9to5Google
By Andrew Romero & Ben Schoon
Android Auto is a fantastic tool to have in your vehicle. With it, you can reply to texts, calls, and even use different navigation apps to get around. One requirement that takes away from the convenience of Android Auto is the fact that you need to have a physical wired connection to the car via a charging cable.
That's where AAWireless comes in. AAWireless turns your wired connection to Android Auto into a wireless one. AAWireless first debuted in 2020 and has since then come from an Indiegogo campaign to a fully-fledged product, and we've been using it for a while.
In the time that we've been using this cute little dongle, we're happy to say that it has been extremely pleasant. It connects reliably and generally pretty fast to your phone, and only ever disconnects maybe once every few months. That in itself is a pretty good track record.
Instead of plugging in your phone to the car's infotainment USB port, you plug the dongle up instead. Initially, you'll have to pair over Bluetooth to AAWireless and possibly enable developer options on some phones. Following that, your phone will connect to the dongle over WiFi, which is the primary form of connection to AAWireless.
Here's how it works...
The other component to AAWireless is the companion app that allows for greater control over the dongle. You can even adjust settings like the DPI. The app also functions as a way to get the dongle OTA updates.
In all, the system performs pretty flawlessly. When the car is started, it takes about 30 seconds for the dongle to connect fully to your phone, after that, you're up and running for the remainder of the trip. The AAWireless dongle does affect battery though, and since your phone isn't plugged directly into your car's charging ports to use Android Auto, it doesn't passively charge. Though, for shorter trips it doesn't matter as much and won't be a big deal at all.