[RahulNagaraj]

Motorola will soon retail the MA1 dongle which allows your wired Android Auto-equipped car to offer a wireless experience. The system works by pairing the dongle with the phone via Bluetooth, which then transmits data over 5Ghz Wi-Fi.



The dongle will start retailing in the USA from January 30th, with a price tag of US$ 90. The MA1 makes for a relatively easy and inexpensive upgrade for your car since the wireless Android Auto feature is currently offered only on premium models.



Having said that, the dongle currently works only for the Android Auto feature and especially on phones running on Android 11 and up. Another caveat with the gadget is that it doesn't offer wireless phone charging.

The MA1 dongle has actually been developed by Meizhou Guy Electronics, which has licensed Motorola's brand to sell the product.

Link to Team-BHP news

[needmorebhp]

I have actually been using another such dongle for wireless Android auto. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/aawireless#/

I bought this through their Indiegogo campaign and while it took time to ship, its been absolutely seamless in usage. It's tiny in size and I stuck just above my usb port on the bottom of the roof of wireless charging cubby in my Hyundai Tucson. Good thing is that there have been software upgrades. But the best part is that it offers a bunch of customisations. For example you can change DPI, which in turn allows for navigation and music to run side by side just like apple carplay. Also, you can enable keyboard on screen even when your car is moving. Another positive is the speed of everything. Usually in-built Android auto wireless can be laggy. But no such problems here. The hardware inside is overprovisioned and on software side it's sort of a proxy for your phone so as far as car is concerned this dongle acts like a wired Android auto device.

For $65 it was a worthwhile spent to get Android auto wireless in Hyundai Tucson, which doesn't offer it otherwise.

[raiuday]

Does this work with any car’s android head unit that doesn’t have android auto support but runs on android OS as well or it only works with head units which already have support for android auto? Case in discussion is Ecosport from late 2020 comes with Android head unit but doesn’t support android auto in any lower trims. If this works, then it’ll be a welcome addition by many owners without having to worry about changing the head units and warranty issues.

[Everlearner]

Originally Posted by raiuday

Does this work with any car’s android head unit that doesn’t have android auto support but runs on android OS as well or it only works with head units which already have support for android auto? Case in discussion is Ecosport from late 2020 comes with Android head unit but doesn’t support android auto in any lower trims. If this works, then it’ll be a welcome addition by many owners without having to worry about changing the head units and warranty issues.

I have a similar requirement. I have installed an android head unit(not android auto) in my dzire, but rarely use it for navigation since the interface is not very good.

[sarfraz1997]

Originally Posted by raiuday

Does this work with any car’s android head unit that doesn’t have android auto support but runs on android OS as well or it only works with head units which already have support for android auto?

Originally Posted by Everlearner

I have a similar requirement. I have installed an android head unit(not android auto) in my dzire, but rarely use it for navigation since the interface is not very good.

Most of such devices work only on HU’s which have native wired AA support.

[darthvader001]

Most of such devices work only on HU’s which have native wired AA support.

Yes. Head Unit need to have the Android Auto (AA) support. This dongle is going to convert wired to wireless connection that's all. See below article where this was mentioned.

https://www.theverge.com/2022/1/5/22...-car-head-unit

My Hector has wifi support for taking hotspot but somehow they didn't implement the wireless AA feature. Hope someday MG would enable thru software update.

[svdxb]

Originally Posted by Everlearner

I have a similar requirement. I have installed an android head unit(not android auto) in my dzire, but rarely use it for navigation since the interface is not very good.

You can use Headunit Reloaded for that:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=gb.xxy.hr

[narayans80]

Motorola is the first big name to enter Android Auto Wireless field, and is going to be US only at launch. I believe there are quite a few less known names who've been there for a year or 2, Indiegogo ships to India too.

The phone support would be as Google's laid out here

Any phone with Android 11.0
A Google or Samsung phone with Android 10.0
A Samsung Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+, or Note 8, with Android 9.0

There was this Italian gentleman named Emil Bocconi who's been writing about this in XDA for years. There was a workaround of having a secondary Android phone as a receiver, which I was crazy enough to try and didn't work . We finally have a neater solution these days. Only a matter of time, we have this feature in every known head unit.

[RMN]

Nice to finally see a known brand getting into this segment! Im desperately looking out for such an option.

Originally Posted by narayans80

There was this Italian gentleman named Emil Bocconi who's been writing about this in XDA for years. There was a workaround of having a secondary Android phone as a receiver, which I was crazy enough to try and didn't work . We finally have a neater solution these days. Only a matter of time, we have this feature in every known head unit.

Yep, it never worked for me consistently. Emil has released a separate hardware which is what user needmorebhp is referring to in this following post.

Originally Posted by needmorebhp

I have actually been using another such dongle for wireless Android auto. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/aawireless#/

@needmorebhp Ive been interested in this but held off for reviews. Could you please let me know what all devices & android version have you tried this with succesfully?

[Lobogris]

Originally Posted by needmorebhp

I have actually been using another such dongle for wireless Android auto. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/aawireless#/

I bought this through their Indiegogo campaign and while it took time to ship, its been absolutely seamless in usage. It's tiny in size and I stuck just above my usb port on the bottom of the roof of wireless charging cubby in my Hyundai Tucson. Good thing is that there have been software upgrades. But the best part is that it offers a bunch of customisations. For example you can change DPI, which in turn allows for navigation and music to run side by side just like apple carplay. Also, you can enable keyboard on screen even when your car is moving. Another positive is the speed of everything. Usually in-built Android auto wireless can be laggy. But no such problems here. The hardware inside is overprovisioned and on software side it's sort of a proxy for your phone so as far as car is concerned this dongle acts like a wired Android auto device.

For $65 it was a worthwhile spent to get Android auto wireless in Hyundai Tucson, which doesn't offer it otherwise.

Thanks for the recommendation. It shows $85 now which is ok but there is a disclaimer that all we are doing is making a contribution but there is no guarantee that we would actually receive a product!

[needmorebhp]

Originally Posted by RMN

@needmorebhp Ive been interested in this but held off for reviews. Could you please let me know what all devices & android version have you tried this with succesfully?

TBH, not many except OnePlus 7t, 7 pro and Samsung s21. All on Android version 11.

Originally Posted by Lobogris

Thanks for the recommendation. It shows $85 now which is ok but there is a disclaimer that all we are doing is making a contribution but there is no guarantee that we would actually receive a product!

That, I believe, is indiegogo's legalese. If you read their campaign updates and comments from contributors, they are running late but definitely shipping.

[nandrive]

Originally Posted by needmorebhp

TBH, not many except OnePlus 7t, 7 pro and Samsung s21. All on Android version 11.

I use AA wireless with my OnePlus 5T running Android 10. Works flawlessly.

[dipdawiz]

2 years back, sometime end of 2020 I was contemplating to get AAWireless from Indiegogo, researched but then forgot about it. So, as I stumble upon this thread today, immediately placed the contribution with expected March 2022 delivery. USD105 including shipping to India. Heard a lot good about it in international forums and now some confirm buy here in Team-bhp, did not see any reason to delay the order any more

[saisree]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Motorola is the first big name to enter Android Auto Wireless field, and is going to be US only at launch.

This is not from Motorola now owned by Lenovo. This is from a different company, which has license to use Motorola brand name. A sure case of hiding the manufacturer and milking the brand name Motorola. If it had come with the actual manufacturers name "Meizhou Guo Wei Electronics Co", this would have been along with junks available in Amazon and Alibaba.

It’s worth noting that the company behind this product isn’t actually the Motorola that made any permutations of the Razr flip phone or your old dial-up modem. Instead, the MA1 is from SGW Global, also known as Meizhou Guo Wei Electronics Co., Ltd, which describes itself as a “Motorola Strategic Brand Partner.” Basically, it’s a company that licenses the Motorola name. (Though the MA1 would be interesting regardless of the name slapped on it.) There aren’t a ton of options for turning your wired Android Auto head unit into a wireless one, so the MA1 could be a nifty gadget for Android users — if it’s good.

Source

[PatienceWins]

Originally Posted by dipdawiz

2 years back, sometime end of 2020 I was contemplating to get AAWireless from Indiegogo, researched but then forgot about it. So, as I stumble upon this thread today, immediately placed the contribution with expected March 2022 delivery. USD105 including shipping to India. Heard a lot good about it in international forums and now some confirm buy here in Team-bhp, did not see any reason to delay the order any more

I also ordered the same; expected delivery of March 2022. The reviews are promising. I bought it for Creta SXO.