So, besides the whole update process, this thing is pretty cool. Upon receiving it, I felt that it would be best to update it. I connected it to power, then connected to the Wi-Fi on the device with my Android phone and went to the web interface at 192.168.2.1. This loaded but just kept searching with a red button below saying, "Switch P2P". Upon tapping that button, it says there's an update available but suddenly disconnects and fails. I tried this on 2 different Android phones with the same issue. Ultimately, the fix was to plug the dongle into my PC for power and connect my PC Wi-Fi to the dongle and access the web interface. Note that my PC also has a wired connection, so it maintains Internet while connected to the CarPlay's Wi-Fi. I was then able to update successfully. The standard process may work fine on an iPhone, which I don't have. I plugged it into my Volvo XC60 and plugged a Roku streaming stick into it, but I only ever saw the boot screen for the Roku and then it would just go to "No HDMI Signal". This might be a resolution setting on the Roku as I've seen similar before when using it with an older TV. I switched to a Chromecast with Google TV, and it worked perfectly. I went for a drive and tested it while waiting to pick up my daughter. I tried live TV via my Plex Pass and despite the slightly glitchy network connection, the video and audio were pretty well in sync, and it was perfectly watchable. I haven't tried Samsung Dex via my phone plugged in, but I'd think it would perform at least as well, if not way better. If I try it, I'll post my results. I didn't have super high hopes, but it seemed to work really well. Once the car starts, and you switch to Android Auto (if you have to switch sources on your car) you'll just have a choice of Apple CarPlay/Android Auto or the HDMI input. One IMPORTANT thing to note... Your car will only recognize the device as Apple Car Play, but when your phone connects, it will be Android Auto if you have an Android device. It just uses the Apple Car Play protocol to send the signal to the car. Nav buttons on my steering wheel work the same as if my Android phone were directly connected, so no incompatibilities due to the car thinking it's Apple CarPlay. Pretty happy with this so far. One star off for the less than convenient update process. An app for your phone to choose settings would have been nice. Also, the ability to set the device to default to Android Auto/CarPlay, HDMI or to ask which at boot would be a nice added setting. As it is, it just asks which at boot time.
**Just a tip, if you use a streaming stick and you have a hotspot plan on your phone, if it's a Samsung phone, you can go into settings and search for Modes and Routines, and create a new routine that activates your Wi-Fi Hotspot from your phone when Bluetooth connects to the AutoSky device, then set your streaming stick to connect to that Wi-Fi hotspot by default. The same can be accomplished with the Tasker app and maybe some other simpler automation apps for Android.