Pioneer SPH-DA120 Apple CarPlay compatible with large 6.2-Inch Capacitive Touch Screen, GPS, Bluetooth, Android and iPhone. Also supports AppRadio Mode

Product Information

Connectivity Kit Required: USB to Lightning iPhone cable -CA-IU.52c (Sold separately) connected to USB 1 All this is possible with Apple’s CarPlay. CarPlay is a standard developed by Apple for car head units which allows a car’s radio to become a controller for your iOS device. It lets you connect your iPhone to the car’s head unit through either a USB port, or wirelessly, and becomes a receiver for CarPlay functions. The AppRadio interface isn’t bad, but of course it seems cluttered compared to Apple’s clean interfaces. For audiophiles, the AppRadio 4 offers a number of features and modes to cater for your critical ears. Pre-set and customisable equalisers allow you achieve the type of sound you want, however if you’re on the lazy side, you can plug in a microphone and let the Auto EQ measure your vehicle’s acoustics and adjust the receiver’s audio levels automatically to suit your car’s interior.

The AppRadio 4’s interface features menus, upon menus; a sea of buttons and options litter the front screen from the very start, all begging for your attention, and with no clear winner. Thankfully, with an iOS device connected, a ‘CarPlay’ option sits prominently in to top corner of the front screen, so Apple users can dive right in and feel right at home with Apple’s ‘clean and simple’ user interface. MirrorLink is also here, should you have a non-Apple device. It is worth highlighting that CarPlay is an evolving software platform that lives on your Apple iOS device, not in the receiver itself. So whichever aftermarket receiver you choose to install in your vehicle, the OS experience will be the same throughout – Don’t let any dealer tell you otherwise! Ensure the device is set to 'iPhone' and connection is set to 'USB', ensure that 'CarPlay' is turned on Your car does not have CarPlay support and you want a CarPlay-enabled, third-party receiver to replace the factory version (without having to buy a new car).A push notification will appear on the device asking to launch AppRadio. Select 'Yes' and AppRadio will now launch. My instant reaction, when turning on the Pioneer, was that the screen felt lower in quality. The pixels on CarPlay icons looked more pixelated than on the Alpine, even though both displays share the same resolution of 800×480, and the Alpine’s display is bigger. You have to make copious use of Siri to use these apps, since touch-functionality is limited for safety. There is no keyboard input, everything is done through voice. You can have Siri compose messages, or read out unread messages from your iPhone (it only “reads” out, and no text is displayed, again for safety – to avoid your visual focus shifting from driving.) Whether you connect your phone via a USB connector or not, this head unit does have some basic Bluetooth support for actions like hands-free calling, wireless song search and audio streaming, and audio control. This is built-in to ensure driver safety in accordance with local driving laws. Works with your iPod

With the Pioneer SPH-DA120, you can control either your iPod or your iPhone through your car’s dashboard. Rear Camera You mainly want to be able to perform voice-controlled commands with Siri, like making/receiving calls, composing/listening to text messages, playing music from your phone, and searching for places on Maps. There are better Pioneer head units out there, but if you are mainly interested in CarPlay, then this unit has way more than what you need, that too at such a low price point. A: Please see the How To Connect section and follow the three steps one by one. You will not be able to adjust the app connection without first disconnecting all the sources. Install the AppRadio app onto the device from the AppStore/PlayStore, including any compatible apps that you wish to use.Compatible apps can be found by opening the AppRadio app and selecting the 'recommended apps' tab.The screen size is a bit smaller than that of other popular head units, because of the left side of the screen having a panel of touch-sensitive buttons with functions like “Home”, volume control, and switching between modes. Today’s entertainment comes from many places, and these days it’s more than likely your smartphone. People carry thousands of songs with them everywhere they go, and with current broadband connections they stream their music from different places too! AppRadio knows entertainment, so we have built in the ability not only to play the songs stored on your smartphone, but also to stream them via Bluetooth from your favorite music app. Great music discovery is effortless and free with Pandora. Just start with the name of one of your favorite artists, songs, genres or composers and Pandora will do the rest. So yes, even though we have been ranting about the system’s CarPlay support, it doesn’t take away from the fact that it also has Android support. There are usually two types of touchscreen technologies sold in automobile head units: resistive and capacitive. A capacitive touchscreen requires less force to register a touch and also allows for multi-touch gestures like scrolling, swiping, and pinching to zoom in and out. If you are looking for a smartphone-like experience, the DA120’s 6.2-inch capacitive touchscreen will feel good to your fingertips. FLAC support