Monday, December 7, 2009

The Best iPhone Car Kit Ever.




I've been on the cell phone bandwagon for a long time now, my Dad got one for work when I was just a kid, so I've just always had a phone in the car. I've seen many different systems come and go over the years. But I have to say that this is the first time in my life I've actually been truly satisfied with the system I have. It's so simple, elegant and effective. It has every feature I ever wished for. They are as follows:
  • Music, GPS, Phone Conversation all play through the car stereo system
  • Connected GPS (allows me, with one touch to call my selected destination; for example to make dinner reservations, check if the store will be open or has a product in-stock, or book a hotel room)
  • 2 phones can be paired via bluetooth to the system: my Blackberry (Work) and iPhone (Personal)
  • Caller ID Display and Announced
  • Unobtrusive noise cancelling mic
  • Excellent Sound Quality
  • Portable so I can take it with me when I'm on the road.
  • No Wires, none!
Introducing the "Jabra Cruiser" Bluetooth Wireless Speakerphone, it fucken' rocks literally. Using Bluetooth the Jabra Speakerphone interfaces with my iPhone and Blackberry at the same time. Then using its high quality FM transmitter pushes the sound into my car stereo via the FM tuner.

So here's how I have it setup.
  1. I paired both my iPhone and Blackberry with the Jabra Cruiser.
  2. Installed the Magellan RoadMate iPhone app. (I'll do a review soon, but its great. Killer feature is spoken street names, not just turn right/left 200m)
  3. I use the Mophie Juice Pack so that I have a lots of battery
  4. To mount the iPhone/Mophie Juice Pack I use the RocketFish GPS windshield mount (its got the longest arm I could find, so that my phone sits firm and forward easily within reach on my dash.)
  5. Setup the Jabra to transmit to my FM car stereo.
  6. Place the Jabra on my windshield visor.
That's it, it just works. When I get in the car I just flick on the Jabra's power switch and both phones connect. I then open my iPhone GPS app, select a destination, select a playlist and I'm off. When I take a call it mutes the music/gps/whatever, then plays the conversation. When I'm done talking it resumes whatever I had going on before. If I get a call on my work phone (Blackberry) it just mutes everything, I have my conversation and when I'm done everything comes back on.

The other cool thing is the Jabra and the Mophie both use micro-usb to charge, so when I'm on the road I don't have to carry a bunch of different wall chargers and cables. The battery life of this system is great (about 10 hours) so I just charge them at night, it's best to take this type of gear with you at the end of the day anyways or you're likely to have a broken window and some missing gear in the morning.

That's it, here are the links.




Posted by Christopher at 4:00 PM

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