OK, so the Mini has a Bluetooth option. Do you have to "activate" it every time you get in the car? Or does your phone and the car "sense" each other when they're close (once you go through the initial set-up) and sync themselves anytime they're near each other?

 

My 8820 blackberry just knows when it's in the car. If I am on the phone and enter the car it switches over automatically to speaker phone, and back to handset when I leave.

 

No, once paired it automatically connects to the device when you turn on the car. I understand that some devices have issues, but my iPhone works without trouble at all.

 

Bluetooth uses up battery life looking for devices to pair to, plus some people consider it a securty risk to leave your phone's BT turned on all the time even with pairing ids and codes. So most phones let you do a one shot "turn-on-bluetooth-now" to connect your phone to a previously paired device.

Also, beware of pairing multiple phones that are "always on" to your MINI: my wife's phone and my phone are both paired to the MINI, but I think I'm going to unpair her phone - if she's on her phone in the kitchen when I start up the MINI the garage, the MINI connects to her phone first and grabs the phone call. Then I have to explain to the caller that I need to transfer the call back to her phone (by turning off the BT in the MINI). Kind of funny the first time; not so funny the tenth time.
gl

 

You are right. Once you pair the phone with the Mini the phone will be paired everytime the car is on and the phone's BT is on and close. I turn my phone BT off when I'm not using the car (one button for my BB) so it doesn't search for the car and use its battery.

 

Has anyone tried to pair a different bluetooth device to the Mini? When pairing my phone, it picked up a Garmin GPS in the car next to me. If it was capable of a stereo connection, it might make for an interesting way to connect other devices.

 

blackjack,
If you are using a Blackjack device, they work nicely in the mini. The blackjack 2 works 100% out of the box, pairs with the mini, syncs the address book, dials, answers.... The original Blackjack will also work 100%, but you need the latest OS loaded (WM6). If you only have WM5 on the orig. blackjack, then you can use it, but it will not sync the address book.

 

Thanks for the the info! The screen name is due to being a fan of the game, not the phone!

I've got an LG VX8600 that I already tested and it works with the Bluetooth, but didn't understand if it'd have to be reactivated every time I enter the car, so I guess I'm good to go!