Radio, Phone etc

[DwarF]

I have been looking everywhere for a solution to this. I would like to find something that allows for phone, FM Radio, MP3 to be used from within the helmet. What I can't tell is if the bluetooth enabled phones will pipe the MP3's or FM Radio over the bluetooth connection so I can use a Motorola HS830 on my actual helmet to recieve all the goodness.

Nokia 8800

There was also this thing, but I don't think it's what I am looking for. Scala Rider

I want to be able to control the radio and mp3 functionality of the phone from the headset if possible.

Thanks for any help/advice,

DwarF

[triumph_955_st]

I'm not bluetooth savy. I don't own anything that has it. My cell phone is just one of the free ones you get when you sign up. So I can't really help you out in that area. While riding I do listen to my iriver which is an mp3/fm tuner. I am using the Starcom1 system that I plug my cell phone and 2 way radio into also. The iriver has a remote that I have on the outside of my tank bag so I can scroll through the song list/fm stations and adjust volume.
I know it's not bluetooth but it does work very very well. Just my .02

[Captain_Rat]

Dwarf,

I don't think you will find that a bluetooth phone will act as the conduit between the other devices and your bluetooth headset. I think that you'll have to have all of the devices be bluetooth enabled and then have a headset that lets you toggle between them.

However, my guess is that the HS830 and others like Vemar Helmets do not pair with bluetooth MP3 players. But that's only a guess.

I think your solution is to find a cell phone (like that Nokia 8800) that has a built-in MP3 player as well as bluetooth capability AND is supported by one of these bluetooth headsets. But I doubt you'll find one with FM radio too.

Let us know how you do.

Capt.

[ This message was edited by: Captain_Rat on 2006-03-31 07:19 ]

[rudebwoy85]

Give this solution a thought:

SonyEricsson W800i Walkman phone and Etymotic "in Ear" earphones. I use this solution and it works perfectly, only snafu is that the microphone still picks up a good amount of windnoise when I try to talk while actively riding, otherwise its a compact, great HiFi sounding solution for all things.

Phone has a built in media player (walkman feature mp3, wma, aac..DOES NOT PLAY APPLE ITUNES FILES AS THEY ARE PROTECTED FILES), has a built in FM tuner, the earpiece/microphone unit is constructed in such a way that you are free to use your own choice of any 1/8" headphone you want which is why I suggest the "in ear" style headphone as they are inserted directly into the ear canal and provide wonderful sound quality without the need to crank things up high. I actually only use one of the earbuds in one ear and leave the other one off as they do plug your ears up and shuts out all external sound. I've found this solution to be near perfect for me.

NOTE: the Etymotic ER-4 MicroPro earphones are crazy expensive though ($300) but you can certainly investigate lesser models or different manufacturer for a more sensible price point, these are just the ones I happen to have and are very high end audiophile studio reference in ear headphones, admittedly overkill for bike riding but do not come out your ear when putting on or taking off your full face helmet and allows you to keep the volume at a decent level to prevent killin your eardrums. I would strongly sugggest looking around at other manufacturers of in-ear earphones to find one that fits your price target and comfort level.

[rudebwoy85]

Oh as a follow up, the SonyEricsson w800i is fully bluetooth enabled and will work with just about any bluetooth headset I've come across I'm not so certain about the media player portion working over bluetooth though, never tried it.

A note on the Nokia 8800, happen to also have the 8801 (the U.S version of that phone (my other account)) and it also have a media player and fm radio but it has a fixed amount of internal memory and will not hold as many tunes as a unit like the SonyEricsson will as it has a memory stick Duo slot. The Nokia uses a prior version of the symbian OS, the same as the 6230 phone and I think it's a wonderful version of the os that keeps the best balance I've found on keeping the phone behaving more like a phone and less like a handheld computer which I think many manufacturers miss when making smartphones, but that earlier OS isnt as fully featured in it's bluetooth implementation as a more current version of the symbian OS (Nokia 6680 and N-series for example) so I've found the Nokia a tad finnikey when needing it to connect and synchronize with the computer and it also will not connect with more current products (like Tom-Tom and Garmin Gps units w/ built in Bluetooth) that require a bluetooth 2.0 implementation. If does seem to work fairly well with headphones and a non-issue between handhelds and other cell phones though. A great phone over all, quite the looker, poor battery life, occasional freezes as is my experience though (same small nagging traits as the 6230 all in all w/ regard software), all said one of the best all round phones I've ever had. Nobody beats Nokia for it's address book implementation (well maybe windows smartphone 5), SonyEricsson still only has a limited address book with the standard phone, fax, email account, I'm the kinda guy that needs it all including your full mailing address, notes, reminders, etc. and the Nokia does all that and then some.

The implementation of the media player and radio are very phone like though, and you'll have to navigate the menu and turn those on or like I did set it up as a voice command to turn on and off.

The Sony Ericsson is the best implementation of the media player/FM tuner feature I've come across, there is a dedicated button that activates the media player/fm tuner and the controls to navigate are dead simple and intuitive to use while riding even. It behaves like a true MP3 player when in that mode, the battery life is pretty impressive also, esspecially when compared to the Nokia 8800 (which is why it comes with 2 batteries in the package).

If your an active kind of guy and am thinking about using it on the bike w/ gloves on I'd strongly advise you to take a look at the SonyEricsson, if your a walking/working kinda guy the Nokia will do nicely as you do need more visual and tactile involvement when using the phone (keys are kinda smallish and you'll likely use your fingernail to operate the nav keys), not the case with the SE. I'm also pretty certain that the ability to listen to media/radio over bluetooth with the Nokia is a no go as well, and it's earpiece doest give you the flexibility and freedom of choice that the SE does also, it also needs the earpiece to serve as the FM antenna.


sorry for the looong windedness. :-D

[DwarF]

Thank you for the thoughtful responses.