NEW ORLEANS-Cellport Systems announced it will begin shipping in March its Cellport 3000 universal hands-free system, capable of supporting a variety of phones through the use of changeable pocket adapters. The company also said the Cellport 3000 will be available with Motorola Inc.’s Telematics Communications Unit.
The Cellport system includes a docking station that can be installed in the Motorola TCU. The pocket adapter, specifically designed for the customer’s make and model of wireless phone, can be snapped into the docking station, Cellport said. When a customer changes phones, only the pocket adapter needs to be replaced.
Cellport 3000 supports Motorola, Nokia Corp. and Mitsubishi Corp. phone models, and both analog and digital technologies, including Global System for Mobile communications- and integrated Digital Enhanced Network-based handsets, said Cellport.
Cellport 3000 also uses Lucent Technologies Inc.’s digital signal processor chipsets to provide improved audio quality. The chipset uses software algorithms that suppress the background noise and cancel echoes commonly associated with in-vehicle wireless phone use.
“Ninety-eight percent of today’s car kits don’t utilize a DSP to reduce noise,” said Rob Franzo, director of the automotive products group of Lucent’s Microelectronics Group.
Users of Cellport 3000 can speak in a normal tone of voice, and they also have the option of hearing the audio through the vehicle’s stereo system, Cellport said. The initial average selling price for the Cellport 3000 is $200, which includes one pocket adapter. Additional pocket adapters are $40. Installation costs are not included.
