Mercedes phone integration solutions in the market (cradle, bluetooth, ¿?)

[kitus]

Hello,

I'm a little confused after having browsed the Net for a while. Gonna sum up what I seem to have gathered so far.

I have an iPhone 3G and my girlfriend has a Nokia N95. We own a w203 sportcoupe with phone preinst 386.

I'm currently considering either installing an iphone cradle for the 3g model or rather going standard and installing a bluetooth cradle. The difference seems to be that with the specific 3G cradle I could charge the battery while driving which is great, but I'm uncertain about the hassle of having to slip the phone into the cradle every time I intend to use the car. I must say I'm a little upsed at Mercedes since iPod functionality aren't supplied by installing this cradle... what the heck, this sounds like a robbery to my opinion. I'm pretty sure that if they wanted to, they could provide this cradle with these audio capabilities for sure.

Moving over to more standard solutions (bluetooth) for instance, I understood that there are at lest 3 different alternatives available. Mercedes SAP, Mercedes hfp, Viseeo. Is that right? If it is, could somebody please shed some light on the differences between the latter 2? I'm already dismissing the first one (SAP cradle) because it does not seem to be supported in many phones (although iPhone 3G with OS 3.0 and Nokia N95 are supposed to support this feature).

HFP didn't support iPhone 3G with firmware version 2.x up to 2.2 I've been told but from 2.2 and onwards everything seems to work just fine. So, what are the differences between these two cradles in terms of

• how well they integrate with command (which btw I also have)
• phones support ratio
• voice quality
• seamless operation

Thank you very much in advance and do excuse the extension of this post

/kitus

 

[jberks]

SAP is the sim access profile so takes over and acts as a phone - great but only compatible with a small number of phones. HFP basically a standard bluetooth setup as is viseeo. The only difference between these 2 is that the viseeo is cheaper and software upgradeable. So, as you saw with earlier versions of the HFP, they wouldn't work with your phone. Had you had one it would have been a nice paperweight whereas you could have sent the Viseeo off to be upgraded.

 

[simons-d]

I was wondering about the very same thing, didn't know what to do so looked here:

http://www.comandonline.co.uk/product.php?productid=16219&cat=0&page=1&featured

I still wasn't sure so I emailed them... they were really helpfull and told me what I needed to do... but at those prices they would wouldn't they!

Hope this helps...

 

[kitus]

Hey simons-d,

that is the 3G cradle, which i'm pretty much running away from as it isn't standard at all and if I change my phone in the future, it won't work with any other phone different from an iPhone. Moreover, as I pointed out, my girlfriend has a NOKIA N95 and I would like also to support her phone.

Thanks for your input jberks, I already knew that Viseeo is upgradeable. How about the integration with Command? do they both (hfp and viseeo) display the same messages on it while there are no established calls? are both equal when it comes to accessing the address book?

Thanks a lot in advance to both of you,

Marc

 

[jberks]

I don't have command so can't comment on the Viseeo's integration or the HFP's behaviour.

I am using the Viseeo with an HTC Diamond.
When it works (80% of the time), it works very well. Voice dial is excellent, sound quality is very good - in both directions.

Sadly - the -ve's
Ring volume is low - not a biggie as it mutes the stereo anyway and the phone is loud enough for both but there doesn't seem to be a way to turn it up or alter the ring tone.
It doesn't always connect. Sometimes it appears to be connected (get a signal strength display) but when the phone rings, you can't answer and it doesn't mute. The phone just frustratingly rings away from the rear seat.

I previously had a nokia and normal cradle. With this I was able to quickly access phone numbers by pressing the appropriate letter key. This doesn't work with my current setup so I have to scroll through the entire memory.

I should stress that these issues may well be the phone as Windows Mobile phones always seem to have connectivity problems so I suspect my issues may be simply that microsoft can't get their heads around bluetooth when Nokia and Sony find it so easy. To cure it I quite often have to reboot the phone so I'm 75% sure it is the phone and not the cradle - but lets see what issues others have - if any.

 

[Daeths]

coincidentally i received my HFP today, plugged it in and my Blackberry hooked up immediately and my wife's Nokia did too.

100% Comand and sterring wheel control and upload of address books etc, last call, redials etc etc. Identical to using the OEM cradle and set in terms of use.

This will work on many phones, but would would double check for your 3G. FROM MEMORY, I think it would work for making calls but not upload the phone BUT MAY BE WRONG - go onto comandonline sitethey have all the details are very helpful and provide good prices as a forum referral.

 

[simons-d]

Sorry kitus I wasn't clear. The people at comand online will give you the info you need to allow you to charge the iPhone use it as a telephone and an iPod. With the viseeo part you would be able to connect most 'phones...

 

[kitus]

coincidentally i received my HFP today, plugged it in and my Blackberry hooked up immediately and my wife's Nokia did too.

100% Comand and sterring wheel control and upload of address books etc, last call, redials etc etc. Identical to using the OEM cradle and set in terms of use.

This will work on many phones, but would would double check for your 3G. FROM MEMORY, I think it would work for making calls but not upload the phone BUT MAY BE WRONG - go onto comandonline sitethey have all the details are very helpful and provide good prices as a forum referral.

Hello, I've been told that members of the forum have access to a voucher for Comand Online. Could you please provide me with that voucher or let me know where to find it?

Thanks in advance!!