How to Choose the Right Cell Phone to Use with Your Bluetooth Enabled Car

Getting your cell phone and your Bluetooth enabled car to work in harmony can add convenience and safety to your daily commute. But to get the most out of the relationship between your car and your phone, you have to choose the right cell phone to use with your Bluetooth enabled car.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Bluetooth enabled car
• Bluetooth enabled phone

1. Find out what works with your system. There are a couple major Bluetooth systems for cars that either come built-in or can be installed with a kit. Whatever you decide upon, find out if it prefers a certain cellular service provider.

2. Once you find out what Bluetooth system your car runs, do a search for it on the internet and read about it. Find out about the experiences of other users and which phones they used.
   
   

3. Make sure your provider doesn’t limit Bluetooth capabilities. Some wily providers like to cripple the built-in Bluetooth features on a phone so you can’t get the most out of your phone. Read reviews about the particular phone model to make sure its uninhibited.

4. Get a hands-free system. Instead of fumbling with a headset, find a phone and car system that are going to let you use voice-activated dialing and work with your car’s speakers to receive calls.

5. Get a phone with built-in Bluetooth, not an adapter. Those adapters rarely work perfectly and with most cell phone contracts it’s cheaper to spring for a brand new phone anyway.

6. Compare and contrast. Once you think you have a good idea of a specific model of phone you want, do some in-depth research. Read as many reviews as you can and get user ratings. Research comparable phones as well and see how they stack up.

Tips & Warnings

• If you ever rent cars, try one out with Bluetooth so you can get a feel for that particular system and how it works with your phone.
• For the most part, the system you install in your car is going to affect the functionality the most. Get the system for your car that you want and find the phone that is most compatible with it.
• When you buy a phone, specifically ask the sales associate what would work best with your Bluetooth enabled car. They might know about specific quirks related to certain models and systems.
• Don’t concentrate so much on Bluetooth capabilities that you forget about other features! Make sure you are happy with everything your phone can do.
• Some providers and models are notoriously bad with Bluetooth cars. Be sure you don’t get a contract with a company that cripples their cell phones.