Wolfman

Scorchie,

Have you tried the Nokia 6230 yet with UHI? How is the reception quality when using UHI? I remember there was some discussion with Nokia dropping the Antenna connection to the cradle (which is now done via induction to the UHI cradle).

I am actually impressed off how well the old Nokia 6310i works (actually has a better bluetooth radius than the T610. My computer can connect to the phone in the car in the garage (Class 1 Bluetooth; about 60ft with quite some concrete)

Wolfman

ToonArmy

Hmm. I do store all my numbers with a +1 prefix, since I do travel abroad and use my phone there, for voice and SMS. The incoming caller ID numbers appear to be 10-digits only, though. I know the phone is displaying the name on its internal display (I've opened the armrest to look). If you have more info or experiments to try, let me know.

I sync my phone with Outlook, so I have a lot of numbers from folks at work, plus I sync Outlook with my Yahoo! Address Book and Palm Pilot, so that's basically my entire life. I solved it by creating a separate Outlook contacts folder for the phone and syncing the phone against that. The SIM limit is 250 (I think that;'s common to all 32K SIMs), but I use the phone memory since the SIM memory cannot store separate numbers by type (home/work.mobile).

jeffreyy

Scorchie,

The 6230 looks like a nice phone. On the reception issue, I did not know that phones had different radiation levels. Where can I look this up? I had meant the fact that there was an external antenna and likely booster would help w/ reception. Out of curiosity, is there support for the 7650. I'm an Apple guy and the only supported Nokias are the following:

Nokia 3650
Nokia 3660
Nokia 3600
Nokia 3620
Nokia 6600
Nokia 7650

While syncing with my computer is not absolutely necessary, it would be nice.

http://www.apple.com/isync/devices.html

Jeff

miroj

6610, 6100, 7250i, 6220, 6230 at this moment.

The firmware versions needed are printed on the back of the cradle.

Wolfman

Jeffreyy,

iSync doesn't work the Nokia 6230 or for that matter, the 6310i. But you can buy the Phone Director software from Mac Media for $30 which gives you the Bluetooth connection to the Mac for Phonebook management and other some other features. http://www.macmedia.sk/pd.htm

The Nokia 6230 does not have any external antenna connection. The UHI cradle does connect the phone to the car antenna though but does that without a direct connection by using induction. By principal, induction works very well but is always inferior to a direct mechanical link.
This, however, may not be noticable enough to make a difference, hence my question to Scorchie as well.

Btw. this is how the Nokia 6230 looks in the UHI cradle...

Wolfman

miroj

I find this interesting. I never noticed till now - I just had a look and you are correct.

ToonArmy

I finally got some time to experiment with this. With my phone and service (SE T637, Cingular), I will get name called ID if I save the number as 1408xxxyyyy, but will get number-only ID if I store 408xxxyyyy or +1408xxxyyyy

This mapping appears to be done in the car's phone book (synced from the phone), because the phone itself displays caller name in al those cases.

This is a bit of a pain since I do sometimes use the phone while traveling abroad.

If anyone knows of a COMAND setting or upgrade to change this, it would be much appreciated.

Alternatively, I wonder whether this is a function of how Cingular sends the caller ID? Do other carriers send different information? I ask because I've seen that when I get international calls, the Cingular caller id appears to truncate them to 10 digits in some cases. This makes me suspect there is some non-international-aware code in the Cingular network.

scorchie

This must be a function of Cingular... as I was using a SE T637 for quite a while (OK, well, still am) with AT&T, all my caller ID numbers come up fine, and I have them stored as +NN, and even international calls seem to trigger the correct name in the display.

I will print the MB technical bulletin for you so you can see it, although it will probably not help solve the problem. Hopefully the transition to AT&T equipment in the Bay Area will solve this problem, although I am not sure what will happen in other areas. AT&T's support for international roaming and calls has usually been superior to Cingular, maybe this is an artifact?

-s-

scorchie

The induction connection seems to work well... but I've only been using it in areas with good coverage. Having taken apart the cradles, the induction coil is quite a neat bit of engineering, but as you state (well I think what you mean is), it will always be inferior to a physical electrical connection, as long as that connection is properly shielded and of low impedence.

-s-

ToonArmy

It's quite possible it's the way Cingular sends the Callerid that's the issue. I know if I get an incoming call and then save the number, it is saved as 1408xxxyyyy (unless I edit it, of course). How does it come in on your AT&T phone?

The AT&T phones also have a different firmware rev than the Cingular ones, but I don't know if there are any functional differences there.

Yes, if you do have a copy of the MB tech note, I'll see if there's anything there that helps. Thanks. If you want to print it to a PDF file and email me, that works.

I'm looking forward to the ATT/CIngular integration for many reasons - we have AT&T micro-cells at work so I'll have great reception (Cingular 1900 is marginal there).

scorchie

Jeff, you can look this information up on the FCC website. Here's a link from AT&T with some explanations:

http://www.attwireless.com/our_compa..._signals.jhtml

Also, if you search on the web for "phone sar values" you should get a bunch
of lists, mostly ones that want to sell you "radiation shields" and the like, and
lots of old lists... but you might find useful info there.

-s-

jeffreyy

Dean,

Thanks! I'm checking it out now.

Actually, the radiation differences are surpising:

Handset/SAR

Moto v80 / 0.34 W/kg
Sony T637 / 1.41 W/kg = 4.14 x v80
Nokia 6230 / 0.59 W/kg = 1.73 x v80

So, I guess as much as the v80 cannot integrate, at least I can't complain about the SAR levels.

Jeff

bsharp

An excellant thread which I will be making use of, as soon as I get my car, SLK350 with Audio 20.

In the mean time I can collect the componants I need - I am in the UK so I have a varient of the T630 series and will be changing to an Siemans SK65 (includes blackberry functionality unsure how or what of this part will be useable).... which is new but I figure will be backward compatable with existing siemans devices.

The only bit I don't get in this thread, do I need to order the car with any kind of mobile support - or can I miss that off my specification list??

(yes i realise this could be astupid q if the whole thread is about retro fitting a kit. Just need to clarify)

miroj

Much of the chat here is about the older D2B signal format over firbre optic. The newer SLK350 is MOST signal format over fibre optic and thus has no option other than UHI.

I cant see you saving any money here since MOST conversions are not easily bought as used kits like a lot of Nokia 6310i kits are (which includes a lot of the wiring needed) and then converted to UHI.

scorchie

In the USA, when we order a car, generally it comes with the phone WIRING whether you want it or not. Then to fit the phone ELECTRONICS, it is very expensive for the kit, and quite a bit for installation labor.

In the UK, if you order a car with no phone options at all, you get absolutely nothing. For the relatively cheap price of the complete phone installation, you get the wiring AND electronics, and it is all fitted at the factory.

I suggest you take advantage of the inexpensive price and get it all fitted at the factory.

To wit:

USA: pay nothing extra, get phone wiring; buy phone kit with phone/PSE for $1600; get kit installed for $400-800 depending on dealer (not to mention, phones are basically unavailable in the US now)

UK: pay nothing extra, get nothing extra; buy phone kit with wiring/PSE/no phone/factory fitment for £500 ($270 or so); add cradle for €140 and phone of your choice from carrier of your choice

-s-

ToonArmy

Er, I think you've got your exchange rate backwards there (or else the price symbols). For the SL at least, the UK Price List shows GBP770 inc VAT for the 6310i with kit, or GBP 420 for the kit and GBP130 for the cradle, which would be around GBP 550 which is a little over $1000 (Currency conversion)

scorchie

Yes, you're correct! Actually I had the idea right in my head but I made a typo... I meant $770! The cradle can be had over the channel for cheaper.

-s-

jeffreyy

Wolfman,

Thanks for the pic of the Nokia. I think that is the way I will go for now. I've been looking at BMW Bluetooth because I just bought my wife an X5 and my older 540i can now be retrofitted. It seems much easier using Bluetooth. I should be able to do a write-up later this week as I am having it installed in the X5 this Friday.

With Bluetooth, the physical connection becomes less of an issue. The phonebook transfers automatically on some models (including my current v80), and one can take an existing conversation and transfer it to the car and vice versa when leaving the car. Pretty slick stuff. So, now I have the added confusion of wanting it to be compatible with the BMW system as well as the UHI on the MB!

Oh, did I mention the BMW system supports up to 4 phones (pairing). Wow, it's pretty slick. One can get cradles as well for charging etc.

The nice thing about both systems is that in the end, there will be cradles hopefully for more phones allowing us more choice.

Jeff