So on the surface, you would think there isn’t much difference between both versions of the dongle. This could be improved by flashing the dongle with the AUTOKIT firmware, so lookout for a future video where I will walk you through the process of flashing this dongle with the red UI. But for me, I was getting around 27-39 seconds on my Alpine CarPlay receiver. Your own boot-up time will vary based on your own system. With the same interface as the original dongle, it means that boot-up times were pretty much the same as other green UI dongles that I have reviewed, which is a shame. Maybe they will in a future firmware update… After seeing the faster AUTOKIT red UI of the Ottocast wireless adapter in my previous video, I was hoping that, after seeing it mentioned in the manual, they might have updated the new dongle with this new faster UI, but sadly that wasn’t the case. In my video, we saw that, unfortunately, the boot menu is still the older and slower green UI. The newer case design is slightly less rounded, and on top of the case it has a smaller logo, and there is an etched model number in the bottom corner of the dongle. The cable length is the same, yet the thickness is slightly thinner on the newer dongle. This means if you have a modern vehicle with a USB-C CarPlay input port, you will have to use an additional converter with this dongle, which they don’t offer to supply. The permanently attached USB cable is still here on this dongle, whereas other wireless dongle brands have chosen a removable USB-C cable.

Personally, I find the shinier plastic cheapens the look of the dongle for me. Looking at the dongle itself, it’s pretty much identical to the original dongle, with the most obvious exception of its new shinier case design, which has replaced the rough textured look on the original dongle. The dongle sits proudly in the recessed packaging along with a small paper manual that oddly shows the AUTOKIT red UI in its imagery (whereas this dongle still came with the older green UI). Inside the box, things are more unchanged. Over the last few weeks CarPlay2Air reached out to me to tell me about their new updated wireless adapter that has been released, so let’s jump in and see what’s new.įirst things first, the box has changed to packaging that is more in keeping with their own brand – the original white box was quite generic looking.

So the original CarPlay2Air wireless Apple CarPlay dongle was the first wireless CarPlay adapter I reviewed, over a year and a half ago now, and it still manages to sell well today.

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