In this review, I check out the R12 5-inch CarPlay/Android Auto Display With Dash Camera from Coral Vision. You can buy this car stereo display for $185 direct from Coral Vision here and use coupon code “CARPLAYLIFE” at checkout for 10%-OFF your order!
This is a compact 5-inch portable display, that features a 4K front-facing dash camera on the back, and a rear-facing 1080P camera also comes supplied, it can display both wireless CarPlay and Android Auto from your mobile phone, and audio output is cast from the built-in speaker, wired Auxiliary cable, or wirelessly over FM transmission or Bluetooth audio to your car stereo.
In the box, you get a paper instruction manual, and there is the 5-inch display itself with a pre-attached adhesive mounting arm. There’s a separate windscreen suction mount, a 2.5m USB-C to 12v socket power cable, a 1.5m AUX cable, a 32GB ADATA microSD card, and a rear-view camera and power cable.
Features & Design
Its 5” size makes this display super compact and very portable, it is a little similar to Coral Vision’s Smart Mirror that I reviewed on this channel. The ISP display screen isn’t sadly edge to edge and carries some chunky bezels on the left and right sides. This allows room for what looks like a microphone hole on the right side of the display.
On top there’s the USB-C port to power the display, then there is an AV IN port for the supplied rear-view camera, the microSD card slot is used to save recorded dashcam footage, and finally, there is the 3.5mm AUX audio output port. Underneath there is a single power button to manually turn the screen on and off and holding it down will shut down the display.
Installation & Mounting
Due to its size and mounting options, you could practically place this display in many places in the car. Its swing arm mount and adhesive pad could allow a dashboard mount that’s closer to reach, or it could be installed on the upper interior of the car. Replace this mount with the suction cup mount and you could place this anywhere on the windscreen, however, I did find it quite hard to place it near my rear-view mirror, because any lower down on the windscreen would make the display further out of arm’s reach. If you’re not going to use the dash cam, its light weight allows you could easily mount it lower onto an air vent without any problems.
Its 2.5m power cable is just long enough for most discreet interior installs, or you could power the display via a 5V USB port, or 12V USB-C adapter power and cable. I was able to successfully power the display with a USB-A to C cable from a wireless CarPlay adapter plugged into my 5V CarPlay port, so anything is possible.
Boot-up & Menu Interface
Boot-up time takes just under 11 seconds and lands on its main menu interface screen. This screen consists of, oddly, both an analogue and digital clock, the date, and four main shortcut buttons to launch Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, view the dash camera and select audio output.
Along the top are status icons to tell you if you are connected to the display over Bluetooth, CarPlay and Android Auto, as well as if the microSD card is inserted. On one side is a side dock with four options to access the display’s brightness settings, volume, dashcam and settings.
The settings menu has lots of customisation options for the display, and you can also playback dashcam footage from this area. Personally, I would have liked to see this option on the side dock or main menu. The usual dashcam settings can be adjusted here, from recording resolution, loop time, display timeout and motion sensitivity, to reverse camera settings, adjusting date and time, display brightness, language and microphone input.
Wireless Apple CarPlay
Selecting Apple CarPlay or Android Auto will launch a general connect screen of options and information on how to connect to the display for Apple CarPlay, and Android Auto, and tucked away here is the ability to playback Bluetooth Music and to connect the Viidure dash camera app over Wi-Fi to browse and view recorded dash camera footage from the display.
Simply connecting your iPhone’s Bluetooth to the display’s Bluetooth ID will allow you the ability to connect to Apple CarPlay. It took 14 seconds from pairing my phone to viewing Wireless CarPlay on the display. The screen is fast and fairly responsive, however with such a small display you have to be more precise with where you are pressing on the display.
Without a persistent side dock, there is a floating button that overlays on top of the CarPlay interface. Sadly this can’t be removed, and with such a low resolution and small display, this button can be difficult to position itself out of the way. I would have preferred a wider display and a persistent side dock.
Selecting this button allows you to go to the main menu screen of the display, view the dash camera, alter speaker volume or access the chosen audio mode screen, and manually alter the screen brightness.
Wireless Android Auto
Android Auto took a little longer to connect to my Google Pixel, at around 15 seconds. Once connected the Google platform ran okay with the display showing at the correct ratio, albeit like CarPlay, at a low resolution to cater for the smaller display. At 5 inches, this display can feel cramped when in multi-app views in both Android Auto or CarPlay dashboard views, and it comes into its own when viewing a single app full screen.
Calling from the built-in microphone sounded good for the distance that the display can be positioned from, with the receiver hearing me clearly in the call as if I was using hands-free on my iPhone during the call and I didn’t notice any significant calling lag during the call.
Four Ways to Cast Audio
The R12 display has four methods of audio output. The first is its built-in speaker. Due to its small 1.5W of power and the general size of the display, don’t expect big things from this audio method. It is ideal for voice and navigation but anything like music is best handled by one of the other three options.
Next is FM transmission, which will cast its audio from the display to a synced FM frequency on your car stereo. Unfortunately on two cars I tried this out on, both had terrible constant interference, which made this option not fit for purpose. It is improved if you use the official 12v power cable, but even when using this cable and trying many empty FM frequencies, I struggled to reduce the poor level of interference.
Connecting the AUX cable to the display and the car stereo is more reliable with decent sound quality but at the compromise of having another cable coming out of the display. Its 1.5m cable length means you might struggle more than its power cable when channelling it around your car’s interior.
The R12 also have Bluetooth support, and this is the best wireless audio solution if your car stereo supports it. Just like Coral Vision’s RX10 and RX7 displays, Bluetooth audio is connected from your phone to the car stereo, rather than from the display. This means you’ll get full wheel controls, however, I couldn’t get the call button to work to trigger Siri or Google Assistant. Instead, you’ll have to touch the buttons on the display or use your voice to invoke either assistant. Another advantage of this method is that reconnection and resuming are more reliable, when you get back in the car and start the display and reconnect to the stereo over Bluetooth.
Front Dashcamera
As a dash camera, the R12 isn’t going to win awards with its picture quality, but it does a fair job of capturing day and night recordings. Whilst viewing recordings back on the small 5-inch display can look decent, playing it back on a desktop at native 4K resolutions leaves much more to be desired.
Overall its quality feels a little washed out, with a high exposure, and its colour can be a look a little oversaturated in places. It greatly lacks detail when you compare it to my Mercylion camera, in both day and night records.
Night recordings struggle with lots of noise, and the quality of capture can vary greatly the move you have the camera away from the windscreen, with lots of glare and bloom from streetlamps and car headlights. Overall, if you are looking to utilise the R12 as a main dash camera in the vehicle, then there are much better alternatives to be had out there.
My Impressions
The Coral Vision R12 5-inch portable CarPlay display with Dash Cam currently retails for $185. Overall, it is a nice compact display that I am sure will have many uses thanks to its small form factor and ability to run CarPlay and Android Auto wireless to any car stereo. As a dash camera, it is more a token addition than something I would want to rely on. It’s quality is okay, but you can do better with a more dedicated dash camera, for the same price.
The fact that you get both in one product cannot be overlooked though, and the R12 is commendable in that regard. Its display may be no bigger than a mobile phone screen, but anything goes for placement in a car that doesn’t have CarPlay or Android Auto. Paired with third-party mounts and USB-C 12v adapters you could place this display discreetly and without obstructing the view over your dashboard, and you’re not necessarily tied to placing this display in the car either.
If you’re looking for a small and unobtrusive CarPlay or Android Auto display for your car, with the token of it also being able to record front and rear video, then the R12 from Coral Vision may be worth checking out.
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 – Brief overview
0:33 – Unboxing
0:56 – Features & Design
1:44 – Installation
2:47 – Boot-up, Menu Interface & Settings
3:54 – Wireless Apple CarPlay
5:15 – Wireless Android Auto
6:16 – Audio Output
6:30 – Speaker audio test
6:46 – FM audio transmission
7:23 – AUX audio output
7:52 – BT audio output
8:48 – Dashcam test
9:40 – My Impressions
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