Forgot to mention that I'm pretty certain that the bluetooth and screen issues you have are connected. If the device does not power off properly (which would cause the bluetooth problem) the sceen will not turn on automatically either.
Deletemuchas gracias for replying - I have now a solid hope that this CAN-bus adapter will fix my problems.
ReplyDeleteCheers
No problem. That's the purpose of my blog - to share my experiences with the unit (and of course the car in general) and help others to avoid the same problems I've run into.
DeleteHi, thanks everyone for such a blog and information. Please let me also ask ,where this CAN-bus adaptor can be found ? Did you use a specific one that worked ?Maybe Medroid knows better. My supplier in the area has several adapters that can be used for brand name units such as kenwood pioneer etc, not sure about "no name ones".
Deleteerisin support told me that the vw canbus adapter they sell doesnt work for es777. Everything is supposed to be installed on Skoda Octavia Scout 2010 model.
Please feel free to contact me also on panoslaios@gmail.com. thanks in advance.
Best Regards
Panos
BTW ... I rooted my PAD last night with SuperOneClick. The driver issue came from Windows XP. I was successful with Windows 7. Looks like there's no Windows XP driver for the device.
ReplyDeleteI had the missing driver problem with Windows 7.
DeleteEven tried downloading the development board drivers and installing them manually. Nothing helped until I tried SuperOneClick.
Good to hear that you also managed to root yours. Have a look at my software list, I think you'll find many useful things there.
Hi Timo, Hi Panos,
ReplyDeletecollect my CANBUS this morning from Customs. It's a brandnew one for ES778 and for Volkswagen shipped from Erisin HK.
3 Weeks ago, they said, they don't have a CAN-BUS. As I raised my issue in their Forum, they said they have one and I ordered it. In the meantime, I googled a lot and came to the conclusion that I can buy any CAN-BUS that is simulating the ACC signal.
To make a long story short. None of the CAN-BUS Adapters (nor the aftermarket / nor the one from Erisin) fixes my problem. The Headunit still looks like that it is off, but it is not. My Mobile is still connected to Bluetooth for ages. I noticed as well that USB is powered as well. I had my harddrive connected and turned the car off and locked it. The HDD LED still shows access to the drive.
What should I say, it looks like as the ES778 is turned off, but it isn't. So I expect that to be a ES7778 specific problem and as you guys have a ES777, it might be different.
Why I'm saying that: I cut the red ACC cord completely and BT and USB are still on. So whatever CAN-BUS I will connect, it will not fix the problem. ES778 is till on.
I told Erisin before, but they remain the standpoint, that it will go away.
I fired a nice but straight forward mail to them this morning - let's see what they say.
What I'm thinking of it to attach ACC and 12V to the CAN-BUS. I'm then sure, that the headunit is turned off.
GOOD: it is really turned off :-)
BAD: I will loose my settings all time :-( But better than a dry battery in the car. This happened to me now 2 times since I have the ES778 and I uninstalled it for now and have it on my table next to me.
So Panos, I expect that you could take any CAN-BUS that is compatible to your CAR. It might use ambient light CAN-BUS Signal to simulate the ACC. This was the case for my aftermarket one.
If you could, get the one from Erisin, because it will handle steering wheel buttons as well (if any). This is the benefit of the Erisin one comapred to aftermarket in my case.
And sorry for replying so late.
Again, my problem is not related to the CAN-BUS. There's a strong (black and white) argument. When there's no power on the red cord, the BT and USB must turn off. And here with my installation on the table, it does not.
All in all, I currently feel that I have >400€ paperweight and all the good emotions from the first days are gone :-(
I'll keep you posted on this and Panos, you might want to confirm back, that yours is turned off, when you unplug the red cord ? No BT and no USB connection ?
Thanks and have a good day
Hi,
ReplyDeleteThanks for replying.I think i cannot help a lot as you do.actually i have not bought the unit yet.I feel i had the need to ask people that are ok with their CAN-Bus and then buy. There were always problems with CAN-bus and chinese units. To tell the truth I do not have any problems with the chinese-OEM like unit i have in the car at the moment,with the specially built in CAN-bus for VAG group. It works great on my father's SKODA but windows ce 5 and not android as I want to. I think I can wait for erisin to make a special android unit that REALLY works without drawbacks in cars with can bus, as they may do with their wince mondels or maybe try and get another unit such as Dynavin D99, but also not sure about can bus and 2-3 times more expensive at the moment.
Thanks for the blog, Timo. I was hoping you'd be able to answer some questions that I've tried to ask the seller...that get lost in translation :)
ReplyDelete- I noticed that when pressing the physical button on the radio itself, ie on the front panel that holds the tablet or the buttons on the stereo when the tablet is removed, that button presses make a beeping sound. Can the beeping sound be shutoff?
- I'm going to install this deck into my BMW X5, and the seller cannot say if the unit will work w/ my steering wheel stereo controls...do you know if this is true or not? At the moment I'm using a PAC SWI-PS http://pac-audio.com/productDetails.aspx?ProductId=210&CategoryID=29 adapter connected to my Pioneer AVIC F90BT, but it goes through a headphone jack for the connection on the back of the AVIC while the 777A uses 4 wires. PAC also makes a "universal" SWI-X that doesn't appear to use a headphone jack, but who knows if it'll work. I just now looked at http://www.axxessinterface.com/steering_wheel_control_new.aspx which has BMW pinouts, so i guess I'd have to research what the signals do coming out of the 777A and see if they'd work.
- Does the tablet have multi-touch, ie pinch to zoom, etc?
- You've rooted the tablet, have you found custom ROM/kernals yet? It has the same specs as my phone, so I was hoping I'd be able to overclock it and make it run that much faster, increase SD card reading speed, etc.
- I'm in the same boat as you that the startup logo is not the same brand as my vehicle. There are COUNTLESS different versions of this deck that have other logos, different (more colorful, less blah) screen for options like the radio, etc that could make the unit more visually appealing. Have you considered attempting to see if you can install WinCE OS from other decks to make the screens nicer to look at? I know on the AVIC forums that we were able to flash options by going into the actual WinCE desktop, but I'm also sure that there are far more AVIC stereos and owners out there than Erisin products, so we don't have any many people willing to experiment and modify the OS. I just hate the blah, black background...lacking color, the scrolling of the song titles is choppy and in an ugly font, etc.
All in all, I've got high hopes since I think it'd be cool to have a tablet outta the deal, but I'm still torn between this thing at $380 or getting a very stock looking Dynavin D99 (while costing 2x as much, has less memory, a lowering speed processor and only running 2.2) but I know it'd work in my BMW w/o a hitch.
Hi
Delete- I think the button sounds cn be turned off but I'm not 100% certain about this
- The steering wheel controls have their own signals and they are supplied with the wiring instructons. Most likely you could get it working with just about anything at least with an adapter.
- No multi touch, the pad has a resistive touch sceen.
- I haven't found any custom ROMs for the tab so I did my own hacking to get the speed up.
- I'd like to customize the logo but I've not been able to find any way of getting into the WinCE OS to do so...
UPDATE: I tested the button sounds today and I can report that YES they can be turned off. It's an option in the main unit's setup menu called "bell". Took me a moment to realize it was that one :D
DeleteDid you ever get your steering wheel controls to work with Radio?
DeleteI have a Radio similar to this and a VW Jetta and cant figure it out.
raj4994@yahoo.com
There's no buttons on my steering wheel so I haven't even tried that.
Delete-Timo
hi Timo, could explane what kind of hacking you do and send a link where buy radio from UK?
ReplyDeletethanks
http://www.erisin.com/erisin-es777a-3g-wifi-tablet-midi-pad-hd-car-dvd-player_p253.html
ReplyDeleteThat is where I bought mine from.
http://944-s2.blogspot.com/2012/01/erisin-es777a-configuration-and.html
That post has my configurations and hacks explained (mostly).
Thanks for the info. Did you make any progress with connecting to Torque using blue-tooth?
ReplyDeleteHi,
DeleteI haven't even tried. My idea about making the car more track friendly sort of died away since I never seem to have time to even plan about going to a track day. The car (and the player) has just been a daily driver for me for the past few months and has actually excelled in that. Same with th Erisin, as long as you take the small amount of time needed to learn how to use it properly, It should work like a charm. Unless of course you have a faulty unit like someone here did.
Anyways, I think I'm going to be selling the car and getting somethin newer and more powerful instead. I drive very little (under 10000km per year) so the high gas prices aren't much of an issue for me. Maybe a C5 Corvette or Cadillac XRL.
Hi Timo,
ReplyDeleteAt first: Great blog and a lot of important info.
Now my question. How do you connect (pair) the OBD II- Adapter with the main unit? What settings you do in the menu of the main unit. My OBD II- Adapter have only bluetooth and i use torque on my Erisin 779A. The Adapter is fully functional with my Android smartphone.
Maybe it's only functional with aDyno?
Thank you. (Sorry for my bad english)
Hi,
Deletethere's no way of connecting an OBD adapter to the main unit. If you have a bluetooth OBD adapter you're pretty much out of luck as the pad doesn't have a bluetooth in it. You would need either a wifi or usb OBD adapter to connect it to the pad. I haven't done this myself as my OBD enthusiasm kind of stopped when I decided I was not going to take my car to the track like I previously planned.
-Timo
Hi,
DeleteIt's a pity.
Thank you for your answer and have a nice day.
My advice.. Don't buy from Erisin,I bought the ES779A unit a few months ago and when I installed it there was a fault with the sd card slot(not a big problem except this is where the sat nav maps are stored) after more than 20 emails back and forth between me and Mr.Rich Huang (customer support)he finally agreed to replace the pad at my expense for P&P(not a big problem)he also told me to write a value of €35 on the parcel or else he would not sign for it when it arrived (scary)anyway I sent it and it arrived in china, for over a week it sat in a post office awaiting collection as he wouldn't sign for it, after another 10 emails from me he finally collected it and informed me that the unit was damaged and they would send me out a new pad, a few days pasted by and they sent me my tracking info,then the unit got stopped from leaving China as it was deemed a "hazardous material".I was then informed that once Erisin received it back from Fedex they would send it back to me via DHL, again I waited for another week to pass until I finally received an email with my new tracking details, another few days passed and once it entered my country.I was informed by DHL that I would have to pay VAT of 23% on the replacement pad and that I had to supply them with receipts to prove how much it cost so I rang and told them it was a replacement and that the last one was faulty, they asked me for tracking info for my return which I emailed to them and supplied as much info on my purchase and emails form Erisin to prove it was a return.Then one day when I was at work DHL delivered the pad to my home address.Great!I thought, finally the nightmare is over but when I connected the replacement pad to the head unit and tried to watch the tv the screen would just go blank and reset (this didn't happen with the first one) I could hear the audio of the tv channel but no picture, just the car logo screen appeared.then when I pressed the AUX button (which I have my sg2 phone connected too) the audio came through but none of the functions like bass, treble, mid, fade worked.Then I tried the Sat Nav and to my surprise the sd card which has the sat nav maps on it wasn't even in the pad, Erisin had not included it with my replacement.Then a few days later I received a letter for DHL for €80 for the VAT that customs were looking for off me, once again another few days pasted and I received another letter this time from Fedex for VAT that I was supposed to pay for when Erisin collected my return.Once again I emailed Erisin and described the problems and asked for a partial refund, 3 days later I received an email saying to record a video of the problems I had with the unit and send it to them (giving me the run around once more) I haven't done this yet as I'm starting to give up on trying to solve this problem as I see no solution to this, even if they say they'll replace it, I'll probably have to pay more VAT on the replacement and of course I cant get a refund or even a partial refund as Erisin don't do refunds(have a look at there terms and conditions)Then to top it all off just the other day I started up the car and the colour's on the screen went all weird and have stayed that way ever since (red's are greens etc)these units are extremely badly made and I strongly advise you to buy something with a good name like sony, pioneer or JVC.Even if it works straight out of the box I doubt it'll work that way for very long (for your sake I hope it does) I'll be removing mine soon and getting a Pioneer.I've learned my lesson to buy good quality products and not the cheap stuff that promise all these functions at a fraction of the price(I hate sayings but if it sounds to good to be true it probably is)So that's it! hope this helps someone, I wish I had read more reviews before I decided to buy one, would have saved me a lot of trouble.
ReplyDeletehi can anyone tell me how to connect the wirings with the steering wheels? I have a Ford MOndeo....got 3 wires( yelow/brown, white/black and white/green) how do I connect with es777a ?
ReplyDeleteI have a newer Erisin Unit (ES8035A). The touchscreen just stopped working while using it driving around. Do you have any recommendation on how to fix this myself without having to send it back to the factory? They are saying I need to wait at least 1 month for an updated driver from them, and that I need to send it back anyways. I'm hoping to not have to wait months.
ReplyDeleteOne strange thing I've noticed is when I hold Vol Down+PWR ON at boot, I now go to a Android Recovery Screen where I can flash a .zip, rather than the blue HBOOT screen I had before.
I've tried hard reseting the device by the reset switch, recovery screen, and ROM. I also took a look inside the unit and both cables for the screen were connected.
I did root the device with super one-click and install custom software such as busybox. But it didn't screw anything up when I did it.
Do you have any help on the touchscreen for this? I was looking for a generic E8 driver I could flash but I thought it was in the kernel.