Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #141914 in Car Audio or Theater
- Brand: Clarion Mobile Electronics
- Model: SC1U
- Dimensions: 4.41" h x
7.48" w x
.26" l,
2.00 pounds
- Display size: 7
Features
- 7-Inch WVGA Touch Screen
- Built In Bluetooth
- SD Card Slot for firmware updates
- Full Screen Navigation
- Real Time Traffic
Clarion NextGate SC1U Smartphone Controller for iPhone
Product Description
A smartphone controller for iPhone. This transportable device enhances iPhone use in virtually any vehicle with easy access to apps and hands-free functionalities while on the road. Key vehicle-friendly app partners include: TuneIn, Pandora, Vlingo, INRIX Traffic, and Infogation with more to come.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful.
By The Rothwells
After hours of frustration, I have decided NextGate is far too much trouble. First, you try to connect the iPhone through Bluetooth; but it will only work if the iPhone is also plugged into the NextGate? That makes no sense. Secondly, when you plug the phone in, it only connects successfully about one in every eight tries. When it finally connects, and you open the Clarion Smart Access, the application intermittently closes and you have to reopen it. There is supposedly a Contacts4Car application to link your iPhones contacts to the NextGate, but I have not been able to find it. Vlingo does not seem to understand my commands. The navigation already appears outdated. This is already an EXPENSIVE unit, yet you must pay an additional $50 if you want to continue navigation after a 30-day trial. That's ridiculous. Also, if you play music while you are in the navigation application, the only way to change songs is to exit navigation. That is most certainly a design flaw. Tweet4Car and FB4Car are separate applications rather than just being integrated with your existing iPhone applications. That just doesn't make sense, especially since they don't function very well. News4Car and Weather4Car are not even released yet! The whole operating system seems very unstable. The Smart Access button sometimes opens Smart Access screen, but sometimes it opens a non-functioning music library screen. Once, opening Pandora caused the whole program to reset. The unit is just far too unstable, and the design and functionality are not worth anywhere near the cost. It also concerns me that the unit will rely completely on continuing updates from Clarion since it is not integration-based; and who knows if it will even work with much anticipated iPhone 5 since it is rumored to have a completely different style connector. I am a long-time fan of Clarion products, but I am highly disappointed in the NextGate.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful.
By ck_361
I was really excited to receive this item through Amazon's Vine Club. I have two young children, so anything that keeps my hands free, and me less distracted is certainly needed. But after an hour spent in the car, I'm no longer excited. It's not entirely the devices fault, I have a Honda Odyssey that's already set up with a Parrot MKi9200 Advanced Color Display Bluetooth Hands-Free Music Kit, internal navigation, and an iPhone car mount/docking station. Clarion's NextGate integrates all of these features into one nice 7" touchpad screen. But the deciding factor to not use this device is that it's too big for placement on my dash or window where it obstructs my view while driving. I tried a lower placement over the internal dashboard navigation system, but I couldn't get it to stay in place while driving. Also, tried putting it in the cup holder, but that makes it too low for viewing. Another big hindrance are the wires; while generous (and *thick*), they obstruct things I need access to - AC controls, and stereo adjustments. Really disappointed. For a nice piece of hardware it could have come with slimmer cables.Things to know:- Right out of the box the device is easy to put together.- The manual, printed on a large foldout paper written in three languages, I feared wouldn't provide enough information. Turns out all of my problems and questions were answered; there really isn't much to the device anyway.- Plugging the iPhone in I immediately had access to my music and was able to begin making selections. The only thing I didn't like is having to use the up and down arrow and pressing enter to make a song selection; would have preferred just touching the song choice - less buttons to pay attention to while driving. I did find the touch screen is very responsive, and I liked that my cover art work was displayed for each artist.- Making a phone call was easy.- For the heart of NextGate's device to function you will need to download Clarion's Smart Access app, and from there select additional apps like navigation, Pandora, Vlingo, Weather, and such. I didn't download all of the apps because I'm not interested in Facebook, Tweeting, and News stuff... too much distraction for me in a car with two kids. That being said, I had to wait for apps to load and such, and that took a bit of annoying time. I had a couple glitches with the Smart Access app, but after a few tries it finally worked. Overall I'd say that was my only frustration with setup.- The additional apps work great with NextGate. Vlingo's app is amazingly accurate, and when paired with NextGate you can text, e-mail, and call all hands free. That was incredibly cool! INTRIX Traffic is pretty nice, and viewing current traffic on a 7" screen is a lot better than on iPhone's 3" screen. Odyssey4Car navigation app is a disappointment. First, it's only free for 30 days, otherwise it's $49.99. I was trying to type an address for a place I need to be tomorrow but the app wouldn't accept it. Google Maps found it easy. Navigation works just like any GPS. If you already have onboard navigation it really isn't worth paying for.- In order for NextGate to work, you will need to "Connect the audio OUT mini-jack of the connecting cord to the vehicle's audio system." You'll need to locate this, which may require pulling out your car's manual. Unfortunately, when our Parrot was installed we no longer have access to the mini-jack for use with the NextGate. The NextGate still works in our car, but just letting you know you'll need to find this in order to use it.-Can only be used with an iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S because the apps only work with these phones.NextGate has its place but not so much in a Honda Odyssey where good clear placement doesn't seem possible. We'll give it a try in our Audi Station Wagon and follow up with an update to this review.So to put it all into place: the NextGate SC1U is basically like having a larger version of your iPhone mounted to your dash with Bluetooth. Do I recommend this? Not sure. The downer for me is placement, and if you can't see while driving what's the point?
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful.
By Woots
I would like to start this review off by addressing my personal need for this device and it may help others who are not quite sure if it will fit their needs. I own a 2007 Honda with the upgraded package that includes a touch screen navigation & radio. While this is very handy and still fairly contemporary, it does not have all the bells and whistles of the 2012/13 car computers have currently. For example, it lacks the iPhone sync connection (it only has the 3.5mm jack for auxiliary audio input.) It also lacks any Bluetooth connectivity for hands-free calling which is something I wanted. Also, since it lacks the iPhone sync connection I don't see any of my album art or radio app touch screen controls on my Honda stock screen. While I am finding it redundant to have 2 7-inch touch screen displays in my vehicle, (I have them stack aligned one over top the other now) I still wanted the extra functionality to bring my car up to date connectivity wise.If you find yourself in a similar situation, where you have an iPhone and your car lacks the newest of modern technology (or no modern tech at all) and you want your iPhone to work with it, this is the right type of device to address this issue. Certainly an alternative to this device is buy and install a brand new touch screen car stereo with new navigation and iPhone connectivity, but you will likely be spending $800-$1,400+ to get the same kind of "connectivity" benefit and this costs considerably less. Granted, you don't get any of the benefits of a new stereo with this, but most high end car stereos now are more about their multimedia capability and this device at least gives you access to most of that.If this is the kind of thing that suites your needs ... continue reading.I will break this review down into 6 sections (the 4 primary on-screen control icons) Phone, Music, Apps, Settings ...the Buttons on the NextGate screen....and Final Thoughts*PHONE*For me this was the primary reason I wanted this device. I wanted something that I could dial up people on the touch screen and also be 100% hands free and get their voice audio across my entire car system and they could clearly hear my voice. This device does accomplish this.The way this phone device allows phone calls is by turning on Bluetooth in your iPhone and pairing up the NextGate to the iPhone. This is a very fast and painless process, same as pairing up a Bluetooth headset if you ever did that before.The NextGate has a built in microphone which does the job fairly picking up your voice, but in my tests with family so far, I found it is not the best sounding voice to your listeners. They can hear your find, but they all complain of the poor quality. I did some homework online and I come to find all car stereo, even the high-end ones that come with Bluetooth phone connectivity... all have stock built in mics and they all sound average at best. Therefore, I recommend (but it's not required) that you purchase an external mic (which plugs into the bottom of the charging dock) The model number they sell here on amazon that works with this unit is the "Clarion RCB199" (it sells for around $22 at time of writing this review). It has a long enough of a cable you can route it around your car windshield frame and clip onto your visor.When you receive a call on this unit, it pauses the audio and allows you to click the answer button to receive the call. Also, as you would expect when you lace a call it pauses the audio and when you hang back up it continues where it left off.*MUSIC*This is fairly straight forward. Whatever music /playlist you have stored on your iPhone, you can access through here. The album art and ratings are all in place as well as all the normal iPhone sorting methods.*SETTINGS*The setting options are not too complex. Here you can set up the Bluetooth connectivity to your iPhone. Do not forget to select "external " audio if you have the sound hooked up to your car stereo that way you can hear music through your car stereo and phone calls as well.*APPLICATIONS*This will require quite a bit of explanation so I will do my best to summarize where I can.The first thing you need to do is download a free app off iTunes called "Smart Access" This is the primary Clarion app that drives all the applications through the Next Gate unit. In order for any of the compatible apps to work with this unit Smart Access has to be turned on first then Applications button lights up on the NextGate unit. Each application you select from on the NextGate screen Smart Access app calls up that application within iPhone and plays it.Before you go out to your car for the first time load up Smart Access and they list all the compatible applications that work with NextGate. It seems they keep adding more as time goes on; the day of writing this review iTunes had a Smart Access app update which showed more compatible apps today. So this list below will likely grow quickly (and I hope it does and encourage Clarion to continue adding support for me!)-INRIX Traffic (*FREE*)-Pandora Radio (*FREE*)-Vlingo (*FREE* voice command app if you don't have iPhone 4S for Siri)-DriveSuite4Car : (*FREE* Which Includes | Weather4Car / News4Car / LV4Car / Caladner4Car / Contacts4Car)-FB4Car (*FREE* Facebook app)-Tweet4Car (*FREE* Twitter app)-TuneIn Radio (*FREE*) (or TuneIn Radio Pro... both work.. but pro version is paid.)-Odyssey4Car (*FREE* GPS navigation app)-GPS Drive (*Paid* another GPS navi app)As stated above these are all driven through Smart Access app.TIP: Within this app (on iPhone screen) there is a little gear button at bottom right side that controls settings . This is the way you can change the in-car device wallpaper for the apps page, it also is the way you can change the sorting arrangement of the applications on the NextGate unit.As you launch each app within NextGate the smart access app calls up the app. It is recommend and required in some cases that before you get out to the car you spend time on your iPhone with each of these apps individually and set them all up. That way when they launch you can go to your favorites and access things easier. Also there are apps like contacts and FB4Car that will not even work unless you set them up first in advance.For the most part the other apps mostly perform as expected on the iPhone themselves. While the interface has been altered for the layout to work on the NextGate it's still fairly intuitive and it all should make sense to any well practiced iPhone user.In final thoughts below I will outline a few issues and concerns I ran into with apps on the NextGate.*NEXTGATE PHYSICAL BUTTONS* (around the screen)At the top of the unit there is a toggle bar which controls the volume (down on left/up on right). There are individual controls for overall volume (for music/navigation beeps) and a separate control for phone outgoing volume. When you are anywhere else but within a phone call you control overall sound... when you are in a phone call it controls phone.There is a microphone button top left, if you have an iPhone 4S; you hold this button down on the NextGate it will activate Siri. This is nice if you want Siri to call someone on your contact list I have found so far.The second button down (0which looks like a square), calls up the main on screen navigation the Phone/Music/App/Settings.The third button down calls up the applications layout directly.The bottom button is the power button. If you tap it once it dims the screen. If you hold it down it asks if you want to shut the screen off or power off the whole unit.*FINAL THOUGHTS*Overall this unit is exactly what I was looking for. It gave me the modern full fledges iPhone access I was looking for in my Honda the slightly aging touch screen unit in my car couldn't accomplish anymore. The touch screen is fairly responsive and does the job. It is not 100% flawless, but it good enough for things to work. The screen brightness is decent and I can see everything in bright day light.The NextGate screen clips into charging dock underneath it has a cable for the power charger, the external mic, and the iPhone sync and car audio output. If you get out of your car you can quickly push the button on the back of the charger dock and eject the screen of the stand and store it away.I would also like to note that your iPhone does in fact charge its power while plugged into the sync cable of the NextGate.**The reason I gave this unit 4 stars instead of 5 is due to 3 reasons.-The first is the frequent app crashing I was getting with the Smart Access app (even using the latest version) It wasn't anything that was a deal break, but It does happen time to time. It has so far crashed the apps it loads up... or the whole smart access app crashes after it tries to resume from a phone call. Due to this I cannot really put my iPhone into my center arm rest out of the way. Since I now am required time to time to fix the app crashes.TIP: The way I found to fix the app crash is to manually shut down the background running apps... do this by holding down on iPhone's home button and shutting down smart access manually or any app that smart access keeps crashing on load. After you do this you can reload smart access or the app it is trying to trigger on and everything works fine. I find by doing this is cures the problem on first try (until it happens again)-The second reason is the lack of high end app support.First and foremost I would like to see clarion get the Garmin and TomTom GPS navigation apps working with NextGate. This are the big popular navi apps on iTunes (I own both myself and use them both) and I would ideally like to see them implemented into NextGate in the future.Also, Spotify is a very popular premium music streaming service these days (the biggest currently). They do not have Spotify access on NextGate either.I am keeping the faith that Clarion will continue adding app support in future and possibly someday include these apps too.-The third and final reason is the lack of additional aftermarket mounting options.I would gladly pay more for an additional mounting kit if they provided more car mounting options then windshield suction cup mount that came included. As it stands now I will be looking on the aftermarket during the course of the next month in hopes that some other company has alternative mounts that work with the connection in the back of the NextGate charging unit. I have a hunch I will get lucky though on first glance, but I need to do more homework.Overall, if you have the same needs I stated at the begging and you don't want to install a thousand dollar new car stereo this is a great cheaper alternative. I do recommend it if it meets your needs. This is a very niche product that likely will not be for everyone, but it addresses the needs for what it was designed to do.
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