This is probably a dumb question, but what the heck.... I am puzzled by the center armrest "phone cradle." My new F56 has all the bells and whistles but I don't see the point of the whole iPhone in a seatbelt picture in the armrest. I guess you have to buy another $200 snap in option to snap in on top of or in place of the snap in thing already there in order make it as advertised? My phone certainly isn't in a "seatbelt" as is - just rattles around so I put it in a cup holder or the little tray in front of the shifter. Is the snap in thing that's there just a placeholder until you shell out more for something that actually does what is advertised in the first place?

 

The center armrest thing isn't just to hold your phone. It actually plugs in and connects as though it were USB.

 

Well, that is what I was hoping but there sure isn't anything to plug in anywhere that I can find. At least nothing to plug the phone into. I can pop out the plastic tray that had the seatbelt cardboard picture and there are connections under it that look like they probably go to an adapter. Looked on shopmini and there are iPhone 3G and 4 adapters for $255. I have a 5s. Does anyone have their phone plugged into the armrest? And if so, did it come equipped or did you have to buy something extra?

 

Have to buy. http://www.minif56.com/forum/409-ele...html#post80730

 

Thanks aafflyer. That explains it - and it looks like I got me an armrest with storage. Now I see why the cravenspeed mount is so popular.

 

A picture of the plastic part you have?

 

I think it's just the normal piece that everyone has that got an armrest. You push at the arrow and it comes out revealing connections underneath. I just totally misunderstood the phone in the armrest marketing. It makes sense that the armrest is universal and you have to buy something extra to connect your phone within.

 

Bluetooth it and I think I am going get adapter that plug into the cigarette lighter with has sub ports added. I found some on Amazon
Just trying to found the right one to fix. They are only around $20

 

Yeah, that's what I'll do. I don't really have anything worthwhile on my phone to integrate with the car, was just thinking about charging and tucking cleanly away. MUCH cheaper to just plug in a cable.

 

 

Someone mentioned a cable adapter that will plug in where the $250 clip would go.

 

That's intriguing. Might be interested in something like that.

 

I couldn't find anything but people looking for one.

The snap-in adapters seem to be a bit cheaper on eBay, but you have to be careful about which one you buy, some don't have all the features.

I struggled a lot with adaptors for my last car, I incrementally spent lots of money and way too much time on it. I would go ahead and get the solution that you would enjoy the most.

And if you thought the car would be supplied with a solution, because it sure is in the pictures, let your dealer know. I think you deserve to give them the chance to make your day for once!

 

Yeah, I looked too and the closest I could find was someone got some type of cable off ebay from someone in Lithuania. I think I'm not going to worry about it. I'll do something like wtwien posted or just simply plug into the usb. Thanks for checking! I really love the help folks can get on this forum. Really I'm just glad to know that I'm not missing something obvious. The whole cardboard wrap with the seatbelt around a phone picture threw me off. Thought there was something more to it and I just wasn't seeing it.

 

I used a $2 Chinese usb/stereo y-cable on my last car with an auxillary input. It connected to an L-connector in the glovebox and a Griffin usb lighter-socket power adapter. I went through about 3 cables and 2 usb lighter-socket power adapters. The iPod sits very nicely in the little cupholder of the R50.

Before that I had tried various lighter-socket mounts. I even made my own cupholder mount with molding clay, but it only lasted about year.

I plan to just use the lightning cable into the USB port this time, probably with the Click & Drive mount.