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Mobile Home Brings Siri to Auto Hands Free Systems

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Using Siri through a car’s hands free Bluetooth system only works well with cars that support it. Enter the Mobile Home, not a cheap trailer house susceptible to high winds, but a device that connects to an iPhone via Bluetooth that adds Siri functionality to a car’s hands free system.

Car owners can buy aftermarket Bluetooth head units that bring hands free Siri to a car, but they may cost $100-$200. Besides costing a lot, they require getting under the dash and re-wiring the vehicle’s system. The Mobile Home ($79) doesn’t force me to wire anything.

Mobile Home for Siri and auto hands free systems

Mobile Home Functionality

mobile home how it works chart

The Mobile Home connects to the iPhone via Bluetooth. The phone sees the Mobile Home as a keyboard, but it only comes with a home button. Many Bluetooth keyboards with home buttons engage Siri with a long press. When a user presses the home button on the Mobile Home the phone engages Siri and listens for the user’s voice over the car’s hands free system.

The Mobile Home comes as a tiny plastic black box about the size of a flip open lighter. A metal wire clip holds the Mobile Home to a car visor. It also comes with some velcro so users can instead fasten it to a dash or steering wheel. The black plastic case feels flimsy. Taking off the battery cover on the back took some force and I was afraid I’d break it.

mobile home metal clip holds it to visor in car

Pairing was a bit tricky because I didn’t read the directions carefully enough. The Mobile Home enters pairing mode, not by holding down the large home button, but by pressing the clear narrow strip at the top of the front side of the Mobile Home. It doubles as the indicator light. The device paired quickly and easily.

mobile home installed

Recommendation

Mobile Home works as advertised, but do we really need it? For $79 iPhone users can buy really nice iPhone mounts that also charge the phone. Plugs the USB cord from the phone into a car’s USB interface to get audio playback through stereos that support USB playback.

We can’t recommend the $79 Mobile Home. It’s too expensive and feels like a cheep $30 product that people don’t really need.

We found a similar product on Amazon that works with iPhone and Android for half the price from Kinivo. Another from Belkin costs $50. We haven’t reviewed either, but that’s the price we expect for a product like this.

2 Comments

2 Comments

  1. Katie Wright

    12/15/2013 at 2:23 pm

    I just unlocked my iPhone 5S via the website cubeture .net. They always deliver on their promise of a full money back guarantee if they fail to unlock your phone! They’re very cheap too! Check em out.

  2. Beanco Tech

    03/17/2014 at 9:14 am

    Hello Kevin,

    Thank you very much for an honest review. As a point of information, the other products you mentioned on Amazon like Kinivo & Belkin require an Aux-Input. Not all vehicles will have aux input available. Moreover, cars with built-in hands-free would already have an in-car microphone – the extra microphone which comes with Kinivo or Belkin would defeat the usage of the paid in-car system. Lastly, aux input in most systems is not automatic – meaning one has to select the Aux input to enable the audio stream to flow thru. Usage of Mobile Home will automatically mute the current input and allow Siri to come thru – after your command, the originally playing input will rise back up in volume like a phone call. Our product is directly aimed at individuals with in-car hands-free already and wishing to get access to Siri. Our experience is just like Chevy’s / Apple’s Eyes-Free.

    Best Regards,
    Beanco Tech

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