I am back home again and had a little time this evening to unbox and try out the Ownice T3 and do a side-by-side comparison with the T2C.
Interesting thing to note is I made sure both units were running the latest software before testing and both required updates - v2.7.5 for the Ownice and v4.6 just came out for the T2C which has improved the device in a couple of key areas that make it more competitive with the Ownice.
START UP TIME (power-on to CarPlay screen)
Start up time for the T2C has been reduced from approximately 55 seconds to 30 seconds with v4.6 - this is a huge improvement. The Wi-Fi network appears much more quickly plus previously the Tesla always attempted to connect twice before and now it connects first time. Ownice starts in approximately 30 seconds.
WINNER: Tie
DISPLAY RESOLUTION
The T2C allows several different settings (SD, HD, Fast) whereas the Ownice appears to just have one. The Ownice resolution is very high - text rendering is super crisp and the CarPlay home screen is 5x3 - this is higher than the highest 4x3 T2C HD setting. If you look at the layout of the Seattle-Tacoma Airport route maps in the images attached below you can see how the Ownice text layout fits more neatly and the map displays more detail. This also makes the CarPlay Dashboard view more pleasing when it is displaying a map and music controls and driving directions at once.
WINNER: Ownice
REFRESH RATE
Because the resolutions aren’t exactly the same it is hard to make an apples-to-apples comparison in terms of speed - Ownice refreshes at a decent but not super-smooth rate, the T2C varies by resolution setting. One thing I did notice is that the Ownice frame rate was more consistent - the T2C will sometimes be fast and smooth and other times it stutters whereas the Ownice was always roughly the same consistent refresh rate.
WINNER: Tie
AIRPLAY
Ownice offers casting using Apple’s Airplay protocol - it works and resolution is great but there are some lip sync issues that make watching talking heads challenging. Not sure I can think of a use case for me. T2C doesn’t offer this.
WINNER: Ownice by default
STABILITY
Too soon to say, especially given both are running new firmware. Needs more testing to see if T2C’s issues with reconnections have been fixed with v4.6.
Happy to run more tests and answer any questions, images below:-
T2C 4x3 (highest display setting)
Ownice 5x3
T2C (highest display setting)
Ownice
T2C (highest display setting)
Ownice
Ownice Options Screen