2.5mm to 3.5mm adapter with microphone?

[Guest le_lutin]

Hi guys.

Right, basic problem is that I want to use the Pulse in my car. Not only to listen to music through the speakers, but also to make calls. I have a cassette adapter (very old-skool, I know).

Anyway, basically when you plug anything into the headphone port, it immediately mutes the Pulse's built-in mic, so any adapter has to have a built in mic. I bought this one from ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/3-5mm-Audio-Adaptor-...=item3efc1b3509

Which has a built in mic, but it doesn't work. Music plays fine, but the mic doesn't work. I should have known in advance of buying it really, as it doesn't even have the correct amount of contacts (bands) on the adapter head.

Anyway, has anyone got a solution to work?

I am pretty close to just cutting up the headphones that came with the pulse and wiring them up to the end of the cassette adapter, as that's the only solution I can see.

Edited February 16, 2010 by le_lutin

[Guest helikopter]

Hi guys.

Right, basic problem is that I want to use the Pulse in my car. Not only to listen to music through the speakers, but also to make calls. I have a cassette adapter (very old-skool, I know).

Anyway, basically when you plug anything into the headphone port, it immediately mutes the Pulse's built-in mic, so any adapter has to have a built in mic. I bought this one from ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/3-5mm-Audio-Adaptor-...=item3efc1b3509

Which has a built in mic, but it doesn't work. Music plays fine, but the mic doesn't work. I should have known in advance of buying it really, as it doesn't even have the correct amount of contacts (bands) on the adapter head.

Anyway, has anyone got a solution to work?

I am pretty close to just cutting up the headphones that came with the pulse and wiring them up to the end of the cassette adapter, as that's the only solution I can see.

there's an app called "car mode" which when a call comes in automatically routes the voice to the loudspeaker. maybe you should test if it works with the mic, too. then you'll lose the ability to listen to calls throught your car's audio system but i think it's not a big deal because if in-call volume is turned up to max level it's very loud, and the mic is also quite sensitive (to be correct: for me it is, but a lot of people are complaining about call quality).

[Guest le_lutin]

there's an app called "car mode" which when a call comes in automatically routes the voice to the loudspeaker. maybe you should test if it works with the mic, too. then you'll lose the ability to listen to calls throught your car's audio system but i think it's not a big deal because if in-call volume is turned up to max level it's very loud, and the mic is also quite sensitive (to be correct: for me it is, but a lot of people are complaining about call quality).

Thanks for that Helikopter. I take it you have to launch the car mode app every time you enter the car?

[Guest pezz]

there's an app called "car mode" which when a call comes in automatically routes the voice to the loudspeaker. maybe you should test if it works with the mic, too. then you'll lose the ability to listen to calls throught your car's audio system but i think it's not a big deal because if in-call volume is turned up to max level it's very loud, and the mic is also quite sensitive (to be correct: for me it is, but a lot of people are complaining about call quality).

Yes I have Car Mode it does work -but where the external speaker is facing the wrong way when in a cradle the volume isnt really lound enough, especially at speed.

Le Lutin i think we have touched on this before. I wondered if the supplied 2.5 - 3.5 adapter might be the problem IE it only transfers the headphone signal but not the microphone ? I keep thinking about cutting the supplied headphones too but havent been brave enough !

[Guest le_lutin]

Yes I have Car Mode it does work -but where the external speaker is facing the wrong way when in a cradle the volume isnt really lound enough, especially at speed.

Le Lutin i think we have touched on this before. I wondered if the supplied 2.5 - 3.5 adapter might be the problem IE it only transfers the headphone signal but not the microphone ? I keep thinking about cutting the supplied headphones too but havent been brave enough !

I don't think it is the supplied adapter. I can plug in my old nokia headphones (3.5mm) into the pulse using the adapter and the microphone on the nokia headphones works fine.

[Guest helikopter]

Thanks for that Helikopter. I take it you have to launch the car mode app every time you enter the car?

yes. the easiest method is to put the icon on your home screen. then you only have to tap it and it gets enabled. after that the icon will appear on the notification bar, too, so you can easily disable it by just dragging the bar down and tap on it (the icon also helps reminding you that it's enabled so you don't forget to turn it off). or you can of course tap on the home screen icon again to stop it.

as pezz wrote volume can be a problem but i suggest you to try it out yourself. who knows, maybe it will work well for you.

[Guest racingclub]

I use one of these:

http://www.jabra.co.uk/Sites/Jabra/UK-UK/H...JabraSP700.aspx

lets you stream music and take calls over bluetooth & uses either its internal speaker or broadcast to your radio on FM.

[Guest petermgates]

That Jabra device looks pretty good and I'd be very tempted if I could find it for £30....

In answer to your question though, I bought one of these from amazon:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/y9qa5jv

It's a wired headset with a 3.5mm jack so you will still have to use your 2.5 - 3.5mm converter. The headphones that come with it are useless so bin them but it has a microphone like you wanted and as far as I can tell, you'd have no problem attaching your tape adapter to it.

I do wonder if your setup would feedback when you're making calls though.

[Guest pezz]

I use one of these:

http://www.jabra.co.uk/Sites/Jabra/UK-UK/H...JabraSP700.aspx

lets you stream music and take calls over bluetooth & uses either its internal speaker or broadcast to your radio on FM.

I gave up with the Jack plugs and have bought one of these Jabra units too. So far so good, very easy to use and so far the FM transmitter has been ok. Will be interested to see how the battery life holds up.