UK Discount Sony MEX-BT3800U Bluetooth Car Stereo with Usb and Front Aux Input for Sale
January 13th, 2012
Sell Sony MEX-BT3800U Bluetooth Car Stereo with Usb and Front Aux Input – On Sale
- Save upto 30% on purchase from Electronics Hub Ltd
List Price: £249.99
Categories: Car & Vehicle Electronics Bluetooth, Discount, Front, Input, MEXBT3800U, Sale, Sony, Stereo
Sony MEX-BT3800U iPhone 4 compatability,
Sony MEX-BT3800U Bluetooth Car Stereo with Usb and Front Aux Input
Never normally write reviews, but there seems to be lots of confusion over car stereos and iPhone 4 compatibility.
Just had this stereo installed, and it works perfectly with my iPhone 4 (firmware = iOS 4.01)
Here is a brief summary of functionality –
1) Hands free bluetooth audio – once paired (easy procedure, follow the manual!) the Sony MEX-BT3800U can stream any audio the iPhone 4 can play via bluetooth. This includes iPod app, Spotify, wunderRadio, and sat nav. By using the iPhone multitasking, it can stream sat nav commands over the top of a music or radio app: the music is faded down and back up to make the instructions audible.
2) Hands free bluetooth phone calls – no problems, as advertised.
3) Bluetooth controls via the stereo / car – due to Apple firmware limitations, you can currently only control the volume and play / pause functions via the stereo (or steering wheel controls if your car has them). Apple are shortly due to release version 4.1 of its firmware which supports the full AVRCP profile (i.e. you can skip tracks etc via an external device.) This firmware is due in September.
4) USB compatability. Many people have reported that the iPhone 4, or firmware iOS 4 does not play nice with car stereos. The Sony MEX-BT3800U doesn’t have any problems – it works as advertised. As soon as the Apple data cable is connected, it usually takes control of the iPod app and the music begins to play. Again, you can switch to another audio app, e.g. Spotify or sat nav and this also works. If anyone is having problems, here are some solutions to solve audio problems with USB connections-
a) turn bluetooth off in the iPhone settings menu BEFORE plugging in the data cable. The iPhone 4 sometimes prioritises Bluetooth audio to the dock connector otherwise. This can stop audio playing.
b) turn off any audio programs that are in the multitasking bar BEFORE plugging in the data cable – the Sony MEX-BT3800U will then be free to open the last used program and the audio API controls will be freed by the phone.
c) If the iPhone 4 is connected but the stereo dash unit fails to locate any audio tracks , press and hold the’Mode’ button on the left hand side of the dash unit for one second. This will kick the stereo into a special ‘iPod’ mode as opposed to simply USB audio. You will then be able to control tracks via the iPhone 4 in addition to the stereo interface.
d) some people have found doing a hard reboot of the iPhone while attached to the stereo works if it gets stuck. I didn’t have to do this however.
5) The MEX-BT3800U will charge the iPhone 4 over USB. Just make sure that the data cable used is the one that came with the iPhone 4 (apparently the iPhone can tell…spooky)
Overall, this is a great radio! Hope this helps anyone who is stuck
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|Great sound but some niggles,
Driving at night is distracting as there is a bright white ring around the volume control which cannot be dimmed. I’ve covered the lower part which is in relief with electrical tape and used a permanent marker to block the near side of the white ring. The bright blue display cannot be dimmed either but is tolerable. Other irritations are that wav files cannot be played with the USB connection and to change from CD to TUNER requires toggling through USB, AUX, BT AUDIO & BT PHONE! The only bonus is the sound quality on FM and CD which is excellent with JBL GT5-502 speakers – far superior to cheaper Alba and Sendai stereos.
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|Great value,
Things have moved on since I bought my first car stereo. So much so that I was expecting this unit ( even though it’s a Sony ) to be a little limited for the money, but it’s perfect for my needs.
Like every other car stereo out there, it plays CDs, holds a multitude of radio stations in memory for later use and pumps out a decent sound level/quality.
What I really needed this for was the Bluetooth side of things and in that respect it’s ideal. I can stream music from my iPhone and take calls at the same time ( the unit pauses your iPhone/iPod during the call ) with a single button press. Once the call is finished, the music resumes.
Can’t fault it, especially at this price. I’m that impressed, I’m buying another one for my daughter, for her first car.
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