Kenwood 7" Digital Media Receiver with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto

I was looking for a double DIN radio that I could use Android Auto and was great sounding. This head unit provides both. It has a lot of options to customize is the sound and is probably too much for some but is a great option to have. It has brought my factory speakers to life and really increased the sound quality and loudness I cant wait to see how well it sounds with a component system. When plugin in my phone, AA works great. I think some of the review where people are having issue is a situation where they need to update the app. The unit starts up right away when I start my car and is much faster than my pioneer. Also the Bluetooth sound quality for calls is much better than my pioneer as well. Only complaint is I dont see an option to mute which isnt a problem as I use my steering wheel controls to mute.

I love this stereo, it has all the modern feature you could ever want, the screen doesn't feel the greatest but it is pretty responsive, sounds great im using Android auto and it works great, even with a pass through usb, very happy with the stereo. seems high quality with almost everything but the screen, it's just got this plastic feel and gives a little each time I press on the screen, other than that it's a great unit. highly recommend it price for value is unbeatable in my opinion. Works great 04 tahoe, you do need an interface kit if you Bose and steering wheel controls.

Got one in two of my cars. I've had them for years and no issues at all. Great sound equalizer and great custom settings and has 3 outs. Front rear sub.

So I got this stereo because it said it had apple play. For me that’s the best part, after not reading all the way it’s only Apple play IF you plug in your phone to the hdmi attachment cord. I’m trying to eliminate cords in my car not add them. So to my it’s a great radio sounds good the back up camera works well but I’d still would rather use my own mirrors to back up because using the camera for me sucks when I think I’m in the right spot I seem to be off a lot. So I’ll just use it to see if somebody’s standing behind me. I gave it a 4* due to the fact that Apple play is a plug in play and the android is just a touch button not right it should be both to my opinion the reason I bought it was because I thought it was if I had more Time to read up I probably would’ve got this one. I’m not sure if all Apple play radios are the same; for now I’m stuck with the cord for Apple play for many years to come. Happy listening everyone.

Sound quality is excellent and the sound controls are spectacular. I like the sound effects capability which allows you to get the echo effect if you want it. Deck works flawlessly and probably one of the best additions is the anti glare screen. I can wear polarized sunglasses and still see the screen. I've had almost ever brand of deck at one time or another and still prefer the sound quality of the Kenwood. Installation was typical and straight forward. If you've ever installed a car stereo before, it will be a no brainier. I use Android auto from time to time but prefer the Spotify app on the deck to Android auto because of the smooth interface and easy access to the eq. This deck is a great bang for the buck...

Where Do I Start. This is an absolutely great head unit, buuuuut, Android Auto (AA) and Spotify do not play well together. It's really the only issue, but if you use Spotify to play music then it's a big issue. It's to bad that this is an issue, but once AA figures out what is causing the connectivity issues, this will be an absolutely fantastic experience. I say it's AA's issue because Kenwood has been here for years. Spotify has been here for years. Android Auto is the new kid on the block and it's their system thats causing the hiccups, even though they deny it or tell you it isn't something they've heard about or tell you to go through a lot of useless re-installs, battery optimizations or disabling features, nothing stops AA from disconnecting from Spotify several times before actually playing Spotify. The only thing that works is powering down the unit or disconnecting the USB cable in order to re-establish a new connection between the two. You'll probably have to do it about 5-10 times before AA finally stops disconnecting from Spotify. Once it stops disconnecting do not touch the phone for anything because that's just going to start the process over again. Everytime you disconnect the phone it will have issues establishing a stable connection with Spotify. There is no fix yet, but I assume they are working on it and I hope they figure it out, because if AA debugs these Beta issues this will be an awesome experience. Until then Eonon does it better.Update 19Jan2021Well there have been several Spotify updates since my last review and AA has done one update. I don't know which one helped fix the connectivity issues between the two, but for the most part it's gone. I can now go several days without any connectivity issues, but every once in a while, it still disconnects but it's not nearly as much and doesn't happen everytime I connect the phone like before. So it's almost there, just not quite all the way there.

Everything worked well for the month. After that I can't connect my phone to the radio using Android Auto without rebooting the radio completely. That only works once. When the car is turned off and back on it won't recognize the phone. I tried to get in contact with the developers for the Android Auto app and they were zero help. I looked online and this problem seems to be pretty common for the Kenwood head units, all models.i couldn't find a permanent solution online so the radio had to go back. Very Dissatisfied and Disappointed with this Kenwood product.

It showed up at the house, I was happy cause my old one shattered lol. Anyway new ones great I can’t complain, it has plenty of features for sound adjustments. Apple play it’s legit guys.