In my previous post I stated that I have installed a 3rd party bluetooth car kit. I'd just like to share with you guys all the other things that I've just discovered that has made my driving experience more enjoyable.

Firstly, a recap....

I have an O2 XDA II which is a Mobile phone and PDA all into one. Obviously it will not work with the NOKIA 6310i car kit that's linked to COMMAND.

So, I installed the Ericsson HBC-30 Bluetooth Car Kit. Everytime I make or receive a call, it goes through the car kit now and there is no phone in sight as it is in my pocket.

Next, I installed the FONIX Voice Central 2 software on my XDA II. With this software I can do the following:
- Whilst driving, I simply press a button on my XDA and say "Call Alex at mobile", then my XDA replies "Alex at mobile, is this correct?" I then answer "Yes" and the XDA II dials away and connects to the Bluetooth Car Kit.

For my next call I press the button and say "Dial a number" then the XDA responds "What number?", I then say "0192213456", then the XDA replies "0192213456 is this correct?" and I reply "Yes" and the number gets dialled and put through the bluetooth car kit.

- Whilst driving I can also get the XDA to tell me what is my next meeting, meetings for the day, read the emails that i've received, possibly read the sms's but havent tried yet, read the tasks list etc.

- Apparently there is also a way to send email messages with an attached voice file...I need to figure out how to do that.

For those of us who are on the go and in the car often, this is certainly a great tool and I highly recommend you look at it if you havent already!

Investment:
- XDA II, USD 900
- FONIX Voice Central 2, USD 29
- Ericsson HBC-30 BT Car Kit, USD 262

Total = USD 1191

If I had known about this earlier, I would have not had the Nokia 6310i kit integrated with Command which would have saved me around USD 700. I also now have features similar to the Linguatronic which costs around USD 1200 over here. And if I had gotten the Blue tooth Sat Nav installed, I could get rid of the COMMAND Nav and saved USD 3000 and have a portable Sat Nav.

Something worth considering for future purchasers.

 

If I buy SONY bluetooth kit, will the voice coming out from Car's speakers OR from bluetooth loud-speakers?

 

Well--all this seems much more usable than the MB Voice Recognition System and costs less than half as much (as it cost me).

However, to be fair to the MB system, it's voice recognition works really well, and works for all components (including NAV in Europe). You are just stuck with your sucky V60 phone for calls (in the USA).

 

Not sure about SONY units specifically. However, my installer couldn't hook the sound through the MB speakers. So the sound comes from the car kit speakers which works well.

 

I've never tried the linguatronic on the new E's. I have tried them on the 2001 S430 and was not impressed as it required very precise pronounciation.

Furthermore, now I have my appointments, emails and sms's read to me whilst driving

If only I could dictate a text message, now that would be something!

 

I have an interesting trans-continental accent and the car recognizes my commands out of the box just fine. So much so that I have not bothered 'training' the system, which I believe, is an option on the Linguatronic.

Seems that things have improved over the ole S-Class system.

 

Can you post how your installer integrated bluetooth with stock speakers and phone kit? Ive got a Nokia 6820 and Ive been using a bluetooth headset which works great but if i can get it to work with the phone system it would be just that much better. I got rid of the V60.. it didnt work right and the replacement phone was just too expensive.