Pioneer SPH-10BT 1-DIN Car In-Dash Bluetooth Digital Media Smartphone Receiver

Great

This mechless head unit works in tandem with smartphones. Incorporates a cradle to hold your smartphone. Size of the unit is standard single din, and connects by omnipresent ISO connectors. Features a bit of retro tech in the form of a face off design this is necessary for the smartphone cradle to be extracted from the unit.The cradle itself is fairly sturdy, rotates to allow landscape or portrait orientation of the phone. However it offers no panning side to side to allow the user to angle it towards the self. Another notable omission is the cradle would be truly wireless if it had incorporated a Qi charging pad in its design. As it is you'll need to buy a separate lead to connect the phone to the USB socket in the face. I know older smartphones don't offer wireless charging, but the majority of newer devices do. It would make the unit look slicker if they did this.The head unit itself while well specified is bordering on difficult to operate without a smartphone coupled to it, some features are seemingly impossible even with the phone and app.The app gives you the look of a big screen head unit when in landscape. It allows control of many of the functions of the unit and settings.One notable thing I can not manage to do and the manual is not helping, is pick my own choice of radio stations and store them. I am allowed to let the radio pick what stations I listen to and store in memory (using the BSM function), but by its very nature, this radio is designed to be in a car, so after a few miles you have to either pull over and let the radio decide on a new random selection of stations once you are out of range.I don't personally like that I get no choice in this selection of stations, or their order. In fact the manual mentions this is possible, but only after you go to the section on the app. Once at the section on using the app it explains how to use the awful BSM random station selector. This is actually pretty awful for a supposedly major manufacturer of car stereo equipment that can't get the basics of radio functions right.Other points to note with the app, (I'm familiar with carplay setups and know it can be done right). Podcasts don't work within the app. The "messaging functions" don't seem to be too well integrated for WhatsApp. It's not possible to press and hold volume buttons to scroll up and down one level at a time. The app isn't particularly intuitive when it comes to music control such as skipping tracks etc, a few basic balloon tips to teach the app would overcome this for new users.Once you get the feel for it, it's actually pretty good if you want to just listen to music on your smartphone. Nice sound, full access etc. But it's hampered by poor implementation.

Great concept to use your phone as your head unit screen.You can customize the screen and button colours and the equalizerYou can integrate Amazon music, Google play, SD Spotify and choose them through the pioneer smart sync app. At the touch of 1 button you can change source, use voice assistant or navigationNow up to this point I would give the unit 5 stars but like the previous review the radio function is really poor so I rarely even use this function anymore instead I use tunein. Secondly the smart sync app doesn't always connect to the head unit properly so although it still plays your music via Bluetooth the app functions are not availableIn conclusion a great concept but a few additions would make it awesome 4 stars out of 5Would I recommend this stereo definitely yes

Doesn't do anything that a normal Bluetooth stereo would do. In fact it's more restrictive only having four buttons or shortcuts to apps. As soon as I get back from my holiday I shall be selling it.Also cannot use tablets with it as they've not made it compatible.

Pioneer smart sync appUsed: 2 monthsRadio: Pioneer SBH-10BT with ND-PS1 Reverse-Parking SensorLikes:• Easy to setup with Phone• Starts app automatically with car (most of the time)• Lots of configurable options (once you find them)• App has received three updates since purchasingDislikes• The warning message that appears EVERY TIME the app launches. Please stop this – my phone goes to sleep if I do not click OK, rending the whole thing pointless.• Clumsy UI (Radio / BT Audio / App) – difficult to use while driving• No Android Auto Integration (can you make it available as a ‘Navigation’ app?)• Pioneer Assistant rarely works and cannot be heard• Some menu options are in Russian (Volume settings)• Bluetooth-audio plays over the top of the radio• Unit powers down between car-ignition and running key turnsI drive a 15-year-old Renault Clio and was fed-up of having to stick my phone to the windscreen with a suction device, and generally having a poor-overall experience with the integration of my phone with the car.The Pioneer SPH-10BT with the ND-PS1 Reverse-paring sensors helped me do this, and my drives have been fun ever since.I also purchased the optional ND-PS1 reverse-parking sensors which were fairly easy to install, but for the benefit of anyone else installing these... The SPH-10BT unit has a small wire which I had to run a cable along to my reverse light so that the radio knew when it was in reverse. I was hoping I could use the 'power block' (whatever it's called) that the radio plugs into, but after attaching a multi-meter to each of the pins, and putting the car into reverse, I was unable to get a signal from any of the pins (resulting in the wire) - I imagine some newer cars won't require you to do this.The SmartSync application is just OK at the time of writing this review. I appreciate that Pioneer want to make an application that talks to their radios and can provide some cool functionality across devices – and while they achieve this to an extent, they’re re-inventing the wheel. Android Auto / Apple Car Play already have many of these features.It feels as if they build for Apple-first (their marketing suggests that way) and then Android are a bit of an afterthought.We don’t need an all-encompassing application. We need a simple application that’s easy to change radio stations or sources, while allowing me to change the settings of the radio on the odd occasion that I need to do this.A seamless integration with Android Auto would be perfect for me – perhaps it could be one of the Navigation applications in settings, so when I press the navigation button on my radio, it’ll launch Android Auto?The Pioneer Assistant is pointless in my opinion, and I barely hear it when it replies to my messages – normally with “PLEASE SPEAK AGAIN”. Nice idea, but poorly implemented. Is there a reason why you chose not to integrate with the Google Assistant? I would not mind having to add a few words to my commands… “Hey Google, Ask Pioneer to turn the volume to 20”.All in – I don’t regret purchasing – and hopefully Pioneer will at least think about some of my ramblings when deciding what goes on the update road map.

The overall concept and hardware quality are great. Unfortunately, it is let down entirely by highly disappointing software in the Pioneer Smart Sync app. I strongly recommend reading reviews on the app before purchasing.I've resorted to only using the Smart Sync app to configure the device and then uninstalling it from my phone. I use the Android Auto app via Bluetooth for normal use, which is perfect for what I need and expected this stereo to do. Although the buttons on the head unit don't work with Android Auto.I do miss the ridiculous comedy of having an altimeter and compass on the smart sync app though... Idiots.