Media playback via bluetooth

[namenick]

Hello,

I'm completely new to Ford and I need some advice and/or help with the bluetooth connectivity between my phone and my stereo.

The car is an '08 Focus (Titanium, if that makes a difference) from the UK, with the standard fitted Sony stereo. My phone is a Samsung S10.

 

I am able to easily connect the two using bluetooth and they work perfectly together when making and receiving calls, however I can't get any media playback to work. It looks like my phone won't recognise the car as having the ability to play media.  I've searched through these forums and am unable to locate a fix. I'd like to try updating the stereos firmware but I haven't got USB connectivity in the car.

 

Ford want £130 just to have a look, and for that money, I'm guessing I could just buy a new head unit.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do? I've seen bluetooth adapters which plug into the AUX jack, but they'd also need to be plugged into the 12v and I don't want wires all over the dash.

 

Apologies if this has been answered previously, please link to the relevant page if that's the case.

 

Thanks.

[namenick]

Saw a guide on here about getting a new bluetooth module but the price list showed it was much more expensive than just getting an aftermarket head unit. Are there any benefits to keeping the original?

 

I just want to be able to have both bluetooth hands free capability and media playback!

[Luke4efc]

The bluetooth module is separate to the head unit and located above the glove box. You can't fit another module that has bluetooth music playback AFAIK.

Remember the iPhone 3g wasn't even around when the mk2 face-lift was released, so there was really no demand for music streaming. Therefore the bluetooth is only capable of handling phone calls.

Don't bother with Ford, they can't do anything to "fix" it, there's no fault to start with!

I'd just rip the lot out and fit an Android unit from eBay for around £200 (they are made to bolt straight in, so no double fascia adapter required). That way you get Satnav, DAB, Bluetooth and a nice fancy touchscreen that looks factory fitted.

[namenick]

Thanks for the no nonsense advice. So I'd just need the head unit? No wiring adapters? An Android unit would click straight in and it would utilise all existing Speakers and the mic from the current hands free system?

Sounds too easy haha, I'm bound to be able to mess it up somehow...

[Luke4efc]

They come with all the relevant wiring adapters/canbus decoder for steering wheel controls etc.

It doesn't utilise the existing mic, but it comes with a replacement that's easy enough to tuck away somewhere discreet.

The DAB requires a USB adapter that doesn't come with the head unit.

[namenick]

Ah nice, sounds super straight forward! I'd imagine the quality of the DAB is quite poor if it's just a USB adapter? Not sure I'll bother with that.

 

Now to try and pick one, it looks like there's quite a few to choose from.

 

Thanks a lot mate, really appreciate the advice.

[Luke4efc]

9 hours ago, namenick said:

I'd imagine the quality of the DAB is quite poor if it's just a USB adapter?

Mine isn't, but I used the cars inbuilt antenna instead of the windscreen mount included in the USB adapter.

You have to remember these are only cheap Chinese units, so the sound quality is never going to be as good as the original Sony unit as they only use cheap amplifiers. It comes with a software equaliser, so if you have a little fiddle around with those adjustments, you can get it pretty close to the original sound quality. I'm a bit of an audiophile when it comes to speaker quality, and I can certainly put up with it now (although all I can hear is my exhaust 😂😂).

My advice is get the unit with the most CPU cores & RAM. The actual manufacturer doesn't really matter (unless the warranty/customer service is better). The units all come out of the same factory, just with a different name on the front. I think mine is Eonon, but xtrons and pumpkin are both the same.