USB Port Uses?

I use it to listen to music. If you sync the USB drive with Media Player or Winamp, it will even show the album art. I have one stick with all of my favorite albums and another to listen to random new stuff. It works out really well.

 

I have an iPod permanently attached to my USB.

 

My understanding is map updates will be done that way. When you order map updates at approx $200 a pop based on past pricing, the will send you a one use USB key for the updates.

 

And there is just as a dumb charger. I recently had a rental car with a USB port, and I had forgotten to bring along a 12vdc charger, so it worked very nicely to keep my smart phone charged when running the NAV app on it (Like **** was I going to pay the car rental company for a GPS unit). GPS is a really battery pig, I have found out.

 

I use the USB port to a) use my iPhone to connect to the internet for traffic info, weather & other Entune stuff, b) play music via my iPhone/iPod, c) charge my iPhone. I haven't seen anything about a slide show.

 

You can use a flash drive in the USB port (at least with the Advanced Model) to upload images to the audio unit to use at startup or when the screen off. No slide show mode. You can upload up to 3 different images for each category (startup & screen off) but then you have to pick one static image to use for each.

 

Ah! That makes sense. I don't believe the Display Audio units have that ability. I'll have to check the manual again.

 

Is this why we get a 3 year subscription to the various services? Because it'll take that long to figure out all the features?

 

If you have a new enough version of iOS with the fixes to the Bluetooth profiles, can't (a) and (b) be done over Bluetooth?

 

Internet access is not currently working over bluetooth. And yes, I am running the latest iOS (5.1). The Prius v Audio forum is full of complaints about this. iPod function works over bluetooth, but is a bit limited. You can't browse your collection or select playlists. You do, however, get track info, album art, the ability to pause/play/next-track/previous-track.

 

I keep about 700 albums on this:



32gb ... device is smaller than the plug. I erase maybe 1/3 of the crap songs they throw on each album as filler ... but the nice thing about using the LaCie MosKeyto drive is that it's so small that peering eyes looking into the car won't see it and think there's anything to steal. Hopefully some other car will get 'noticed' instead.

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are you running itunes match/icloud? i'm finding that with my base model prius, the car is only seeing those songs which have been downloaded to the phone, rather than the whole collection i have in icloud.

by this i mean they don't show up in the prius's control screen. and i think when the iPhone is connected via usb, you lose the ability to control the itunes app directly from the phone, so i cant find out what happens if i try to stream a song from the cloud.

need to try this over bluetooth and see what happens, but i suspect it works since via bluetooth the car does not take control of the phone.

 

As far as I can tell, the car will only see those songs that are physically on the phone. I haven't turned on iMatch/iCloud support on my phone, so I can't say for sure. Seems reasonable that streaming via Bluetooth would let you get at your music in the cloud, but not when you are hooked up via the USB port.

My entire music collection (well, the parts that Ive made into mp3s) fits on my phone, so I haven't felt the need for iCloud/iMatch...

I don't like the fact that I have to tether my iPhone to get internet access, but I do like the fact that I don't have to have a separate charger for my iPhone. Sadly, the USB port won't charge my iPad, so I had to put in a high-wattage car adapter. However, when traveling with my wife, it means we'll both be able to charge our iPhones and iPads.

 

yeah, i just went out to the car and tested this. in fact - it's kind of weak sauce:

1) if the phone is connected with bluetooth, the music app works like you would expect it to (local and cloud stored songs play fine)

2) if you plug in the phone to the USB port while it's playing a song via bluetooth, it's actually smart enough to continue playing the song that was currently playing over USB, but ONLY if that song resides in the phone. if it was in the process of being streamed into the phone via iCloud, the USB side of the prius gets confused and does not play anything.

3) apparently there is no way to plug in the iphone (so that it will charge) yet not have the music app give up control to the prius. this is actually really bad, since it means essentially choosing between charging the phone and having access to iCloud (first world problems)

4) the rdio app apparently does not care how it's transporting music and allows you to continue to control it while it's sending sound out the USB port.

so #4 really means the problem is Apple's as they unconditionally give up control to the USB device when it is plugged in. i wonder if there's a setting somewhere which will stop it from doing this. it's probably an issue of not wanting more than one entity controlling the device. i think rdio probably is not controllable via USB so that's why they continue to operate their normal UI.

 

I suspect this is deliberate, and determined by Apple's licensing of music for use via iTunes Match. Music streamed from iCloud can only be played through speakers--sent either by wire or bluetooth. It can't be transferred to another device via USB. That's just a guess, but it seems plausible.)

A USB power adapter that plugs into the cigarette lighter would charge a phone without connecting it into the media system by USB, leaving it free to connect via bluetooth. Bit of a kludge, but better than nothing.

 

that's certainly possible, though the dock connector contains a whole lot more than just a USB interface. i always thought that it must have a digital audio output of some sort, but your point would still stand even in that case.

i'm now doubting my own memory - i usually use bluetooth in my leaf - but i thought the entire icloud+local storage was available to the leaf when the iphone is plugged in via the dock connector.

true. i just like the fact that the usb port is hidden in the center console. maybe there's a cigarette lighter port in there as well. havent looked.

to be honest i could probably make a USB cable with the data lines cut, so that the phone just sees the power connections. in fact, i think you might be able to buy these. type A male to female type A and done...

EDIT: i just tried it on the leaf; same behavior. i think you are right that this is some kind of licensing thing. or it's a bug on the phone side. i'm using ios 5.01, i should see what happens with 5.1

also there's a 12V outlet right next to the usb port, so putting a usb power plug in there is no sweat.

 

Internet over Bluetooth is available in the Advanced trim, but not in the Base trim. Toyota's Entune actually doesn't even mention that the internet over Bluetooth works in the Advanced trim.

 

Sync-blocker USB cables do exist. Here's one: Sync Blocker USB to Dock connector cable for iPhone / iPod / iPad But looking at various tech forums it seems like you can create your own by simply shorting two pins on the dock connector with solder.

If my PiP would get here I could try this stuff out myself. How long does it take to move a car from Long Beach to Hollywood, anyway?

- Tom

 

ROFL!