+1 for Vlad. Zero issues and product works, if he says it does.

 

Well, I finally bit the bullet and bought a new smartphone... There was this Samsung S20 FE 5G on sale at Best Buy just calling my name. What an upgrade after 6 years with the old Samsung Alpha...

The older device could hardly get out of its own way running Android Auto... it worked, but it's Android 5.0 was the bare minimum.

This new phone with Android 10 works really well with AA. At first I thought I had problems, because I could not find the AA app Icon on the phone. Then I learned that Samsung has built-in AA as part of the Android 10 OS. So no need for an icon.

It's been 18 months since installing AA in Comand, and I used it only that once or twice to see how clunky it was with the old phone. So it took me several minutes to rediscover the steps to find AA app in Comand.

But once found, it hooked to the phone instantly, and I ran a short trip using Google maps without hitch. Now I just to learn how to use the app with the control wheel in the console.

 

Has anyone figured out how to play Comand media music or radio while Android Auto is running? I would like to listen to music via my SD card in Comand Media source, while Comand displays Android Auto navigation routing.

I should think AA can multitask, as I can make hands-free phone calls in AA while in Navigation. But so far I haven't found the right combination of commands to do other things. atm, when AA is running, it appears to override the Comand system and I hear only crickets.

...and, I don't want to use any AA streaming services like Pandora or Spotify in lieu ot Comand music.

I have You Tube Music transferred over from Google Play, but I don't know if the music is on the phone or in some cloud somewhere. If on the phone then I shouldn't need mobile data to hear YT Music. But if I will need to stream it using mobile data, then that is not good, because I don't have unlimited Data...

EDIT: I've linked from my PC to the phone and can confirm my You-Tube music library is NOT stored on the phone, or at least I cannot find any.

Any suggestions are appreciated...

 

I was/is on the same boat with you.
I did not realize that that running AA and playing music from media are not possible when decided to do this upgrade. I guess should have done more research. See my post #165 on this thread. inability to use media while using AA is an inconvenience but I am willing to live with it.
Given that in current pandemic situation I hardly drove the car in last ~8 months, let along using AA. But I remember that I was able to Use car's radio while running Waze through AA.
I seem to remember that you need to go to MB option when AA is running and set the radio/station that you need and than go back to AA screen. Again, please take with a grain of salt. I might not "remember" it correctly.

Max

 

Beware guys, today I updated my Comand to the latest version with Xentry, and it seems that Mercedes have a new update where the version is High_CY15_5 instead of High_CY15_9. The High_CY15_5 does not have the apple CarPlay and AA feature! When you go to the dealer menu, there isn't a ringtone volume for applecarplay option. I asked my indie to manually download the required firmware version and we'll see what happens next. I'm also gonna use an OBD2 that looks like a Chinese dongle, I got it from MBenzcoder.com. In the pictures of his website, he shows a small dongle like the one Vladimir uses, but the one he sent me looks like the Chinese ones. I'm gonna know soon whether he scammed me or not.

 

Why would they still be updating this? I was under the impression "15_9" meant September 2015.

 

That's my understanding, too. I can't imagine MB creating a retroactive update "15_5" that predates and fits before "15_9"

I don't have access to Xentry myself, but wonder if Saud just couldn't find the final version in his version of Xentry? Or maybr MB has removed "15_9" from the updates available? If the latter, then why would MB bother to remove it 5 years later?

 

I'm guessing Mercedes removed the High_CY15_9 version. I was watching this thread since 2019, and when I went to my indie in 2019, the XENTRY update that was downloaded was clearly High_CY15_9, but due to a DoIP problem with the indie, I had to wait. I also got very busy that year, then the pandemic happened and now only I got the chance to upgrade my firmware. I took my car yesterday to the indie and he upgraded the firmware to the latest available version in XENTRY, and when I came to take my car I was surprised it was the High_CY15_5 version instead of 9. I asked him whether he can update it to the version with ACP, and he told me he will manually download it and install it in my car. I hope everything goes well tomorrow. My car is a US E350 built 03/15.

 

We need someone with full access to confirm this because those of us with this coding will not want our cars to be updated inadvertently.

 

Let us know how the MBenzcoder.com product worked. I ordered one from them on Oct 26th and never received it. Emailed them three times and each time they said "give it a little more time". I asked for a refund or a replacement via expedited shipping and they never responded. Had to protest the charge to get my money back. I don't trust them.

 

I finally have CarPlay and Android Auto! So here is my experience:
My indie garage got me the version High_CY15_5 when he updated through Xentry, which appeared as the latest version. I'm not sure whether Mercedes removed High_CY15_9 or not but anyway, I specifically asked for CY15_9 from my garage and he manually installed it on my car; not sure how though. So when I went to the dealer menu, I was able to see Apple CarPlay ringtone volume thingy, and it was time to activate ACP with the activation dongle, which I bought from Mbenzcoder.com. As I said in a previous post, the one I ordered and the one I received did not look the same; the one I received looked like the Chinese ones on Aliexpress. Anyway, I tried using it but it DID NOT work; Yes, I've been scammed by that website, DO NOT buy from Mbenzcoder.com (I believe he advertises a dongle in his web, but dropships you a different dongle from AliExpress).. So I was disappointed with the dongle, and I told my indie about it. Then he said that he can activate CarPlay for me manually too! I was delighted! So he went on to activate it via Vediamo, he activated ACP, Android Auto, and even MirrorLink - which Vladimir's dongle doesn't activate! I'm so happy now that my car has ACP. Before activating, I also asked Vladimir whether it's possible to activate ACP on my car or not ( I gave him my VIN), and he said that it wasn't possible (even though I had the High_CY15_9 version and the Apple CarPlay ringtone volume in dealer menu), but my indie was still able to activate it even though Vladimir said it's not possible. In conclusion, if you have the 11th option in dealer menu (Apple CarPlay ringtone volume thingy) just order Vladimir's dongle and it will activate ACP and AA for you, even if Vladimir cannot see it as updated in the Daimler database. Also, if you can find an indie garage with Vediamo, they can activate CarPlay and AA for you too, if they have the knowledge (or at least try to find/do it) which might be cheaper than Vladimir's dongle. Cheers!

P.S: my car's build date is 11.03.2015 (DD/MM/YYYY) W212 E-Class

 

Where do you live? Shops like yours are not easy to find.

 

Based on the address in the picture I would guess it is most likely UAE.

Max

 

I totally missed that. I was confused by his US E350.

 

​​​​​​​Bingo

 

Late to the party, that’s me.

Last few days I read thru all the posts. Many thanks to the contributors 👍

...so I was going to (try) the Android 10.0 10” screen upgrade. I guess I got cold feet after all the pioneers issues and such. Decided to go this route instead keeping the OEM small screen. I have a w212 E250 Diesel Sedan, build date 26.08.2015 so my car missed the High_CY15_9 by only a couple of days. Argh, my friggen luck.

I contacted Vladimir yesterday, he looked up my VIN and said to get the updated Comand flash. I did the dealer screen and my options only go to line 10. My dealer appointment is Monday, and, I actually have had some Bluetooth drops, it’s seems like long trips, maybe heat build up but I previously just chalked it off as “this stuff happens”. I just purchased a brand new iPhone 12 Pro Max (as of 3 weeks ago). TBH, it hasn’t happened since the new iPhone, but I also haven’t taken any sustained trips since. Hmmmm?

To sum this garb all up, I want a sustained BT connection also to adding of the CarPlay, so this Comand flash may hit 2 birds with 1 stone. 🤘 ...and, if the BT disconnects are log stored, no problem, the dealer will see this then clear as day.

thinking ahead...
I also have a wireless CarPlay option (Carlink 2.0) already installed in my 2017 F350-Platinum. It works great and will try this on the Benz once I get the flash and OBD thumb.

 

Hi,

unfortunately it's well documented that you can't playmedia from SD card with AA running. There are options however. You could put the media on the phone (or put the SD card in the phone, if your supports it).
You can also download media on your phone in advance in apps like Spotify and YouTube Music. Normally it streams music from the cloud, but you can always download, in YTM it works by clicking on the three dot menu and there is the button. I think it might actually also auto-download things once you start using it by way of some AI decisions.
​​​​


Now, I do also have a question. I'm looking at 207s and I understand there was a dealer option there, but I want to make sure before I travel to look at some of these cars (local offer is crap, literally 2 cars with the options I want in the whole country for sale) that I have a correct understanding and a fallback option - I've seen early in the thread a mention of eject button location on the center console. Does this only work with the hardware that has the eject button in the center, or also one that has it to the side?

 

Part 1 accomplished. Dealer read error logs, “then” had no problem with the update. Tech would not listen to my rant wanting High_CY15_9 however, he said he would update to the latest available for my model and year. Pretty much end of story as he wouldn’t let me respond back to that statement.

? How can you tell what Comand software ver. your car received?

W/ the so called “most current software update”.....

 

If you have ringtone volume for carplay, you're good.

 

They should have shown you the Xentry confirmation paperwork that shows the update code installed. SA wouldn't give me a copy, but he allowed me to take a photo with my camera. Like this one shown in my post #85...

 

I have loaded 24GB of music to a micro SD card and installed the card in my new Samsung S20 FE. I can find and play this music using YouTube Music and Samsung Music (outside the car).

With the phone connected to the car and Android Auto in use, I can see YouTube Music is among the available Apps. Has anyone used YT music to play the music off an SD card, and how does one navigate to YT music while in Google Map navigation? The goal is to use in-phone stored music instead of streaming music with Pandora, etc.

Referrals to Android Auto videos on how to do this are appreciated.

 

ah, got ya. Thank you. I figured since Vladimere sees this info online somewhere, I also could.

I guess it doesn’t really matter since I (now) have the dealer screen line 11.

Thanks for the detailed report on yours. 🍺

 

on your phone (NOT connected to car) launch AA. Go to Settings and then Customize Launcher. You should see all the apps that AA can use. Click 'em on or off and change the order they appear on the screen. Some you can't disable.
Close AA.
Connect to car and you should be able to "down click" on the Command knob to the AA Home button (lower left), then go to any of your apps. You should get an AA navigation bar across the bottom (for apps, not for map directions) so you can see one app (e.g. Waze) while also having the ability to control YT across the bottom.
https://www.blog.google/products/and...e-android-auto
​​​​​

 

Thanks so much. I'll experiment with this later.

 

I've worked with your advice. Great suggestions, especially about customizing the Launcher, placing YT Music at the top of the order makes it easy to switch between it and Maps in the AA navigation bar at the bottom of the screen. Very handy and safer to use this way.

Just what I was looking for. Thanks again!