Cartel's nostalgic handsfree system brings back the car phone

Yeah, we did a double take upon seeing the above image too, but believe it or not, that car phone is actually a new Bluetooth handsfree system. Developed by Cartel Mobile Solutions, this in-car setup can reportedly be installed into nearly any whip and will connect up with most every BT-enabled handset. From there, it mysteriously warps you back to the 1990s where you can dial on near-Chiclet sized buttons; once the haze clears, it ushers you back to modern day by enabling motorists to chat without holding anything up to their yapper. Users can opt to wire it to their vehicle's sound system or plug in an external speaker, and yes, that display you see does indeed handle Caller ID duties. Unfortunately, no price was readily apparent, but you can bring that 1979 Buick of yours a few years closer to the 21st century by hitting Cartel up for purchasing details.

[Thanks, Mickel]

[Willis @ Nov 29th 2007 6:13PM]

sweet.

[kojo87 @ Nov 29th 2007 6:16PM]

that is badass! now i wanna buy a black 1996 Lincoln Townecar and one of these!

[Andrew @ Nov 29th 2007 6:17PM]

I wonder if it has a neat user interface with Java app capabilities, you know, so you can play games, say a first person shooter from the era. Wolfenstein 3D, Duke Nukem, hm......I seem to be forgetting one.

[Fernando @ Nov 29th 2007 8:13PM]

I see what you did there...

[okayokay @ Nov 30th 2007 12:32AM]

wow, you were a dork before being a dork was.......really profitable for companies.

[okayokay @ Dec 1st 2007 2:47AM]

Alas, I am unaware of gizmodo(?). The main point of the previous
comment is that it is a joke for the "those that get it", or rather an effort in self-deprecation.

[superfresh @ Nov 29th 2007 6:26PM]

Hmmm...big phone...cartel...

The song "Push it to the Limit" rises in the background...

SAY ELL-O TO MY LIL FREN!

[bethel03 @ Nov 29th 2007 6:29PM]

Now all we need is a XM/Sirius/GPS antenna that looks like a boomerang on our trunk and we will be in business!!

[Anthony @ Nov 29th 2007 6:49PM]

I totally wanted one of those. I think it has something to do with Crocodile Dundee.

[Anthony @ Nov 29th 2007 6:46PM]

I remember the good ole days: When you became nostalgic about things that happened more than 15 years ago.

You know now that I think about it- I wish someone would come out with a new Nokia N95 look-a-like- pre-shutterless design. Man, that would be so cool.

[Blacksheep @ Nov 29th 2007 6:48PM]

I remember when my parents got a car phone in the early 90s. I called my friend on it and he didn't believe I was actually calling from a car, that's how crazy the concept was!

[Andrew @ Nov 29th 2007 6:51PM]

My parents were also early car phone adopters, had them for at least 10 years. They also both had hands free systems with a microphone on the A-pillar. It's funny to see old technology become popular again.

[Hammond X @ Nov 29th 2007 11:07PM]

My little brother had one in the 80s that he plugged into the cigarette lighter. He carried it in a big carry-on bag thing over his shoulder. He always looked like he was late for a flight, but we were just amazed at how cool it was.

[FThorn @ Nov 29th 2007 6:50PM]

Those sounded best, and easy to one-hand dial. Makes the most sense.

[MarkA @ Nov 29th 2007 7:55PM]

Totally agree. I loved my headset.....it looked nice in the car...easy to dial, and a great speakerphone..and it never needed a charge!

[blarvh @ Nov 29th 2007 7:07PM]

Judging by the name of the company, I don't think there will be any price wars in the car phone scene anytime soon.

[kuade @ Nov 29th 2007 7:42PM]

I want a nostalgic inline 5W RF amplifier and a 24dB gain roof mounted antenna to go with it.

[paul34 @ Nov 29th 2007 10:04PM]

Talk about not worrying about signal!

[David @ Nov 29th 2007 8:34PM]

OMFG! I am sooo pissed off. I thought of this like a month ago! Looks like I was too later. damn.

[granny down east @ Nov 29th 2007 8:47PM]

1993 BMW station wagon. Handsfree phonebook and connect from a wand off the left side of the steering column.
The center console mounted Moto phone looked like this cartel thingy.

[strdust @ Nov 29th 2007 9:25PM]

The same company should bring back those backpack phone that i thought was sooo COOLL during the 90's.

[MikeWPBF @ Nov 29th 2007 9:58PM]

I was just thinking about this a few days ago... But with all the tech. Make the handset cordless and im in. Bluetooth headsets i sometimes leave in the car (over night) forget to charge them. lose them. These old handsets sounded great on speaker phone and feel nice to dail with one hand. I just really wish it was a wireless unit. Like maybe power the cradle just for charging and audio for hard wired sound but leave the handset as the master bluetooth extension of your cell.

I think there is a very small market for this and you can count me in. At the same time in the limos i get transported in sometimes for work they have cordless car phones like above. So if it sells it might grow into something worth keeping an eye out for.

It also must blend.

[MikeWPBF @ Nov 29th 2007 10:05PM]

O god! just hit the read link.. The company has the worst bo bo high school front page project website around. (looks like it was made by a 9th grader in class) and they even use AOL email as a business email.

Something just seems fishy to me about this now.... Damn i got excited.

I might be a snob but I don't normally trust nor deal with companies that don't use their own domain names for email ( just not very pro like) and have a website that looks fake ish.

Anyone have any other information about these guys?

[Ian H. @ Nov 29th 2007 11:39PM]

My grade 9 students are actually capable of better websites...

[Jessica @ Nov 30th 2007 12:38AM]

MikeWPBF -

I can give you some more information on the company. I work for it after all. :)

You're completely on target with your comments about our website and email address - but I beg to differ on the fishy part ;). When things started taking off - a little quicker than we expected - we quickly put up a temporary website so people could get some information while our website is being built.

We didn't just take a product and slap our name on it. The founder of our company - who was in the mobile electronics retail business for nearly twenty years - invented this product. He saw the need for a good in-car solution for using a cell phone safely and comfortably, so he used his knowledge as an installer to create a quality product.

So did this help you get some of your excitement back?

Well then how about this??

[e-mail]

(but you do know that just about anybody can create their own domain email address?)

Or this??? Here's a link to Mobile Electronics Magazine's Hot Products section in which our product was recently featured.

http://www.me-mag.com/ProductList.aspx?SectionCode=01

Mobile Electronics Magazine is well-respected by all in the Mobile Electronics industry.

Hope this helps you feel more comfortable with our company.

Thanks!

Jessica

[MikeWPBF @ Nov 30th 2007 7:55AM]

Jessica, Thanks for the extra info. That helps me alot and i'm sure it helps others that are very interested in this product.

i do know anyone can make a domain. it can even point to your AOL email. My point was now a days internet image is EVERYTHING.

I run four startups that have taken off (one reason very interested in this product) and no investors would have looked at me if i did not at least spend 30 bucks on a sites/domains.

It was not to be a poke at the company. Just we have all seen way to many of these sites just like this that ended up crashing or ripping others off.

Now back to the product. Can i have one? lol

Thanks again Jessica, It's got me all warm inside again. I will be contacting them today.

[Valgas @ Nov 29th 2007 10:26PM]

This company should bring back the phat pagers too awesome.

[Kalen @ Nov 29th 2007 10:27PM]

And if anyone tries to carjack you, you can beat them mercilessly with this thing.

[The Steven @ Nov 29th 2007 10:50PM]

Hey, if it could boost the xmit power and add an external antenna.... Sure, why not?

[Johnny @ Nov 30th 2007 12:07AM]

I want one. Every one would envy my giant retro cell phone!

[hereone @ Nov 30th 2007 1:40AM]

Does anyone remember when mp3 players were something someone invented so you would have something to do with the songs you downloaded for free but otherwise couldn't quite do anything with off the computer. Who would'a thought the music industry would go along with the format, and then "duh" complain about earnings...

[Teetdogs @ Nov 30th 2007 3:03PM]

What the hell are you talking about? this is an artical about phones nowhere did they mention MP3 players of old

[JBo @ Nov 30th 2007 12:57AM]

Man you can't beat those old 5 watt phones. I swear those things had better reception and quality than anything we have today. Of course, a call cost like $100, but man was it clear!

[okayokay @ Nov 30th 2007 2:54AM]

I also understood the allusion, sadly, however a person has to be a habituee of gizmoworld forums to find its humor (and certainly, in order to detect the pasquinade). **In fact, I didn't note the latent punchline until the 1st commentor alluded to it. Perhaps the irony is the awareness necessary to understand the joke actually derides the person laughing.

[Andrew @ Nov 30th 2007 11:08AM]

The rank tells me most people got it. **I've never been to Gizmodo.

[michaelmichaeltwo @ Nov 30th 2007 2:56AM]

I also understood the allusion, sadly, however a person has to be a habituee of gizmoworld forums to find its humor (and certainly, in order to detect the pasquinade). **In fact, I didn't note the latent punchline until the 1st commentor alluded to it. Perhaps the irony is the awareness necessary to understand the joke actually derides the person laughing.

[OOkladek @ Nov 30th 2007 8:58AM]

I dont see what the big deal is about this phone, motorola allways had a carphone, they still make a new model evrey few years, only thing I see that this phone has and the motorola one dosent is the bluetooth.

[Jon @ Nov 30th 2007 9:29AM]

Of course there's always this
http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/cellphone/8928/
You can't dial from it, but it you will sure look cool talking on it while driving LOL

[Jason Price @ Nov 30th 2007 11:16AM]

Just contacted them. First off when i called the man that picked up the phone(the owner with over 20 years of retail under his belt) answered the phone by saying " can i help you" no - thank you for calling Cartel how may i help you. Adds to the phony (see what i did there) corporate look of the company.

Also the price tag is over $500 bucks... for that price you can get any parrot bluetooth product and still have some $$$ left.

[Mikewpbf @ Nov 30th 2007 11:55AM]

Jason thanks for the info on the price. Wow thats alot of coin. I am guessing that the cost is high right now because as a small company they had high production costs from the company that put the product together for them.

I'm sure again as a small biz if they could lower the price to sell more and still make a profit they would have. Might just not be part of their biz model right now.

I still agree with that price I can find an alternative and still have some coin left over to play with.

It's to bad they did not try to bring down the price because there is not that big of a market for this product. And for limo or commercial transport use - people wont want to take the time to pair the phone to the handset for a short trip.