Dension – New Levels of iPhone Integration?
Dension have been market leaders in the ipod car kit market for quite a while, offering by far the best integration & text display into the majority of vehicles. One new area they are looking to crack is the iPhone car market. Making a product that offers both music and handsfree integration.
The concept has been attacked in three different ways, the fully integrated system, partially integrated system and the universal system. Although producing more than one product can often confuse customers, Densions method is born more out of necessity than a desire to do so. The problem being compatibility with vehicles & their systems. Some cars are capable of displaying text info and some just aren’t. Dension (or Dension users) found it too difficult to use a fully integrated system with out text display. It made navigating through menus and phonebook’s impossible. Thus the need for the partially integrated product.
The Gateway five is the fully integrated offering, connecting your Phone and iPod or iPhone into the cars system, pretty much control your whole phone from the menu structure & control music in the same way. In fact its a very easy system to use when you spend a little time learning it. For those of us without text compatible cars the gateway blue will be available. Offering a similar style integration (or quality) the Gateway Blue is still controlled via the phone / iPhone or iPod. Music selection and phone book control is done through the device, however partial controls are retained through the steering wheel making the system much easier than navigating “blind”
The third method however is a fully universal option. The Dension iphone Car Dock will connect to the vast majority of cars (some cars may need an aerial adapter), The device gets its charge from the cigarette lighter and can be connected into the aerial or AUX input if you have one. Keeping the quality as close to digital as possible. The other advantage of the Car Dock is that the controls are entirely through the iPhone, music selection, phonebook, messages etc however this actually serves as an advantage in our opinion. Why change the intuitive layout of the iPhone for partially integrated mash up with which ever car you have control systems.
We actually found the device very easy to use & was a little surprised by the handsfree quality. Each conversation we held via the system gave very positive feedback. Needless to say the music functionality was to the usual high standard. Dension have even developed an App to use with the system. However the best part of the system is that the iPhone still operates as an iPhone when in use. So you can still use google Navigation rather than your sat nav, cycle through your music library or play the latest videos & TV programs If you choose to (Although its more than likely illegal to watch tv when your driving where you live)
All in all we can see the Dension iPhone Dock becoming the iPhone car kit to beat in the coming months and years & sets a new standard for universal iPhone input.
