Parrot Asteroid Android-Powered Car Stereo (iPod/iPhone/iPad Compatible)

 

Parrot Asteroid Android-Powered Car Stereo (iPod/iPhone/iPad Compatible)

 

Product Description

From the Manufacturer
Parrot ASTEROID Overview
The Parrot Asteroid provides the latest in digital music playback from practically any media supply, such as net radio when connected working with a 3G capable device. Dial a contact hands-free of charge or search your music safely and conveniently applying Parrot’s unparalleled voice recognition. This special car or truck receiver is an sector 1st to operate on Android software program to unlock its complete potential.
Access All Your Music by Voice
The built-in Voice Music Search function, makes locating the song or artist you want to hear less difficult and even more hassle-free than ever just say the name of an artist or album from your music library and the music will start automatically, offering you a list of matching tracks. To offer the highest in audio high quality, the Asteroid is equipped with a 4x55W built-in MOSFET amplifier, a subwoofer output and 6 RCA preamp-outputs. Fine tune your music working with the totally customizable equalizer with optional sound effects that give produce exceptional audio quality for any music genre.

Innovative Style
Operating the feature packed Asteroid is made uncomplicated and intuitive with its sophisticated faceplate that incorporates backlit buttons and a discrete jog wheel. Subsequent to this detachable faceplate is the huge 3.2 inch high-definition color display. In addition to being an aesthetic style, the unit capabilities a lowered depth chassis to give compatibility with nearly every single vehicle.

Products Included

• ISO cable
• GPS receiver with USB connector
• USB male 1.5m to USB female cable
• iPod cable 1.2m
• Jack cable male to male 1.5m (audio device)
• Front panel bag
• Fast get started guide
• Cables ties (3)
• Bracket keys
• Double external microphone
• Mounting sleeve

Net Service Apps
The Parrot Asteroid is the first to give internet connected Android applications and web ready functions. When paired with a data capable Smartphone or a 3G USB modem, an entirely new set of features come to life, such as access to Maps with live points of interest, Online Radio playback and geolocational service apps to inform you of climate situations and attractions relevant to your route. You can count on to see significantly more applications in the future due to Parrot’s open platform style which leaves the possibilities practically endless with the enable of third party app developers.

Built-in ANDROID Apps
The Maps application is an informative driving assistant. When used with a 3G connection, Maps will allow you to conveniently discover ‘Points of Interest’ (POI) near your place and gives you alternatives to call the POI or access simple driving directions. This App will also display driving situations close to you to help you opt for the most beneficial possible route to your destination.
TuneIn provides absolutely free neighborhood, international and net radio. When used with a 3G connection you have access to more than 50,000 radio stations and podcasts from about the world. With TuneIn you can easily discover and listen to unlimited music, sports and speak radio in digital quality. The application can also suggest radio stations that you might appreciate, based on your listening history.
Roadtrip is your virtual travel guide. When utilised with a 3G connection, it invites you to discover tourist attractions based on your existing place with detailed information and photos. With the combination of hi-res photos and tourist details from Wikipedia and Google Maps, Roadtrip is the ideal in-car companion.

• Roadtrip can display your present location permitting you to zoom in and out on the populated map.
• When using Roadtrip, it will notify you of upcoming potential POI’s.
• Pick a POI to get a detailed summary and related photos.
• Summary can offer a history of the POI and vocally announce the climate circumstances.
• You can call or even get straightforward driving directions to the listed points of interest.

The Climate application keeps you informed of the climate situations relevant to your location or your decision of any place from around the planet. The very easy to read color display of the Parrot Asteroid permits the Weather App to accurately represent climate situations applying far more than 26 special climate condition symbols.
The Wikango application turns your Parrot Asteroid into the ultimate driving assistant process. The App knows the place of all fixed speed and red light camera’s throughout the USA and alerts you as you strategy one of these camera’s. Wikango also includes a community aspect exactly where individual customers can plot the place of temporary speed camera’s, traffic accidents or other threat situations.
Single-Din Car Receiver With three.2'' Color Screen 55W X four Built-In Amplifier Innovative Design-Detachable Faceplate Reduced Depth For Quick Installation Bluetooth(R) Hands Absolutely free With Advanced Characteristics Phonebook Synchronization Related To Automatic User Independent Voice Tag To Make Hands No cost Calls Very easily Multimedia Automobile Receiver With 3G Gps Connectivity Offers Access To Internet Radio, Music Streaming Radio, Pois Navigation Services 3G Multimedia Method With Embedded Android(Tm) Operating System Supports Online Applications Geolocation Subwoofer Output 6 Rca Preamp Outputs

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 5 x 9 x 8 inches ; 3 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B005AFVHLQ
• Item model number: Asteroid
• Batteries: 1 12V batteries required.
  

Consumer Reviews

No Android Telephone Essential
1st, a bit of background...
I have an substantial 20+ year 12 volt background as a custom installer, salesperson, retail shop owner, and wholesale sales rep. I've also been an avid Android user due to the fact the G1. That getting mentioned, I am extremely impressed with the possible of this piece. Recognize, the Asteroid is however in the starting stages of its development.
Build Quality.
The good quality of craftsmanship is top rated-notch. The buttons and displays are particularly sharp and strong. The really feel of the buttons remind me of a factory Mercedes Becker radio. Back lighting color and brightness are incredibly appealing. The HD LCD panel is amazing. Even the included USB GPS antenna is larger excellent than any other I have noticed. The Asteroid (as do most Parrot units) comes with a pre-terminated DIN harness that allowed me to plug directly into my Kia Forte with no wiring or adapter harness at all! This will not probably be the case for you, unless you have a Hyundai/Kia or German automobile. The rotary volume is not the most comfortable to use, and there is no wireless remote or steering wheel manage adapter readily available yet (they claim by the finish of the year). That is my only hardware complaint.
Bluetooth.
Functions wonderfully. Both telephone and audio streaming are amazing. "Call Bill Smith mobile" I mentioned, and immediately the pleasant voice said, "Calling Smith, Bill on mobile". Excellent! The call good quality on my end is drastically greater than the factory Kia Bluetooth, and on the other finish it is 20 occasions improved! The Asteroid builds it is own voice tags for every make contact with automatically, so you don't have to be concerned if your phone does not assistance voice tagging. You can also select no matter if or not you would like the caller's name to be verbally announced on incoming calls.
Audio.
The Asteroid has 6ch F/R/Sub 6 volt pre-amp outputs... which is genuine impressive. As of now, I am currently using the internal 55wX4 amplifier on some DLS elements, and it sounds especially good just after tuning in the 7 band EQ. It does take quite a few measures through the menus to get to any audio adjustments, so I could possibly run some sort of pre-amp with this eventually. The menus are fairly clear and intuitive.
Media and Control.
Inputs: three USB's (1 for the GPS), SD card, iPod/iPhone/iPad, and 3.5mm aux input. There is NO video assistance on this device via inputs or video files. I use a 32GB SSD, and the initially time it was turned on, it took about 20 minutes to index all the music on that drive. It was a tiny annoying... until I used the voice control! I said "play Sublime", and immediately Sublime started out playing and a list of the albums came up on the screen along with the album art of the track at the moment playing. Ok, that was worth it!
World wide web.
This is where the Asteroid nevertheless needs some catching up. The Asteroid is pre-loaded with about 5 apps. Nearly all of which want world wide web connection to function. I was beneath the understanding I could tether my G2 by way of USB for world-wide-web connection. I was incorrect. The firmware that will let that to happen is nonetheless beneath improvement. As of now if you would like to use you phones world wide web connection, you need to have a phone that will share world wide web through Bluetooth (DUN or PAN profile). You can, yet, connect via 3G USB dongle. I personally cannot justify a $300/year net connection price range for my car stereo. So I cannot assessment these apps at this time. I will attempt to get a jailbroke iPhone that supports the proper DUN profile for that application. Think about that... the Android radio will only perform adequately with the iPhone! According to Parrot techs, they will have this remedied "shortly".
Conclusion.
While I was certainly anxious to see and use the Android apps on this radio and was completely let down on that problem for now, I am still thoroughly impressed with the Asteroid. I was also expecting the radio to depend on my Android telephone for some functionality, and it does not. At least not yet. You would have complete functionality employing any decent smart telephone. All of the voice functionality operates terrific. Greater than the $1,600 Pioneer AVICZ130BT's voice recognition, in reality. The develop top quality is superior to something Pioneer, JVC, Alpine, and all the big players are creating now. The moment I have my steering wheel control, Pandora app, and USB tethering, I will be a content camper. The other two helpful additions would be a back up camera input, and satellite radio compatibility. But I can stream Sirius (when I have very good signal) from my phone, so I think I'll live. Hopefully Parrot keeps placing some RD effort toward this platform. At $350, you can invest in a lot worse... and as this product is up-datable and expandable, so I am seeking forward to see awesome factors in the future.
You can download the users guide from here: [...]

The Asteroid arrived and just out of the box I was impressed with the appear and really feel of almost everything. It's only half the depth of a typical head unit but she's got some weight to her. This style makes sense because there is no CD drive.. I'm not positive why other producers aren't doing this with their cd-much less head units but it makes for a good installation.
Audio:
The inputs are for the most component limitless with exception to CD's and video. The 4 USB ports genuinely equates to 3 because the GPS antenna consumes one particular but 3 is surely adequate. I am an iPod/iPhone + USB drive kind of guy so it performs out wonderful. Once you have got anything plugged in you can hit the square white button on the front and it will chime - then you just speak the name of a song you want to hear and it begins playing it from 1 of the audio sources (if you have that song on one of them). Though the unit does have a 55x4 internal amp I'm driving a four channel amp and sub so the 6 volt pre-outs had been a plus and seem to have a very good crossover/EQ control.
Apps:
The apps are great but I necessary to tether my phone for online which was a surprise. I don't know why I assumed it was going to have it really is personal world-wide-web but it wasn't also significantly of a hiccup. I setup Bluetooth web tethering when on my phone and now when I get in the automobile it automatically connects. The apps are quite basic now but I am hopeful for the future + I've observed YouTube videos of apps that have currently been developed for it such as a speedometer app. Quite cool that you can install new apps and I'm crossing my fingers for some new ones speedily.
Pros:
Honestly uncomplicated to use interface, familiar buttons and your initially guess on how to do a thing is often the way they have it setup. It comes with the iPod cable which is a plus for the reason that I feel I paid $45 for my alpine iPod cable. The screen resolution is amazing and it really is more than-sized compared to the Alpine deck I had in previously. I wasn't unhappy with the Alpine screen but I do not consider I could go back now! The voice music search is yet another 1 that I don't consider I could ever go back on now. The hands totally free calling is a feature I did not want to begin with but now that's a different one I don't feel I will ever go devoid of again. I just say the name of somebody in my telephone book and it mutes the music and begins to dial them.
Cons:
The start off-up time is usually a bit longer than I'd like but if you believe about it from a technology standpoint it is type of like an Android phone in your car and completely starts up quicker than my iPhone. It could use some extra applications but once more, I assume it's also early to give this issue unfavorable points based on apps given that it is Android and you can install new applications. Other than that it really is been mildly buggy - with the 1.four software program update I did this week its gotten much better so I assume things will be ironed out with every update.
Overall:
Appreciate it. Well worth the price tag point also if you look at what a mid $300 head unit does NOT get you now days. I'm a bit of an audiophile/technology nerd but I assume it is a really good fit for anyone hunting for a superior digital music piece. The hands free calling and music search is a true plus since it in reality works! I'm happy with my buy.

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