Car Stereo Bluetooth Compatibility

[Guest billybroadsword]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone could offer me some advice on which car stereo to choose. It doesn't look like there are many brands that officially support the HTC Hero's bluetooth functions.

I want to be able to make and receive calls from the head unit or, at the very least, patch my phone calls through the car speakers for handsfree use.

I would love to hear if anybody has managed to get their Hero working with any particular car stereo brand/model.

Any tips greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Will

[Guest AndyCr15]

I'd be quite interested in this too. Time for a new stereo and I'd love to play music through my phone in the car...

[Guest dwattsy21]

I'd be quite interested in this too. Time for a new stereo and I'd love to play music through my phone in the car...

I have a pioneer DEH-P85BT head unit. Great machine, also come with an ipod cable, so you can control your ipod through the head unit. My phone pairs with the head unit fine and, when the phone rings, i just hit the big button on the head unit and it answers it through my speakers and the mic it comes with. Similarly, if i push the call button on the phone and hit a name, it will cut whatever music is playing, and work through the speaker system. only problem is i have not yet been able to send my contacts to the head unit. I could do this with my old phone, and it allows you to scroll to a name to dial on the head unit, as well as displaying the name of the person calling when recieving a call.

Hopefully soon when more bluetooth options are available with the hero, I will be able to send the contacts (as it is a file transfer that is needed). Then, it will be perfect

[Guest AndyCr15]

Do you play music through the stereo from your phone? Or is it on the stereo itself?

£160 seems quite a good price. How easy is it to fit a car stereo these days? The last one I bought I think the guy just connected like a big junction box behind the unit and that was it...

Edited November 9, 2009 by AndyCr15

[Guest Carl_Brummy]

Do you play music through the stereo from your phone? Or is it on the stereo itself?

£160 seems quite a good price. How easy is it to fit a car stereo these days? The last one I bought I think the guy just connected like a big junction box behind the unit and that was it...

I have a BEAT 550 stereo with DVD playback LCD, but my problem is weird?

I can make calls no problem, audio routed through the sound system, number displays and music cuts.

If a call comes in, the music cuts, the phone number displays ok, but the audio does not route through the stereo. Has anyone else had this problem? My stereo worked perfectly with a Nokia N95. So I know its a weakness with the Hero bluetooth functions. The unit only cost £125 and was a bargain online.

Edited November 9, 2009 by Carl_Brummy

[Guest Pieronip]

Sorry this does not solve a particular problem but - for information - the Hero works reasonably well with Jaguar (X-Tpe, S-Type) systems. The only issue is that the phone directory only shows the default number on the car display. I got round this by putting in a distinct entry for secondary numbers.

[Guest cadguy]

I have an Alpine CDE-104BTi

To start I couldn't get the names in my phone book to show on the headunit display. Then I switched all my contacts from phone type to Google type and voila all my contacts are manageable from the headunit.

[Guest billybroadsword]

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

Does anyone know about JVC unit compatibility?

I'm looking to spend as little as possible. They have some great deals at Argos for JVC head unit and speaker combos.

JVC website says that it supports HFP, as does the Hero. However it excludes the Hero from its list of compatible devices.

The following HTC phones are officially supported by JVC:

HP ipaq hw6515

HTCs730

HTC Touch Dual

Anyone have any thoughts?

Cheers,

Will

[Guest dwattsy21]

Do you play music through the stereo from your phone? Or is it on the stereo itself?

£160 seems quite a good price. How easy is it to fit a car stereo these days? The last one I bought I think the guy just connected like a big junction box behind the unit and that was it...

Yea i play music via bluetooth from the Spotify App on my phone (review here) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYsNdXsuEIw

It seems that if you try this though with the wireless turned on, every 30 seconds or so whilst driving the music skips for a milisecond. Hit the toggle wireless widget and the problem goes away. But yea it's a really nice head unit mate, would recommend it. If you wana save money and it's mainly for the music playback you want, you can get some really cheap players with an aux in, then buy a 2 quid lead that fits the 3.5 mil headphone jack.

Doesnt really work with calls as good though

[Guest dwattsy21]

I have an Alpine CDE-104BTi

To start I couldn't get the names in my phone book to show on the headunit display. Then I switched all my contacts from phone type to Google type and voila all my contacts are manageable from the headunit.

Do you have to send your contact to the head unit so that they are stored on there? Or does it just read it from your phone, and display it on the head unit? With mine, you have to actually send the data to the head unit, which you cant do with a hero yet

[Guest AndyCr15]

Ooh, I like the Alpine unit actually. I'm emailing these guys to see if they do fittings.

Maybe I can then sell my Parrott for £30 and my current JVC stereo for £70....

[Guest Chris Jenx]

I've got a Sony MEX-2700 Works like a charm.

Android has some underlying blue tooth issues which should be resolved in the coming 2.0 but it doesn't stop it working, You just have to fiddle with the wireless settings sometimes.

Most decent head units will let you control the HTC Player functions with the head unit. So Back/Forward/Play/Pause

I'm hoping Spotify add proper blue tooth support so I can use back and forwards with my head unit controls.

Head unit fitting is really easy. You can get adapter parts for pretty much every car, there are a few sites that are very good.

Getting the old head unit out is normally harder than getting the new one in.

Hope that helps.

If in doubt pop into a halfords, turn bt on and start connecting to there units.

[Guest cadguy]

Do you have to send your contact to the head unit so that they are stored on there? Or does it just read it from your phone, and display it on the head unit? With mine, you have to actually send the data to the head unit, which you cant do with a hero yet

Contacts are read from the phone, no messing :)

£174 from comWales

[Guest bigdan]

You could always get a Parrot Carkit instead?

You can then use any car head unit you want AND receive your calls through the stereo, AND play you music from your phone through your car speakers.

:)

[Guest The_IMF]

I've got the Bury CC 9060 car kit installed in my car and it links to the phone perfectly to download the phonebook... just a shame it won't sync SMS or allow me to play music through it :)

[Guest AndyCr15]

You could always get a Parrot Carkit instead?

You can then use any car head unit you want AND receive your calls through the stereo, AND play you music from your phone through your car speakers.

I have a Parrott kit, but would love to play music I keep on my phone through my stereo. While it's at it, it might as well handle my phone calls meaning I need one less device...

[Guest billybroadsword]

I've got a Sony MEX-2700 Works like a charm.

I found a cracking deal on one of these head units . Should arrive soon. I'll let you know how I get on.

Thanks for the advice.

Will

[Guest billybroadsword]

I received my MEX BT2700 in the post today and have installed it in my car.

Bluetooth audio playback from the phone through the car stereo works perfectly and i can make and receive calls receive from the head unit OK. The only problem I have is that I can't hear the call through either the car or phone speakers. I am sure that it is actually calling - when I turn the speakerphone on during a call when connected through bluetooth, I can hear ringer and the other end of the line.

Is there something I'm missing? Is there some setting on the phone that needs to be activated to send the audio through the paired device? I'm pretty sure it's all set up correctly on the head unit.

Thanks,

Will

[Guest billybroadsword]

Just realised that there is some confused wiring somewhere in my setup. When i change audio balance on the head unit from left to right, the output moves from front to rear on the left hand side only. When I change the fader balance on the head unit, it changes from both left to both right, and nothing is coming out of either right speaker.

Is it possible that my head unit thinks that the back left and front left speakers are the front left and front right?

This might explain my problem as I read somewhere that the hands free output can only be heard in the front speakers of the car, which my stereo thinks are front and rear right, which aren't working. Is this correct?

Thanks,

Will

[Guest billybroadsword]

Just realised that there is some confused wiring somewhere in my setup. When i change audio balance on the head unit from left to right, the output moves from front to rear on the left hand side only. When I change the fader balance on the head unit, it changes from both left to both right, and nothing is coming out of either right speaker.

Is it possible that my head unit thinks that the back left and front left speakers are the front left and front right?

This might explain my problem as I read somewhere that the hands free output can only be heard in the front speakers of the car, which my stereo thinks are front and rear right, which aren't working. Is this correct?

Thanks,

Will

Front speaker outputs from head unit weren't working. Phone is only heard through front speakers. Unit now repaired and everything is hunky dory.