reminder99

Hey guys,

I am sure anyone who has owned a Mercedes since the cell phone became an option has questioned if it is worth the price or not. Prime example: Motorla V60 Digital phone.

One can obtain this phone free or for a nominal fee through any carrier with a 1 yr contract. Mercedes on the other hand sells it for $2K~$2400 claiming the "integration into the COMAND sys."

Does anyone know if this phone is actually any different from the ones you get in the store. They look identical. My car did not come with a phone and I am thinking about adding one in, but not at $2k+. Is there a way to integrate that phone without paying that price? Can one go to AT&T (for example) get an identical V60 phone and integrate it into the COMAND sys?

Thanks in advance.

James

E55 KEV

the bad news - non Mercedes V60 phones will not work with your COMAND systems. It is also a shame that the SL, S-Class & CL must have the V60 Phone with Voice Control option for $1995 instead of just the the phone for $1595 as the E, C & CLK.

beesfan

I have the phone on my Cl and ordered it with my SL. It's my understanding that MB adds some firmware to the phone so that it will integrate in with the command system. That is obviously code that is proprietary to MB and without it the integration would not be possible. For now, they have us over a barrel.

jinmin803

I'm not sure of the validity of the information, and also if it will be available in the US also, but I've heard that there will be an integrated system that will allow major phones in the market to be able to connect to the Command system. It was discussed on som eother part of this forum, so it might be a good idea to search for it. I really hope this is ture, since it will be awsome to be albe to connect my Nokia 8890 to the car.

vraa

I think you are absolutley correct in the information i have gathered over the time in this board, Mercedes implants a new firmware, which if someone could help me extract i might be able to compare with the original and see what they've added so we can appened it to the newer phones such as V70 or even another phone company it self after some modifications. Of course hardware is a completley different issue.

internet_mafia

Why pay an arm and a leg for an outdated phone????? Also, how often do you plan on using the command integration? Most cell phones have "speech dial" functionality built into them.

Wolfman

I would wait.

In June Mercedes will come out with the UHI (Universial Handy Interface) that will allow "standard" cellphones like Nokia, Motorola, Siemens, etc. to be connnected to Comand and steering wheel controls.

In Europe, this is already somewhat the case for Nokia's, but cradles and firmware issues cause imcompatibilities between models. If you get a new phone, you only have to buy a new model-specific phone cord. Regarding the price, given the current interface kits in Europe I would assume that the price with phone cord would be around $300 (without linguatronic).

I hope that Mercedes USA will be smart enough to drop their rediculous (overprized and outdated) Motorola phone packages and use this interface.

If they won't, however, I'll just buy it in Europe and have it installed. It'll work for sure with GSM-based services (Cingular, T-Mobile, some AT&T), but I can't see a reason why other protocols wouldn't work either (TDMA,CDMA).

Not Bluetooth, but a good step in the right direction.

Wolfman