Wireless Android Auto from Motorola

[stoopid]

A person with Telluride left a positive review on Amazon so I am feeling confident!

Another review

 

[stoopid]

Got mine, really easy to connect/pair. Seems to be working exactly like it would with the cable plugged in. After powering off the car, it takes about 3 minutes for the power to get cut to the usb port. Until then, my phone stayed connected like android auto was still active.

Couple things I had to adjust right away on my first dry run... my samsung music app needed to be told to resume playback, and android auto needed to be told to automatically start when connected. I also told the samsung music app to not allow me to control from the lock screen, I think there was enough capacitance through the thin pant pocket material to select things.

Time will tell as far as 1) phone overheating during use and charging on the pad, and 2) any communications glitches (especially when doing navigation and music simultaneously).

I'll report back if/when I have any news, but assume no news = good news.

Here's some pics. It takes up very little space and fits in the storage compartment fine.

 

[stoopid]

... Couple things I had to adjust right away on my first dry run... my samsung music app needed to be told to resume playback, and android auto needed to be told to automatically start when connected...

I'll report back if/when I have any news, but assume no news = good news...

Quick update. Setting android auto to auto start when connected works, but the music playing back automatically does not. I tried Poweramp and Samsung Music, both are supposed to do this and do not. I then read a few forum threads that indicated the car's infotainment also needs to support that feature, and I'm thinking ours does not. So it's either two presses on the touchscreen each time, or engaging with the music player on my phone to start music.

Definitely not a deal breaker, but something I would prefer to work than not. Otherwise the experience thus far has been fine, no skips/playback issues with music.

 

[stoopid]

Quick update. Setting android auto to auto start when connected works, but the music playing back automatically does not. I tried Poweramp and Samsung Music, both are supposed to do this and do not. I then read a few forum threads that indicated the car's infotainment also needs to support that feature, and I'm thinking ours does not. So it's either two presses on the touchscreen each time, or engaging with the music player on my phone to start music.

Definitely not a deal breaker, but something I would prefer to work than not. Otherwise the experience thus far has been fine, no skips/playback issues with music.

Another update...

Phone gets warm but worked fine wirelessly charging, navigating, and playing back music. I can see this perhaps being an issue if you don't AC the car during the summer months, otherwise not. If I have it off the charger, running navigation and music out of my pocket, my S10 phone loses about 12% battery per hour.

After connecting (takes about 25 seconds), I seem to be able to hit the "mode" button on the steering wheel to get the android auto and music playback to work. Otherwise I have to hit the music icon and play, assuming the music app on my phone is running/paused from the last time I was in the car. The mode button option IMO seems to be best, although on a long enough timeline it can certainly wear that steering wheel button out if like me you can sometimes get in/out of the car multiple times each day.

No gripes regarding the device.

 

[stoopid]

Another favorable review from XDA developers.

 

[stoopid]

After connecting (takes about 25 seconds), I seem to be able to hit the "mode" button on the steering wheel to get the android auto and music playback to work. Otherwise I have to hit the music icon and play, assuming the music app on my phone is running/paused from the last time I was in the car. The mode button option IMO seems to be best, although on a long enough timeline it can certainly wear that steering wheel button out if like me you can sometimes get in/out of the car multiple times each day.

On its own, automatic music playback started working earlier this week, using the same Samsung Music app I had been using all along. Weird but not complaining, not having to hit a button to have music play is my desired outcome so I'm officially 100% happy.

 

[stoopid]

Three months further along, hotter weather starting to settle in, and a couple longer local trips using navigation and I can confirm that charging wirelessly (using the Stinger's charging pad) while playing music and navigating wirelessly overheats something in the phone. It will start to drop audio, then after a couple times doing that it stops being connected like the phone is rebooting something. The usb dongle in the car isn't malfunctioning [verified by power cycling it], and the phone is seemingly fine because in about a minute's time it reconnects on its own.

This is unfortunate, but not surprising. This possibility had been discussed in a few discussions on this forum. I'd say for longer trips where power for the phone is needed, use a usb cable. Otherwise the android wireless adapter has been very solid.

This is with a S10 phone, using a rubberized but thin case. It would not surprise me that the case is a factor here, it's definitely made of material that acts as an insulator and will contribute to the phone running slightly warmer. I might take it out of the case next longish trip and see if the issue disappears.

 

[bfglitch]

Three months further along, hotter weather starting to settle in, and a couple longer local trips using navigation and I can confirm that charging wirelessly (using the Stinger's charging pad) while playing music and navigating wirelessly overheats something in the phone. It will start to drop audio, then after a couple times doing that it stops being connected like the phone is rebooting something. The usb dongle in the car isn't malfunctioning [verified by power cycling it], and the phone is seemingly fine because in about a minute's time it reconnects on its own.

This is unfortunate, but not surprising. This possibility had been discussed in a few discussions on this forum. I'd say for longer trips where power for the phone is needed, use a usb cable. Otherwise the android wireless adapter has been very solid.

This is with a S10 phone, using a rubberized but thin case. It would not surprise me that the case is a factor here, it's definitely made of material that acts as an insulator and will contribute to the phone running slightly warmer. I might take it out of the case next longish trip and see if the issue disappears.

Yeah I experienced the same. Went for about an hour long drive out somewhere just enjoying the drive, also was one of the first times I was using the motorola adapter + wireless charging. While my phone never started having disconnects or dropping any of the Android Auto stuff (Waze + music), when I did eventually reach my stopping point, I picked up the phone and it was extremely hot and had a message on it that wireless charging was turned off due to excessive heat. This was on an S22+, also wearing a case. While I'm sure removing the case will help slightly, I don't think it's going to help that much. I haven't really bothered using wireless since.

 

[JSolo]

Thanks for the heads up on the wireless charging.

Maybe the trick is not to use a case when wireless charging for long periods? I imagine there is some airflow around the cavity where the phone charges.

 

[RKA123]

Yeah I experienced the same. Went for about an hour long drive out somewhere just enjoying the drive, also was one of the first times I was using the motorola adapter + wireless charging. While my phone never started having disconnects or dropping any of the Android Auto stuff (Waze + music), when I did eventually reach my stopping point, I picked up the phone and it was extremely hot and had a message on it that wireless charging was turned off due to excessive heat. This was on an S22+, also wearing a case. While I'm sure removing the case will help slightly, I don't think it's going to help that much. I haven't really bothered using wireless since.

I recently picked up this MA1 adapter and found the same issues. However, I was able to resolve most of the overheating issues with my S21 FE with a case by setting a Bixby routine. The phone still gets warm/moderately hot but there were no overheating issues.

I set the routine to trigger when connecting to the car's bluetooth (mine was called Kia) to automatically connect to the MA1 adapter (not sure if this is needed, but it seems to anecdotally seems to connect faster) and critically turn on the eco/battery save option. The bixby routine will automatically disable the eco/battery save feature when disconnecting from the bluetooth. I drove for over an hour without issues so this seems to work for now.

 

[bfglitch]

I recently picked up this MA1 adapter and found had the same issues. However, I was able to resolve most of the overheating issues with my S21 FE with a case by setting a Bixby routine. The phone still gets warm/moderately hot but there were no overheating issues.

I set the routine to trigger when connecting to the car's bluetooth (mine was called Kia) to automatically connect to the MA1 adapter (not sure if this is needed, but it seems to anecdotally seems to connect faster) and critically turn on the eco/battery save option. The bixby routine will automatically disable the eco/battery save feature when disconnecting from the bluetooth. I drove for over an hour without issues so this seems to work for now.

Interesting. I'll have to check that out if that's a fix. I can probably do all that with either bixby or tasker.

 

[stoopid]

I set the routine to trigger when connecting to the car's bluetooth (mine was called Kia) to automatically connect to the MA1 adapter (not sure if this is needed, but it seems to anecdotally seems to connect faster) and critically turn on the eco/battery save option. The bixby routine will automatically disable the eco/battery save feature when disconnecting from the bluetooth. I drove for over an hour without issues so this seems to work for now.

Clever, I'm going to give this a try (first time using Bixby). Only set the Kia BT to trigger the eco/battery power save.

 

[RKA123]

Clever, I'm going to give this a try (first time using Bixby). Only set the Kia BT to trigger the eco/battery power save.

Nobody uses Bixby unless they have to........ luckily this is pretty easy to setup and you don't actually have to use Bixby the voice assistant to do it.

 

[bfglitch]

Nobody uses Bixby unless they have to........ luckily this is pretty easy to setup and you don't actually have to use Bixby the voice assistant to do it.

Yeah that's why I mentioned tasker. I use it to the phone into silent mode ONLY while it's plugged in between certain hours. That way if I'm awake later than usual it doesn't switch to silent mode just because it's within the hours.

 

[G70LEbyAdoom]

I recently picked up this MA1 adapter and found the same issues. However, I was able to resolve most of the overheating issues with my S21 FE with a case by setting a Bixby routine. The phone still gets warm/moderately hot but there were no overheating issues.

I set the routine to trigger when connecting to the car's bluetooth (mine was called Kia) to automatically connect to the MA1 adapter (not sure if this is needed, but it seems to anecdotally seems to connect faster) and critically turn on the eco/battery save option. The bixby routine will automatically disable the eco/battery save feature when disconnecting from the bluetooth. I drove for over an hour without issues so this seems to work for now.

Not a bad idea. I am going to try this as well. My Z Fold 2 overheats on the wireless charging pad as well, consistently, every single time because of how bad wireless charging pad is.

 

[stoopid]

Not a bad idea. I am going to try this as well. My Z Fold 2 overheats on the wireless charging pad as well, consistently, every single time because of how bad wireless charging pad is.

It has nothing to do with the charging pad (functionality or design), the process of doing wireless charging creates heat and having all these functions running on the phone while also charging is just too much to expect the phone to not overheat. On top of that, many (most?) of us use cases with our phones that act as an insulator, further adding to the heat issue since it's helping to keep the phone hot by adding another layer the heat has to travel through to dissipate.

 

[JSolo]

From a fully charged (100%) state would the phone survive 8-12 hrs of AA use with the screen off..... ?

 

[G70LEbyAdoom]

It has nothing to do with the charging pad (functionality or design), the process of doing wireless charging creates heat and having all these functions running on the phone while also charging is just too much to expect the phone to not overheat.

except that has been proven multiple times to not be the case when using this charging pad specifically. Plenty of reports of it just overheating for no reason. Case and point being that my work iPhone overheated this morning on the charging pad and its literally just sitting there charging. Nothing runs on it ever. I use it for phone calls at work. everything else in my car I use my personal phone for.
The actual charging pad in the stinger is just designed poorly and inefficiently. You can even plug in 99% of other charging pads via usb and run all the same functions and the phone will be totally fine except for being just a little warm.

 

[stoopid]

From a fully charged (100%) state would the phone survive 8-12 hrs of AA use with the screen off..... ?

I don't see why not, I use the phone in my pocket 99% of the time with nearly zero issues. There's clearly a heat issue though when it's charging and performing the same functions.

 

[G70LEbyAdoom]

From a fully charged (100%) state would the phone survive 8-12 hrs of AA use with the screen off..... ?

Give it 15% drain per hour as a safety net.