Chinese Android Head Unit Review - $595

[VF300k]

as the OP I 100% guarantee it is android 10. These chips are designed around it. More than 8 months on and still loving the head unit.

Finally arrived today and can confirm it is indeed android 13 after installing and getting it up and running

 

[dassaur]

Finally arrived today and can confirm it is indeed android 13 after installing and getting it up and running

It's not, I guarantee it is SDK 29 which is Android 10.

 

[VF300k]

It's not, I guarantee it is SDK 29 which is Android 10.

Shows as 13 in the android settings menu, unless there’s somewhere else I should be looking

 

[stooge]

the K2401_JYT_S217101 "2024" firmware is definitely api 33 or "android 13" and it is the current flavor of firmware being used on all of the aftermarket units.
with the mcus on most of these aftermarket units all being the same it is easy to switch the firmwares between them so you can get the exact same unit being sold with android 10(29) or android 13(33) etc

api 29 is better imo because it is less restrictive and has better app support for older apps, api 32 and 33 killed a lot of old stuff.
most of it was due to scoped storage and changes in the way permissions and notifications work, apps not coded for these changes just crash on launch.



the k2401 firmware is a ext4 image converted into a android sparse data image and then compressed with brotli so you can reverse this process to unpack it, modify it and repack it.

the target files are

system.new.dat.br
product.new.dat.br


the following passwords are used in the firmware

developer options: 345543
factory settings: 1617 or 16176699
style ui: 111333


i have this actual firmware on a aftermarket system for my colorado.
i pulled the firmware apart because i am developing my own launcher for it because the stuff they ship is garbage.

not sure about most of the flavors of this floating around but with mine it does run android auto wirelessly through the zlink layer they have included so that is a bonus but its ui layout is a bit crap

 

[dassaur]

the K2401_JYT_S217101 "2024" firmware is definitely api 33 or "android 13" and it is the current flavor of firmware being used on all of the aftermarket units.
with the mcus on most of these aftermarket units all being the same it is easy to switch the firmwares between them so you can get the exact same unit being sold with android 10(29) or android 13(33) etc

api 29 is better imo because it is less restrictive and has better app support for older apps, api 32 and 33 killed a lot of old stuff.
most of it was due to scoped storage and changes in the way permissions and notifications work, apps not coded for these changes just crash on launch.



the k2401 firmware is a ext4 image converted into a android sparse data image and then compressed with brotli so you can reverse this process to unpack it, modify it and repack it.

the target files are

system.new.dat.br
product.new.dat.br


the following passwords are used in the firmware

developer options: 345543
factory settings: 1617 or 16176699
style ui: 111333

Thanks stooge.
Interesting it's 13. That's quite different from mine - @VF300k do you have a link where you purchased? I'd love to see what processor it uses and so on.

 

[stooge]

Interesting it's 13

i also forgot to mention that some of these sellers stuff around with the firmware so it reports a different version to what is actually installed.
so they could take something like android 10 and modify the build.prop so the system reports 13.

they can change this line "ro.build.version.release=10" to have 13 and the system will report it is 13 but really it is still only 10.

so his system could be 10 just modded to report a different version and firmware build so it looks like a legit 13 unit like others being sold that do have 13 on them.

they do the same thing with sdcards and ssds and flog them to unsuspecting people, like a 64TB ssd.
you plug it in and it says 64tb but inside the enclosure it is a 2gb sdcard

i have seen a few people get done by that and i always say do you really think you can get a 64tb ssd for $20 lol

 

[dassaur]

i also forgot to mention that some of these sellers stuff around with the firmware so it reports a different version to what is actually installed.
so they could take something like android 10 and modify the build.prop so the system reports 13.

they can change this line "ro.build.version.release=10" to have 13 and the system will report it is 13 but really it is still only 10.

so his system could be 10 just modded to report a different version and firmware build so it looks like a legit 13 unit like others being sold that do have 13 on them.

Yes mine is like that - android 12 but its actually SDK/api 29

 

[stooge]

Yes mine is like that - android 12 but its actually SDK/api 29

they have probably done the same with his but just bumped it to 13.

they could all be 29 with some being modified better to report both a spoofed version and api level.

its hard to trust the sellers of these products these days lol

 

[dassaur]

As you say, I actually prefer android 10 but it's the dodgyness we could all do without

 

[VF300k]

Would love to know if there’s a better way to check, been so long since I’ve used anything android

Here’s the link to the one I bought https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/3950650...cgyr0tltcw&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Came with CANBUS/ reverse camera adapter and the right plug for the antenna, seller also accepted a best offer of $230 which I found was a decent price for this one