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Prius bluetooth phonebook - too dumb?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Audio and Electronics' started by larrywal, Jan 21, 2008.

  1. larrywal

    larrywal New Member

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    Hi folks -- I know I can transfer numbers from my mobile phone (a MotoQ from Verizon) to my 2008 Prius (though it only works one at a time, and I have to make sure the phone numbers I transfer don't have parenthesis....go figure).

    Anyway, I'm curious why the bluetooth phonebook system is so 'dumb'. I have a $50 Jabra bluetooth headset, and when I use that I can simply voice dial anyone in my phonebook -- I don't need to transfer info to the headshet, nor do I need to pre-record any names to do voice recognition.

    If the Prius supports the same bluetooth profile(s) as my Jabra, can anyone venture a guess why the phonebook support is so lame that I have to manually transfer everything and keep them in sync (not to mention that I have to pre-record anything I want to voice recognize.....and don't get me started on how many voice commands it takes to dial one number....:()

    Thanks!
     
  2. Stoodo

    Stoodo Super Member

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    Have you had Bluetooth in any other car?

    I have had it in an Audi, Infiniti, Acura, and the Prius. The Prius functionality meets or beats the others. It is not perfect, but it basically the upper end of what is out there.
     
  3. cnschult

    cnschult Active Member

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    well we've all seen the commercials for the ford "sync" made my microsoft, probably the best vehicle phone bluetooth system out there as it also controls your radio.

    The only downside is that you'd have to drive a Ford!!! . . . definitely not worth it.
     
  4. larrywal

    larrywal New Member

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    No, I haven't seen it in other cars, and I've also heard the Prius is quite good.

    However, having used a cheap Bluetooth headset for years which allows direct, one click access to my phone's phonebook and does not require me to pre-record names for voice recognition, I'm at a bit of a loss to understand why the car can't do this.

    Theoretically the car doesn't need any phonebook at all....just like the headset, I'd actually prefer if it just used the phone's functionality for voice recognition and phonebook lookup. It can even display who's calling just by using bluetooth and the phone (there exist BT headsets which do this today).

    So I'm at a bit of a loss to understand why cars don't do it this way....
     
  5. ceric

    ceric New Member

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    For years, the automotive electronics has been way behind consumer electronics. Chances are your car's computer is still on 16-bit.:eek:
    Anyway, the trend is catching up. It is projected to be the biggest grow of electronics in coming years, the automotive electronics that is.
     
  6. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    The "hands free" environment in an automobile is quite a bit different from an acoustics standpoint than that of a headset. It would be difficult to get one set of voice tags to work with the phone, headset, and automobile. Often it is hard just to get the voice tags to work with the phone and headset.

    As to the poster who mentioned that the new MS Sync system also controls the radio, the Prius voice system does the same. MP3s are different in that there is no built-in hard drive or support for artist voice tags.

    Being a Microsoft product, I picture a Sync enabled car driving down the road when a Blue Screen Of Death pops up and the car coasts to the side of the road, dead as a doornail. You get it restarted by rebooting, but it only comes up in safe mode, which lets you drive at speeds less than 20 mph and only make right turns.

    Tom
     
  7. Stoodo

    Stoodo Super Member

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    Did you type this comment on your Mac? :)
     
  8. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    No, I run Ubuntu Linux.

    Tom
     
  9. Stoodo

    Stoodo Super Member

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    Cool. I gave up on Ubuntu after 5.10... How is the newer stuff?
     
  10. aaf709

    aaf709 Ravenpaw of ThunderClan

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    I have a 2005, which doesn't have manual entry or voice dialing. I admit that I don't have any experience beyond the Prius in terms of BT, but then again I don't make a lot of calls. I find the phonebook in the Prius fine for my needs and if I need to make a call that isn't in the phonebook in my phone or Prius, I have the BT override.
     
  11. lakerholic

    lakerholic New Member

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    I disagree. The Prius (and all Lexus/Toyota) bluetooth system has to be the worst in the industry. I'd understand it if this was Gen 1, but they haven't made a change to the bluetooth functionality in any way since 2004.

    Both my 07 BMW 530 and my wife's 08 Audi Q7 have object push and download all my phone contacts as soon as my phone (Razr/iPhone, whatever) syncs.

    My 2004 Prius, on the other hand? Have to import contacts one at a time, am locked at from using the bluetooth while driving, etc. Same goes for my wife's previous RX330 and my friend's SC430... exactly the same crappy functionality.

    Hardly the upper end IMHO... which is very frustrating given that the rest of the car (and Toyota/Lexus) in general is superior to most everything out there (including BMW/Audi/Benz) :mad:
     
  12. bpeschka

    bpeschka Junior Member

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    More downside ... you'd be running Microsoft. :(
     
  13. barbaram

    barbaram Active Member

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    just ordered a new phone- will let ya know if I can download the phone book or not. Think it is more a of phone issue than the car...
     
  14. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    Not to quibble over small details, but Bluetooth functions while driving. Many of the MFD pushbuttons are locked out while the vehicle is in motion. This has nothing to do with Bluetooth or even technology in general, but was a legal decision made by Toyota to avoid being responsible for a distracted driver. I don't like it either, but it's not a Bluetooth issue.

    Tom
     
  15. Syclone

    Syclone Member

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    It's all a question of how each manufacturer implements the Bluetooth standard. When I had a Motorola E815 with Verizon it was impossible, because Verizon purposely cripples Bluetooth. The only way I was able to do it was to copy the phonebook via my computer to an old Sony/Ericcson T68i phone. (Ericcson was one of the developers of the Bluetooth standard) The T68i had no problem in doing the transfer on one shot.

    On the other hand, now that I have an Iphone, I can't transfer anything to the Prius. I don't know who's fault that is, because the Iphone instantly transfers its phone book to my Garmin Nuvi 360 GPS (Go Garmin!)

    The Bluetooth standard seems so loose that each company that implements it picks and chooses which pieces of the standard they are going to use.

    There are zillions of discussions and threads on the web if you want to google them.
     
  16. cicily

    cicily New Member

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    Forgive my ignorance if I come across as, well, ignorant... I've had my Prius for about a week and still learning my way around. It took me this long to try to figure out how to make the little speech button on my steering wheel work... but now I think i've done it wrong...

    The first time i pushed it to set it up i wasn't thinking and set it up for "dial by number" as if i know everyone (anyone's) number. i'd rather it were "dial by name" i've input all the names with my voice rec recording but now when i hit the speech button it automatically goes to say the number.

    Can i get it to do "dial by name" as default or is that only avail in certain screens?


    Pretty much walk me through the whole process and any combinations you can think of because i'm pretty clueless about it... and go easy on me... this is my first Prius, First post and only second car ever... replaced my 03 focus

    Thanks for your help...

    p.s what does the asl or other such acronym on the vol control mean or do?

    thanks again
    c.
     
  17. pdhenry

    pdhenry It's HEEERE!

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    My Prius downloaded all of my Blackberry contacts in one go. It must be an issue with how your phone handles BT.
     
  18. snead_c

    snead_c Jam Ma's Car

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    ASL..Automatic Sound Levelizer...if your manual is in the car you can go to Toyota Owners, join, log in, and select Owners Manuals...then key word narrow search.
    Welcome...the sound system is not easy to master...I've had mine for 7 weeks and still learning.