Phone Cradle

[aquiss]

Anyone heard if MB have plans to produce a phone cradle to go with the pre-wiring on new C (W204) for SonyEricsson K850i ?

 

[jberks]

Does the 204 have cradles? I thought all 204s were bluetooth as standard?
Since most people will go bluetooth I can't see MB doing new cradles anymore.

 

[aquiss]

The cradles on the W204 sit inside the armrest and allow for the phone's addressbook to be used from the Steering wheel controls ie: numbers and names appear, which don't appear to be possible via the bluetooth on any phone I've tried.

All bluetooth does it allow the car to make the calls, but in terms of getting numbers from the phone, you either have to manually add them into car or by luck them calling you will add them to calllist.

 

[jberks]

Ah - so thats how they do it.
There is the bluetooth cradle with 'Sim Access Profile". that should download your sim -assuming the phone is SAP compatible anyway. It will also use the car instead of the phone to make the calls. it costs a bit more than a cradle but that way, you're not limited to the one phone (like I am).
Have a look at Alfies site http://www.comandonline.co.uk

 

[aquiss]

Yeah I was looking at SAP one....don't think it supports SonyEricsson phones though.

I have merc on the case, they tell me they have a universal bluetooth device which might work. Also the other way is pushing the business cards from the phone to the car, but that appears not be possible on phone (greyed out).

Though cradle route does, i'm told from the car manual, allow SMS messages to appear inside the car. For me being on the road dealing with server faults within data centres, this would be a handy way of getting servers updates to me whilst travelling to the scene.

 

[jberks]

Do you have command?
SMS messages only work with command. Otherwise you get a message saying a message has arrived but still have to access the phone to read it.

 

[aquiss]

Do you have command?
SMS messages only work with command. Otherwise you get a message saying a message has arrived but still have to access the phone to read it.

Nope Audio 20, but according to manual for it all the features become active with a cradle.

 

[jberks]

Nope Audio 20, but according to manual for it all the features become active with a cradle.

err mine doesn't!
Nokia 6230i in a cradle in the arm rest.
I get a bleep and "SMS Received" flash up on the displays and an envelope symbol light up but I can't read it. I have to remove the phone from the cradle and read it that way.
Everything else works fine but no SMS with an audio 20. AFAIK only command allows SMS to be read.

 

[aquiss]

Interesting, i have 4 pages in Audio manual about how to browse and view SMS messages. I will have to do some more research on this.

Back to original point. What i have been told by a manager at Drayton Group centre at the Worcester Customer services HQ (for Drayton branches) is that MB are unlikely to make anymore cradles, at least for now.

They have or about to launch a universal Bluetooth device that sits in cradle socket that acts as bridge between the phone and car, and thus taking advantage of more extended features from phone, such as full addressbook access. I'm also told that this will be updated with software updates for the car if the device is fitted. Sounds common sense approach going forward.