Quote:
Originally Posted by CThunder-blue
how well does it work with the iphone? I found one unfavorable amazon review when used with the iphone so far and one good on on the parrot forums. Any one have experience with them here? Also, how does it attach to the helmet and where are the speakers located for it?
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The iPhone experience has gone from bad to good as Apple has FINALLY started making up for the phone's short-comings. By design, the original iPhone doesn't support A2DP but all you have to do is jailbreak it and install A2DP Enabler. Music Controls will add full AVRCP which Apple only added in iOS4.1 (4.0+ does not run on the original iPhone). iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, and iPhone 4 all support A2DP with AVRCP. The iPhone 3G could still use Music Controls because it doesn't have backgrounding/multitasking by default and Music Controls gives you better backgrounding for music apps than even the official Apple multitasking, though you could just force official multitasking support on a 3G since it needs to be jailbroken to run Music Controls anyway.
You want A2DP (stereo Bluetooth - Advanced Audio Distribution Profile) with AVRCP (Bluetooth remote control - Audio/Video Remote Control Profile) because the Parrot SK4000 will not let you switch the input away from the Bluetooth Audio input as long as there is an open A2DP audio sink that it can't pause. When you press the source button to switch to, say, FM radio, it sends the pause signal and then switches when it pauses. Apple supports AVRCP Play/Pause ONLY on iPhone OS 3 and iOS 4.0.x because they didn't want dock makers to use BT instead of paying royalties to interface through their proprietary dock connector but they finally wised up and allowed full AVRCP in iOS 4.1+. Even then, Play/Pause didn't work for other music apps until they added multitasking in iOS4 (Music Controls fixes this). Every problem it has had was Apple's fault. Heck, when I first got mine, there wasn't even A2DP support despite 4 year old non "smart phones" having it!
The voice dialing is accomplished using HFP and PBAP. In other words, it syncs your phone list using Phone Book Access Profile and dials the number using Hands Free Profile (others just use HSP - Headset Profile). Because it has everything it needs to do voice dialing on its own with those two profiles, it does not require the iPhone 3GS/4 voice dial feature for voice dialing. I've never seen another headset like it! I have a Jabra BT8010 that will let me dial from its own internal phonebook but for some reason the BT8010's caller ID doesn't work on any iPhone (works with every other phone). The iPhone DOES support caller ID with the Parrot SK4000 just fine and will even read you the name of the caller as you ride.
My only issues with the kit are that I keep wearing the source button out on the handlebar remote in about a year, the top two buttons on the handlebar remote usually don't work unless you lean toward it (seems to be an RF range issue but only affects those two buttons), and the volume is only loud enough if you can get the speakers against your ears (hard to do with flat speakers if your helmet has speaker pockets). The noise canceling and the voice recognition are excellent. Oh! Even though the battery life is excellent, I wish you could charge it while in use or carry a spare battery when going on REALLY long rides (you can't), but at this price I can just switch when the battery dies on one. For example, I crossed the country and had to charge it off a 12v USB charger at gas stations and rest stops if I wanted to get a full day of music out of it.
It does not do intercom with another kit in any way though you could always just call each other.
