FM transmitter/ hands free for iphone?

[Mad Mac Maniac]

Does anybody know if there is some sort of combination device for the iphone which allows you to play songs through your car speakers (fm transmitter) and receive phone calls through same said speakers (hands free set). Also, perhaps it could play ALL sounds through the car stereo (for future integration with voice turn by turn gps!)


This would be a pretty sweet all in one package for the car. Especially because it would be charging for all of this. Does anyone even know if such a thing would be possible?

 

[lindsayanng]

there is an fm transmitter as USBFever that does that. It can not be a charger though because it uses the headphone jack - which is why it picks up the calls too.. it also has a microphone built in so it amplifies your voice when you are talking to the other end.

USB FEVER TRANSMITTER/HANDS FREE

 

[sozekizer]

After hoping there would be some push of new accesories for back to school, I'm thinking now that we may not see any until christmas time. I guess there's still some time before school so there may be some hope yet.

 

[lindsayanng]

I made a post similar to yours. I'm looking for a holdster that has an FM Transmitter and a charger built it.. there is one at usbfever, btu it plugs directly into the cigarette lighter, and thats great for some, but my STUPID car has the cigarette lights RIGHT behind the wind shield wiper lever and 2 inches away from the key hole.. SUCH A MESS

 

[lindsayanng]

heres another one that has me baffled..
Crazy handsfree kit

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

there is an fm transmitter as USBFever that does that. It can not be a charger though because it uses the headphone jack - which is why it picks up the calls too.. it also has a microphone built in so it amplifies your voice when you are talking to the other end.

USB FEVER TRANSMITTER/HANDS FREE

hmm very nice thank you. Kinda lame that it can't charge it though... do you think it would be integrated for voice gps assuming that comes out?

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

heres another one that has me baffled..
Crazy handsfree kit

weird... but it doesn't do fm transmitter.

 

[lindsayanng]

nope.. but it is a little CRAZY< iw ould like to know HOW it has handsfree dialing..

Let me tell you, i am talking with the people us USB Fever, and that first one i linked you to is the ONLY One out there (trust me, i LOOKED). The downfall is that it does not charge, BUT since it plugs into the headphone jack, the power jack is still available for a regular charger. The down fall is that now you have ONE iphone and TWO things that need to be plugged in - because the Fm transmitter needs to be powered, it can not draw the power from the iphone because of the jack it uses..

The other downfall of that thing is that they said the sound quality might not be AS good as a more expensive fm Transmitter.. the GOOD thing is that is has a FULL tuning option, which means you CAN get the lowest channel (some of the transmitters start at 89 (which drives me NUTS, i need 87.9)

So that is all the info i have.. these are the items I am purchansing, and which this purchase, i will get hands free (through speakers) Built in louder microphone for the hands free, an Fm Transmitter, car dock, and a charger.

FM Trasmitter/hands free transmitter(2G or 3G)

Dock with Power Connector (2G only)
or this:
other dock with charger (2G only)

If you have the 3 G then you need THIS CAR MOUNT with your own car charger - or this one (CHARGER KIT FOR 3G)

so basically, there IS a way to do it, and its not THAT bad.. I have been emailing them and i think they are going to throw in a pair of free ibud ear buds, which is AWESOME, and they also said possibly a multiple item discount.. so i am very happy so far with this retailers, they are very informative and helpful over the net.

 

[lindsayanng]

people seen SOOO obsessed about cases here that the USEFUL accessories fall by the wayside.. gotta look good right?? as naked as possible without being naked right?

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

Actually I think I found a good one.

FM Transmitter... check
handsfree.... check
charger... check
full motion pivot stand.... check!!



http://www.sourcingmap.com/handsfre...ger-mount-holder-for-ipod-iphone-p-17951.html

Edit: I just bought one of these on ebay for $26.98 including shipping. I think it was a good buy!

 

[lindsayanng]

umm no.. there is no FM transmitter and no handsfree.. unless you linked to teh wrong one, that it just the charger/holder.. thats it. Read the description. It only comes with a CABLE if you have an audo in on your radio. otherwise you need to still buy an FM Trasmitter.

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

It should be the right link. It says this

iPhone FM Transmitter function:

The Digital Wireless Radio Transmitter wirelessly transmits music from your iPhone or MP3 player to your car stereo.
The digital tuner locks digitally into the clearest available radio station.
Wide choice of channels allows you to tune your car stereo to the clearest FM frequency, and enjoy your music with full stereo sound and convenience.
Tune to any frequency from 88.1 to 107.9 FM.

Edit: Here is a youtube video demonstration of the same product, displaying all the features http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPBpQ4tghx4

 

[lindsayanng]

Ooops sorry, I meant no handsfree talking. You would have to use the regular speaker phone. Sorry to confuse.

Unfortunately, even for me, I could not use that I e because the layout of my stpuid car. My only cigarrette lighter is about 2" from the ignition, right behind the steering wheel and behind the windshield wiper lever. So I need something with a long cord so I can put the where I need it.

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

Ooops sorry, I meant no handsfree talking. You would have to use the regular speaker phone. Sorry to confuse.
.

No, it does handsfree. The video demonstrates him receiving a call and the voice comes through the speakers. Now it doesn't appear to have that voice amplification thing so i'm not sure how easily it picks up your voice. but i'm sure it wouldn't be too bad. Also no signal boost. but all in all good

 

[Bodah]

Actually I think I found a good one.

FM Transmitter... check
handsfree.... check
charger... check
full motion pivot stand.... check!!



http://www.sourcingmap.com/handsfre...ger-mount-holder-for-ipod-iphone-p-17951.html

Edit: I just bought one of these on ebay for $26.98 including shipping. I think it was a good buy!

Let us know how it works for you. I have read reports that it send out an annoying beep every 40 seconds or so. That is the only reason that I haven't bought one yet.

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

Let us know how it works for you. I have read reports that it send out an annoying beep every 40 seconds or so. That is the only reason that I haven't bought one yet.

Ok yea I'll let you know! I heard that about the beeping too but I heard it was only every few minutes? Do you know if it was during just music or handsfree too? Because the music can drown out the beeping, but the handsfree time could get annoying

 

[Bodah]

I really don't know. I was just hoping that someone here would purchase one and give an accurate review.

 

[lindsayanng]

Yea, all fm transmitters will put the voice through the speakers because it is sound, just like the music. The problem is that you have to have it on speaker phone and hope it's loud enough for the person on the other end to hear you. Test it. Put you phone onthe dash and drive and talk to someone to see if the can hear you from that far away.

I has to say that I am disappointed in the available options out there

 

[StuB]

Ok yea I'll let you know! I heard that about the beeping too but I heard it was only every few minutes? Do you know if it was during just music or handsfree too? Because the music can drown out the beeping, but the handsfree time could get annoying

I would be interested to hear how you get on with this too, as it looks like a decent option to use with an iPhone in case (thanks to the cable connector rather than a dock type).

Looking at the You Tube video, the arm looks reasonable flexible, but I would be interested in your views on this, as my cig lighter in the car is between the front seats, so the posability would be important to me.

Hope its good for you when you get it!

Cheers
Stu.

 

[Malakas07]

Let us know how it works for you. I have read reports that it send out an annoying beep every 40 seconds or so. That is the only reason that I haven't bought one yet.

I actually bought and currently am using one of these.

They are all the same no matter where you get it from. It's called the ALLKIT for the iPhone made by one of the many chinese vendors
like the one found here

Soon as I got it I took it out of the package plugged it in and I had no power. Opened it up and it had a blown fuse. The next day I took a trip to Radio Shack to pick up a 5 pack of fuses.
Installed a new fuse and plugged it in. It immediatley blew again. Tried one more and it blew again. There was a short somewhere. E-mailed the store where I got it from. No response.

Well after two days with no response I figured. Oh Well it was only $28. So I couldn't help myself and took it apart. It turns out that there are two wires connected to the 12 volt power portion of the unit. My unit was turned a little too tight and it partially broke the solder making it have contact with the ground shorting it out. On top of that the wire that they use is poor quality so the twisting of the two wires rubbed the away some of the rubber coating on the power wire.

So after a sloppy re-soldering job and a retapping of the exposed wire. I got it all back together again. Put in a brand new fuse and voila. Unit was operational.

So after using it. I can say that if your going to use it for Hands free forget about hearing the other person on the other line unless you turn it up all the way and roll all the windows up. You can barely hear any of the system sounds as well.

As for it's main function that I bought it for. Pandora, AOL radio and iPod all come through it loud and crystal clear. I love it. It sounds great. The transmitter works just as good as some of the other namebrand units my friends have. I also can confirm that it does have an annoying beep but you can't hear it if your using a Music application. Over the Hands free..you can hear it.

One last thing, I'm using a Griffin Elan form case and it barely fits in this unit with it expanded to it widest setting. I also own an Agent 18 case and it doesn't fit.
I finally got an e-mail back and an offer to replace my faulty unit. But my impaitence got the best of me. Too late.


Overall I'd say you get what you pay for. but it works.

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

Well mine FINALLY came in! After a month! of course it came all the way from china so... yea...

I just gave it a few minute test run, and am happy to report that so far works perfectly!

• it DOES charge the iphone 3g (something I was worried about
• fm transmitter works. perhaps not the BEST sound quality, but gives what i was expecting from my factory speakers. the only small hassel is you need to attach a short wire between the iphone and the transmitter
• handfree feature works well. you need to turn the iphone volume up to max to hear well, but that's the same for when i talk regularly on the iphone.. haha. NOTE: you will need to talk louder than normal to allow yourself to be heard well.. realize the iphone will be a couple feet away from your face.. gives about bluetooth sound quality
• the gooseneck part was slightly shorter than i expected. maybe about 6 inches. I was hoping for a little more length but it's still easy to find a workable position
• from my experience i found NO annoying beeping sound!! I only listened to music for about 5 mins and had a 1 minute conversation, but I haven't heard this beeping that has been talked about. so either mine doesn't have it, or it's quiet and undetectable

I'll probably add a more thorough review in a few days after I've played with it more!

 

[stix666]

Can you bypass the FM transmitter but still have the steering wheel remote control music and phone for hands-free operation?

I have a direct connect to my stereo so really don't want the FM sound instead. The rest of the stuff that unit does (charge, hands-free, steering remote), I could use.

 

[Bodah]

In my past experience with FM transmitters, you often can modify them to get better sound.

You need to find out where the antenna is on the circuit board, and solder a wire on it to give it a bigger antenna. It improves the sound quality greatly. I don't know if you can do it with this one though.

 

[DatGuy]

I bought one off eBay for around 30 bucks and it works great on my iPhone. It's an fm transmitter, car charger, and everyone tells me my calls come through clear and there's no static on my end I've had it for about 5 days now

 

[ilikemycivic]

Well mine FINALLY came in! After a month! of course it came all the way from china so... yea.....I'll probably add a more thorough review in a few days after I've played with it more!

I think I got the same one that you did. And for a iPhone charger/cradle/FM transmitter/Hands-free for the car, it works pretty good.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.13234

It was <$27 (CAD) including shipping from my bank account via PayPal and I ordered it on the 16th, and it showed up on the 24th from Hong Kong. The bendy arm is good so I don't have to pickup the phone to change to the next song. FM works...better than I thought. Not fantastic but is completely able. The Hands-free my buddy said I was clear, a little like I was in a tunnel but he could hear me fine. It also has a nice tight squeeze with my Switcheasy CapsuleNeo case that I keep on my phone.

Only problems I had were if I left the phone connected in the car and turned the car off when I turned the car back on sound didn't work. To fix I just unplugged the minijack cable and plugged it back in. And once the FM station I previously used didn't work, autoscanned to the next one and it was fine. (I made a lot of short trips yesterday)

I did not hear any annoying beep that people were talking about, so that was cool. Basically, if mine broke tomorrow... I'd go buy another one.