Richard Solomon

From VERY reliable sources who wish to remain anonymous:

<i>"1) 2 kits are being developed. 1 which will be available for the 51xx, 61xx,
and 71xx series phones from Nokia, which are readily available on the open
market. The other, will be only for the Audi V.60 hand set. Our factory and
aftermarket phone kits will only work properly with the Audi V.60 handset
because of a special software load made available only to Audi. This phone
will be available shortly through local dealers.

Open market V.60 phones are not guaranteed to work or be compatible with the
Audi kits.

2) Sorry, no. The kits do not "talk" with the vehicle controls. It will
suppress radio information on Digital Information System (DIS) on the
dashboard and on the radio display. It will also mute the radio, charge the
phone, and with an additional, external dual band or tri-mode antenna,
increase signal strength.

The analog antenna, pre-wiring, microphone and speaker are not used.

3) Nokia kit for open market phones, March we hope, Motorola, late
March/April, but no commitment."</i>

Ernesto (ERT)

Well at least there is hope- maybe the v.60 will be around for my BDay in July. Thanks Richard.

phred

Hell, anyone could have come up with THAT kludge!

UrQ

I believe that this is the pre '02 phone adaptor not the Onstar Telematics version

ari (audiless)

All this nonsense makes Audi look very bad, IMO. Both other major German makers have been offering integrated/removable digital phones for a couple of years now. Granted, they charge a fortune for them, but at least they're available. I find it a major PIA that I have to get an aftermarket kit, with all its attendant potential warranty problems, etc. in order to avoid the stupid earpiece. Even more so now since in NY it's illegal to talk on a handheld phone while driving. A friend of mine who is looking to get his first luxury car wouldn't even look at Audi because of this.