After using this for a few weeks I just wanted to report my experience using it with the Note 3.
My brother has the similar Belkin kit and it is absolutely TERRIBLE. It flashes red and refuses to connect to anything for days at a time then seemingly works for a month or two, the speakerphone is absolutely unusable, the precise timing required to use the ONE button for Play, Pause, and Next Track is maddeningly difficult (leaves you blindly wondering if it is paused, resumed, or skipped), and it is simply too expensive.
I am happy to say that I didn't have any of those issues with the Kinivo kit. It sticks with a double-sided sticky foam disc instead of the two-part magnetic base that the Belkin uses but I don't plan to move it around and it's not like Belkin included two bases anyway. With it stuck solidly on the dash, I kinda wish it had a twist to skip function but the dedicated buttons are certainly good enough for that! The wireless connection is solid and the controls feel/work great. I have no idea if it is using Apt-X or not but it supposedly supports it for higher-quality A2DP streaming over Bluetooth (as does the Note 3). The quality sounds much better but that could just be my car having better speakers compared to my brother (I am no audiophile).
Unlike the Belkin, it auto-connects when you start the car. That would be fine if it didn't cause the phone to also auto-answer! Further compounding it is the fact that it comes on even when your stereo is off so you may have no idea that it grabbed the call (you can't hear the caller without powering on and switching inputs). Obviously, there's no easy way for them to integrate with your OEM stereo to only operate when the stereo is on and AUX input is selected, which is the drawback to having an adapter kit. I don't know if the auto-answering is bad behavior on Samsung's part or if it does that with every phone so I'll have to test. There have been times leaving work with my ringer silenced when it would answer a call I didn't even know was incoming and then I drive around completely unaware that someone can hear everything going on in the car. Galaxy Charging Light reports 1800mAH charge rate through the built-in USB port, which is as fast a my phone charges from the stock 2-amp wall plug, but I do wish it had a second USB port or was de-coupled so that you could bring your own. The Belkin does have a smaller plug but they both occupy the whole power socket, they both only have one available USB port, and they both are permanently wired for their own power.
Speakerphone is a million times better than the crappy Belkin unit. I'd barely be exaggerating to say that the Belkin is completely unusable for phone calls while driving. This actually WORKS. I am somewhat hard of hearing which is why I'm no audiophile, but this was perfectly adequate.
There is no battery and thus no need to charge it. It really came down to the Belkin and Kinivo for me purely because I didn't want one of those rechargeable units. A significant number of users reported feedback issues when charging in many vehicles and I don't want to deal with worn batteries. While I can't confirm that wired units are immune to this, I didn't have that issue in my 2011 Corolla or my brother's 2009 Aveo. People act like you just have to suck it up and buy the fix (ground loop isolator) if you have this problem but I ask "why can't it be built-in?" If possible, I expect that.
I hope I can fix the auto-answer problem with an Xposed tweak or something. All in all, I am very happy with it and I want to make sure none of you waste your money on the terrible Belkin version! I decided on this back when it and the Belkin kit were the only two similar options but I see a new "iClever" Bluetooth 4.0 kit has showed up on the market. It costs less, includes a dual-port charger (occupies one port but at least it's de-coupled so you can BYO), doesn't mention Apt-X,
but I'd love to hear from anyone with experience with it.
Kinivo BTC450 kit:
http://www.amazon.com/Kinivo-BTC450...9545&sr=8-1&keywords=Kinivo+Bluetooth+car+kit
Belkin kit:
http://www.amazon.com/Bluetooth-Han...r=8-2-fkmr0&keywords=Kinivo+Bluetooth+car+kit
iClever Himbox HB01 kit:
http://www.amazon.com/iClever-Bluet...ncluded/dp/tech-data/B00GJFGDUQ/ref=de_a_smtd
Related
http://shop.brando.com.hk/htctytnmusicdock.php
i wonder if this is any good?
Looks like the same one I had for my Wizzard, they are a bit plasticy and lightweight, and the blue led was so bright I had to disable it, but it does what it says on the tin, audio performance is reasonable, it's no where near the ipod style kit in terms of audio performace or apperance though.
Will
I ordered one last week. I haven't received it yet but will report back when I do.
I received my music dock in the mail today, and I'm pleasantly surprised. I bought it to use in my office at work, and it will work just great. It sounds nice, my phone drops right in, and they include a 3.5mm line in, USB cable, and a [useless] .4A USB wall charger. However, I can use my HTC wall charger with it and it will charge while I stream or Sling
For the money, this is a great purchase IMHO. The blue LED is annoying though.
Does this music dock also relay a phone call when Speakerphone is selected?
Thanks.
Hi All,
Well now that I've bought one I know that it does. Has anyone managed to pair this up with a micraphone to create a more effective speaker phone for office group use? I bought the HTC Y-Cable for another purpose, and thought this might allow a mic to be plugged in, but alas it has a different plug shape to the socket in the dock.
Also I am experiencing the famous and annoying intermittent GSM buzz through the speakers, which like many must not be well shielded. Hs anyone found a solution for this?
Hi everyone, I am looking for Ideas on how to build speakers and a microphone into a full faced motorcycle helmet that communicates with my Wing (in stereo) via Bluetooth. I know there are commercial solutions but for the most part they are crap and a good setups (chatterbox) will cost in excess of $400. So I figure with the right guidance I could make a good system for a fraction of that $400.
What I’m thinking: (of course cheap is the slogan of the day)
1. Bluetooth adapter that will pair with my Wing and receive a stereo signal.
2. Noise canceling microphone
3. Decent (yet thin) speakers
The real question:
Would it be possible to strip apart a Bluetooth adapter and solder in speakers and mic. Allowing me to listen to music on my Wing while riding my bike. I would also like to be able to verbally answer and dial the wing with this setup. One of the big stumbling block is how to power the speakers (would an BT adapter have enough juice?), easily recharge (or replace batteries) in the adapter, and make pairing painless.
I would appreciate any ideas and comments you have. Thanks
Hello and Welcome to the forum!
But if you want to make some speakers in your helmet, Contact the police first and ask if it's legal.
I know a mate who has done that before and when he got a speeding ticket, the officers saw there were speakers.
He got a ticket for that aswell because it may inflect the safety and durability of the helmet.. LOL
Anyway, If i were you i just bought the original HTC headset wich is wired, and plug them in my ears.
Put on your helmet and you can call and such.
But maybe other people will have some other thoughts.
You think the mic will work in that enviroment?
ermm, well if you have a noise canceling mic than it should be no problem.
But i did some research for you and there are helmets availible with a bluetooth headset built-in. Connect your phone with that headset and play some music.
I've been looking to do the same thing. Its REALLY hard to get my helmet on with a bluetooth headset in my ear, its hurts as a matter of fact. I have to take some of the padding out from the helmet if I dont want pain, but thats just not worth the safety risk; I bought a $500 helmet for a reason. Lol.
The mic wouldnt even have to be noise canceling IF you kept the mic behind the chin wind gaurd or inside the helmet somehow.
I totally understand, I paid $700 for an Arai helmet for a reason and its not because of the *****en graphics. What I have started to do…
I have a set of Skull Candy headphones that I removed the speakers from that will fit nicely into my helmet and have great sound. I did a test and spliced the speakers in to the USB headphone adapter (stock) for my wing. I ran into my first problem…. The wing doesn’t have enough poop to drive the speakers. So I will need to use some kind of speaker amp. I found a cheap ($8 + shipping) and small amp on Ebay ( http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...STRK:MEWA:IT&viewitem=&item=260255057258&rd=1 )
So I’m thinking that if I can find a cheap Bluetooth (stereo and voice command capable) I could crack it open cut out the original speaker wires and solder in wires to connect to the head set amp. The head set amp looks small enough that I should be able to hide it someplace in the padding of my helmet. Then solder in wires to run from the amp to the speakers and finally mount the Bluetooth on the face guard infront of were my mouth would be.
What I am stumbling with is power. I need to figure out how to make the Bluetooth easy to charge and how to power the amp (requires 1 AAA battery). I would need to make the amp easily accessible to change out the battery which seems like a pain in the ass and may look ugly. What I would really like to do is have a common power source for both device so when I am home I just plug in one cord to the helmet. But I don’t know if that is even possible.
I really want to make this work but in the end this all needs to be functional and CLEAN. I don’t want it to look like I Forest Gumped my way though this project.
You might look at a tactical throat mic and a in-helmet speaker setup from midland. You could also try a in ear tube type setup from Midland also. Both products are for their GMRS radios, but I think with some modification you coud get it to talk to a bluetooth device.
Also you might look at Fire/police communication sights as some departments use bluetooth adapters with their 2 way radios for hands-free mic's that don't have to be connected to the radios.
Let me know if you ever come up with anything, this sounds like a very interesting project....
BG
looking for a stereo receiver to connect to my hifi at home....
something like :
http://www.sony.co.uk/product/acc-bluetooth-stereo-adapters/hws-bta2w
or
http://www.scosche.com/products/sfID1/217/sfID2//sfID3//productID/537
bells and whistles are not importsnt only the quality of sound.
anybody used these devices? or that can recomend a better receiver?
I've used both, and Sony is unthinkably better. Its not perfect as it doesn't support really high bandwith A2DP without clipping, but nothing really does... (in fact of all the a2dp accesories that I've tried, only one set of headphones have, Logitech Freepulse 2). The Scosche adapter is complete garbage. I tried two of them thinking that I just got a defective one, boy was I wrong. It outputs poor quality, and after maybe 20 min (if you're lucky) all you get is static, and then you have to turn the unit off and turn it back on. After that you'll maybe get 5 min until the static kicks in. If you want to use it for longer than 5min, you have to let it sit until it cools down. I bought my first one on eBay, and tried out the second unit from Best Buy. At the end of the day, I returned the Best Buy one, and just threw out the eBay one. I couldn't risk my ebay seller reputation (re)selling garbage like that.
Thanks Sonus,
i will mainly be plugging this into a motorbike intercom so although i want as high quality as possible its by no means audiophile grade
stated home use as i want the ability to power externaly
the alternative is the unit made by the intercom manufacturer and thats £75 and mono!
so before i go and grab one of the Sony's from Fleabay.... any other suggestions?
the Motorola DC800 is another that i have been looking at
As far as recievers, no other suggestions. I haven't used the Moto DC800, so I can't comment. Just be aware that the Sony only does A2DP, no HSF or HSP at all. So if you need those features...
I too was planning to use the Sony both in my car and at home. In the end, I ended up only using it at home. And it works really well there! My phone calls don't get picked up on my home stereo system, which is a plus to me. And the Sony can do both input and output over A2DP, so I sometimes use it to stream from either my phone or laptop, and at other times, I use it to stream the TV or radio to my A2DP headphones. As for car usage, the Sony has no internal battery, and the car charger must be ordered from Sony. Besides that, a dedicated car piece has the advantage of having a remote control. In my car, I installed the iO Play adapter.
thats actually great news
i want the phone going to the other reciever so this one will be for audio only so the lack of HSP HFP is great, should make configuration easier.
does the Sony come on automaticly when you plug it in? or do you have to press the button... i hope it will come on itself as it will be tucked under the seat (not impossible to get at and switch on but it would be a bonus if i didnt have to)
iO Play adaptor?? any more info?
Unfortunately, the Sony doesn't turn on automatically when you plug into a power source.
I posted some pics of my io play setup over here >> http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=408977. But that won't work for your motorcycle as it requires some serious re-wiring to be able to work w/o a car stereo attached to it.
I just googled these, would they be helpful to you? http://www.a2dp.info/Newsflash/Bluetooth-Headsets-for-Motorcycle-Enthusiasts.html or this
http://www.webbikeworld.com/motorcycle-intercoms/blu-virtu/
sonus said:
I just googled these, would they be helpful to you? http://www.a2dp.info/Newsflash/Bluetooth-Headsets-for-Motorcycle-Enthusiasts.html or this
http://www.webbikeworld.com/motorcycle-intercoms/blu-virtu/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
- not really as i already have the intercom and its great in itself (and expensive!) just trying to avoid a cable from the Polaris
that IO Play looks nice!
http://www.shop2us.com/car_mount/d2_fm_kit.jpg
Hi All,
I have just purchased and tested this product. It cost just £22 from Ebay. Quite a bargain really. The build quality is quite poor. However, the D2 does fit quite nicely and you don't need to fiddle with it too much to get the mini USB connected. One strange thing is the side flanges. They do overlap the green and red phone buttons slightly, so you could find yourself accidentally calling someone when inserting the D2 into the cradle.
Once in, it is an excellent product. The sound quality through the car radio is superb. Even driving through London (where the airways are filled with legal and illegal radio stations) there is no interference with this transmitter. I have tried a few of these type of FM transmitters and can happily say this is easily the best so far. The volume on the D2 needs to be turned down to about 13 or 20% on the HTC, otherwise you will get some distortion when playing loud music.
Re-tuning is a breeze with the back-lit LCD screen, if the frequency you have it on has some interference.
One problem is making or receiving a call. When a call comes in, you can hear the ringing through the car speakers. However, this device disables the D2 microphone and does not have one built in itself. The only work around for this is to have a bluetooth headset. Therefore, once a call comes in, the bluetooth headset will then provide the sound and microphone and so you can speak/hear as normal. The car speakers will be disabled once you accept the call through the bluetooth headset. Obviously the headset will need to be connected first. Personally, I use a small programme called bluepower. This turns on bluetooth on my D2 when it is being charged and then turns it off (to save battery) when it is not being charged. Therefore, as soon as I put the D2 into the cradle, it links with my already paired bluetooth headset
So, I can now sit in my car with my D2 charging, playing music through my car radio and make/receive calls using my bluetooth headset without any problems....
All sounds great doesn't it?
However, there is one small problem.
If I choose to listen to a different radio station, I will not be able to hear my D2 ring or hear when an email/text comes in, or to the voice guidance on my iGO8 (not that I use it).... You may consider this a safety feature because you don't want to have this distraction whilst driving do you? Obviously you can still see these events in the usual way, if your screen is turned on. This is not such a huge problem I don't think, but some might.
Perhaps it will be easy to be able to somehow link up a working microphone with this system and have a rather decent hands free system, but I don't know how to. I have seen other threads which have also described this problem with other such systems, but never a solution except the bluetooth headset one. Maybe someone can suggest a registry tweak for this or a Mortscript programme???
Anyway, to conclude, I am very happy with this purchase, especially at the price.
Hope this helps someone
will the Pure fit in a TD2 cradle?
Will the Pure fit in a TD2 cradle? The bottom ends appear to be differently shaped. Is it close enough that the two can be interchanged for a cradle like mitsi posted?
I want a nice cradle with a built in usb plug so I dont have to figit. The proclip one is too darn expensive. Whereas the custom fitted car cradles for the TD2 are plentiful...
Mic For the FM Transmitter ALMOST !!!
Well like you i bought one of these fine products I did come across a couple of issues (and work arounds).
1. At certain output frequency's the GPS did not work ??, noticed that when the power to the FM Tx was removed the GPS signal returned. as I tried different channels the interference varied so worth looking out for.
2. Again at different output channels I would pickup the mobile trying to make a connection to the network (approx every 10min), again changed the channel the effect varied from bad to zero.
Microphone, I took my unit apart and the pcb has the position for a MIC marked on the pcb but no mic fitted. I took out a mic from the supplied handsfree kit supplied with the phone this fitted and off I went to try but no luck.
On further investigation the mic needed to be wired pack to the usb plug BUT the pins for the plug are enclosed in the glue used to hold the plug in position and there were no leads off the plug to wire too !!!!!!!!!!!!
But like u the unit is still worth the cash
I've installed a Parrot Asteroid (digital media head unit with hands free calling) in my wife's VW Passat and think it might be one of the best purchases I've made this year. Install on the Passat (2001.5) was almost plug and play. The only change I had to make was switching Battery and ACC on harness. The antenna adapter (unpowered) is a standard item and was available from a local source.
With CM9 (nightly 0508 currently) USB and Bluetooth tethering work.
Contacts are shared with the Asteroid and voice dialing is accurate (the Parrot seems to grok what I am saying).
Music selection (media on SDHC card in Parrot) via voice is failrly accurate but I have noticed a few inaccurate responses.
Hands-free calling is crystal clear and the music quality is awesome.
Some have reported buggy or defective units, but I have had no trouble with it over the last week with my I777. We'll see what happens with my wife's iPhone...
I am considering same setup into my 2004 Passat. Thanks for posting the picture, that certainly clears my concerns about how does it look in the car as the console is same as yours.
How is sound compared to original VW radio you had before?
Do you mind if I ask you to share with us what components went into your install beside of course the Asteroid? Especially what adapter for the wiring harness you used.
I am using (primarily) Galaxy Nexus on CM9, so I'm pretty confident hooking the Asteroid to the phone shouldn't be a problem. Thanks in advance!
Edit: forgot to ask about button backlight - from what I see on the Internet it seems to be white, is it adjustable so it can be made to match the OEM backlight on the Passat (red)?
leobg said:
I am considering same setup into my 2004 Passat. Thanks for posting the picture, that certainly clears my concerns about how does it look in the car as the console is same as yours.
How is sound compared to original VW radio you had before?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my opinion (these things being subjective), the sound is excellent. Like most Android devices, the Asteroid has a built in equalizer and other sound tweaks. Much better than stock.
Do you mind if I ask you to share with us what components went into your install beside of course the Asteroid? Especially what adapter for the wiring harness you used.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe all B5.5 Passats use a ISO connector for the stock stereo. The included Parrot wiring harness adapter works out of the box. I only had to flip Battery and Switched Power (ACC). The Parrot adapter is designed to allow quick changes to these leads and this is documented in the included instructions. The only thing I had to buy was the antenna adapter. I picked that up for about $15 US. I used the unpowered version.
I am using (primarily) Galaxy Nexus on CM9, so I'm pretty confident hooking the Asteroid to the phone shouldn't be a problem. Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CM9 works quite nicely with the Parrot with one caveat. Bluetooth audio was great (both music and hands free calling). No problems with pairing so far. I tried connecting my SGS2 USB storage to the Parrot but it is not recognizing the SGS2 mass storage (micro SD card). This is not a show stopper for me as I have a 32GB SDHC card installed in the Asteroid.
Edit: forgot to ask about button backlight - from what I see on the Internet it seems to be white, is it adjustable so it can be made to match the OEM backlight on the Passat (red)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No such luck from what I have seen. You have have a choice of white, white, or white. You can adjust the intensity of control backlight and LCD backlight for 'Day' and 'Night' modes. 'Day' and 'Night' modes are toggled by a long press on the 'Parrot' button.
The Asteroid is not perfect but it seems to be the only device of its kind at the moment. I am surprised that more car stereo companies are not leveraging Android into their equipment lineup. Both OEM and aftermarket vendors seem to be utterly clueless when it comes to emerging technologies. Who uses CD (or for that matter DVD's) anymore?
When we bought our Passat I was shocked and appalled that the head unit had a CASSETTE deck! There was a CD changer in the trunk but that meant pulling over to change CD's. Clueless, utterly clueless...
In any case, good luck. The install is pretty easy. Do some research on some of the issues some seem to experience with the Asteroid. I have not seen any major problems on firmware 1.5 as yet but your mileage may vary.
*Edit: One other thing -- the Asteroid does not fit flush with the dash like the stock head unit. It sticks out approximately 1/4 inch. Aside from doing major work to modify the dash, I could not think of any way to make the Parrot fit flush. It does not bother me, but it may pose aesthetic issues for you. I actually have grown to like it. It makes finding controls easy without taking my eyes off the road.
Oh -- and one last thing. This 38 second video is priceless for removing the stock head unit.
http://youtu.be/KNSYBSGzUuQ
One last edit -- here is the antenna adapter. $7 through Amazon.
http://goo.gl/39rIO
Thanks a bunch!! So your 2001.5 came with the singe DIN unit. B5.5's 2002 onward ship with double DIN unit, so I would need to find a tray to place in (and fill up the gap) which will be very handy as I could keep the phone (or other junk in there. I've heard Parrot is coming up with a double din unit with slightly extended functionality: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/08/parrot-asteroid-ck-asteroid-nav-asteroid-2din-infotainment-sys/. They mention late 2012 availability, wondering if I want to hold my horses for that one. Since it doesn't have physical buttons to require backlight, there won't be an issue with the look, but I like the buttons and especially the rotary ones, so this (for me) is as disadvantage as much as advantage. And probably the cost will double. Though integrated Google maps navigation would be terrific! Decisions, decisions...!
Yeah. The stock unit was single DIN. I believe you can buy the pocket if you have a double DIN OEM head unit and want to install a single DIN.
I like having physical controls -- perhaps I am getting old. The lack of apps does not particularly distress me.
I'd like to use the Parrot UNIKA steering controls interface but it does not look like B5.5 Passat is supported yet.
By the way, I'm listening to one of your (Canadian) exports today -- a band by the name of Elliott Brood from Toronto. Not bad for Canadian hacks. ;-)
http://www.elliottbrood.ca/
All the best,
Edward