[mchruss03]

Today I went out and bought a new radio for my truck(F-150) to replace the one that I got stolen back into January. Really quick back story is that I parked my truck in our driveway and then went to sleep. When I woke up the next morning to go to school I noticed after a minute of taking it in that my whole radio was pulled right out(along with about $2 in change from my cup holders). It was never recovered but I have a good hunch it was my neighbors(who lets say know the County Sheriff's pretty well) because there was only one pair of footprints from their driveway across to our driveway that morning after a snowfall from the other day, you make your own guess on who it was. I have been without a radio since then. I have been using my Blackberry to play iHeart Radio/Pandora and the music I have on it, but its not the same. Finally after graduating I got some money and decided on finally getting a new radio!!!



I decided to go with the same type of radio just the new version or model. I used to have a Alpine iDa-X200. I'm now getting the new Alpine iDa-X303. It plays your Ipod mainly but can also do AM/FM and Satellite Radio. I might also get a pair of new speakers, but not for sure yet.

I'm then also getting the Bluetooth addition by Parrot, KCE-400BT, which will give me control over my Blackberry through the Head Unit. I will be able to view my address book, view call logs. There is a microphone that they will install that will allow me to answer the calls by pushing a button on the head unit to either answer or ignore the call. If I answer then I can speak into the microphone and the other persons voice will come through the speakers. If music was playing it mutes the music and puts the voice through. I never had to look or touch the phone I can see everything from the head unit display and do it all from there. Even the information is displayed on it like the name, bars, call time...

Something else I figured out how to do by using the demonstration unit is I can have text messages and EMail read to me using Drivesafe.ly. Through the speakers when I get them just like a call, it mutes the music and reads the message. Then I should be able to if everything works out be able to reply to those messages using the microphone in the truck once Drivesafe.ly v2 comes out. If the features and hardware work out the principal for it to work is there. But for sure right now the reading of the text and EMail work.

I just thought I would share this with everyone here seeing as it relates to Blackberry and how well my Storm 2 will integrate into my truck with the new radio. I won't even have to look at it or touch it now while I drive!

-Russ03

[webmeister]

That's very cool. As the technology matures (both on the BB and car audio side) opportunities to marry your BB to your car will present themselves. I think the BB is the Swiss Army Knife of smartphones IMHO. This is more evidence that an enterprising idea and a bit of foresight can come in handy!

/ES