When I met with the Parrot P.R. people at CES and talked about the devices they had on display, I was very impressed with the Parrot MiniKit Smart car docking cradle they had. Originally we had gone to discuss their upcoming car audio systems based on Android, but I am a heavy user of my phone while I’m driving for both voice conversations and GPS navigation.

As promised, they followed up with a review unit that I’ve been testing for a couple of weeks with mixed results.

There a lot of things to like about this unit.  The spring loaded docking mechanism is one of the best grips I’ve tested to date on the may universal car docking system I’ve tried. Picture a metal jaw exterior with soft touch interior that is spring loaded on one side.  Inserting your device and pressing one side opens the jaw to a size that should fit almost any phone you can throw in it.

Specifications:

The Parrot MiniKit has some pretty impressive options ad specifications that make it an ideal solution for almost any Smart Phone user, they include:

Interface

• Portrait or landscape mode
• Green button: for answering calls, calling someone in the phonebook, launching speech synthesis, confirmation and supporting double calls …
• Red button: for hanging up, switching the kit on and off, exiting menus and cancelling
• Rotary button: for accessing menus, adjusting the volume and sending DTMF signals

Phone Features

• Dialing / accepting / rejecting calls, last number call-back, call waiting, DTMF
• Activating the Smartphone’s voice commands (if they exist)
• Multi-user voice recognition
• Text-To-Speech (speech synthesis): confirming calls, stating the caller’s name

Audio

• 2W integrated speaker
• Vocal menus
• Transmission of verbal instructions from the Smartphone’s navigation system
• Full duplex
• Advanced Parrot NR2 noise reduction
• Echo and residual echo cancellation

Dimensions

• Length: 115 mm / 4.52 in
• Width: 89 mm / 3.50 in
• Depth: 46 mm / 1.81 in
• Weight: 180 g / 6.35 oz

General

• Number of contacts: 2,000 per Smartphone
• Language: one language per version
• Pairing: up to 10 Smartphones
• Automatic connection by pairing order
• Phonebook synchronization: Sync (IRMS), NokiaSync, SyncML

Bluetooth

• Bluetooth v. 2.1 + EDR
• Profiles: HFP, PBAP, OPP, A2DP (for navigation instructions)
• Pairing code: 0 0 0 0
• Compatible with all Bluetooth mobile Smartphones

Connectivity/Battery

• USB port: recharging the Smartphone, updating the product
• Mini USB socket: recharging the MINIKIT Smart via a 12V cigarette lighter socket
• Battery: Lithium-ion, charged in max. of 2 hours
• Battery life: up to 10 hours talk time and more than 1 week on standby
• Low battery indication: beep emitted every minute, 15 minutes until the device is completely out of power

Package Contents

• 1 Parrot MINIKIT Smart
• 1 suction foot for attaching the device
• 1 mini USB-type 12V cigarette lighter charger
• 1 adhesive plastic disk for the dashboard
• 1 USB/iPhone cable
• 1 USB/mini USB cable
• 1 USB/micro USB cable
• 2 micro clips
• 1 Quick Start guide

Construction:

The Parrot MiniKit is extremely well built. In fact, its so well built that I was concerned about the suction cups ability to hold the device to my windshield.  weighing in at 180 g (6.35 oz) it would come down with quiet a crash if it decided to come detached.  Lucky for us, the suction mount is incredibly strong and my attempts to test it’s strength proved that the unit was not about to come away from the glass.  I would still recommend that you thoroughly clean your glass before attaching the unit to your windshield to ensure that it had the best opportunity to grip tightly.

The mostly metal construction makes the device feel incredibly strong and resilient from the top quality manufacturing.  The body of the case is a metal construction with some soft touch surfaces and a spring loaded arm with foam pads that securely grip even the biggest devices.

Below the from grips is the control area featuring a circular control knob with red and green buttons to either side used mainly for answering, rejecting and ending calls.

On the side of the device are connections for mini-USB and full-size USB ports for charging the Minikit Smart and the device you currently have docked.

This is a very cool feature and negates the use of an extra cable to power your device separate form the dock itself.

On the opposite side of the device is retractable microphone tethered to a 2 foot cord that can be pulled out from the device and placed on your visor or other convenient location to improve your voice quality.  This is another of the neat design elements Parrot have put onto their Minikit Smart device and just adds to the quality and thoughtfulness of the product.

On the rear of the device you will find the speaker grill and the mounting disk with a very simple to use spring loaded clamping system.  Pres the two spring loaded sliders into the body of the mount and the head unit easily comes away.

Construction [rating:5/5] 5/5

Software:

Not that the device has any real software you can see, but it has some pretty impressive firmware built in to manage your contacts and interaction with the device.

The Minikit Smart supports A2DP for audio streaming, and PBAP for syncing address book entries so the device was able to clearly announce voice based navigation fro my phone as well as regular voice calls.  Devices are paired via Bluetooth with the Minikit Smart and up to 10 devices can be memorized at the same time.

Incoming calls are announced by the Minikit and the callers name is used if present in the address book. You can accept or reject the call with the green or red button on the front of the device.

Menu navigation, sound, and other tasks are controlled using the central circular knob on the front of the device, turning the knob to navigate menu options or alter the speaker volume and pressing the knob to confirm things.

Software [rating:5/5] 5/5

Sound:

The speaker itself was fairly loud but I would have preferred to have had a little more room to play to overcome the road noise on the nasty roads in Illinois, but it is acceptable and I could clearly hear most of the calls I made.  Voice navigation was also perfectly eligible if somewhat tinny in sound.  I certainly wouldn’t really want to stream any music through the device, but all other voice announcements were fine.

Sounds [rating:4.5/5] 4.5/5

Conclusion:

In general we found the Parrot Minikit Smart very easy to use, although getting used to the menu system took a little getting used to.  The simple controls and easy to use voice command system proved to be very user friendly.  With the added features such as the selection of charging cables and USB charging for the attached devices, the Parrot Minikit Smart has become one of our top ranking docking systems available today.

Overall [rating:5/5] 5/5