Oxygen Audio oCar

I liked the idea of this stereo. I was installed and worked amazing. How ever, the volume knob broke within 2 months. It won't turn up or down without a lot of turning back and forth.

The case restrictions are somewhat annoying, thankfully this has gone in to one of my cars that is not often driven - so I can live with either putting it in the provided case, or, as another reviewer suggests, adding some pad to the mount to hold it in place.



Also, as someone else indicated, I too felt the effort to mount and remove the phone was poor, and would be a pain if you are frequently putting it in and out. In fact the pressure required worries me, as I suspect over time parts will get lose and sloppy, or worse yet break.



The radio reception is surprisingly good, outperforming the Kenwood deck it replaced; and outperforming reception of the factory decks on my two cars that don't have aftermarket audio. I can pick up good quality radio stations on the FM band with little to no static at approximately 60 miles / 100 km.



The amplifier circuit is fairly good for a built in amp; although not surprisingly it is not 'great', you do get what you pay for. If you are playing high volumes then go for an external amp (not unique to this unit).



Mounting of the unit has been highlighted as a concern in other reviews; and you do need to ensure you have the room for this unit. Its face sticks out from the dash significantly more than most head units (looking very bulky - and taking more "height" than most any other single din head I have seen). Also, keep in mind that once mounted if you wish to rotate the head you need sufficient clearance; on my car it just pops out far enough to clear an obstruction below, but I would expect some cars you will effectivley be limited to landscape mode.



From a functionality perspective I found the display slow to respond, again others shared this concern. It could flow smoother, and to be honest, being based on a smart phone like the iPhone they could be way more creative (even offering multiple UIs to select from). Once reviewer complained that the FM tuning was in small increments of .05MHz - my guess is they had the region set incorrectly, I know I experienced similar, but found I was set to Europe, and needed to change to North America.

All on-screen controls require slow movements, and do not feel precise or predictable.



My biggest UI complaint, however, is the fact they have two apps, one for radio, and one for tuner. I found that sometimes I would close one, open the other, and upon returning to the initial one it indicated my phone was not docked to the radio. I needed to shut the app down (not just minimize it) and then re-open it to connect.



Also, I found that I had unpredictable behaviour moving between radio and iTunes, sometimes it worked fine, sometimes it required me to shut down the app again.



It would be wonderful if the app could manage task switching and allow you to toggle from iTunes to Oxygen easily (but that may be hard with the way iPhone is locked down). At very least it would be nice if the Oxygen apps were merged in to one app; stabilized; and the UI made to be more responsive.



Hands free operation was very good, the sound quality was reported as excellent by the person I called; with that said my car was parked and engine off - so no significant background noise to contend with.



Overall, not good value at list price, but worth the money at street price if you are willing to live with some of the short comings to have the advantage of a very cool concept that is reasonably well presented. A revised version would be nice; one where the mount is much better designed AND where it is designed to easily allow retrofitting to support future iPhones like iPhone 5 and beyond, as I imagine they will not fit.



At least if I ever move to iPhone 5 I can keep my iPhone 4 as the face plate for this car's stereo - so it isn't truly dead at that point.



My overall rating is pushed higher due to the coolness of this unit, and this too brings up the value rating (when purchased from Sonic, due to their better than average price). I have held design back due to some things mentioned in my review, but still love the concept.

Durability rating - pure guess - have only had it for a couple of days.

Features, again high, as the primary feature - my iPhone being the face plate - is a fantastic feature.

Ease of use, well, it is a little tough - but I expect we will see some incremental improvements in the software, and frankly, that is a great thing about a virtual face plate that you just don't get with a conventional head unit, it can be revised easily enough by Oxygen.



This was my first purchase from Sonic Electronix.com, and I must say the service was fantastic, shipped quickly and well packed.



RECOMMEND: BUY!

Oxygen Audio oCar in my 2010 Honda Insight professionally installed.

Docking system:

Pros: perfect for horizontal and landscape mode.

Cons: Need to take out any case or cover unless it's thin enough.

Ocar Apps:

Pros: Radio signals are clear

Cons: Need to turn off radio app to listen to itunes or pandora.

HandsFree:

Pros: Obviously clear since hooked in with the speakers and the external mic helps too.

Cons: sometimes you don't want to answer by hands free because Private calls can be heard by others on speakers. Bluetooth acts up a bit sometimes. Only during hands free mode.

Other Apps:

Pros: Can text hands free, GPS, any other apps except

Cons: while driving can not use Youtube or it seems any video apps.

I can't believe that it has taken this long for something like this to be available. Unit installed seemlessly, allthought you will need to make sure your dash can accomodate the large face trim plate. The tuner and equalizer app could be more refined but overall worked ok. Bluetooth works great! All of my apps now available IN MY CAR!! Unit allows the iPhone to display n either portfolio of landscape mode. Sound quality is very good. I will be buying one for my wife for Christmas for sure.

Cons

1. Biggest issue is that this will not install in all cars. My dash (Z4) is at an angle and my dash kit was for a standard single din radio. The faceplate on this thing is huge and needs a flat dash or a recessed sleeve mounting kit to make it fit flush with the dash, so I had to install it in my son's car (Jeep). And it sticks out way too far... Just sayin be careful what car you have and what dash kit you get. Do measurements to make sure it will work first before you buy.

2. Second biggest issue. I can no longer use my phone case. I have to use the functional, but thin and non-protective case that comes with the ocar. This may be a deal killer for most.

3. Third biggest issue. You can't use the Radio app and use the Sound app to equalize the sound, because when you background the Radio app, the music stops. This REALLY needs to be fixed. I personally change my subwoofer settings on almost every song.

4. Tuning to another station on the Radio app is frustratingly slooow. It increments at 0.05MHz steps. And you can't see what frequency you are on while you are swiping, because the number is under your finger.

5. The equalizer app is very frustrating to use. There's not really a graphical representation of where you are, just some small + - text at the top of the screen. Don't swipe fast, swipe reeeeeally slow to get it to work.

6. Balance & Fade; same frustration-ness....

7. When you switch video out, you have to remove the phone and reinsert it to get the video to switch.

8. No center frequency controls.

9. No Subwoofer cutoff frequency controls.

10. No Steering wheel controls.

11. Popout swivel just sounds cheap. Boingy spring... When it's popped out, make sure you hold the bottom of the bracket when you push the Home button on the phone, or it will flop down. When it is pushed back in, it still jiggles and vibrates while going down the road.





Pros

1. Sound quality is good. Could be a ton better, maybe, if I could set the center frequencies and cutoff frequencies.

2. Video quality is good.

3. Finish is nice. Contrast of the gloss and flat black...

4. Volume knob is works nicely. Bonus hidden feature! Push in the volume knob for mute. Hold it to turn the unit off.



Overall, it does get an iPhone in the dash of a car, but at a very basic level. I wouldn't buy it again. I'll wait for something else.