[roveer]

My current mobile solution is a i830 with the motorola cradle which provides charging, antenna, microphone, amplified speaker, CB style microphone (which I don't use), and a push to talk button for the walkie talkie feature. This has become my standard way to use nextel when I'm in the car. When somebody calls, I key up the radio using the little button sitting right by my right hand. Works perfectly.

If I move to the 7100i how can I get this type of functionality back? Haven't come across any cradle/bluetooth solutions that have all of this stuff. What can I do? Have to have a way to use the push to talk feature while on the road. The external speaker is a must as well.

Was thinking there must be a bluetooth solution that takes care of this? Bluetooth is good because it takes away any problems with the cradle and connecting to the phone. If this does not exist, seems that a lot of potential users will never move up. Hope there is some sort of solution for us Nextel users.

Regards,

Roveer

[juwaack68]

The 7100i has all of the same Direct Connect functionality as a regular cell phone. I use mine all the time - works great!

As for Bluetooth... I don't use Bluetooth so not sure if there is a headset that supports Direct Connect. However, my hubby has a wired earpiece (I know, he lives in the dark ages), that works great.

[croman]

i havent heard of any D/C bluetooth headsets, but then again i havent really been searching for one.. :(

[roveer]

Bluetooth, non-bluetooth, doesn't make a difference to me as long as I can connect my 7100 to some sort of external speaker and have a push to talk button on my center console. Of course not having to plug in a mess of wires everytime you dock/undock would be useful. Why doesn't RIM want to produce a docking solution for these phones? They took the time to put the push-to-talk feature in the phone, but left everything else go. I'm guessing bluetooth headsets work with this phone, but do they expect the user to reach over the the phone (sitting in a generic cradle with no charging or antenna support), and push the PTT button when having a walkie talkie converstion? They missed the boat on this one. At least motorola provided accessories for their phones. Well, this was the main reason that I have not upgraded to the 7100i, and I guess it still exists as a black hole, so the wait continues.

I do appreciate everyone's input, but man it sure if frustating to think that everyone is just happy to walk around talking on their phones, not actually trying to obay the law when it comes to hands free. Of course, maybe everyone is just walking around talking on their phones, and I'm some sort of feature freak, a PTT savant that want's everything. I'm willing to consider this and possibly enter therapy to try and fix it.

Regards,

Roveer