Parrot are one of the biggest names in car kits and they’ve just released a brand new plug and play car kit that’s been designed specifically for touchscreen smartphones. The MiniKit Smart is a compact kit that doesn’t clip to your sun visor like most other plug and play kits do, instead it fixes to your windscreen or dashboard using a suction pad – making it the perfect add on to your Sat Nav app.
The design of the Smart is a little unusual as it combines a phone holder with the kit. It’s been designed to use your phone primarily in landscape mode, but does rotate if you prefer to use it in portrait mode. The controls are really simple, an answer key, and end key and a rotating wheel that controls the volume and navigates through the menu system on the car kit. There’s also a built in boom mic that pops out from behind the control pad for improved audio.
Parrot MINIKIT Smart
Spec wise the MiniKit Smart is pretty impressive. It synchronises with your phone book every time it connects which allows you to use the voice control to dial any contact without the need to record voice tags. You can also answer or reject calls with your voice. The Smart also uses TTS technology to announce the callers name when you receive a call.
The MiniKit Smart has two USB ports, a Mini USB port for recharging the internal battery and a standard USB port that you can use with the included USB cables to charge your phone while it’s in the holder. While we’re talking about battery life, it has over a week of standby time, 10 hours talk time and can be recharged in around two hours.
It’s worth pointing out though that the Smart is only really for smartphones. The MiniKit Smart will work fully with iPhone, Android, Windows Phone 7, S60 and BlackBerry Smartphones, but as the jaws on the holder are quite wide, standard handsets like the Nokia 6700 Classic won’t fit into the holder, however, they will still work for handsfree calling.
The MiniKit Smart is available to pre-order now for £89.95, with stock due mid December. Look out for a full hands on review when they arrive.