I installed this unit in a 2009 Pontiac Solstice GXP. Since this is a convertible, I have a couple issues that hard-top users may never have. Feel free to ask any questions you may have specific to CarPlay as well, since this observation covers the entire unit.

First thing's first. It's a great unit. The sound quality is fantastic. Someone had mentioned that HD Radio sounds better than SiriusXM and I have to agree, and I even installed a new SiriusXM receiver, bypassing the factory one so I could use the stock antenna. The built-in crossovers and EQ are top-notch and I'm getting some incredible audio. I also installed a backup camera and the parking assist lines are easily configured to your particular needs. Image quality is lovely on that. I have an iPhone 5s and CarPlay works quite well. Occasionally I'll run into weird little hiccups with the screen being blank or music not starting unless I start it from the phone, but this is likely CarPlay software which is on the phone and not the unit itself. But 99% of the time, it's smooth sailing. A note on the screen, yes it is resistive, but don't let that be a deal-breaker. It's an extremely sensitive and accurate screen, and the contrast is decent. Of course you aren't going to get those inky blacks of a capacitive screen, but at least it does resist fingerprints and glare better. And you can use it while wearing gloves. Performance is excellent as well and I have not noticed a single hiccup in speed or menu transitions at all. This is because the Kenwood uses a tablet processor; a first of its kind in a car head unit.

A few neutral points: The unit is pretty deep. I had to completely cut out the panel behind the radio in order to get it to fit. Of course, this will depend on your vehicle. While the unit has a motorized display that can be preset to be at many different angles depending on your ride, it does not provide forward tilt. This is bit unfortunate in my case because my dash is tilted back and as I said before, it's a convertible. My screen washes out very easily during the day. Being able to tilt the screen forward so it is completely vertical would help. The screen is fairly bright, but it really should go brighter. When my top is up or I'm at low speeds, Siri works great. Unfortunately, with the top down it's pretty worthless and there's no control within CarPlay to adjust the sensitivity or noise reduction of the mic. There is in the Kenwood interface during Bluetooth calls, though.

And the bad: I mentioned the screen could be brighter, but really it should also get much dimmer. Its dimmest setting is still far too bright when you're driving at night in unlit areas. I end up manually turning off the screen by holding down one of the hard buttons below the screen. Note that if you install a backup camera and you don't have it wired to automatically power on/off with the reverse control, you have to assign the camera on/off to this button. You have to choose whether to have a backup camera or be able to turn off your screen. You can't have both. It's not the worst, but the Kenwood UI is ugly and dated. But that's the entire industry for you. Pretty much every brand has a native UI that looks like it was designed in 1998 for adolescent boys. At least some customization is available. Kenwood support even told me how to change the startup screen using a .txt file and a very specifically formatted .bmp image file.

For anyone debating between the DDX9902S and the DDX9702S, it is absolutely not worth saving the $50 for the lower model. At all. The extra $50 in the DDX9902S is well-worth it for the additional year of warranty alone even if you don't care about high-end audio. On top of that, you get the better 5v pre-outs (instead of 4v), a 7-band EQ (instead of 5-band), and a few other advanced audio features.

While not perfect, this is certainly the best and fastest CarPlay and Android Auto unit available aftermarket right now. And it's the ONLY one currently available which will allow you to switch between iPhones and Androids without changing any settings. This may be a big deal in your household.