In this video, I check out Carpuride 9-inch Car Stereo Display.
You can buy this car display from $249.90 directly from Carpuride → https://bit.ly/carpuride9, or from Amazon US → https://amzn.to/3RF0pXw, or for £318 from Amazon UK → https://amzn.to/3yJqoon and €318 from Amazon DE→ https://amzn.to/3IEGrIF
Recommended vent mount adapters:
TORRAS Phone Holder for Car → https://amzn.to/3IKC6DS
ZEEHOO Universal Phone Vent Clip → https://amzn.to/3IOL1UM
Miracase Car Air Vent Clip → https://amzn.to/3uQyjim
If you want to have CarPlay or Android Auto in your car but you don’t want to go through a messy or technical install, this standalone display from Carpuride is a simple plug-and-play way to get CarPlay or Android Auto in your vehicle without the technical, time consuming, and a rather costly install.
Carpuride offers a few models including a 7-inch stereo display, but the one I am reviewing today is their 9-inch IPS touch screen display model, which allows you to run both wireless CarPlay and Android Auto from your mobile, stream media over Airplay or MirrorLink, play media from a USB drive or SD card, Bluetooth music and make calls, and have the audio play from your car speakers by using either its built-in FM transmitter, an auxiliary audio output cable, or you can use its internal 3W speaker. And if you want to add a rearview camera to your car, there is an optional rear camera accessory kit that also works alongside this display.
Unboxing
In the box, you get a paper instruction manual, one adjustable dashboard mounting bracket and an adhesive sticker for its base, there is an adjustable mount that attaches to the windscreen via a suction cup, a 12v adapter charging cable, an AUX audio cable, a ball joint adapter, the optional rearview camera and installation kit, and finally, there is the 9-inch car stereo display itself.
Looking over the standalone display. At 9-inches this display is a lot bigger than the smaller 7-inch standalone CarPlay displays I’ve reviewed in the past. It features an IPS display, with a native resolution of 1024×600. The result is a rather large, vibrant display with a wide viewing angle, and the higher resolution display allows for more icons per screen in CarPlay than most aftermarket receivers.
At the top of the display, there is a small power button, that when held down will turn the display on/off, and a short press of this button will mute the display’s audio. Along the left side of the display console, you’ll find all the available I/O ports. This includes an optional 3.5mm external mic port, there is a microSD card slot for media playback, a 2.5mm input port for the optional rear camera kit, a 3.5mm audio output port for auxiliary audio to your car stereo’s AUX input port (if it has one), then there is a USB-A port for USB Media that also charges devices at up to 10.1 Watts, and finally, there is the DC input port to power the display using the supplied 12v power cable.
Mounting
The display comes with three ways to mount it in your vehicle. The first is a windscreen mount, which attaches to your windscreen and floats the display above your dashboard. The next mount is a dashboard or centre console mount. With the supplied
adhesive pad stuck onto its plastic base you can attach this bracket onto a smooth, flat surface of your dashboard or centre console. I had to loosen the screw underneath before I was able to turn the mount to the required 90 degrees. Its base offers a solid foundation with plenty of tilt adjustment to get the perfect angle in your car interior.
The final attachment method is a supplied ball joint adapter. To use this method you will need to supply your own third-party attachment of choice, such as this vent mount solution that uses a 17mm ball joint. This then attaches to the adapter and this is then attached to the display.
All three mounting options will position the display how you like in your car interior, from the windscreen, on the dashboard, to a spare air vent. At 507grams in weight, you will need to take care in choosing how you mount this display and what mounting option you chose to make sure the display remains stable and visible, without too much distraction whilst driving.
For me I preferred mounting it on the air vent, using the ball joint adapter along with one of my favourite air vent mounting solutions. This allows the display to sit lower, off the dashboard and restricts less of my vision over the dashboard. At 9-inches this display can be rather large and distracting when perched on top of the dashboard.
Menu Interface
Once powered up and running, you’ll be presented with its main menu interface, which consists of a persistent status bar at the top that allows you to quickly return to the home screen, change volume levels, view the time, check Bluetooth connection status, alter brightness, change background wallpapers and access help and support information.
Below the status bar, you’ll see 10 icons, that lead to the various main functions of the display. None of these icons can be moved or hidden. No doubt for legal reasons, the i-Play icon relates to Apple CarPlay, and the A-Auto icon is for Android Auto. The Airplay option allows wireless video or audio streaming over Wi-Fi from your iPhone, the Autolink option allows screen casting over a wired connection, selecting the Display Off icon is self explanatory, and Bluetooth allows you to make calls, view recent call history, select a contact and play music from your connected phone over Bluetooth. Both USB and Card options offer the ability to browse a connected USB drive or SD card and playback the media that’s stored on it. The FM trans option is how you can connect the display’s audio to the FM radio in your vehicle, and finally there is a Settings area to adjust and customise the display’s functions and the customise the rear camera’s operation.
Wireless CarPlay & Android Auto
Wireless CarPlay and Android Auto took around 18 seconds and 12 seconds respectively to connect wirelessly to the display. After which, the experience was decent, reliable and responsive. With a higher resolution, CarPlay displays 10 icons per screen, however, due to how this display renders CarPlay both wired and wireless, there are black bars on either side of the CarPlay UI, and because of this, it squashes the display so that its icons are squashed width ways, which is a shame. For Android users, this issue isn’t present on Android Auto. Wired CarPlay and Android Auto work just fine, with boot-up into their respective platforms in around 4 seconds.
Sending audio from the display to your car stereo can be achieved in 3 ways. The first is using the built-in 3W internal speaker. This isn’t a great solution as the speaker lacks power and volume. It would be fine for turn navigation, but for music, it is very limited in its range.
The second is FM transmission. You first select an FM frequency on your radio that is free from, or has little reception noise, then on the display, you dial in the same FM frequency, once the power button on the radio interface is pressed, the display will cast the audio on the selected FM frequency, and you’ll hear the audio come out of your car speakers.
Lastly, there is a cable connection. Using the supplied 3.5mm AUX cable, you can connect this cable from the display to the AUX input on your car stereo and have a reliable audio connection to your car stereo. You then set the stereo’s source to AUX and you’ll begin to hear the display’s audio come through your car speakers.
USB and SD Card media playback was decent on this display, playing back some complex and high bitrate test videos didn’t have any loss in quality or any noticeable artefacts, and frame rates were also smooth and didn’t have any noticeable frame drops. Music and photo files played through just fine too.
Wireless AirPlay for iPhone and the cable-connected Autolink for both iPhone and Android offer video streaming from your mobile phone onto the display. Playback over AirPlay only seemed to work when using the Screen Mirroring option on the iPhone. Using AirPlay I was able to cast from the YouTube app on my iPhone. The audio was in sync, and the picture was clear but slightly scaled down. Zooming in on the iPhone would make the video go full screen on the display, but with some top and bottom black borders. Apps like Plex and YouTube Music also streamed well from the app to the display, with audio also in sync, however, more strict copyrighted streaming apps, like Netflix, Prime and Disney+ would not display video, but it would playback audio.
My Impressions
The Carpuride Wireless Portable Car Stereo Display retails for $269.90 with the included rear camera kit, or $249.90 without, from Carpuride directly and they also sell some models on Amazon UK, DE and in the US, with the 9” model currently selling on Amazon UK for £318 and €318 in Germany.
If you’re looking for an easy and simple way to get CarPlay or Android Auto in your vehicle, then these standalone displays are a great solution. This 9-inch screen is very large, possibly too large for narrow windscreens or dashboard mounting. Personally, I think a lower vent mount solution would be better for medium to smaller vehicles, and you’ll need to pay a little extra for a vent mount like this one that I’ll link to in the description.
My time with the 9-inch display was good. CarPlay and Android Auto seemed to function well, both wirelessly and wired. The main issue for CarPlay users is the rather odd, squashed display resolution that warps the whole CarPlay interface, whilst Android Auto users are free of this problem.
Media file playback was great, and casting wirelessly from YouTube over AirPlay on iPhone was great too. Using Autolink however, on Android with its App and a cable connection, had some surprising audio sync delay issues from YouTube. So overall, the video streaming experience for Android isn’t as good or reliable as it is on iPhone.
Bluetooth streaming seemed ok. Connecting my iPhone displayed the dial, recent calls and contact list menus. Bluetooth music playback was also ok with the volume being adjustable via the volume buttons on the device. The top status bar info and buttons were handy to have, however, I thought changing the background wallpaper and accessing help should have been in the Settings area for a cleaner UI. Display brightness, Bluetooth, volume and home were very clear and easy to touch and navigate.
I did get a few crashes of the system now and again, which required a restart of the whole display. This wasn’t so easily repeatable though, and I didn’t get it during Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, it was more around the Bluetooth and some media playback.
So overall, this display from Carpuride is a good alternative to some of the other standalone car stereo displays that are out there, and it is an easy way to bring older cars, old stereos, or even older hired cars into the future that can work well with today’s smartphones for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as well as allow the ability to playback various media.
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 – Brief overview
1:10 – Unboxing
1:37 – Features
2:58 – Mounting options
4:36 – Menu interface
5:10 – App functions
6:02 – Wireless CarPlay & Android Auto
6:50 – Sending display audio to car stereo
8:03 – USB/SD Card media playback
8:21 – Wireless streaming video
9:07 – My Impressions
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