I started this little project of updating my Insignia with The Teyes CC3 2K w. 360 cameras.
Starting with no knowledge at all I have received a lot of help from people in this fantastic forum.
I'll just give a short review of the product - even though It's not fully implemented yet...
Car Frame
The frame fits perfectly and everything snaps correctly into the right place. After assembly there is very little indication of this being an aftermarket upgrade.
Hardware
I bought the top-line of the CC3. Hardware-wise it’s well spec’ed. Screen reacts with no lag. Start-up time is fully acceptable.
Enough space for apps and everything else needed (even movies).
Screen is clear and bright. I bought an anti-glare film because of the known issue with reflection from the screen. I think I will 3D-print some sort of shading device also.
Only little thing is that the connector’s on the backside is placed so it’s very hard to remove connectors again, and the hinge that should snap the connectors in place, are very stiff and hard (bordering on impossible) to fit properly into the socket.
Sound
I haven’t noticed that I had poor sound in my car.
But after listening to music from the Teyes CC3, I realize that it has been very poor.
Sound is excellent. Clear sound with a deep base. I really didn’t expect an improvement here – because it’s basically just a tablet. So surprised and impressed…
User-interface
The Teyes user-interface is very colorful. I can choose between 4 different themes.
At first glance it’s fantastic. For daily use, the impression fades a bit.
There’s a lot that an UX-guy would have done differently.
A small example is that there is no easy way to get back to the main screen from many of the apps. There you have to swipe down from the top and select the small android circle. Really too difficult when driving…
Being on a powerful android unit, I would also expect a more widget-based approach. It’s not that customizable as it could be.
Hopefully upgrades will come. Otherwise there is other launchers out there that looks to be way better than the ones provided as standard.
Navigation
Navigation works perfectly. Satelites are found very fast (using the GSP antenna that came with the unit).
All app-based, so all navigation apps from Google play can be used.
The main screen has a space where navigation can be embedded. This however have a tendency to freeze and be unresponsive. I had to reset to factory settings at one point because it simply was unable to start – even after multiple restarts and uninstallation of apps.
360 degrees Camara
I bought the 360 degrees camara with the unit. I haven’t fully installed the cameras, but have connected them as a “dry-run”. It reacts instantly when setting the car in reverse, and looks to have a good picture quality.
Looking forward to having this fully installed.
Radio
This is really the worst part of the Teyes Apps. And sadly it cannot be replaced by another, so it works from the main screen.
The reception is very poor. That might be because I haven’t found the right place to connect to the cars antenna, so that might get better.
But the App itself is horrible. When using multi-touch gestures for volume – it constantly changes frequency. There’s no decent overview of radio-stations. Pictures for radio stations can be found, but will be gone if you leave the area where they are registered.
There is a manual procedure for adding radio-pictures, and I’ll have to use that one.
When starting the car, the radio doesn’t start on the last station you had when you left. It always start at 88.50Mhz with hissing noise. And then you need to open the app in full screen – and THEN it realizes that it should go to the station that was selected when you left (and then you can exit again finding the small android circle) – really annoying.
I you are in navigation mode, then suddenly the radio comes on top, doing a scan and shuts down again. Even if you are listening to music from another source.
Connecting to phone and using Apple Carplay
The Phone connects without issues via bluetooth. Playing music from the phone is simple and easy.
Carplay works as it should without any issues. However - I’m not using it, as I have all car-apps installed on the head-unit – and have a data sim-card installed also.
Implementing the cars buttons
My Insignina have a HMI unit. I’m not sure that the wire-harness is made for that.
So a lot that where advertised are not working
- Steering wheel buttons cannot be registered (Ithink it's because of the HMI unit)
- AC settings are not displayed on-screen
- Seat-heating are disabled for some reason
- Steering wheel turning is not reflected in the reverse camera
I’ll have to address this to Teyes support. Don’t care about the on-screen displays from AC. But the rest should be solved somehow.
All in all it’s actually a very good unit – even with the small hickups that I need to solve…
