Kensington LiquidAUX Bluetooth Car Kit with Remote for Music Phones

I purchased this product with the intent of playing music wirelessly from my iPhone through my car stereo. If this is your intention, this product is amazing. The sound quality is pretty good, and it is a breeze to use. Once you have paired your phone for the first time with the device there is no input required ever again. All I do is start my car, and push play on the remote, and whatever was playing on my iPhone is now playing through my stereo speakers. I have never had the device not pair, it works perfectly.

That being said, if you are planning to use this device in your car for handsfree calls, forget it. The microphone is built into the unit, so it is always positioned in your lighter outlet. For me, this is located in my center console by my shifter about 2-3 feet from my mouth. This translates to poor call quality for the person on the other end. I have never completed an entire phone conversation using this device. Not only does the person on the other end sound quiet, but to them I sound like a mess of static, especially when the car is running. I can't imagine what this would be like if my lighter outlet was in my armrest box like I know a lot of cars have.

Overal, I am happy with this product because I did not really plan to use it for handsfree calling. If this is not your situation, I strongly recommend that you pursue another solution. That being said, $25 is tough to beat considering higher end (actually functioning) solutions can cost in the hundreds of dollars range.

Note: If you are planning to use this product with an iPhone be warned that the Previous and Next buttons do not work on the included remote. I think this is Apple not supporting the full A2DP protocol, but I am not sure. I have learned to deal with this, it doesn't really bother me too much.

July 16 Update: With the iOS 4 update to 4.1 on July 15, '10, you are now able to skip forward, skip back and increase/decrease volume over bluetooth. I've updated the review below with new information to support this iOS update.

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You'll need to update your iPhone to version 4.1 (July 15 release) so your iPhone can fully support Kensington LiquidAUX Bluetooth Car Kit otherwise you will only be able to "pause, play, and stop" your music over bluetooth. When you update iPhone to the latest free version, you then be able to skip tracks and change the volume.

This device will allow you to do the following:
- skip tracks, change volume, play, pause, stop music with the remote
- answer phone calls with the remote
- hang up calls with the remote
- switch to using your hands with the remote
- listen to phone calls through your car speakers
- listen to music through your car speakers
- speak into the noise canceling mic found in the charging device

what it doesn't do
- your custom ring tones will not play in your speakers instead there's a new ringtone custom to the kensington device that will play instead

The remote control is easy to attach to your steering wheel and I like the extra chrome around the edge of the unit. The audio quality of music through the speakers streams great to the device. I'm very impressed with it and I'm sure you will as well.

The additional USB input is a nice feature so you can charge your phone while it's connected. The attachment does NOT come with a cable, so you need your own to charge your iPhone.

The bluetooth connection to the iPhone 4 is quick and painless to connect and disconnect. If your car supplies power to the charger even when the car is turned off, like my car, it's important if you walk away from the car with your phone still connected via bluetooth and you're still close enough to it, the phone will not ring in your pocket and will try to ring in the car. It's important to click the "power" button on the charging device to shut the bluetooth off if you have a car like mine otherwise the charger is designed to turn itself off when the phone becomes disconnected or power is removed from the charger.

The charging side comes built in with an advanced noise/echo canceling filter for clear conversations and I'm told it sounds really good when I talk. It's clear and loud enough for the listener to hear me considering how far away the device is away from my voice. I'm going to play with this a bit to see what the experience is over time, but so far I'm impressed with this feature the most!

Unfortunately, there is one draw back using music from your iPhone to your car stereo. You will unfortunately, depending on where you live, when your phone switches out of the 3G network to the GSM (Edge) network, your car speakers will go "crazy" with what is dubbed as GSM buzz. I would describe the sound as popping/buzz sound that vibrate from your car stereo. It's not the fault of the Kensington LiquidAUX Bluetooth Car Kit. It's NOT heard when your phone is in range of ATT's 3G network (WCDMA). I found online why this occurs and it's described due to the way GSM, which uses TDMA, splits the frequency up into time slots. IIRC TDMA uses 1/8th sec slots - so a broadcast network of 1800 or such is going to have a pulse rate of around 217Hz which is in the audible range and is picked up up by poorly shielded speakers. It's essentially your phone saying to the tower - 'Give me slot Give me slot Give me slot Give me slot and now We're connected' or "ready to receive ready to receive ready to receive ready to receive and now We're connected'.

Overall, this is the best tool to listen to your music, movies and make phone calls within your car now that Apple supports full AVRCP.

I have been looking for an inexpensive device to connect to via Bluetooth for wireless streaming music for a while now. I saw this on an Amazon "Lightning Deal" and bought it with much hesitation since I couldn't find any reviews on it. I am glad I did. I pair it with a Nokia N95. My car is quite old. It is equipped with a factory radio but I previously installed an AUX adapter that plugs directly into the CD changer harness. The LiquidAUX, in turn, plugs into the adapter. Obviously, newer factory or aftermarket stereos with a 1/8" jack are ideal but regardless an analog input of some sort is a requirement for this product. Hence, it won't work with every car stereo out there. Installation is simple. You just need access to a cigarette lighter or power port. Aside from the already mentioned audio input, you are already done. Once you get it set up and paired though, it works as advertised. Initial pairing works by holding down the Bluetooth symbol key. The passcode is the usual "0000" and there is no option to change it. The unit also has a power button. It must be held for a couple of seconds to get it disconnect from the phone. If I hold it too long, it will disconnect and then reconnect to the phone. Annoying. Out of the box, the unit may also need to be paired with the remote. Same process as with phone, but you hold the "middle" button on the remote to allow it be discovered. I initially thought something was wrong with my remote. Don't make the same mistake I did (reinserting battery several times) and read the instructions.

The output through my system is a little soft, so I have to turn up the volume at higher level than normal (versus listening to the radio or a CD). This may be due to the phone or the input adapter on the car stereo. It is still quite acceptable. The remote attaches to the steering wheel via a Velcro strap. The remote doesn't appear particularly durable, but once attached it really does stay in place solidly (in my case anyways). I like the fact you can transport everything to another vehicle in just seconds, nothing is permanent. The remote controls play/pause, forward, backward, and answer/dial. As for the hands free portion of the device, this was not a priority for me. I have used it a few times and it works well enough. No problems with echo, but at least one person said I sounded audible but a little muffled. I think the location has a lot to with that. In my case, I have the LiquidAUX located in the center console. Better put, it is well below the driver and off to the side. I have nowhere else to plug it in. I am sure somewhere on the dash in front of the driver would allow the microphone to pick up the speech more clearly. It would also make it easier for me to attempt voice dialing someone off my contact list. I have to speak more loudly and clearly than I would if I were using the phone's microphone to make it work. Like stated above, I bought this mainly for the streaming of high quality music. I don't notice any loss of audio quality nor have I experienced problems with drop outs.

If you have a particular use for this type of device, it works as advertised. I have bought lots of devices that have lots of promise but fail miserably in usage. I am happy to say this simple device does everything it should.