I have no idea why separate models, including separate firmware (!) are needed when the difference seems to only be inclusion of power adapter or not. There must be some undisclosed hardware...

I would guess it's related to a mangement function, my unmanaged EAP653 seems fine.

Why would it? It's a device by TP-Link, not Cisco. You can't expect proprietary protocols to work across vendors.

Hello, I run a single AP in standalone mode where a controller is overkill. It works great, however it seems the radio is using the wrong regulatory database as there is nowhere in the standalone...

The hardware is great but the software / firmware leaves a lot to be desired, the glacial pace of updates is a big concern. I'd love to get TP-Link Wi-Fi 6E / 7 APs when they're available but I know...

"AI" is a bit of an exaggeration, it simply scans for the lowest interference channels and creates a channel plan to minimize overlapping frequencies. It seems to work well though, it would be useful...