Most cars these days come with connectivity for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, albeit it’s usually a wired solution. Being able to do this wirelessly is even more convenient, so there are a number of third party products available to achieve this.
However, costing anything up to £100 they’re not cheap and most appear to be have drawbacks of one kind of another – whether it’s a slow response between screen and device, or one where you can’t use any other Bluetooth devices at the same time (which would be a problem with me having an Apple Watch, for example).
To me, the inconvenience of plugging a cable in isn’t worth me spending that amount of money and for it still not being as good in use. But what if I didn’t have to spend that money to try something out? What if I spent just £11.52? Well, that’s exactly what I’ve done.
I’ve not used AliExpress before, the Chinese online retailer, so this was a first try at that too. And you have to bear in mind that, if you think Amazon may sell some dodgy counterfeit stuff, that’s nothing. Here, on my AliExpress home page, is a 16TB memory stick for £1.93…
For that price, it isn’t. On Amazon, £44 will get you a 1TB memory stick from a known brand.
And, yes, the product in question that I’m reviewing, with taxes, cost £11.52 in total. But, as I see it, at that price, I’ve nothing much to loose. Well, other than a little over £10. It has good reviews too and should only take a few weeks to arrive straight from China. In my case it took 8 days, despite their prediction of 19 days, which was excellent.
Unboxing
Slide open the box and you’ll find a transparent, plastic, blister inside, which holds…
- The CarPlay converter box
- A small instructions leaflet
- 2 x 30cm USB cables – USB-A to USB-C and USB-C to USB-C
The converter box has a USB-C connection on the side, along with 2 small holes either side. One glows when it’s in use – I’m not sure the reason for the other. On the bottom of the device is a grid of holes – it looks like it may be for a speaker but, as no sound is generated, it may just be for air-circulation.
The box itself is just 60mm wide and 13mm tall.
Connecting the device to CarPlay
To connect the converter, you use one of the supplied USB cables (whichever is appropriate for your car), plugging it into your usual USB connector that you use for Apple CarPlay. Once detected, you’ll likely be shown some kind of confirmation screen, to say that you allow the device to connect. A black screen will appear with the CarPlay logo on it. It’s now ready to pair with your phone.
Head into Bluetooth on your iPhone and look for the converter – connect to it, give it the appropriate permissions and, et voila, CarPlay now appears on your screen, now connected via Bluetooth. The converter makes use of Bluetooth 5.0.
The next time you get in your car, it should automatically re-connect, now totally wirelessly.
I timed this intentionally so that I would have this in the final weeks before trading in my Ford Puma, so that I could try it on both the Ford and my next car too – a Mazda MX-30.
In use: Ford Puma
At first, nothing happened when I connected the converter to my usual in-car USB socket. I was using the cable they provided and, in an attempt to rule things out, used the one that I’d been using in the car previously. Suddenly it burst into life.
Once connected to CarPlay it worked near perfectly at first – there was a little lag between my CarPlay screen and the phone, something that’s often reported with wireless CarPlay devices. I did find that it sometimes got stuck on the initial pairing screen (the aforementioned black screen with the CarPlay logo on it). Usually resetting my phone’s Bluetooth sorted that, though but it did happen quite regularly, which was frustrating.
In use: Mazda MX-30
With the Mazda the provided cable worked first time and, with the pairing all done from the Ford, it worked as soon as it was plugged in. The dreaded pairing black screen didn’t appear during my use and the lag had gone – possibly due to a quicker USB connection.
Unless things go pear-shaped as soon as I hit “publish” on this post, it’s been totally rock-solid in use.
Updating the EKIY A1
A web interface exists, allowing you to upgrade the device. To do this, you have to connect it to a USB charger that’s not related to your CarPlay connection. There is then a Wi-Fi hotspot for you to connect to. You need to do this on your phone as the data connection is then used to check for updates, whilst the Wi-Fi is the connection to the device itself.
I found that it never looked as if it was not connected, showing a “spinner” next to the Wi-Fi connection and the Wi-Fi symbol not present at the top. But head to the supplied IP address and it works.
The top part of the screen gives you information about the device, the centre allows you to submit feedback and the bottom is where the software update occurs.
It’s worth noting that it only uses the 5GHz Wi-Fi channel, so some people may have issues around this, but it’s not unusual for small, IOT devices to do this.
Summary
In the Ford… it was okay. Nothing spectacular and it’s inability to sometimes connect initially was an annoyance. In the Mazda, though, it’s a totally different experience – seamless I would say.
For little over £10, it’s a total bargain.
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