Six months after, thoughts and answers to frequently asked questions

So it's been a little over six months since I installed the ES777 in my car. There have been a bunch of questions and comments on this blog on several issues and I thought to make things easier for the readers, I'd round them up here as well as give an honest "re-review" of the device.

First things first; everything still works the same as it did in the beginning. The unit has had no new problems or other issues for me in during the time that I've had it, so I would rate the build quality as good.

Now for the negative and so-so stuff. I would not recommend this to anyone just wanting a good head unit. Configuring (rooting the pad, removing stuff and reinstalling other stuff, hacking the mph/kph settings etc.) requires time, effort and patience. You really need to do this if you want it to work properly. Out of the box experience is NOT good on the Android side. Same thing with the day-to-day usage, you really need to know how to use it properly or it will seem to be broken or behave strangely.
I have found a logical explanation for everything it does and can now predict accurately how everything works, but it has taken some time.
I mentioned already in my other posts that the user interface of the head unit's music player is pretty bad. And that statement stands. It really is difficult to use and is for me the main reason I wouldn't really recommend this device for anyone just needing a nice new head unit.
The pad is pretty useless as a standalone tablet as well, the touch screen works like something from the 90's as it is capacitive.

That being said, there are a lot of good things as well. The sound quality is really good and if you can get past the user interface the device has a lot going for it. The usb/cd/dvd/sd availability is great, whatever form you happen to have your music in (even mp3:s burned onto a dvd) this can play them. The ipod connectivity also works great and the cables are included so there's that too. The navigation works great (assuming you configured the android pad properly in the beginning) as do all of the cool other apps available for your car on the android market. I've tried a bunch of lap timer, g-meter, lap profile mapper and performance measuring apps and they all work great. If that is what you are mainly looking for in the unit then this is definetly your only choice on the market.

Then again - the novelty of those ran out really fast for me. After maybe a week of playing around with those,  I have only used mine for the daily music/radio listening on the way to work and as a navigation device when going on longer trips. If that's the only thing you need, I'd definetly recommend picking up something else - Erisin's build quality seems to be good so I'd select some non-android device from their line-up.

I'm going to be selling my car and the Erisin along with it in a little while and getting something newer and more powerful. Maybe if the OEM head unit in the new car is not up to what I want, I'll get a non-android Erisin device and do a write-up/review of that one as well.

so now for the FAQ:

1. can I use BT on the pad?
- No.

2. can I use GPS on the main unit?
- No.

3. can I access cd/dvd/sd/usb/ipod connected to the main unit on the pad side?
- No. Everything is completely separate, the pad has it's own sd and usb but no way of connecting the ipod.

4. can I use xx as my navi software / do I need internet connectivity with my navi software?
- Same as with your phone. You can use anything available on the android and if the app (like Google maps) needs internet connectivity, you will need it here too. The pad comes preinstalled with iGo and it works fine and does not need internet.

5. does this have dual-zone?
- Yes. You can have the main unit's audio source playing while using the pad.

6. Can you change the car logos on the main unit?
- No. There is no way to access the main unit's OS directly to change the logos. You are stuck with what is there.

7. Why the rebooting/strange behavior when connecting the pad, shutting down the car, starting, etc?
- The pad seems to get the turn on/shut down signal from the head unit with a little lag. Also, if the main unit tries to shut the pad down when it is already shut down, it will start. Your best bet is to always have the pad connected even when the car is shut off. The other way to go is to always disconnect and reconnect the pad only when the car is running and the head unit is on. This way you will have the least amount or even zero problems.

8. I have no experience with Android nor do I want to do extensive internet searches for obscure open source apps or code that is needed to get everything up and running properly. Should I still get this and just let a car audio shop do the install?
- In a word: NO. The install is the easy part, everything is standard connectors and so on. The configuration part is really where you need to be able to do things yourself. Car audio shops will not have the know how to work with no-brand one off products like this, especially when the manual will not tell them what to do.

9. I DO have experience with rom hacking on my Android phone, can and want to do hacking on the pad, can and want to experiment with different apps and settings and am not expecting everything to work immediately like it would on a name-brand player. Should I get this?
- Maybe. Like mentioned, the quality is good, sound is excellent etc. Those things you do not need to worry about. If messing around with Shenzen type devices sounds interesting then go ahead and get this thing. You will most likely be pleasantly surprised after all of my negative comments ;)