If the screen size ends up being too small for me in the '23 I'm about to purchase I thought about possibly doing something like this: CarPlayBox™ Pro - Safety & Entertainment Together!

I just installed the 12.3" T10 from Rhino Radios, not sure what the actual manufacture is. I chose to go with the full screen no knobs or buttons variant although I am a huge fan of a volume control knob and power button. I decided against the knobs and buttons due to quality concerns of them failing or feeling cheap. I also chose the black trim despite having silver OEM trim so the screen would blend in more when powered off and parked, also didn't want to risk it being a slightly different shade of silver.

I was considering an Alpine or similar but I park my car in a public transit station regularly and wanted something that looked more OEM to prevent theft. Also being able to have a large screen without blocking the vents or climate controls seemed desirable.

Over all I'm happy and would purchase again and would even consider the version with knobs and buttons. Most of my complaints are with carplay and not the unit itself. I'll update if I have any issues, here are the pros and cons so far:

Pros:

1. Apple car play runs reliably and connects consistently.
2. Does have an AM/FM radio, couldn't verify this before purchase.
3. Screen is responsive.
4. Android OS supports google play store and can download apps.
5. Can access internet browser through android operating system with the use of hotspot from phone along with other apps such as youtube or netflix (don't recommend while driving).
6. Has 2 extra USB ports that I can use for charging, mounted them with double sided tape up and out of the way.
7. Really feel like it modernized my 2011, being able to have Waze or other map system up without a phone on the vents is a huge plus and being able to use spotify, pandora, or my phone music on the dash is awesome, all work flawlessly.
8. Screen is dimeable and dims automatically with the headlights, additionally has the option to be turned off which is nice sometimes.
9. It does have the spot/circle to quickly bring up mute,volume, power, home screen shortcuts. This helps with not having a knob.

Cons:

1. Quality of the trim piece is decent, could be better. Fits with no gaps but pushes down on the trim pieces that have the climate control knobs making the opening non concentric with the knob. I think I can fix this with some trimming.
2. Trim piece had a couple of mold sprues that had to be trimmed that prevented the trim from going in.
3. Installation instructions are as bad as everyone says. Better documentation would go along way but Rhino Radios has been very responsive.
4. The android interface doesn't seem to be customizable(moving app icons or the home screen buttons).
5. I have the OBDII wireless scanner with the torque app but I could do without it.
6. Microphone seems a little weak, it has an optional external microphone that I haven't tried yet.
7. The unit is just held in with the clips no bolts like the factory unit, would feel better with it more secure but hasn't been an issue yet.
8. Not crazy about the android portion in general but don't have much experience with android being an iPhone user, hoping to play around with this more.
9. USB adapter to support the factory USB port in the glove box that came with the unit does not work with my 2011. Never used this port so I don't think I'm going to get the correct adapter, the added USB port outside of the glove box has been more useful so far.

Carplay complaints:

1. Music wants to auto play as soon as the phone auto connects to apple car play, I think this is the case for all apple carplay.
2. Weather app is not available, looks like you can purchase one from the app store but I haven't looked into this enough yet.
3. Can divide the screen into 3 sections but can't choose what goes where.

Does the unit have its own built in nav? and if so is it better than the OEM toyota nav?

Thanks for posting this. Curious to see a long-term review.

My son just put one in our 15 and it didn’t even take an hour. Can’t vouch for the longevity but I was more than impressed with how well it seems to work. There was almost no setup or configuration needed , it just came on and everything seemed to work. The steering wheel controls, the climate control, CarPlay, everything. I’d driven that car for 4 years with the stock unit and no CarPlay but if I had known that these would work and install this easily I would have done it earlier. Especially for the money.
I don’t think he’s had any issues with it in the few weeks he’s had it.

You can download navigation apps like Google maps and Waze from the Google play store and they will run on the android OS without Apple Carplay. However, you do need an internet connection I believe, you can either use a mobile hotspot or the unit has the ability to use a sim card with its 4G antenna. The unit does have a GPS antenna and I've verified it works since the head unit allows you to look at the GPS data.

I'll have to try the map apps and see if it works with just GPS or if it needs a hot spot or 4G. I'll report back when I get a chance to test it.

Thanks, please let us know. A lot of times this is left out of reviews, but I think this can be especially useful when off-grid without cell reception. I have used the OEM nav to get me out of places with no cell service before and its very nice to have as a backup

It does have its own navigation, not sure how good it is though. The unit does come with its own gps antenna you can mount somewhere. My son did not care about it so he just plugged it in but left it tucked in the dash behind the unit.

I played around with this a little bit when I was out of cell signal yesterday, I was able to open Google maps and have it locate my position. I couldn't get it to route to another point turn by turn though. I could see all the roads/trails that are on google maps zoom in/out and it was updating my position as I was driving. You can download offline maps for an area ahead of time, I'll try this next time and see if that gives me the ability to get turn by turn directions without a cell signal.


I have a 2011 without an OEM backup camera. I just bought an aftermarket camera, when I get that installed I can get you a video if you're interested in that.

I managed to get the camera installed, it was PITA mounting and routing wires through the factory wire looms. I made a short video, you can hear the truck start and when I shift into reverse and see when the camera comes on, it is fairly quick IMHO....

4Runner Android T10 Backup Camera Activation Time - YouTube


Did it take as long as my unit in the video? It seems pretty quick to me, apple carplay takes 30 sec to a minute to connect and it takes over the screen while it is doing that can be annoying.

Install looks real clean, almost OEM.

Mine does use the USB dongle for carplay and it takes ~30 sec to connect, but does not interfere with the backup camera. How fast do OEM units with carplay connect to the phone?

OEM car play is right away for me

I just jumped in and tried this out. The backup cam came on almost immediately. It did not wait for CarPlay to load or anything else to boot up.

Looks good! I see you have a TE, did you have the nav and JBL?