April 28th, 2008
Mini Cooper iPhone armrest mod
Todd Schneider sent me an update to the iPod integrations I covered a while back. He customized his Mini Cooper and installed an iPhone cradle in the armrest.
The mod gives him full Bluetooth hands free and steering wheel controls for the iPhone.
Why Mini choose the location of the iPod adapter to be in the lower console is beyond me. If you’ve got an iPhone you’ve got to stuff it upside down in the cup holder. And the adapter is too short to use a Profit vehicle mount, its ridiculous.
I made my own adapter extension with cradle and relocated it from the console to the arm rest. It replaces the phone adapter kit and it works perfectly. The cradle fits nicely inside the armrest so you can slide the iphone in and out easily. Parts cost was less than US$75 and it took a few hours to complete.
More pictures of his handiwork are in this forum.
Jason D. O'Grady is the editor of PowerPage.org, which has been publishing daily mobile technology news since December 1995. For disclosures on Jason's industry affiliations, click here or to view Jason's full profile click here.
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