Hands on with the Bentley Flying Spur (Bluetooth)
The Bentley Flying Spur is Bentley’s four-door version of the popular coupe. Drastically changing the technology inside for the better made me want to take a more in depth look at what this car has to offer. Unlike the GT you no longer have to use a peasant Nokia phone as your car phone. Throwing away the standard Pop-Port connector and adding Bluetooth could not be a more welcome change. It gets better. This isn’t just bluetooth here, this is rSAP Bluetooth. Should I stop? No way. The Bentley Flying Spur also provides a SIM card reader in the armrest which works so flawlessly a tear started to roll down my face. The menu and GUI might not be the prettiest thing in the world, but it does what Bentley does best; keep it simple, keep it classy, and have it work perfectly. Click on for some more explanations of how this technology integrates into the car and more pictures than you probably care for.
This is the LCD screen that controls the Bluetooth. Beneath it is a simple directional wheel to select your options.
Here is the SIM card slot I was referring to. Simply drop the card right in, and your good to go! It uses the built-in antenna in the car so your reception is improved by at least 2-3 times.
This is the main control screen throughout the car. You can read text messages at anytime but you can’t compose one. I know, sad.
Oh look, a message from Bentley
On the steering wheel there are many different controls from voice commands, send/end key, select wheel, and the obvious volume buttons.
Here is the display you are most likely to look at while driving. It offers a slimmed down version of the main screen shown earlier.
I have had similar results as you have Ted K. While my Motorola RAZR V3 (Cingular) did used to pair with Bentley’s system and did work as a hands free profile (HFP) as described above (i.e. speakerphone worked and voice dial worked but no phone book or text message capabilities) I’ve since bought a Motorola RAZR 2 V9 (AT&T) and I can’t get it to work. It will pair and dial out but as soon as the call connects the Bentley system drops the call and my phone acts as though it’s still a live call even though I can’t hear anything through the car or my phone’s handset. Given what I read above, maybe it has something to do with the new RAZR 2 being 3G technology?
It’s really a shame. You’d think for the price of the car they’d fix the whole damn interface and allow owners to upgrade for free!
Daniel-
The problem is inherent in the rSAP technology, which apparently is the pride of VW. It’s not a bug; it just that VW thinks rSAP is more secure than normal bluetooth, and that outweighs the difficulties everyone is having.
Get a car phone installer to put a “Parrot” in the ashtray between the seats. I have now had one for about a month and I like it a lot. I don’t even have to look at it because it’s voice activated.
Which Parrot model please? I looked on their site a month ago, couldn’t decide, emailed them but they didn’t reply.
I have a Continental GT 2005 but I suppose it’s the sameas the Flying Spur.
Parrot 3100. And the ashtray set-up is the same in the 2 door and the 4 door Bentleys. Mine is a two door.
Ted- Do you know if the Parrot works in the Mercedes cars as well as the Bentley? And do you know if it will work fully ( address book and all) with the Nokia E61i? The E61i works pretty well with the 2005 Flying Spur, except once in a while when you get into the car, as it’s linking up, the phone freezes up and starts to beep. You have to push a couple of random keys to free it up. Otherwise, it’s a pretty good match.
Parrot system is fully independent of the car phone system. It works with most phones. You could get more specific information from any car electronics installer; it’s ubiquitous.
Regular Bluetooth profiles work with the Lamborghini Gallardo and Aston Martin V8 Vantage…we get screwed with rSAP…
P.S. Anyone able to get an iPhone or iPod Touch working with the Bentley iPod kit? Only the older non-touch models seem to work…screwed again.
i just bought the 08 mulliner and dont know what phone to use in it i have an i-phone they said that wont work i have a palm and they say that wont work what is the best service and phone to use
Thanks for the info on the Parrot Ted K. I’m gonna look into it.
BTW, this is the only site on the internet I could find any discussion of this rSAP issue so you’ve really helped me out!
Ray-
No CDMA phone (Verizon) will work in a new Bentley – it must be a GSM phone (with a SIM card). This means AT&T or another GSM based carrier.
As to phones, many Nokias work with rSAP, also the Motorola V3 (I think) and a few others. However, the only addresses that will be downloaded into the car’s phone system are those on the SIM card, not those in the phone’s memory. Further, my experience with the Bentley’s voice command system has not been good.
Given the above, you may be better off picking a phone you like that has normal bluetooth (not rSAP) and having a Parrot installed in the ashtray. It’s what I did, and I’m quite satisfied with the result, which I think is better than what I would have if I bought an rSAP compatible phone and used the Bentley pre-installed system. FWIW, a Blackberry works very well with a Parrot, particularly the voice command system, which requires no “training”.
Ray, according to the latest information I just received from Bentley they say the iPhone WILL work in the 2008 model cars, as now do the Blackberry 8100, Motorola KRZR K1, RIZR Z3, and V3x. All of these have limited functionality via their Hands Free Profile (see discussion above). If you contact Bentley they can forward you the complete list which includes other LG, Ericsson, and Samsung phones. It looks as though the range of phones has increased from what works in the 2007 cars but it’s still far from most IMHO. I for one have a RAZR2 V9 and it definately does NOT work.
I just bought (yesterday) an 08 Spur and the Blackberry Curve does not work with the phone system. My wife’s V3 did work. IF I understand some of the previous emails that the easiest way around this is to get a 2nd SIM card and install it in the car and periodically update the phone list. Any thoughts on this strategy?
I have a suggestion. With the price of the Bentley as it is (I have a 2007 GTC), why don’t they just supply a phone with the car?
Robert
Robert-
The car DOES come with a phone. If you go down to your nearest AT&T wireless shop and tell them you want cellular service, that you already have a phone, and all you want is a SIM card, they will fix you up with cellular service and give you a SIM card, which you can then put in the armrest of the Bentley. At that point the car will have a fully working phone in it.
Amo-
The problem with the above solution is three fold:
First, you will have a second phone number to give out if you want anyone to be able to call you in the car (but most people won’t know when to use it);
Second, the SIM card holds only about 60 phone numbers (and dialing using the car’s controls is guaranteed to distract you to death, literally), and
Third, the voice command system in the Bentley is not very good; it’s give to saying “pardon?” in a very English voice after about half the commands you give it.
I have a BMW760i 2004 model that uses that system only. At first I got a multi- sim subscription from Vodafone which was the only company offering that – maybe there are others now but I doubt it with the advent of Bluetooth. Every time you got into the car you had to switch your phone line and number from handset to car. I made a short-code for that but it was still a nuisance eg if you forgot to switch after you left the car. Once I got my GTI I was using the BMW much less so I gave that up. I’m thinking of getting a Parrot Bluetooth system for it ikf there is one that’s compatible with the BMW760 of 2004 which I doubt.
Can somebody tell me what cell phone works on a Bentley 2006 Flying Spur? Thank you.
The 8266 (Nokia) works great. It’s a semi-PDA. Good phone, but small screen. It does many things that a PDA does, though. the Nokia E61i works great too. Links up and sends the address book to the screen. It’s a full blown PDA.
First off – Thanks for this wealth of information. This appears to be the only site on the web where questions and answers come together regarding Bentley and rSAP.
So far the predominate recommendation is to get a Parrot system. Can anybody who has installed one tell me if it uses the car’s built in mic?
Has anybody had any success with the Nokia N80?
Thanks in advance.
I use a Nokia 6230i and it works perfectly in my Bentley GTC. As I said before, the dealer should give you one of these as a gift with the car!
Because the Bentley audio system is highly digital, it is very difficult for the Parrot system to intercept and modify any of the Bently audio signals, as is normally done with an analog system.
Thus the Parrot system in my 2007 Cont. GT has its own mic and speakers. The mic is about 3/8th of an inch in diameter and is located in the headliner next to the mirror. It is almost invisible. Ihe speaker is invisible, or at least I don’t know where it is – I certainly can’t see it, but I can hear it quite well.
Because the Parrot system can be set up as essentially self-contained, or it can be integrated with a non-digital car audio system, it is compatible with virtually any car. Further, I am not aware of any bluetooth phone that won’t work with it. It certainly works well with my Blackberry and my Motorola phones.
Dear Bentley: You should have your engineers read this website and then hang your collective heads in shame. Your customers spent obsene amounts of money on a car that has a phone system which has very little in common with the technological world around it. And then, to make matters worse, you offer no support whatsoever to your customer when he begs you to help him solve the problem. I’ll grant you that in a world as screwed up as ours is, when compared with real problems, like terrorism and world hunger,this is a very minor problem. And it’s almost silly to hear grown people going on and on about such a relatively trivial problem as a car phone. But in fact, the whole situation was unnecessary and you’ve handled it very poorly. The car is excellent except for this. But this is a big one.
Well said alan! I agree completely.
Yes, well said Alan.
Bentley could just licence the Parrot technology! Which when you think about it puts to shame the rather lame excuses made by Bentley on this subject.
It is a awesome car, and I want to use my iPhone in it! (I have replaced my BlackBerry)
Bentley doesn’t need to license the Parrot technology – it should just get rid of VW’s rSAP system.
The rSAP system is what makes the Bentley incompatible with so many phones. And it’s the rSAP system that restricts the maximum number of phone numbers in memory to about 60, because rSAP accesses the phone numbers on the SIM only – not the address book in the phone itself.
Making the car compatible with bluetooth is a simple thing to do, and almost all the other car manufacturers manage it fairly well. The problem comes when some ambitious individual at the car manufacturer decides to show how bright he is by improving on Bluetooth. Bingo – we have incompatibility, and usually a system that doesn’t work very well.
How right you are. Does anyone know if there is a PDA that will work with the Bentley rSap and also send the address book to an ‘08 Mercedes? I can access the system in the Mercedes with my Nokia E61i, but it won’t show the address book. But it works great with the Bentley.