C320 phone hack?

Hi all!

How to connect my regular(any) cell phone to C320? Any hacks?

Thanks

Reply to
Serg
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No there are no 'hacks' to attach your cell phone to the car. The ONLY phone that will work with your car is the dealer-supplied Motorola. Period. There is absolutely no other way to do it.

Somebody must post that same question here at least three times a month. I can't get over the utter cheapness of people who just spent all of this money on a new car, then try to nickel-and-dime the cell phone connection. If you want to use the car system, buy the phone with the car. If you don't want to spend the money, then don't.

Thomas J. Paladino New York City

04 S500 99 SLK230 95 S320 89 Lotus Esprit Turbo
Reply to
Thomas J. Paladino Jr.

Agreed. Phones have become a low cost commodity because of very high volumes (hundreds of millions of phone sold every year). However don't forget that the rest of the circuitry in the car to support the phone is custom electronics sold in extremely low volumes. Add on top of that the parts they have to stock for warranty replacements (and as we know lately MB quality has been very bad) and the cost/unit becomes very high, ridiculous actually. It is basically done as a convenience for the customer rather than as a money maker for the car manufacturer. The cellular carriers have almost nothing to do with it.

If/When the industry standardizes interfaces and starts putting software into all the phones to handle the telematics functions, then prices will drop on the handset end and drop somewhat for the on board electronics. But the price will always be high until they can get the volume up and the perceived value down.

Reply to
Sporq

Why do you assume there is no universal interface yet?

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Reply to
wolfgang

Dori:

Yes.

It should also be easier to upgrade to new phones, unlike the Nokia

6210->6310i transition which required a changeout of the controller.

Wolfgang

Reply to
wolfgang

Time y'all west of the Atlantic switched to GSM(-compatible) phones...problem described wouldn't be quote so bad.

Anyway, as Wolfgang reported earlier, a universal interface is now available in Europe. Maybe will be fine for North America, too.

Actually I remember something peculiar about what was offered when in 2000 I was ordering my car on Germany for import into the UK. UK dealers were not offering the factory-fitted kit without a phone, whereas the spec/price list in Germany (for cars to German and other specs) already offered the cradle only version. Within months policy changed here in Britain, possibly because hundreds of Mercs were being brought in as personal imports and awareness of the ex-Stuttgart price list was high.

Forcing people to buy a handset with the car was decidely cussed, especially if buying the phone without a contract (higher, unsubsidised price). I also remember a fixed phone being offered in the UK, i.e. wired to the car. I got away from that 10 years ago, or was that even longer ago?

You wonder what goes on in marketing men's minds sometimes.

DAS

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Reply to
Dori Schmetterling

Maybe the guy in that s500 had to use his company cellphone instead of his personal phone he bought from MB. Or maybe he was driving his wife's car and his phone would not work in her "proprietary" handsfree system built into the car.

I think the integrated handsfree system is a great option and am glad to have it available. Just do not lock us into a particualr phone/carrier and not being able to use the handsfree with the latest cellphone technology. Simple and cheap phone adapters would work (even if I had to buy form MB) and/or an unlocked phone that accepted an exisiting SIM card.

Scott D

Reply to
Scott D

A standardized interface means the same connectors and same Application Programming Interface, or API. Think of firewire/1394 for example. Virtually any camcorder with a DV (firewire/1394) connector will be recognized by your computer when you plug it in. They all have similar command sets and functions.

Each manufacturer uses different connectors/cradles, and different programming to interact with the accessories (in this case the car is the accessory). Until the phones all use the same API and connectors for telematics functions we will be stuck with the mess we have now.

Motorola built an adapter to interface the Motorola Mercedes PSE unit with several different phones. It is not a universal interface, but it is a good start!

Reply to
Sporq

Sporq:

no, the UHI PSE has a universal interface - it doesn't directly interface with the phones.

Wolfgang

Reply to
wolfgang

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