[Mark M]

Recently I installed an Eonon setup in my father's e39. It impressed me, full Carplay functionality and decent UI experience while fully plug n play.

Well getting back into my 335d felt like a huge step back in time. So I began the quest to find an updated setup for my e90 that still looked period correct. The newer full screen 9 inch setups on Amazon DON'T look good in an e90 dash. However, I found the older 7 inch setups that have knob and buttons on the left and right, these DO look period correct.

I found one on AliExpress for $80 and threw the dice. Android 13 / Quad Core / 2GB / 32 GB. It wasn't painless but it was educational and has led to success.

1. I have the Logic7 factory system with fiber optics. So at first I had no audio. I ordered the fiber optic decoder box and made the connections. Bingo sound!!!
2. Long range FM signals were not coming in. Turns out the Aliexpress harness did not connect the Ant power wires. I made this connection and bingo, FM now pulls in all stations.
3. Steering wheel buttons didn't work. After time consuming struggles trying to change Canbus box settings and everything else, turns out I had neglected to make a small harness connection on the back of the unit. Bingo steering wheel buttons work.
4. Wifi and bluetooth activations on the head unit were flaky. Turns out the unit prioritizes wireless Carplay connection. So when Carplay is active, the unit is unable to connect to any other wifi. When I need wifi, I have to turn off wifi / bluetooth on my phone. Not really an issue for me, I use this unit for Carplay 90% of the time. (I have not yet learned if it can run wired carplay only)
5. The OE harness did not have a constant hot wire. I had to run a yellow wire and tap a fuse from the fust box to have a constant hot to retain settings and allow for instant on with the key. The constant hot was wired to the unit, while the Canbus box and fiber decoder were wired to the switched hot in the harness.
6. At first the install didn't line up cleanly in the dash with the HVAC controls. It took some tweaks and adjustments on the brackets, now it is perfect.

Overall sound quality is decent, it took some time working with the EQ and making adjustments. If anything the new unit really puncuated how blah the factory speakers are. As this evolves, I may jump down the path of upgrading speakers and adding a simple subwoofer. The younger me was a huge audophile, but for this 14 year old car, I can't justify throwing huge $$ and installing amp racks with sub cabinets and specialized speaker pods. Cool, but overkill.

* Edit - I just discovered the Equalizer settings in Spotify on Carplay. Wow! The system really woke up nicely, deeper base and more crisp highs. I'm a fan!

Carplay works great, seemlessly connects everytime I start the car. It allows voice control of Nav, Spotify, and messages.

So far I am a fan, it definitely brought this 335d out of the stone age!