The car kit innovation that we all missed - Nokia's CK-300

[slitchfield]

Guest writer Justin Berkovi reports back on the brand new and innovative Nokia CK-300 car kit, which reduces control hardware to a minimum and relies instead on using your smartphone's display. Here's Justin's lavishly illustrated review, his first for All About Symbian.

Read on in the full article.

[TomJ]

Quick question: has anyone tried using it with an E90's internal screen. Also, for the occasions you do want to leave your phone in your pocket, how good is the voice tag recognition?

[auntiewiv]

Genius!! Ordered mine, will be here 2morrow. Can't wait for streaming music so I can get rid of that ugly cable hanging out my stereo! And a charger too, another ugly cable gone.

Bet you don't get this level of intergration with an (spits) iphone! Hee Hee!

Hi...nice review with good pictures - has this guy reviewed anything else as I appreciate the straightforward style ?

oh ...and product sounds really good too

Cheers

Fat Boy

What comes in the box? Is the phone holder included? How does it connect to your sound sistem?

How much of a dash-breaker is it? My old Volvo's in such good condition and I'd hate to mess it up.

Nice to see a review of a gadget like that. Keep it up.

I am just starting to look at this sort of functionality for my car.
Could I ask what mobile car mount you are using for you N95 8GB as i will need to purchase this as well?
Thanks.

You check your messages and emails whilst driving?!

Quite good solution, but I prefer CK-15W - it lets me leave my phone in a pocket or bag, no need to clip it on a dashboard to see who's calling or to select the number to call to. IMHO voice tags are totally useless in language different then english.

[predicaments]

No, I don't check my emails whilst driving! But when i've parked or park up I find the CK300 handy for doing so.

With regard to mounting the phone - I simply use a cheap holder that can be purchased from any Carphonewarehouse store - it's £9.99 and clips to the air vents so does not need any mounting or drillling and is fine with aircon blowing full blast. It's a great solution and is unobtrusive. There is no mount provided in the box although Nokia do offer an N95 custom mount now...although quite simply I wouldn't bother when this cheap option works just fine.

Voice tag recognition is better than when using the mobile only in my tests.

[lookatbowen]

How do you play music from your Nokia N95 through the speakers in the car? - Does it have a FM Transmitter?

[predicaments]

Audio is streamed via Bluetooth. Your vehicle might require an interface between the CK300 'brain' and your head unit or in car system. The beauty of it is that it does integrate well with many systems. For example in my Audi when I'm using the CK300 the word 'PHONE' is displayed on my Driver Information System display in the dash as well as on my Audi head unit.

[davidmaxwaterma]

The review could use more details of the hidden magic - the bit that goes under the dash and interfaces with the car's stereo and whatever.

Could use a few pics of the product in it's box/etc...

Otherwise, review makes me want to get one...though I'd have to get a car first. Perhaps you can suggest a matching car

Actually, that's not such a stupid question - what kind of equipment do you need for it to work. Clearly a stereo is required, but it'd need more than just a 'line in' since that wouldn't be able to mute (ie reduce) the volume when it gives directions...hrm. "More explanation required"

Max.

[fernando20]

Indeed, more explanation is needed. Do you need to change the audio source or something as silly in the stereo before using it? Do you need to drill anything in order to install the "brain"? More pictures please!

Well, at least in germany you are not allowed to touch your phone in any way while driving. You should be able to do everythin with voice or the touch of one button. Will it read incoming mails and sms?

[predicaments]

Some clarification needed here. This is a PROFESSIONALLY FITTED CAR KIT solution and not one I would suggest an end user attempt. It has to be professionally fitted by people who know how the 'brain' of the CK300 is wired into the specific vehicle / audio system.

Such intricacies would be pointless in a review that was simply designed and written to show the end user experience of the CK300, not a boring install guide!

For those who wish to see how the unit is installed please check this link:

http://europe.nokia.com/A4884031 (You'll also find CK300 specific product pages and user guides)

I got the CK300 fitted by HUETS CAR AUDIO in Brighton, East Sussex. They also fitted an interface that works between the CK300 brain and my Audi BOSE system to ensure that audio is routed to my car speakers. If you ARE getting the unit fitted I would strongly suggest testing everything before driving away because as you will see in the user guide PDF from the Nokia site there are various ways of fitting the CK300.

I hope this clears up any problems or misunderstandings.