Monday, September 7th, 2009
If you spend a reasonable amount of time in the car use your phone for calls, listening to music or for GPS Navigation while you’re driving, then a hands free car kit is essential. Over recent years, the number of ’self install’ or ‘plug and play’ car kits available has increased considerably, but while they may be a great low cost, portable solution, they can’t compete with the audio quality, ease of use and reliability of a fully installed car kit that is integrated with your vehicle.
In the earlier days of mobile phones, the King of the Car Kits was the Nokia CARK-91, almost every fleet car had one fitted but then along came Bluetooth, changing Car Kits forever. You no longer needed bulky cradles or holders attached to your dashboards, external aerials and speakers became unnecessary and car kits started to get smarter.
Modern Bluetooth car kits can do much more than just play your calls through a speaker. Car kits can now route audio from your calls through your car stereo without the need for adapters or extra cables, play music from your phone through the stereo, store your phonebook, add voice dialling capabilities, connect to MP3 players and Sat Nav units and much more. Bluetooth car kits are more flexible too, they work with any make of handset, where as older car kits with cradles generally only work with just one manufacturer – THB car kits being the only exception to this.
To help make choosing the right professionally installed car kit a bit easier for you, I’ve been through our range of car kits and listed 5 of the best below.
Nokia CK-300
The Nokia CK-300 is a mid-range Bluetooth car kit from Nokia and with the right phone can be a very powerful accessory. All you see on your dashboard is a small remote control that has a rotating dial and 4 well spaced buttons which make it extremely easy to use. The CK-300 is designed to work best with Nokia S60 handsets (N-Series and E-Series). On it’s own, it can connect to your phone to answer and end calls, stream music in stereo over bluetooth and can also be connected to any music player that has a 3.5mm headphone socket.
Nokia CK-300 Bluetooth Car Kit
To really make the most of the kit though, you can download and install the Nokia Car Menu Application which will then make your phone an integral part of the car kit. You can use the remote control on the car kit to access pretty most of the main applications on your phone, including the phone book, email inbox, music library, Nokia Maps, call logs and settings. If your phone supports it, you can then get the car kit to read out text messages and emails while you’re driving using text to speech technology.
Installation of the car kit has been improved too. It no longer needs to be wired into the ignition of your car as a built in motion sensor will turn the kit on when the car is moving. It’s a neater installation too as there is no external speaker on the CK-300 – it connects directly to the back of your car stereo and plays all audio through your existing speakers (Non ISO car stereos may require an extra cable). Nokia handsets with a 2mm charging port can be charged from the car kit as it has a 2mm charging cable, other handsets will need a separate car charger. If you want to know more about the CK-300 I covered this kit in detail on my post a couple of weeks ago when I wrote my guide to Nokia Car Kits.
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Tags: best car kit, bluetooth car kit, car kit fitting, car kit with holder, motorola hf-850, nokia car menu, nokia ck-300, parrot mki9000, parrot rki8400, thb bury system 8 car kit,
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Monday, May 11th, 2009
If you’ve ever had a car kit fitted, chances are that the engineer who fitted it paired your phone to it for you and it ‘just worked’ without you having to do anything to set it up. The only downside to this of course, is when you upgrade your phone you’re left with a car kit thats looking for an old phone, and a new phone that can’t find the car kit.
If you’re anything like me, user manuals get thrown in the back of a drawer, never to be seen again, so figuring out how to get your new phone to work with your Parrot car kit could be quite a challenge. To help you out, I’ve put a quick guide together on how to pair your phone with Parrot’s most recent car kits. So as long as you know how to search for Bluetooth devices on your phone you should get connected again in no time at all.
You’ll find instructions below on how to pair your phone with the following car kits:
Parrot CK3000:
1. Start the car and ensure the car kit is on.
2. Activate Bluetooth on your phone, and search for Bluetooth devices.
3. Select "Parrot CK" from the list.
4. Enter 1234 on your phone when prompted.
5. The Parrot CK3000 will sound a beep when connected to your phone.
Your phone has now been paired with the Car Kit and is ready for use.
Parrot CK3000 Evolution:
1. Start the car and ensure the car kit is on.
2. Activate Bluetooth on your phone, and search for Bluetooth devices.
3. Select Parrot EVOL from the list.
4. Enter 1234 on your phone when prompted.
5. The Parrot CK3000 Evolution says "Pairing successful" when both devices are paired and will sound a beep when connected to your phone.
Your phone has now been paired with the Car Kit and is ready for use.
Parrot CK3100, CK3300 & CK3500:
1. Start the car and ensure the car kit is on.
2. Activate Bluetooth on your phone, and search for Bluetooth devices.
3. Select Parrot CK from the list.
4. Enter 1234 on your phone when prompted.
5. The Parrot CK3000 Series will say"Pairing successful" when both devices are paired and will sound a beep when connected to your phone.
Your phone has now been paired with the Car Kit and is ready for use.
Parrot CK3200 & CK3400:
1. Start the car and ensure the car kit is on.
2. Press then turn the scroll wheel of the remote controls until the Settings menu is displayed and then press the scroll wheel.
3. Select "Pair with…" and select your mobile phone’s model and confirm. If your phone’s model is not displayed, select Other Phones.
4. Activate Bluetooth on your phone, and search for Bluetooth devices.
5. Select the Parrot 3200LS / Parrot 3400LS from the list and enter the pin number shown on the car kit display.
Your phone has now been paired with the Car Kit and is ready for use. The phone book will be synchronised automatically if supported by your phone and car kit.
Parrot MK6000:
1. Start the car and ensure the car kit is on.
2. Activate Bluetooth on your phone, and search for Bluetooth devices.
3. Select MK6000 from the list.
4. Enter 0000 on your phone when prompted.
5. The Parrot MK6000 says "Pairing successful" when both devices are paired and will sound a beep when connected to your phone.
Your phone has now been paired with the Car Kit and is ready for use. The phone book will be synchronised automatically if supported by your phone and car kit.
Parrot MK6100:
1. Start the car and ensure the car kit is on.
2. Press then turn the scroll wheel of the remote controls until the Settings menu is displayed and then press the scroll wheel.
3. Select "Pair with…" and select your mobile phone’s model and confirm.
If your phone’s model is not displayed, select Other Phones.
4. Activate Bluetooth on your phone, and search for Bluetooth devices.
5. Select the Parrot MK6100 from the list.
6. Enter 0000 on your phone when prompted.
Your phone has now been paired with the Car Kit and is ready for use. The phone book will be synchronised automatically if supported by your phone and car kit.
Parrot MKi9000:
1. Start the car and ensure the car kit is on.
2. Activate Bluetooth on your phone, and search for Bluetooth devices.
3. Select Parrot MKi9000 from the list and enter 0000 on your phone when you are prompted to enter a PIN code.
4. The kit will say "Pairing Successful"
Your phone has now been paired with the Car Kit and is ready for use. The phone book will be synchronised automatically if supported by your phone and car kit.
Parrot MKi9100 & MKi9200:
1. Start the car and ensure the car kit is on.
2. Press the jog wheel and rotate to scroll to Settings > Bluetooth > Pair with…. >
If your model of mobile phone appears from the list, select it and confirm by pressing the jog wheel. If your mobile phone model doesn’t appear from the list, select the Other phones option.
3. Activate Bluetooth on your phone, and search for Bluetooth devices.
4. Select Parrot Car Kit from the list and enter 0000 on your phone when you are prompted to enter a PIN code.
Your phone has now been paired with the Car Kit and is ready for use. The phonebook will be syncronised automatically if supported by your phone and car kit.
Parrot RK8200:
1. Start the car and ensure the car kit is on.
2. Activate Bluetooth on your phone, and search for Bluetooth devices.
3. Select Parrot RK8200 from the list and enter 0000 on your phone when you are prompted to enter a PIN code.
4. The RK8200 will display "Pairing Successful"
Your phone has now been paired with the Car Kit and is ready for use. The phonebook will be syncronised automatically if supported by your phone and car kit.
Parrot Rhythm N’Blue:
1. Start the car and ensure the car kit is on.
2. Select Settings > Connectivity > Bluetooth.
3. Enable Bluetooth and select New Paired Device
4. Activate Bluetooth on your phone, and search for Bluetooth devices.
5. Select your Parrot Kit ( Rythm’n'Blue)
6. Enter “1234″ as Passkey, press OK.
Your phone has now been paired with the Car Kit and is ready for use. The phone book will be synchronised automatically if supported by your phone and car kit.
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Tags: bluetooth car kit, CK3000, CK3000 Evolution, CK3100, CK3200, CK3300, CK3400, CK3500, mk6000, mk6100, mki9000, MKi9100, MKi9200, Pairing, parrot, Rhythm N’Blue, RK8200,
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Friday, February 13th, 2009
Before you can start to use your Motorola Bluetooth Headset or Bluetooth Car Kit you will need to pair it with your phone. Pairing is the name of the process that allows your phone to find and connect with another Bluetooth device. In order to pair your devices you will need to put your headset into pairing mode and enter a passkey.
For detailed instructions on how to pair your Motorola Bluetooth Headset or Car Kit, select your device from the list below.
This will take you to the Motorola Pairing website and guide you through how to get your devices working. If you can’t see your phone listed on the second stage, select the closest available model.
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Friday, February 13th, 2009
When choosing a Bluetooth Car Kit, its easy to become overwhelmed by the vast range of Car Kits available. They all look the similar, they do the same basic job, so what’s the difference and what should you be looking for when choosing a Bluetooth Car Kit?
Fitted or Portable:
Bluetooth Car Kits are generally available in two different formats – Fully Fitted or Plug and Play. By Plug and Play I mean they are normally powered by your cigarette lighter and clip onto your sun visor. Fitted Car Kits require professional installation, and have better audio quality and extra features over Plug and Play kits. Having said that, the quality of Plug and Play kits has improved significantly over the last few years and they are now proving to be a good alternative to the Fully Fitted Car Kit. Plug and Play kits can easily be transferred between vehicles and can be used in the home or office.
Caller Display:
I’m sure we’ve all had it happen us, you’re driving along, phone’s in your pocket, starts ringing, you answer it and immediately wish you hadn’t as you’ve been avoiding the caller! With a Bluetooth Car Kit with caller display, the callers name or number will be displayed on screen so you’ll know straight away who it is. If you decide to go for a Bluetooth Car Kit with Caller Display, look out for one that has Phonebook Synchronisation or Text to voice. More on these two below. Fully fitted kits don’t normally have a screen, but it is worth paying a little extra to go for one with a screen. If you can, look for a kit with a removable screen (eg; Parrot MKi9100) this will remove any temptation to thieves as you can take it out of the car when you leave.
Phonebook Synchronisation:
Phonebook Synchronisation is all about making calls easier while you’re driving. When you pair your phone with the kit, your phonebook will be transferred to the Car Kit. It does depend to some extent on your phone as to how well this will work, but it means you can call someone without having to scroll through the contacts on your phone. Bigger buttons and a clearer screen make this a much safer way of looking through your contacts.
Voice Features:
Voice Dialling has been around for a while, but always with varied success, and again depended greatly on the phone that you were using. With most current Bluetooth Car Kits, the voice dialling is controlled by the Car Kit and not the phone. Without getting overly technical, the car kit matches your voiceprint to the name in your phonebook, and then sends the number to the phone – this is great as it means that some phones that don’t support voice dialling can now be controlled by voice in the car.
You no longer need to record "voice tags" for each name in your phone book either. Instead, you just say the name, and the voice recognition software will match your voiceprint to the name in your phone. If the kit supports text to voice, the kit will speak the callers name as well as displaying it on the screen. In most cases, you will still need to make at least one button press to activate the voice recognition.
Multipoint:
Multipoint is a relatively new technology in Bluetooth Car Kits. Standard Bluetooth Car Kits normally allow you to pair with 2 or more phones, but only one can be active at any one time. Multipoint Bluetooth Car Kits allow you to connect and use two phones at the same time – ideal if you carry a work mobile and a personal mobile. With Multipoint, both phones are connected, and when a call comes in, the audio is transferred to the Car Kit automatically. If a call comes in on your second phone, you can easily switch between calls, just by pressing a button on the Car Kit.
For more information on Multipoint and how it works, check out our guide to Multipoint.
Power:
Fully fitted Car Kits are wired into the vehicles power supply, so you don’t really need to worry about how the kit is powered, but if you want a kit that will charge your phone while its in the cradle then your options will be limited to the THB Bury range. When Car Kits changed from having cable connections to Bluetooth a few years ago, most manufacturers removed the cradle from the kit. This means that the only way to charge your phone will be to use a car charger, or a Charging Car Cradle.
Plug & Play Car Kits aren’t wired in to the vehicle so will run off their own internal battery. This battery can normally be charged using a car charger. Some will also have a mains or USB charger too. If you want to charge a phone and Bluetooth Car Kit at the same time its probably worth investing in a twin car charger adapter.
Battery Life:
Battery life is an important factor to consider when looking at Plug & Play Bluetooth Car Kits. As you’re likely to have the unit turned on when ever you’re driving, you need a good stand by time. There’s not much point in it having great talk times if the kit runs out of power half way through a journey.
Over the last few months we’ve seen a few Solar Powered Bluetooth Car Kits appear. These use the power from the sun to extend their stand by and talk times. The LG HFB-500 for example has over 1100 hours of stand by time.
Music & Stereo Integration :
More and more of us now use our phones as MP3 players and want to be able to enjoy our music in the car. Until recently this wasn’t really all that possible, but things are starting to improve.
Fully Fitted Bluetooth Car Kits:
If you want to stream your music over a Bluetooth connection, you’ll need to make sure that your phone and the Car Kit supports the A2DP Bluetooth Profile – without it, you won’t be able to send/receive music. If you don’t want to listen to it over Bluetooth, kits such as the Parrot MKi range, give you the option of plugging in your iPod, USB MP3 Player or any other music device (including your phone) using a 3.5mm Jack Plug fitting – the same as you’d find on your headphones. You’ll also need to make sure that the Car Kit is connected to your car stereo. Generally speaking if the Car Kit has "ISO Connections" (most of the newer kits do) it will plug straight into the back of your Car stereo – All Parrot Car kits, IO Play and the CK-300 from Nokia have ISO connections. If it hasn’t got ISO, its not really designed for music. You may need an adapter cable for your stereo as not all stereos have ISO connections.
Plug & Play Bluetooth Car Kits:
Plug & Play kits don’t have the ability to connect to the back of stereos, so instead they use an FM Transmitter to send music to your stereo. Kits such as the Venturi Mini let you stream your music over Bluetooth to the kit, and then over FM from the kit to the radio. You can use a 3.5mm line in jack if you prefer or you don’t have Bluetooth.
If you don’t necessarily want music to play back through your car stereo, but you do want your call audio routing through the car speakers then this is still an option. The Venturi and the Motorola T505 both have the ability to route your call audio through your stereo speakers. Perfect if you spend a lot of time on the motorway or drive a van!
Remote Control:
Not really so relevant for Plug & Play Bluetooth Car Kits, as they are essentially remote controls for your phone anyway, but if you’re looking at a fully fitted Bluetooth Car Kit, remote controls make using it a lot simpler. Basic kits will have a simple answer/end button, but if you want more control, look for a kit with a full remote. The Parrot MKi range and the Nokia CK-300 both feature remotes that can be used to control music playback, phonebook access, call/music volume and more.
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Friday, September 26th, 2008
Parrot have just announced a fantastic new range of in-car handsfree kits. The MKi range is a unique Bluetooth hands-free car kit that can be fitted to most vehicles. It combines the latest communication technologies with a full set of services dedicated to music and are fully compatible with all iPod’s. There are three versions of the MKi Kit, all based on the same setup. The Parrot MKi kits connect to your car audio system and deliver hi-quality conversations whatever the conditions are. All versions of the MKi offer self-learning voice recognition, contact search and text-to speech and come with a multi-functional remote that you can use to answer calls, adjust the volume and control your music. Parrot are also due to launch a new, optional MultiCAN accessory that will allow you to use steering-mounted controls to handle calls where applicable.
The Parrot MKi9000 features an external double microphone and new software which eliminates environmental and in-car noises with full-duplex and zero-echo crystal clear conversations. It includes an independent RF remote control which enables you to take complete control at the touch of a button. The MKi system is supplied with a music cable which enables you to connect your music player via USB or using a 3.5mm cable. The MKi9000 also supports streaming music over Bluetooth from any A2DP enabled device.
Order the Parrot MKi9000.
The Parrot MKi9100 has the same specifications as the MKi9000, but with the addition of a blue OLED display screen that lets you see the callers name and number when receiving a call. When you connect your music player to the MKi9100 using USB or Bluetooth and the MKi9100 will display the track title and artist on the screen. The Display screen can be removed easily for added security.
Order the Parrot MKi9100.
The Parrot MKi9200 supports all the features on the MKi9000, with the addition of a 2.4 inch colour screen. With the colour screen you can assign photos to contacts, set a background wallpaper, see playlists and album covers. The display screen also has a built in SDHC Memory Card reader, supporting memory cards upto 32GB – completely eliminating the need for a seperate music player. Simply store all the music you want on your memory card, and play it directly from the MKi9200.
Order the Parrot MKi9200.
If you’re looking at getting a car kit, don’t forget to check out our guide on Car Kit accessories.
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