If you saw our first “Windows Mobile vs. Your Car” video, you may be wondering how the same phone based voice recognition, media player, and GPS navigation integration might work on a stereo with integrated Bluetooth handsfree and advanced audio distribution profiles. Today we show you how a Windows Phone would work with the Clarion FB275BT car stereo head unit.

Pros

- AV Remote Control Profile lets you control the media player using hardware buttons that you can feel with your fingers (especially useful for touch-screen phones since you don’t have to take your eyes off the road)

- No wires and Bluetooth connectivity means you can leave your phone in your pocket

- Voice prompting navigation

- Navigate to contacts as synced from Exchange or Outlook

- Plan trips without sitting in the car

- Voice recognition control of music library (via Artist, Album, Genre, or everything)

- Voice recognition for dialing contacts

- Text to Speech announcements of incoming caller names, text messages, emails, and appointments

- Voice recognition can be activated from Bluetooth headset

- Download and listen to Podcasts & Video Podcasts while in the car

Cons

- You’ll still have to plug a battery charger into your phone for long trips

- No voice control for setting navigation destination addresses

- Music library limited to phone’s storage capacity (which is expandable in many cases)

- The Clarion FB275BT’s microphone tends to be less accurate with Voice Command than an in-ear headset with noise cancellation

- The Clarion FB275BT only auto-connects to the phone’s handsfree profile, not the wireless stereo (A2DP) profile. This requires manual activation of wireless stereo every time you turn the car on

While I really like having hardware buttons to control the media player via the Bluetooth A/V Remote Control Profile, it becomes very annoying having to set the car stereo as the wireless stereo output device every time I get into the car. If it automatically connected as many Bluetooth stereo headphones do, then it would be much more useful. There’s also the problem with having to plug a charger into the phone thus negating the point of using a wireless stereo. Having a single jack to plug in that does both charging and audio output (as in my first video) requires far fewer steps.

If anybody knows of a Bluetooth car stereo headunit that automatically connects to a phone’s A2DP profile when powered on, let me know.