Was really excited when I found Symfonium. Works ok (with some glitches I’ll post elsewhere) my my phone but I was disappointed for one of my uses cases - running it in my car on my Chinese Android headunit.
First issue is Play Store reports the app as not supported. Is this because if an older version of Android? What is the minimum (oldest) version it’s supported on?
Secondly there doesn’t seem to be a “car mode” which makes the UI large and finger friendly on an Android car stereo interface. Is this something that could be implemented via skins or to they not let you change the UI just the colours etc? Can the AA interface be enabled manually?
Problem solved:
Playing music streamed from Jellyfin in my car.
Note that I realise most peoplemwill use Android Auto, but there are several use cases where this is better. Mine is that in Australia younger drives are not permitted to have their phone attached (wired or wirelessly) to the car…but (for some reason) are allowed to use apps installed on the car radio itself.
Brought benefits:
Android is becoming an increasingly popular platform for car stereos.
Other application solutions:
Most other apps will run in my Android head unit. Many have car specific UIs but some do not. Currently using PlexAmp which works but the buttons are too small.
Is there a forum for general chat where I can ask simple questions as a new user without having to format every question as a support or feature request with a large template and/or log files?
There’s plan for the actual android automotive, for phone if enough ask there might be a now playing screen special for cars, but not a full UI to select media to play.
For the questions you can use the chat, but out of home for a week so don’t expect fast answers or answers at all if there’s too much there.
OK, I gave in and upgraded my Joying head unit in my car to an Android 12 model, just so I could run Symfonium.
So now what’s missing is an actual elegant way to use it in the car!
As above, but note I’m not trying to run it from my phone, with the likes of Head Unit Reloaded/B3IT/zLink on the head unit. The head unit is running Android and Symfonium natively.
All it really needs is a button or setting that brings up the Android Auto UI, but when it’s running natively. Is that possible/complicated? Happy to test obviously.
Note the reason that this is important is somewhat stupid but important. Where I live the kids who haven’t had their license very long are not legally allowed to connect their phones to the car (or use them in any way) so it’s important that the head unit is fully functional and finger friendly.
BTW, PowerAmp seems to be the most recommended audio app to run in vehicles like this, but it doesn’t support my Jellyfin server. It has some advanced API integrations for car dashboard launchers though.
All it needs is a button or setting that will make the native app go into the Android Auto drive-friendly UI even when it’s natively running on a device, rather than screen casting.
I don’t see a difference between PowerAmp and Symfonium in those screenshots, just expand the player. (Can be done automatically).
The last screen is from Android Auto there’s no API or anything to switch or display things like that at all. Only the phone can switch to car mode when connected to a car with AA.
Where is the setting to automatically expand the player to full screen? That would help a lot, although the track lists etc are still too small to be comfortably used while driving.
How does Android Auto development work? I assumed you created the UI for it to display when it’s screencasting??
Ah I see. I thought the developer would have some control. Hmm…thanks Google. Let me try the auto-expand for the next week or so and see how it goes. Also will compare to PowerAmp as it is the most recommended for this category. I find it pretty buggy myself though. Cheers.
