I've installed a Parrot Asteroid (digital media head unit with hands free calling) in my wife's VW Passat and think it might be one of the best purchases I've made this year. Install on the Passat (2001.5) was almost plug and play. The only change I had to make was switching Battery and ACC on harness. The antenna adapter (unpowered) is a standard item and was available from a local source.
With CM9 (nightly 0508 currently) USB and Bluetooth tethering work.
Contacts are shared with the Asteroid and voice dialing is accurate (the Parrot seems to grok what I am saying).
Music selection (media on SDHC card in Parrot) via voice is failrly accurate but I have noticed a few inaccurate responses.
Hands-free calling is crystal clear and the music quality is awesome.
Some have reported buggy or defective units, but I have had no trouble with it over the last week with my I777. We'll see what happens with my wife's iPhone...
I am considering same setup into my 2004 Passat. Thanks for posting the picture, that certainly clears my concerns about how does it look in the car as the console is same as yours.
How is sound compared to original VW radio you had before?
Do you mind if I ask you to share with us what components went into your install beside of course the Asteroid? Especially what adapter for the wiring harness you used.
I am using (primarily) Galaxy Nexus on CM9, so I'm pretty confident hooking the Asteroid to the phone shouldn't be a problem. Thanks in advance!
Edit: forgot to ask about button backlight - from what I see on the Internet it seems to be white, is it adjustable so it can be made to match the OEM backlight on the Passat (red)?
leobg said:
I am considering same setup into my 2004 Passat. Thanks for posting the picture, that certainly clears my concerns about how does it look in the car as the console is same as yours.
How is sound compared to original VW radio you had before?
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In my opinion (these things being subjective), the sound is excellent. Like most Android devices, the Asteroid has a built in equalizer and other sound tweaks. Much better than stock.
Do you mind if I ask you to share with us what components went into your install beside of course the Asteroid? Especially what adapter for the wiring harness you used.
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Click to collapse
I believe all B5.5 Passats use a ISO connector for the stock stereo. The included Parrot wiring harness adapter works out of the box. I only had to flip Battery and Switched Power (ACC). The Parrot adapter is designed to allow quick changes to these leads and this is documented in the included instructions. The only thing I had to buy was the antenna adapter. I picked that up for about $15 US. I used the unpowered version.
I am using (primarily) Galaxy Nexus on CM9, so I'm pretty confident hooking the Asteroid to the phone shouldn't be a problem. Thanks in advance!
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Click to collapse
CM9 works quite nicely with the Parrot with one caveat. Bluetooth audio was great (both music and hands free calling). No problems with pairing so far. I tried connecting my SGS2 USB storage to the Parrot but it is not recognizing the SGS2 mass storage (micro SD card). This is not a show stopper for me as I have a 32GB SDHC card installed in the Asteroid.
Edit: forgot to ask about button backlight - from what I see on the Internet it seems to be white, is it adjustable so it can be made to match the OEM backlight on the Passat (red)?
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Click to collapse
No such luck from what I have seen. You have have a choice of white, white, or white. You can adjust the intensity of control backlight and LCD backlight for 'Day' and 'Night' modes. 'Day' and 'Night' modes are toggled by a long press on the 'Parrot' button.
The Asteroid is not perfect but it seems to be the only device of its kind at the moment. I am surprised that more car stereo companies are not leveraging Android into their equipment lineup. Both OEM and aftermarket vendors seem to be utterly clueless when it comes to emerging technologies. Who uses CD (or for that matter DVD's) anymore?
When we bought our Passat I was shocked and appalled that the head unit had a CASSETTE deck! There was a CD changer in the trunk but that meant pulling over to change CD's. Clueless, utterly clueless...
In any case, good luck. The install is pretty easy. Do some research on some of the issues some seem to experience with the Asteroid. I have not seen any major problems on firmware 1.5 as yet but your mileage may vary.
*Edit: One other thing -- the Asteroid does not fit flush with the dash like the stock head unit. It sticks out approximately 1/4 inch. Aside from doing major work to modify the dash, I could not think of any way to make the Parrot fit flush. It does not bother me, but it may pose aesthetic issues for you. I actually have grown to like it. It makes finding controls easy without taking my eyes off the road.
Oh -- and one last thing. This 38 second video is priceless for removing the stock head unit.
http://youtu.be/KNSYBSGzUuQ
One last edit -- here is the antenna adapter. $7 through Amazon.
http://goo.gl/39rIO
Thanks a bunch!! So your 2001.5 came with the singe DIN unit. B5.5's 2002 onward ship with double DIN unit, so I would need to find a tray to place in (and fill up the gap) which will be very handy as I could keep the phone (or other junk in there. I've heard Parrot is coming up with a double din unit with slightly extended functionality: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/08/parrot-asteroid-ck-asteroid-nav-asteroid-2din-infotainment-sys/. They mention late 2012 availability, wondering if I want to hold my horses for that one. Since it doesn't have physical buttons to require backlight, there won't be an issue with the look, but I like the buttons and especially the rotary ones, so this (for me) is as disadvantage as much as advantage. And probably the cost will double. Though integrated Google maps navigation would be terrific! Decisions, decisions...!
Yeah. The stock unit was single DIN. I believe you can buy the pocket if you have a double DIN OEM head unit and want to install a single DIN.
I like having physical controls -- perhaps I am getting old. The lack of apps does not particularly distress me.
I'd like to use the Parrot UNIKA steering controls interface but it does not look like B5.5 Passat is supported yet.
By the way, I'm listening to one of your (Canadian) exports today -- a band by the name of Elliott Brood from Toronto. Not bad for Canadian hacks. ;-)
http://www.elliottbrood.ca/
All the best,
Edward
Does anyone have any experience/recommendations for an Android-based car stereo head unit? My old stereo has just died, so I am interested in what people think of the currently available ones. I have a double din space.
eBay seems to have several available that are similar to this: http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/15/ca-fi-is-an-aftermarket-android-car-stereo-that-wont-fit-in-you/
There are ones where the Android part is essentially a separate tablet (probably not what I'm after, judging by the videos) http://www.erisin.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=253
Parrot make this single-din stereo: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Parrot-Aste...?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1343930713&sr=1-24
There are no doubt many others too. Prices seem to be in the £200 - £280 range which is about my limit.
Nobody has any experience of these or opinions at all?
I think I'm leaning towards the Parrot as it's rootable, and the single-din size is more likely to fit whatever car I get after my current one.
Bump for this thread. I just recently thought about getting into one of these units too, my only concern is how "locked down" they would be in terms of getting rid of their default launchers and crap they have. I basically want a way to just have android by itself running on the car - I can get apps for just about everything else. Ideally I want a clone of my phone on the car that would sync with my phone. Or better yet, simply a way to have a "remote display" for my phone. That way, anything I'm doing on the car side of things would be the same on my phone, like a received email, new internet bookmark, or something like that.
~T.J.
I just picked up a "Road Cyberman" from China Jiaho (actually they call it something else, but it's the same as Chinavasion's Road Cyberman, except $100 cheaper).
It's running Gingerbread 2.3.5 and proving difficult to root. No adb on the usb (even with debug option), no google apps (although I found some apks that sort of work) and no adb wireless available.
The devices works fine, but I would like to have a little bit more control over it.
I've tried Gingerbreak and the other get root apks, but no luck so far.
Yeah, I have seen a lot of those units, but I kind of changed my mind. I have recently been looking into doing something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Q-UXDi3dm3U
I have been following that company for a while, and they just recently released that video and are taking pre-orders for the new board. My biggest hold up at this point is that I would like to use a single DIN stereo for the "amp" by running the audio from their device into the aux input of my existing stereo. I need to find room to mount both the double DIN screen and a custom spot for the single DIN stereo I already have. I would then have the choice of using the stereo without plugging in the phone if I didn't want to for whatever reason. Alternatively, if I can find a good FM tuner app for my phone and a good customizable dock mode, I could eliminate the stock stereo and just run the inputs into a standard automotive 4 channel amp. This of course means you get nothing for a car stereo unless you connect the phone though, unlike the other plan.
Of course, another thought I had was getting a used double DIN touch screen DVD player and using their interface board to convert it to run the Android screen through it, then run the audio straight into the aux input of the touch screen DVD player. That way you have the ability to use the system "as is" out of the box, OR run the Android device through the screen. I think this is the best option, but it also takes the most money since you have the expense of the used double DIN touch screen unit first. I also wonder about picture quality and touch screen sensitivity with the built in touch screens on those units.
Anyway, just food for thought!
~T.J.
EDIT: One of the other hold ups is the calling. I would like to use an external mic and have audio come through the car speakers, currently using that board you are still calling through the device, thus you would need a Bluetooth headset from my understanding. I would like to avoid that if possible also. This is another good reason to go with the double DIN stereo since some of those support Bluetooth calling already and you could probably make/receive calls that way completely hands free.
EDIT #2: If you were into car monitoring and such also, you could easily get a bluetooth OBD interface and run the software on the phone (such as torque) so you could display live data from your car on your dash also. Something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay-ZvTn3fLo&t=45s
I picked up one of these after my buddy sent me this thread. It's got the power, but needs a root bad. Wish I knew how to find root for an Android device.
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17228
How many others still using their G5 as a daily driver?
I am since 2016 (h850) and using the latest available Lineage 18.1 (Android 11)
Using Proshot & open camera apps, although the camera quality is far behind whats available now but it still works and get decent images.
My GPS hasn't worled for a long time.
My vibration motor doesn't work, but thats ok.
The touch sensor doesnt work, I think thats because of LOS.
I'm using a modded samsung battery
I'm on my second display (replacement is an original LG part)
LOS is laggy sometimes, especially when turning on Wifi after a while then all apps seem to want to download their data, the phone becomes unresponsive.
Takes a minute to be stable. Other than that, cba and can't afford a new phone so still using as a daily driver.
Any better camera apps or further recommended tweaks?
Hi i want use my LG G5 h850 but i have miss the date to unlock it.
so i cant use it while the bootloader ist lockt and the LG System is over and i lost my unlock key
I'm still using my LG G5 H830. I have LineageOS on it which does not support VoLTE, now required for use on T-Mobile;s network.
I bought a new H830 (v7.0.0) off eBay and my plan this week is to root it, install recovery, upgrade to stock v8.0 Android then migrate everything to this phone.
@davestuarts , I recommend you buy a new H850 off eBay and migrate everything like I'm doing.
davestuarts said:
How many others still using their G5 as a daily driver?
I am since 2016 (h850) and using the latest available Lineage 18.1 (Android 11)
Using Proshot & open camera apps, although the camera quality is far behind whats available now but it still works and get decent images.
My GPS hasn't worled for a long time.
My vibration motor doesn't work, but thats ok.
The touch sensor doesnt work, I think thats because of LOS.
I'm using a modded samsung battery
I'm on my second display (replacement is an original LG part)
LOS is laggy sometimes, especially when turning on Wifi after a while then all apps seem to want to download their data, the phone becomes unresponsive.
Takes a minute to be stable. Other than that, cba and can't afford a new phone so still using as a daily driver.
Any better camera apps or further recommended tweaks?
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Click to collapse
Hi,
I gave up some months ago using the G5 as the chin started to randomly fail and not let me charge the phone. While I was using it I replaced two batteries, repaired multiple times the fingerprint sensor connectors on the motherboard and replaced the camera glass. Vibration motor started to fail too (squeaking instead of vibrating, I think I killed it playing Hooked On: COTD on the EKA2L1 emulator), and of course GPS was, and always had been, just barely working.
Despite all this, it was a great phone, especially shooting photos in RAW format: if you want to spend a minute or two to improve the photos you take, Adobe Lightroom for Android is the best software to make any decent picture taken with the G5 look as good as if it was shot on an iPhone.
In my opinion, by the way, the stock LG camera app is better than the other third party cameras, with only Google Camera being better in some occasions, albeit a bit buggy on the G5: on Celso Azevedo's website you can find all the modded Google Camera versions, with precompiled settings for the G5 too.
The last month I used it I switched from the stock Oreo ROM to a LineageOS-based one (DotOS, if I recall correctly), and it became surprisingly faster, even tough that meant sacrificing the FM radio and the IR remote.
Now I'm considering to buy an HDMI adapter and use the G5 as an Android tv box, if the chin proves to be reliable enough to keep the phone charged while it is sitting behind the TV.
tremalnaik said:
Hi,
I gave up some months ago using the G5 as the chin started to randomly fail and not let me charge the phone. While I was using it I replaced two batteries, repaired multiple times the fingerprint sensor connectors on the motherboard and replaced the camera glass. Vibration motor started to fail too (squeaking instead of vibrating, I think I killed it playing Hooked On: COTD on the EKA2L1 emulator), and of course GPS was, and always had been, just barely working.
Despite all this, it was a great phone, especially shooting photos in RAW format: if you want to spend a minute or two to improve the photos you take, Adobe Lightroom for Android is the best software to make any decent picture taken with the G5 look as good as if it was shot on an iPhone.
In my opinion, by the way, the stock LG camera app is better than the other third party cameras, with only Google Camera being better in some occasions, albeit a bit buggy on the G5: on Celso Azevedo's website you can find all the modded Google Camera versions, with precompiled settings for the G5 too.
The last month I used it I switched from the stock Oreo ROM to a LineageOS-based one (DotOS, if I recall correctly), and it became surprisingly faster, even tough that meant sacrificing the FM radio and the IR remote.
Now I'm considering to buy an HDMI adapter and use the G5 as an Android tv box, if the chin proves to be reliable enough to keep the phone charged while it is sitting behind the TV.
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Click to collapse
Hey, thanks for your input, very thorough, appreciate it. I'm pretty much in the same camp as you, although mine does charge though it's chin is a bit loose. I've got a back case on, which is tight and helps keep the phone together, kind of a cheat method.
I'm only using as I cannot currently afford to buy something new, and want something with a decent camera but with LOS support too or rootable. I have been looking at some used Pixel phones, but its about price.
Anyway, I was happy with proshot app, as I like photograpy and it gives great manual control and decent pics but seeing how newer phones are so much better, I have recently gone back to trying gcam (previously it would crash often), which you mentioned.
Playing around with v8.6 and it works suprisingly well and produces some really great photos better than proshot, although slow at times, especially the processing time.
v.8.7 worked but even slower with some features kept crashing it.
I'll have a go at lightroom, never thought about it before. Thanks.
Incidentally, what phone you got next? Also, great idea to repurpose G5 as android TV.
Have you got that running and if so, what rom is usable, especially to have HDMI out and does charging work at the same time?
After the G5 I got an Asus Zenfone 8: small, powerful processor, OLED screen, 3.5mm audio port and easily rootable. It's not a cheap phone, but I was lucky enough to find one used for 390€ (spending more than 400€ for a phone is unreasonable for what I use it for).
To repurpose the G5 as a media center, I will go back to the stock Oreo ROM, as DotOs (and I suppose all the LineageOs-based ROMs) doesn't support the HDMI out.
I've bought a Choetech xch-m180 4K Usb-C HDMI adapter, that "should" (I'll believe when I see it, but I've seen videos of it working as expected) be capable of 4K output and battery charging. I already have a USB-C to HDMI adapter, but without battery charging, and the phone lasts less than one hour, so permanent installation is impossible with that one.
Then I'll install a media center like Kodi (if it can be controlled using another phone via Bluetooth or WiFi) and Tasker to shut down the phone's screen without locking it.
The hardest part of the setup will probably be dealing with the restrictions that each app imposes on phones with root or HDMI output.
tremalnaik said:
After the G5 I got an Asus Zenfone 8: small, powerful processor, OLED screen, 3.5mm audio port and easily rootable. It's not a cheap phone, but I was lucky enough to find one used for 390€ (spending more than 400€ for a phone is unreasonable for what I use it for).
To repurpose the G5 as a media center, I will go back to the stock Oreo ROM, as DotOs (and I suppose all the LineageOs-based ROMs) doesn't support the HDMI out.
I've bought a Choetech xch-m180 4K Usb-C HDMI adapter, that "should" (I'll believe when I see it, but I've seen videos of it working as expected) be capable of 4K output and battery charging. I already have a USB-C to HDMI adapter, but without battery charging, and the phone lasts less than one hour, so permanent installation is impossible with that one.
Then I'll install a media center like Kodi (if it can be controlled using another phone via Bluetooth or WiFi) and Tasker to shut down the phone's screen without locking it.
The hardest part of the setup will probably be dealing with the restrictions that each app imposes on phones with root or HDMI output.
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the update. That Zenfone seems great value for what it has, especially with an OLED and 3.5mm, which I need, you've got it at a great price. In the Uk it's much more £600/€680 and very hard to find it used/refurbished, I can get a Sony Xperia IV for less, refurbushed and 12 months warranty but still too much for me.
Thanks for the other info too. I'll be interested to know how your G5 android project works out.
@tremalnaik Well, I bit took the plunge and found a good deal on a Xperia 5IV.
Brings back memories of my xperia Z3 compact, which I still have, used as a shared media/internet with lineage 18.1.
This new Xperia 5IV wioth its long slab design is so different but very usable.
Superb cameras, especially with their camera styled apps.
I can even use Gcam for better night shots.
Plus the needed 3.5mm jack AND Sdcard slot.
Hopefully, in a few years lineage will be available on, but unlikely to be a popular device due to cost though a great device for them to port one over with all it's extras.
Now, need to repurpose the G5, after I've transfered everyhig over and my phonbe cover arrives. I dont know why companies make such expensive/slipper styled backs, as so mnay people put on covers. Or just make the back more durable.
davestuarts said:
@tremalnaik Well, I bit took the plunge and found a good deal on a Xperia 5IV.
Brings back memories of my xperia Z3 compact, which I still have, used as a shared media/internet with lineage 18.1.
This new Xperia 5IV wioth its long slab design is so different but very usable.
Superb cameras, especially with their camera styled apps.
I can even use Gcam for better night shots.
Plus the needed 3.5mm jack AND Sdcard slot.
Hopefully, in a few years lineage will be available on, but unlikely to be a popular device due to cost though a great device for them to port one over with all it's extras.
Now, need to repurpose the G5, after I've transfered everyhig over and my phonbe cover arrives. I dont know why companies make such expensive/slipper styled backs, as so mnay people put on covers. Or just make the back more durable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wish I found a good deal for an Xperia phone as well: it was my first choice, but any Sony device is really expensive here in Italy.
3.5mm jack is a must for me too, especially when it's the only way to listen music on a 14 years old car.
I wouldn't put much hope on Lineage for future upgrades though: while the developers take an honourable effort in keeping old phones up to date, most of the times any extra hardware feature of the phone will be hard to implement. If you take the G5 as an example, in 7 years nobody found a way to make the IR blaster or the FM radio to work, and neither VoLTE, HDMI, etc. due to the lack of documentation on how these functions are integrated in Android.
Going back to your previous post, I finally received the HDMI adapter and it works like a charm. Here's what I had to do to make it work:
-Connect the adapter to the tv, to the phone, and to a suitable USB plug (for some reason if I connected the USB power plug to the USB port on the tv, the adapter glitched, so I had to connect it to the router's USB port)
-Change the DPI settings to make the phone think it's running on a large screen
-Dowload a tv launcher: I found Simple TV Launcher to be simple and reliable
-Download TV version of the apps you need: Aurora Store has a convenient spoofing feature so I chose to make the phone appear like it's a Sony Bravia TV to download TV apps
-Download an app to control the phone usimg another phone as a remote. "Bluetooth keyboard & mouse" would be the best, if only Bluetooth wasn't a totally unreliable technology (out of three phones I tried to use as remotes, 2 had terrible lags, and another one wasn't able to connect at all). So my next choice was Zank Remote: not as good for non-tv apps, but as it works through wi-fi, it actually works. It can even be used like a rudimental wiimote to point at the screen.
-as I don't want to see ads on Youtube and I'm too lazy to try to compile ReVanced Youtube, I went for NewPipe: it's definitely not optimised to work on TVs, but it works.
So far I've only tested it with RaiPlay (national TV's online platform) and it works really well. My phone is rooted and I don't have any other movie platform subscription, so I don't know if this setup could work with Amazon Prime or Netflix. By the way I could test it with AceStream (the primary reason I wanted to make this setup, so I don't have to turn on the pc and stream from VLC to the Blu-Ray player connected to my not-so-smart TV), and it works flawlessly.
The hardest part of the whole setup is to shut down the backlight of the G5's screen while HDMI is connected: I had to use a shell script and automate it with Tasker. Still I haven't found a way to stop the HDMI out if the phone is locked, to save energy: if I lock the phone, the adapter will actively output a black screen to the TV, so it's likely wasting energy for nothing.
tremalnaik said:
I wish I found a good deal for an Xperia phone as well: it was my first choice, but any Sony device is really expensive here in Italy.
3.5mm jack is a must for me too, especially when it's the only way to listen music on a 14 years old car.
I wouldn't put much hope on Lineage for future upgrades though: while the developers take an honourable effort in keeping old phones up to date, most of the times any extra hardware feature of the phone will be hard to implement. If you take the G5 as an example, in 7 years nobody found a way to make the IR blaster or the FM radio to work, and neither VoLTE, HDMI, etc. due to the lack of documentation on how these functions are integrated in Android.
Going back to your previous post, I finally received the HDMI adapter and it works like a charm. Here's what I had to do to make it work:
-Connect the adapter to the tv, to the phone, and to a suitable USB plug (for some reason if I connected the USB power plug to the USB port on the tv, the adapter glitched, so I had to connect it to the router's USB port)
-Change the DPI settings to make the phone think it's running on a large screen
-Dowload a tv launcher: I found Simple TV Launcher to be simple and reliable
-Download TV version of the apps you need: Aurora Store has a convenient spoofing feature so I chose to make the phone appear like it's a Sony Bravia TV to download TV apps
-Download an app to control the phone usimg another phone as a remote. "Bluetooth keyboard & mouse" would be the best, if only Bluetooth wasn't a totally unreliable technology (out of three phones I tried to use as remotes, 2 had terrible lags, and another one wasn't able to connect at all). So my next choice was Zank Remote: not as good for non-tv apps, but as it works through wi-fi, it actually works. It can even be used like a rudimental wiimote to point at the screen.
-as I don't want to see ads on Youtube and I'm too lazy to try to compile ReVanced Youtube, I went for NewPipe: it's definitely not optimised to work on TVs, but it works.
So far I've only tested it with RaiPlay (national TV's online platform) and it works really well. My phone is rooted and I don't have any other movie platform subscription, so I don't know if this setup could work with Amazon Prime or Netflix. By the way I could test it with AceStream (the primary reason I wanted to make this setup, so I don't have to turn on the pc and stream from VLC to the Blu-Ray player connected to my not-so-smart TV), and it works flawlessly.
The hardest part of the whole setup is to shut down the backlight of the G5's screen while HDMI is connected: I had to use a shell script and automate it with Tasker. Still I haven't found a way to stop the HDMI out if the phone is locked, to save energy: if I lock the phone, the adapter will actively output a black screen to the TV, so it's likely wasting energy for nothing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, thought I had replied to your last message. Yeah, got lucky with the Sony, they're expensive in UK too. Last few years with the corrupt goverment and brexit has caused all prices to jump, only rich or corrupt exist easily.
You're right about Lineage or other custom rom being available for the Sony, as you said, they never figured out the IR blaster for the G5, theres always hope tho ha.
I've been trying to use the G5 as a android box but my issue is the battery drain. Its the old battery and the HDMI dongle with the charging port cannot sustain the battery with screen on, so it dies and also it gets quite hot.
I've been looking at apps or scripts to turn off screen while using, but cannot find anything yet. Theres an app on my Sony phone thats for gaming, it allows the charger to be plugged in, but not charge the battery instead it simply powers the phone, so it dont get hot and you can game for longer. I need an app like that.
My other option now is to take appart the phone, connect a third party battery which is big, like 5000mah and just leave phone open. I could also attach a heatsink or something to the phone internals to help with heat. I'm not bothered with leaving phone open.