Clarity Audio updates??? Connection/bluetooth connection issues?

T

Teslawannabe

Active Member
My question is have you had the dealer update your audio system? Due to upgraded phones/software updates does Honda update the audio software on a regular basis? I did the Nav update but am specifically speaking of an audio/bluetooth software update. My Clarity is at android ver 4.2.2 and the applications: Ver.1.F196.58
 
ver 4.2.2.webp Wikipedia says android 4.2.2 was released in February , 11 2013. Seems strange a 2018 vehicle would use such an old operating system. I did see a Honda video on updating the Accord 2018 and the Insite 2018 but nothing on the Clarity.
 
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Teslawannabe said:
View attachment 5825 Wikipedia says android 4.2.2 was released in February , 11 2013. Seems strange a 2018 vehicle would use such an old operating system. I did see a Honda video on updating the Accord 2018 and the Insite 2018 but nothing on the Clarity.
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I would assume the OS version and infotainment system are tied together. Clarity did not get the new infotainment system that Accord got in 2018 and Civic in 2019. Those apparently use Android 6.0.1 which came out in December 2015. These aren't tablets or phones, these are pieces of automobile hardware, so I am pretty sure they freeze the OS version pretty early in the development cycle for the infotainment systems.

I am in the minority but I am quite happy with the older system because it includes the Lanewatch camera which I absolutely love and knew that I would, whereas many people don't like or don't use it. I have been using a backup camera since 2006 and the more cameras the better in my opinion, I just wish it had one for the left side also, but the right side is more important and I even turn it on in advance of an anticipated lane change like for an upcoming exit (you can manually turn the camera on or off by pressing the button on the end of the stalk).

I use Android Auto almost exclusively so I don't care too much whether the infotainment system is new or old, for me the inclusion of Lanewatch is more important. The newer cars don't have Lanewatch, substituting blind spot monitoring and rear cross traffic alert which is what most people want not a camera. Although that's not part of infotainment but I think it's why Honda decided to drop Lanewatch since it could be considered redundant with blind spot monitoring. The newer system also has a volume knob which is not important to me, the one on the steering wheel is fine, but to some people it's literally a deal breaker on a car purchase, which I am not questioning that it is important to so many people, but for me I'm fine without a knob.
 
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2002 said:
I am in the minority but I am quite happy with the older system because it includes the Lanewatch camera which I absolutely love and knew that I would, whereas many people don't like or don't use it. I have been using a backup camera since 2006 and the more cameras the better in my opinion, I just wish it had one for the left side also, but the right side is more important and I even turn it on in advance of an anticipated lane change like for an upcoming exit (you can manually turn the camera on or off by pressing the button on the end of the stalk).

I use Android Auto almost exclusively so I don't care too much whether the infotainment system is new or old, for me the inclusion of Lanewatch is more important. The newer cars don't have Lanewatch, substituting blind spot monitoring and rear cross traffic alert which is what most people want not a camera. Although that's not part of infotainment but I think it's why Honda decided to drop Lanewatch since it could be considered redundant with blind spot monitoring. The newer system also has a volume knob which is not important to me, the one on the steering wheel is fine, but to some people it's literally a deal breaker on a car purchase, which I am not questioning that it is important to so many people, but for me I'm fine without a knob.
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Giving us the option of picture-in-picture of the side and rear cameras on the screen all the time would be a worthy feature to add. Why should I have to put the car into reverse to show that camera? I don't have to put the car in reverse for the mirror to function. Maybe the new Honda e with its three-foot-wide display will permit showing the cameras continuously.
 
2002 said:
I would assume the OS version and infotainment system are tied together. Clarity did not get the new infotainment system that Accord got in 2018 and Civic in 2019. Those apparently use Android 6.0.1 which came out in December 2015. These aren't tablets or phones, these are pieces of automobile hardware, so I am pretty sure they freeze the OS version pretty early in the development cycle for the infotainment systems.

I am in the minority but I am quite happy with the older system because it includes the Lanewatch camera which I absolutely love and knew that I would, whereas many people don't like or don't use it. I have been using a backup camera since 2006 and the more cameras the better in my opinion, I just wish it had one for the left side also, but the right side is more important and I even turn it on in advance of an anticipated lane change like for an upcoming exit (you can manually turn the camera on or off by pressing the button on the end of the stalk).

I use Android Auto almost exclusively so I don't care too much whether the infotainment system is new or old, for me the inclusion of Lanewatch is more important. The newer cars don't have Lanewatch, substituting blind spot monitoring and rear cross traffic alert which is what most people want not a camera. Although that's not part of infotainment but I think it's why Honda decided to drop Lanewatch since it could be considered redundant with blind spot monitoring. The newer system also has a volume knob which is not important to me, the one on the steering wheel is fine, but to some people it's literally a deal breaker on a car purchase, which I am not questioning that it is important to so many people, but for me I'm fine without a knob.
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My questing was not stated clearly enough. I am wondering how Honda keeps up with all the bluetooth revisions and different phone updates on our model Clarity's. I use a Note 9 and have no issues but have experienced customers with different brand phones such as husband and wife with different phones having connection issues and android auto issues with Ford Sync systems and Ford has updated several versions such as 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 to address all the changes. I'm thinking the "Applications Ver.1.f196.58" is probably the the audio version level number and is separate from the Android touch screen software. But having said all that it seems no one on the forum has reported needing any updates to address any connection issues, kudos to Honda. :-)
 
Teslawannabe said:
My questing was not stated clearly enough. I am wondering how Honda keeps up with all the bluetooth revisions and different phone updates on our model Clarity's. I use a Note 9 and have no issues but have experienced customers with different brand phones such as husband and wife with different phones having connection issues and android auto issues with Ford Sync systems and Ford has updated several versions such as 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 to address all the changes. I'm thinking the "Applications Ver.1.f196.58" is probably the the audio version level number and is separate from the Android touch screen software. But having said all that it seems no one on the forum has reported needing any updates to address any connection issues, kudos to Honda. :)
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AFAIK, certain applications like AA (and apps launched through it) are actually rendered by your device, not the HMI unit, so simply have the apps updated on your phone would be sufficient (though I heard a recent update had made access buggy). Not quite as certain about the BT version, I know DevOps in Jellybean doesn't have codec/BT version options available, but if you have root I have personally seen some kernel settings for BT.
 
Steven B said:
Giving us the option of picture-in-picture of the side and rear cameras on the screen all the time would be a worthy feature to add. Why should I have to put the car into reverse to show that camera? I don't have to put the car in reverse for the mirror to function. Maybe the new Honda e with its three-foot-wide display will permit showing the cameras continuously.
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You can show the rear camera -- if you install Honda Hack. You can then "map" a button to turn it on an off anytime that you like. For example, I have the "down arrow" (which to me is BACK) button on the steering wheel mapped to activate the rear camera.

I have Waze mapped to the "up arrow" (forward) button, so I can fire it whenever I want, too.
 
David in TN said:
You can show the rear camera -- if you install Honda Hack. You can then "map" a button to turn it on an off anytime that you like. For example, I have the "down arrow" (which to me is BACK) button on the steering wheel mapped to activate the rear camera.

I have Waze mapped to the "up arrow" (forward) button, so I can fire it whenever I want, too.
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You can also turn the right side camera on by pressing in on the button at the end of the turn signal stalk. I don't remember if it will stay on until you press the button again or if it automatically goes off after a set number of seconds.
 
Teslawannabe said:
My question is have you had the dealer update your audio system? Due to upgraded phones/software updates does Honda update the audio software on a regular basis? I did the Nav update but am specifically speaking of an audio/bluetooth software update. My Clarity is at android ver 4.2.2 and the applications: Ver.1.F196.58
Click to expand...
Clarity was designed in 2015 and, except for some software fixes after its initial 2017 release (as a 2018 model), has received neither software nor hardware updates or upgrades.
 
rodeknyt said:
You can also turn the right side camera on by pressing in on the button at the end of the turn signal stalk. I don't remember if it will stay on until you press the button again or if it automatically goes off after a set number of seconds.
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I don't like that the LaneWatch cam will actually suspend foreground processes rather than just rendering the AV as an overlay. I'm not sure if this is a hardware limitation or something else, but since it's not available to be bound through HH I'm guessing there's other factors in play.
 
Arctiic said:
I don't like that the LaneWatch cam will actually suspend foreground processes rather than just rendering the AV as an overlay. I'm not sure if this is a hardware limitation or something else, but since it's not available to be bound through HH I'm guessing there's other factors in play.
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I'm quite certain the Android version is too old to support overlaid widgets. I'm really hoping @Mitter__Mitch comes up with an easy way to fix the whole damn tablet and get something less ancient on it. Running Google Maps natively without Android Auto, running Pandora natively, keeping both cameras always running a la Google Maps in the corner of the screen, etc. would be awesome. Getting rid of the Bluejacking vulnerability would be cool too.
 
petteyg359 said:
I'm quite certain the Android version is too old to support overlaid widgets.
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I'm not sure how Codeage did it, but you can tell with the camera binding through HH that the processes are still running in background, and coming back from the AV back to Android the transition is seamless, whereas with the OEM Lanewatch cam whatever activity you have in foreground will actually get suspended and has to reload when you switch back.
 
Arctiic said:
I'm not sure how Codeage did it, but you can tell with the camera binding through HH that the processes are still running in background, and coming back from the AV back to Android the transition is seamless, whereas with the OEM Lanewatch cam whatever activity you have in foreground will actually get suspended and has to reload when you switch back.
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FM radio or Sirius or any Bluetooth or USBbplayback are all just more apps, and they aren't suspended...

Sent from my ASUS_I01WD using Inside EVs mobile app
 
petteyg359 said:
FM radio or Sirius or any Bluetooth or USBbplayback are all just more apps, and they aren't suspended...
Click to expand...

I've definitely noticed the behavior Chrome and sometimes MX Player. Chrome especially, sometimes when it comes back the whole page gets re-rendered, implying it was released from memory (at least to my understanding).
 
Teslawannabe said:
My question is have you had the dealer update your audio system? Due to upgraded phones/software updates does Honda update the audio software on a regular basis? I did the Nav update but am specifically speaking of an audio/bluetooth software update. My Clarity is at android ver 4.2.2 and the applications: Ver.1.F196.58
Click to expand...


I was reading through the thread and it seems people have gone way off topic but I have a similar concern as you do in regards to updates to the BT version. I just got a new phone and when I connect by BT now, the song metadata doesn’t show on the display anymore. I also noticed that under BT devices on my phone, I only have HandsFreeLink. There used to be a Car Multimedia as well. Somehow I think this issue is because my new hardware is not supported by the old software on the audio system. If there was an update, maybe it will work properly again. Should I call the dealer?
 
Bluetooth audio (A2DP) is a standardized protocol that everything supports. There's no incompatibility between new and old; the protocol is the same. There can be glitches for sure, but it's not an incompatibility thing.
 
rickyrsx said:
I was reading through the thread and it seems people have gone way off topic but I have a similar concern as you do in regards to updates to the BT version. I just got a new phone and when I connect by BT now, the song metadata doesn’t show on the display anymore. I also noticed that under BT devices on my phone, I only have HandsFreeLink. There used to be a Car Multimedia as well. Somehow I think this issue is because my new hardware is not supported by the old software on the audio system. If there was an update, maybe it will work properly again. Should I call the dealer?
Click to expand...

BT version shouldn't be an issue, but if you want to test and confirm for yourself, you can enable Developer Options on your mobile device and select the older firmware; I know on Oreo, you could choose between 1.4, 1.5, and 1.6 (default). For more fine-tuned control than that, you'd have to modify the HMU's or device kernel directly (needs root); surprisingly, on the head unit the relevant files seem to not be obfuscated, and even come with intelligible key-value legends. Personally, I'd been hoping to find a way to change the BT multi-device pairing priority order with no success (Honda defaults to most-recently-connected with no apparent method to change from frontend).
 
Arctiic said:
BT version shouldn't be an issue, but if you want to test and confirm for yourself, you can enable Developer Options on your mobile device and select the older firmware; I know on Oreo, you could choose between 1.4, 1.5, and 1.6 (default). For more fine-tuned control than that, you'd have to modify the HMU's or device kernel directly (needs root); surprisingly, on the head unit the relevant files seem to not be obfuscated, and even come with intelligible key-value legends. Personally, I'd been hoping to find a way to change the BT multi-device pairing priority order with no success (Honda defaults to most-recently-connected with no apparent method to change from frontend).
Click to expand...
I read about “downgrading” the BT firmware but I’m not sure how to do that on iOS.
 
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