I have an Android headunit installed on my 2005 Mercedes C200 W203. I bought this headunit from a seller in AliExpress called Kapud. The aim of this article is to provide a high-level overview and visual representation of all the firmware settings that I have used. I hope that other Android headunit owners may also find this information useful.
Let me start with this mind-map of the firmware settings. In this illustration, you can see what settings are available and how to get to them. It’s not a complete list but I will update it as and when I learn new things about the firmware. So if you don’t want to miss these updates, make sure to subscribe to my BMC account and become a follower so you get notified.
Happy reading 📖
The Three Types of Firmware Page
Essentially, there are three types of firmware pages which can be accessed based on the PIN you entered when this dialog box (pictured below) is presented:
Main Firmware Page (PIN=8888)
Boot Logo Firmware Page (PIN=5678)
MP Mode Page (PIN=5555)
You might come across this pop up dialog box if you try to open the “Car Settings” or “Boot Logo” option from the Android system preference page. For this particular headunit, I am able to enter any of the three PINs when I initiate it from the “Car Settings” preference. However if I initiate it from the “Boot Logo” preference, it will only accept 5678.
Now that we know there are three types of firmware pages, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty of it…
1. Main Firmware Page
As the name suggest, this is where most of the headunit‘s device settings can be interrogated and updated. The three key items in this page are: CAN Type, Menu Icon and Backcar settings.
CAN Type
This sets up the CANBUS decoder that came with your headunit to recognise the CANBUS messages for your specific car model. You should never have to update this setting once you have it set correctly after installing your headunit. In my case, I’ve set it to “135” which should be applicable to most Mercedes cars of this era (circa 2005).
Having the correct CAN Type setting ensures that you take full advantage of the capabilities of the headunit including being able to use the steering wheel buttons (if your car is fitted with one) to control media playback. It also can provide you with a visual feedback of the messages it receive from the car’s on-board computer. An example would be a visual cue on the screen to let you know which door is open.
Still under the CAN Type category, there are settings to swap between Right-hand drive (RHD) and Left-hand drive (LHD) cars. An example when you might need to change this setting is when you live in a country with LHD cars and you were supplied with the default RHD setting. You will quickly know it’s configured the wrong way around because the graphic you will see on the headunit will show the wrong side of the door open. To rectify this issue, you simply set the parameter “Swap” and viola, you are now able to open the correct door!
Another neat trick is that not only you can swap doors left-to-right, you can also make them disappear completely. My car is a sedan which means I have front and rear doors. However if you own a two-door model, then simply select “Hide” on the Rear door setting and the door disappears! Just make sure you don’t hide both front and rear doors, otherwise how can you get in or out of the car 🤣
Menu Icon
For reference, the version of the firmware when I got this headunit are listed in dot-points below. Based on the version string, it looks like it was built in November 2020. This is important because new applications could be added by the manufacturer on later releases (if any) of their firmware.
HMI: TSKJ.G5.D.Q.F.01.2020.11.09.10.36
MCU: TS-G5.200710
MEDIA: HC_v2.0.0.200925_1100(v1.84)
BTV: BT.20.11.02.1410(02:01:10:51:24:57)
At the time of writing, there are 29 pre-installed applications available for me to enable. Although some of them are incompatible my car. An example of this is the Ford SYNC app.
WIthin the Menu Icon settings page is a grid made up 5x6 squares. On the left-hand side are the list of all the apps pre-built with the device. An an app are pre-programmed to appear either in the Home Screen only, Both Home Screen and App Screen or App Screen only. To enable an app, you can simply double-tap on it from the left-hand side and it will occupy the first available spot on the grid. Alternatively, you can tap on it once on the left-hand side then tap the second time on the grid where you want it to appear.
Home Screen Icons
As the name implies, these are the big icons you see on the headunit Home Screen.
The Home Screen theme on this headunit can display upto 4 big icons per page. It also appear that each App will only occupy a specific position within the page regardless what position it occupies in the configuration page. For example, the NAVI app will always occupy icon position #1 when enabled. There is a maximum of 6 application Home Screen icons supported by this headunit.
Navi
Radio
Audio
Bluetooth
Video
Setup (Car Settings)
A special application called “App” is always enabled and occupies the last icon on the last Home Screen page.
App Screen Icons
You can’t expect all applications to all display in the Home Screen. Otherwise, you will be left with 8 pages of Home Screens which drastically reduce its usability. To get around this, the “App” icon in the Home Screen lets you access all other pre-installed apps you have enabled from the Menu Icon settings page. Based on the firmware version I have, these are the full list of pre-installed apps
Unlike Home Screen icons, the App Screen icons respects their position in the configuration screen above. For example if you want the Carplay app to appear in the last page of the App Screen, you can position it at the bottom right corner of the grid as picture above.
If you have specific questions about any of the apps in the picture above, hit me up with a comment below and I will answer them.
Backcar
The last useful setting is being able to turn off the reverse camera trigger when you put the car in reverse gear. For most people who would install a reverse camera together with their headunit install, you can leave thus setting to its default value of “ Detect”. This means if you put the car on reverse, the headunit will automatically switch to the reverse camera video input and reject it to the screen. However for those who doesn’t intend to install a reverse camera, you can set the value to “Not Detect” so you don’t get a blank screen when you are driving in reverse.
2. Boot Logo Firmware Page
This firmware page allows you to set a logo of your choice to show up on screen when the Android headunit starts up. It will only show up if you do a system restart or if you have Sleep Mode disabled. Unfortunately if you have the headunit go into Sleep Mode when you turn off the ignition of your car, you won’t see the logo during the startup sequence.
In my case, I have selected the Mercedes three-pointed star logo.
3. MP Mode Firmware Page
I don’t know much about what this firmware page is about. All I know is that whatever button I tap on the screen, I always get an “Export failed” error message. I can only assume it is trying to export your firmware settings and save it in a storage device.
So in theory, I can export my settings (as a backup) into a memory key and import it later if needed.
That is all for now. I am currently putting together a video to demonstrate what I have described above. Once the video is available, I will post the link at the bottom of this blog entry.