This adapter simply takes the best elements from both of the two adapters in my top 5 wireless CarPlay adapters round up, and simply adds Android Auto support. As a result, this adapter is fast to boot and pair adapter for wireless CarPlay, and it comes in just 4 seconds slower than the fastest booting adapter for Android Auto. It has great Wi-Fi specs that make it a solid performer for wireless CarPlay and Android Auto and its HDMI output port allows you to connect it to an external HDMI display.

I would have liked to see native wireless Android Auto support. You can install Android Auto on the Android OS side of the platform, but alongside the floating controls, it can be cumbersome and confusing to work around it and it’s not as good as a native solution. Like the original AI Box, I still think having the option to move the floating onscreen controls to a fixed area to the side or bottom of the screen would greatly improve the useability of using Android on the CarPlay display. Because between using different apps, they can so easily get in the way and you can sometimes miss hit these controls when trying to select something else nearby. Unlike the MMB Max, I couldn’t get video casting to work with either my iPhone or Android, device, and after a good 30 minutes of trying, I soon gave up. Video casting on these adapters can be hit and miss at the best of times, so I find for the best experience, it’s best to play video directly from an installed Android app instead. So if your use case can avoid these negatives, with this adapter’s ability to simply play local video and watch video from the two video streaming giants, this adapter has great value due to the video features it offers. 2. Exploter ApplePie Lite 2-in-1 Adapter YouTube and Netflix apps ran fine and smoothly with no significant or obvious drops in frames or audio being out of sync. The picture in picture mode is also present here like most other AI Boxes.In fourth place is the Ottocast U2-X Pro adapter. This adapter performed average in all my tests, which in the end, helped secure its place in my top 5 over its older non-pro brother. It scored average speeds in all my boot and pairing speed tests, and it offers a USB-A port for the option to use Android Auto wired as well as wireless. Only 1 finalist didn’t support any secondary Bluetooth connections, whilst the rest supported at least a Bluetooth remote control connection, and 6 offered both remote and Bluetooth game controller support. It was the fastest AI Box to boot into the same launcher menu as its rounder brother. Yet I found it had average wireless performance in its MultiPlay app for CarPlay and Android Auto. The MMB Max is the only adapter I’ve tested that does true 60fps in its UI and apps. Yet even then, the graphics in some test games struggled to keep up with a decent framerate. So I wouldn’t let its 60fps support rule your buying decision with this adapter. Simple 3D games like Crossy Road had some noticeable frame stutter and input lag, and its Vulkan GPU bench test came up very dissapointing against its competition.

The cost of this dongle is a lot higher than most other dongles, but you are getting a lot of extra functionality with that Android OS layer option. I would have liked to see a spec bump to help improve Android app performance, as I had a few occasions where apps would simply crash from doing too much at once.The Box 2.0 is the latest new wireless adapter from MMB. It supports both wireless CarPlay and Android Auto, each can be toggled by its physical smart button that’s located on the side of its casing. Simply switch the switch to either AA for Android Auto or CP for CarPlay and reboot the adapter to connect your chosen device to it.