Bluetooth Question

[Joe Pelonio]

It was time to upgrade so I went to bluetooth, much easier to work while talking and also comply with the state's new hands-free driving law.

The ear unit (Motorola H500) has a mini USB socket. Does anyone know if I can charge it simply by using a camera or MP3 Player cord to plug into the computer? That way I can use the regular charger for the phone at the same time. No mention of it in the manual. It only says "plug into the Motorola charger."

[Mitchell Andrus]

Well, you could try it. If smoke comes out of it, unplug it because the battery is likely done.






I don't know...... but I can't think of any other reason to have it there 'cept to use for internet phone calls.

[Matt Meiser]

Once on a trip I forgot my Motorola RAZR phone's charger. I have a USB-Mini USB cable for my external hard drive and I have a charger for my IPod that is just a little block that plugs into the wall and has a a USB port on the side. I tried plugging my phone into the cable and into the PC--that just made it want to connect to the computer but not charge. Then I plugged the cable into the IPod charger--the phone displayed an error and said it couldn't charge.

Since I think the RAZR charger is interchangable with the Motorola headset charger, I'm guessing it won't work.

[Tom Godley]

......never had anything other then the supplied charger type work.

I swear that Moto locks all of the phone designers in separate rooms and never lets them talk to one another or use any of the phones they design.

Do not like Moto interfaces and the menu layout - but maybe it is just me :)

When I ordered a bunch or RAZR and SLVR units a couple of years ago for my company - I received a call from corporate sales before they delivered the units offering me a bluetooth kit/ case combo.

It was a good deal and I was new to bluetooth. The kits came with SLVR and RAZR pictures all over them. Guess ----- phone: mini usb Headset: moto plug! .... and two power supplies-!!

I had also ordered car power adapters with the usb ends -- so they could keep the headset in the cars-!!

They did end up giving me a bunch of them free -- so I could buy an after-market split cable that takes one mini usb and goes to both a mini and the moto plug. They also make splitters that have two mini usb ends so you can charge the phone and headset together - they work great.

[M Toupin]

Motorola phones with the miniUSB like the RAZR et. al. can be charged with a standard USB using the mini to standard adapter. You need to have the proper driver though to let the computer recognize the phone and allow it to charge. I've got my personal RAZR and the crappy little company phone charging on my laptop as I type this. Eliminates two chargers.

Mike

[Joe Pelonio]

The phone is a new, less fancy version of the razr, the W385.

OK, I just tried it, though the battery is not low at the moment. The computer did not respond as it normally does with a tone and looking for a device driver, it had no response at all. Meanwhile the blue light is on, apparently indicating that it's charging. I'm now taking it off just in case, and will try to contact motorola to confirm before messing it up.

[Tom Godley]

I just tried it on my Mac -- no go with the phone from ATT. I keep the bluetooths in the cars so I do not know about them.

[James Ashburn]

It could work fine without the driver but I have needed one in the past on other Motorola devices including bluetooth headsets. There is a site that I used in the past to figure out a lot if this stuff including how to create my own ringtones and install them on my wife's phone. The site is http://developer.motorola.com

Good Luck with it,
James

[Peter Stahl]

Joe,

Buy another charger, you can get them cheap on ebay. I also heard the Moto ear units don't hold a charge well. I thought I read it here on SMC somewhere not too long ago.

[Jason Roehl]

~18 months ago, I bought a used Nokia N80 phone off eBay. It came with a Motorola H700 Bluetooth headset, but no charger for the headset. I had a mini-USB cable laying around that worked just fine to charge it. Too bad I could never get used to using the dang thing, nor could I keep it reliably connected to my phone. I can pretty much call out anyone using BT, because the conversation with them is near impossible. To me, it's just one of those examples of an advancement in technology that has fallen pathetically short--it could work, but hasn't yet, IMHO.

The worst part is, I recently started driving a pickup that is a manual, and the power steering has failed...talking and driving is, ummm, difficult. If I need to do it, I do have a wired headset that works great.

Jason

[Joe Pelonio]

We have a new law here, it's illegal to talk on the cell phone on your ear. I like to comply, also it's easier to talk while working. So far it's worked well
except when in the basement under a gymnasium this morning.