Not the support i was expecting.

Sahil

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to share my experience and some thoughts.

I’ve been tinkering with custom ROMs and Android mods since the Samsung Galaxy S2 days, so I’ve been around the block when it comes to flashing, modding, and experimenting. Over the years, I’ve seen Google break stuff time and again, even the Pixels aren’t immune. (The hotspot on my Pixel 8 and 9 is still broken, with no fix in sight for months, maybe even years!) So yeah, considering all that, I think the folks at DUDU definitely deserve some grace.

I was searching for a good head unit for my Nissan Patrol and almost ordered a factory-style updated unit. Then I came across a YouTube video on the DUDU7, and it completely blew me away. Best specs I’d seen, a slick custom OS, and OTA updates, everything looked amazing on paper. So I went ahead and ordered the highest configuration I could get. Fifteen days later, it was installed in my car.

Now, I thought I’d just set it up, customize a few things, and enjoy an upgraded driving experience...
But wow, I was not prepared for the amount of options, settings, and layers of customization. It’s honestly overwhelming. There are so many ways to do the same thing, and figuring out what’s what takes a lot of time and trial.

I don’t consider myself a pro anymore, but I do have a decent understanding of tech, and I can follow instructions pretty well. Still, this setup feels like a different beast altogether, maybe I’ve been out of the game too long... or maybe I’m just getting old. 😅

That said, I’m still mostly happy with the unit, it’s powerful, looks great, and has loads of potential. I just really wish we had better support, or at least more user-friendly guides and walkthroughs to help with setup and feature optimization. Even some organized community docs or pinned beginner FAQs would go a long way.

Thanks again to the team behind DUDU7, it’s a fantastic product. Just hoping the community and devs can help make it a little easier for folks like me to get the most out of it.

DUDU-Meng

Sahil
The existing features have bugs. You can post articles in this forum to submit the necessary information, and we will fix them as much as possible.
If it is an unsupported feature or an improvement to an existing feature, you need to submit a feature request article in the feature request section. Thank you.

WoOOOhOOO

Sahil I just really wish we had better support, or at least more user-friendly guides and walkthroughs to help with setup and feature optimization. Even some organized community docs or pinned beginner FAQs would go a long way.

100% agree. I feel that the OS is in flux though, 3.6 only just got released and needs some TLC.

Hopefully nice documentation will come when they've got it more stable.

They're pretty close... I just hope they do the extra 10% polishing to get it to a really great state.

At least they're openly admitting that "the existing features have bugs" and are open to feature requests. I'm new here so I'm not sure how good they are about actually implementing those feature requests.

The lack of a Lockscreen and making the sound settings screens much more straightforward are my WTF issues. I just posted about the lockscreen and they had a go at me for asking. And reading other posts complaining about the sound settings, people are complaining about no progress made over a fair amount of time.

This is for a device that is specifically intended to play music in a mobile vehicle that will be parked in insecure areas and would be easily stolen. Mine is literally just attached to a plastic clip-on fascia - one tug and it's out.

Both are not great signs IMO, but I'll be very happy to be proven too pessimistic.

niftyken

Skillzo1 I would definitely love a way to do a text search for an OS function or app. There have already been many times that I know I've seen a particular setting somewhere, but struggled to find it while digging through layers and layers of menus.

Case in point, I'm still trying to remember where it is that I saw you could add easy volume controls to the interface so you can change the volume from just about anywhere in the OS. (One thing I definitely miss about my factory head unit is the volume knob!)

WoOOOhOOO

niftyken I saw that setting somewhere under Settings-Launcher Options today.

Mikescotland

BTW, I posted a post here that we have now a probably better competition, a HU that does it all better for the same price, and guess what, it was quickly deleted by Dudu.

janis

Mikescotland

I saw it, not desided if i liked it better or nor.

Sad they dont have 12.3 inch wide screen.

dudu-lai

Mikescotland I explained the situation to you in a forum private message over ten minutes ago.

We've known about this blogger's video for a month.

We don't discuss competitors; we focus on our own business.

Sean

Mikescotland post the name again please. I’m seriously thinking about returning mine.

Mikescotland

dudu-lai exactly, I was pointing out that competitor actually resolved all the main bugs we have in Dudu (DPI, false 96/192kHz spdif sampling, Android audio mixer unable to accept 44.1kHz, 3D ADAS and so on) that you either ignore to acknowledge or simply ghost people's complaints.
How many times people say "do something with night backlight" or "navbar and icons are too small", "bring back DPI adjustment", "when 44.1kHz spdif" etc, without any response.
I do get it, you decided to catch many birds at the same time, by releasing duduOS for other than Dudu devices, VIP launchers for BYD etc, and this suddenly takes away time from the task that should be the only task - you released a Dudu pricey headunit, so it's time that after over a year it should be working as promised.

dudu-lai

Mikescotland I'm sorry, but I'm more familiar with hardware installation and can't answer your other questions. Those other questions require professional answers.
Mike, I assume your primary goal is to make the device more user-friendly.
Do you use telegraph? I'll contact a few engineers to answer your questions.

Sean

dudu-lai Do you have more to offer than that very substandard response ? I’m at the point where I’m considering returning my unit because it is buggy and I am constantly having to touch screen while driving to make things work like they should (illegal where I live and fines are huge). Can’t get internet shared from my iPhone etc etc etc etc. The sampling of digital audio before being “passed” via optical etc etc. You guys put more into advertising than working on actually making a unit that functions as it claims to. When will we hear a decent customer focused reply?

Mikescotland

Sean It's a new Teyes Cc4 Pro, based on snapdragon processor. You can take a look at YouTube, just search for it. It's a new product so I'm basically waiting for some independent reviews to see if it holds to its promises. If so, I'm getting rid of Dudu and buying it.

WoOOOhOOO

Sean Can’t get internet shared from my iPhone

I'm definitely not discounting your experience but I have no trouble connecting my dudu7 to the hotspot of my phone.

My phone is Android and I have a tasker task that automatically turns the hotspot on when the phone connects to the bluetooth of the dudu7. The dudu7 basically connects in about 10 seconds every time and I see the wifi symbol.

dudu-lai

Sean My response wasn't intended for you, and you don't understand the process involved. I apologize if there was any misunderstanding.
Please create a new thread with your issue, and a DUDUOS system engineer will be able to answer your questions. I'm responsible for installing the theme and am not an expert on system issues.

Sean

dudu-lai these threads are public so your response is meant to be read by all involved in the forums. My issues are indeed separate to what’s been described above. Why I’ve commented here is due to the fact that I’m seeing a fairly consistent trend in DuduAuto replied to skirt around the issues being discussed and not to provide a firm commitment to actually resolving them. So many promises made but in reality this product doesn’t function at all like it should or could.

Sean

Mikescotland Thanks Mike. Another user sent me that info -obviously read your post before it was deleted. I was previously seriously considering going back to my trusted Alpine units and foregoing the optical/digital output -really their decision to omit this from all but their uber expensive units is the reason I looked for other options. I've been using their units with optical output since the mid 90's (yes, I'm that old). But the Teyes C4 Pro does sound very promising. Can't see any pricing yet so I'll do further digging.

I actually loved the Dudu when it first arrived and thought that all of the buggy crap was my inexperience with the unit. But as the days have gone by, I've found that my frustrations are growing and many things just don't actually function. I'd be better off using an SMSL Pro to feed my processor.

Our comments will now be deleted because of the mention of a potentially better alternative. I wouldn't even be looking if DuduAuto actually gave a damn...

Mikescotland

Sean same boat. Pricing is just now on pair with Dudu, at least when Dudu was released.
Bought Dudu, looked and i was impressed. Until I started to actually use it. Just a few:

try to make a phone call. No widget with favourites, no shortcuts to a particular contact (not even allowed via tasker), no search by keypad by name. When you actually place a call, you have trouble to end it, the icons are tiny on 9.5, I need to literally take my eyes of the road for 5 seconds to make my finger tap the icon.
absolutely fake spdif sample rate, everything gets to 48 kHz before hitting again resampler to 96 / 192 which doesn't make any sense. Any dsp internally processing in 96 kHz would do better resampling to it by itself than a Chinese chip on DUDU spdif board.
UI on 9.5 inch that can't be scaled. Icons are 8mm x8 mm, app buttons same, player controls 5x5 mm. Letters sometimes as small as 1.5mm. Good luck with driving and trying to do something.
connecting to WiFi hotspot takes ages after power from sleep, sometimes even 20 seconds. It's instant if you toggle WiFi on / off, yet requests to make an action on trigger are ignored.
as they used random screens in production (possibly whatever is cheaper) some screens don't display really dim. They just go black flash. So what Dudu does? Patch in 3.6 not to allow people go so dark, as some screens flash. Result? Everyone now has retina burning screens at night. Even those ones with good screens (mine is, goes really dim in previous 3.5 without flashes). Release a patch for these who want it? Nah.
except Dudu dvr and tpms all promised accessories are non existent, yet with fireworks they announced they are now available to switch on in the menu! Wohooo. Not to mention the HUD they recommend and set up was discontinued 3 years before Dudu was born and was not really available even then.
no aftermarket radar, although hardware (rx2 and tx2) allows.
"digital" external microphone is just an analogue condenser microphone.
poor quality fan, noisy
some functions work only in China
music widget forgetting what app was playing before even shortest sleep. Need to reopen app. Apps on no kill list still killed on sleep.
sudden implementation of linear volume control, which makes quieter listening with external amps impossible. No fine volume adjustment in quiet environment (completely against audio industry standard of logarythmic audio adjustment).
The list goes on...

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