New ! Unique! – Gps Addon Provides High Crime Area Alerts!
I am non stop on the
lookout for quality stuff on
new technology. This evening, I
come across a really
excellent article that discusses technology from a new
angle. Today’s piece of content is titled New ! Unique! - Gps Addon Provides High Crime Area Alerts! .
New ! Unique! - Gps Addon Provides High Crime Area Alerts!
Violent Crime Is On The Rise! Our Easy To Install Revolutionary Gps Addon Enables Gps Units To Provide Alerts Of "high Crime Areas" As You Drive. Allowing The User To Make Smart Decisions About Their Travel And Rest Stops, Thus Keeping Themselves Safe!
New ! Unique! - Gps Addon Provides High Crime Area Alerts!
I am non stop on the
lookout for quality stuff on
new technology. This evening, I
come across a really
excellent article that discusses technology from a new
angle. Today’s piece of content is titled Belkin Bluetooth Car Hands-Free Kit for Apple iPod touch, iPhone, Blackberry and Android Smartphones .
Belkin Bluetooth Car Hands-Free Kit for Apple iPod touch, iPhone, Blackberry and Android Smartphones
- Bluetooth wireless technology
- Seamlessly switches between incoming calls and music
- Echo-cancelling microphone
- Aux-In connection
- Micro-CLA power adapter with USB power port
Enjoy the ultimate in-car solution for making calls and listening to music with a smartphone through your stereo system. Talk hands-free, listen to audio files stored on your phone, or even stream Internet radio at the touch of a button. Calls and music are routed through the car stereo for great sound over your own speaker system.
List Price: $ 79.99
Price:
February 22nd, 2012 - 07:57
Exactly What I wanted,
I just bought this item after having a lot of trouble finding something that fit my needs. I wanted a bluetooth adapter for calls and music from my Android based phone that would output to the aux on my car stereo, and could be moved between cars.
This item consists of a cigarette adapter with a USB port(for charging the phone), and two wires. One is wired to a big glowing button that can end calls, start music, etc and contains the microphone. The other wire is the audio output to the stereo.
The item does everything I want it to. The only downside is that the button is magnetic, and they provide a magnetic strip to attach the button to your dash. I do not have a good flat surface on my car to mount it, so I hung it with a clip from one of the air vents. But that is more a reflection on my car design than the item.
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|February 22nd, 2012 - 08:08
First impression – this thing is awesome.,
This review is based upon my first day’s experience using the Belkin with an iPhone 4S and Siri. I wanted to be able to have my iPhone connect to my car stereo for hands-free phone calls and iTunes. I tried the Motorola Freeway, which looked great in the advertisements (one feature is that it automatically connects with your phone when you get in the car), but in real life it was a big disappointment…mainly because it played via FM signal through a separate portable speaker unit that clips to the visor, rather than playing through my car stereo. Since returning the Freeway, I’ve been hoping something like this Belkin would come along. With the overwhelmingly positive reviews, I couldn’t wait to get one of these. I installed it in the car this afternoon. As others have noted, it couldn’t be easier; it only took minutes, and in seconds it paired with my phone.
Once you’ve decided where to mount the microphone/activation button, plugged in the power (to your cigarette lighter) and plugged into the AUX jack, you’re good to go. I installed the microphone/selector button on the vertical plane of the dashboard just behind and to the right of the steering wheel (my Scion xB dashboard is PERFECT!) The length of wiring between the cigarette plug and the AUX plug is fairly short, but they do provide you with an extension cable if you need it (I did). Hiding the wires was easy…in my car, I just tucked them up inside under the console. A nice feature: the piece that slides into the cigarette lighter socket is about half as long as most car chargers, so it’s almost flush with the panel, rather than sticking way out like most car charger plugs. Also nice: you can plug your phone’s USB charger cable directly into the front of the charger plug if you wish to charge your phone as you drive.
The microphone/activation button is easy to reach on the dash, the ring’s blue glow is not overwhelming, even at night, and I didn’t consider mounting it anywhere else (e.g., on the side of the console as some others noted). The music sound is impeccable. The Belkin gets along beautifully with Siri (she helped make and receive phone calls, play music by playlist, artist, and song title, and even turned on shuffle for my playlist, and it all worked seamlessly). You can click the button twice (about a second apart) to advance to the next song.
So now, each time I start the car, the activate button ring is orange. Touch it once and it turns blue, connects with my phone, and starts playing music. Hold the button down for a few seconds and the music fades down and Siri activates. Tell her to do the things she likes to do: make a phone call; she will. Ask for a song or playlist, and she confirms; the music fades back in. When a call comes in, the music fades out; touch the button to answer the call. when the call ends…music fades back in. Beautiful sound (and why not? It’s your car stereo!) I do notice a very low hum between songs; this may be the interference others have mentioned, and apparently there is a filter you can install to reduce this. I’ll look into that, but it really isn’t a problem for me. Incoming phone calls: clear, lots of volume, and great quality. At the other end? I’m told there is a bit of a hum but all in all, clear, loud and distortion-free.
Things to note:
1. You definitely need an AUX input, which looks just like the little jack you might plug a set of headphones into, but your AUX jack will take the signal coming out of the Belkin and feed it into your car stereo, where it gets amplified and played through the car’s speakers. (AUX is short for ‘auxiliary input’…you’re feeding a signal into your car stereo from an outside source.) If your car stereo has an AUX jack, it will be clearly labeled as such. On my Scion, the AUX jack is in the console right next to the optional iPod jack; your AUX may be in your glovebox, on the side of your console, or even on the front panel of your car stereo. If you don’t find one, this Belkin isn’t for you (at least not right out of the box).
2. When I turn off the car, the Belkin shuts off, and my iPhone stops playing music. When I get back in the car and reconnect with the Belkin, the music picks up where it left off. I’m glad it works this way; I was worried that the iPhone might continue to play music even when I got out of the car, which would just run the phone battery down.
3. To listen to the radio in your car, go ahead and click the Microphone/Activate button as usual, but instead of selecting ‘AUX’ on your car sound system, select FM or AM. Your phone won’t ring through the car stereo, but when you hear (or feel) your phone ring, just hit the AUX button on your car stereo, wait a second for it to switch over, then hit the Microphone/Activate button. When you’re finished with the phone call, just reselect the AM or FM button.
4. (Added 11/19): I just…
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|February 22nd, 2012 - 08:40
Works Great – Very Nice Product,
First, let me say, this is a happy ending to a long story. I tried multiple solutions and this one worked the best for me. The BlueTooth audio (stereo) from our iPhones is great! The audio for phone calls is not great but works fine, especially for hands free use.
My first attempt was using a cable solution that plugs into the bottom of the iPhone using the 25-pin connector. The cable split into two where one side went to a DC power adapter and the other side went to the AUX input on the GM factory stereo (HHR SS). This was a slick solution but the description for the product left out one detail – you can’t use it for hands-free phone calls. Apparently Apple does not pass telephone audio through the 25 pin socket.
I then tried the Griffin BlueTooth Aux for iPhone which was very highly rated on the Apple site but mediocre on Amazon. This product sounded great and worked very well for hands-free conversations but had problems reconnecting with our iPhones. The DC power outlet in GM cars is always on, so the Griffin Bluetooth Aux never reset itself. For whatever reason, we would have to go through the Bluetooth settings on the phone to reconnect every time we got in the car. Note that the two were still paired – just not connected.
Finally, I tried the Belkin CarAudio Connect AUX (Previously called the Belkin AirCast BlueTooth In-Car Adapter). This one worked! A really nice feature is that it powers down after 10 minutes without a connection. Now when we enter the car we press the button the little disc you see in the picture and it turns on, reconnects to you device, and starts playing whatever audio you last listened to. If it does not start playing your music you simply press the disc again as this acts as the PLAY / PAUSE button. Press twice and you skip to the next song. Press and hold for about 5-seconds and you can voice dial.
While the unit sounds great it is not the end-all for hands-free. People on the other end of the phone can hear you but it is not perfect at all. Some of that has to do with where you mount the little disc which contains the microphone and other ambient noise in the car. I had no problem with syncing and there is very little audio loss but keep in mind this is a stock stero and speakers. It was a quick fix to wanting my wife to be able to listen to music from her new iPhone as well as enjoy the benefits of hands-free talking while driving. Oh, you can also answer the phone by pressing the disc while you are listening to music.
This unit was $79.99 at the Apple Store, and between $57 and $80 through Amazon and various sellers. I fortunately hit upon some good luck as Fry’s had them on sale for $29.99 which made the whole story even happier. Note that you have to have a stereo with a 3/8″ audio input (AUX) jack for this to work.
I hope this help.
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