Prius iPhone app is....

I love the Prius team, and Toyota, but ... it's my honest opinion that apps that don't do anything shouldn't even be approved for the app store. Especially apps that are just pretty much ads. Imagine if the app store became a place where companies could just put in their apps for advertising. I just don't want all this ad stuff intruding into my life, I have enough trouble blocking it now. Hopefully, it will develop into something more cool, and if I've learned anything from Doug, and the prius team.. they definitely respond to us on here and think a lot of us. So, I'll trust that they end up doing something cool with it.

I appreciate the effort on their part to be edgy.

 

So, I read the start of this discussion in the morning and came back tonight to see how it had advanced. First, let me say that I value civility and constructive conversations, but what I read in this thread, in my opinion, wouldn't be categorized as "non civil". I think the initial, off the cuff, responses at the start of this discussion were honest, straightforward, and justified.

Doug, I know that your participation in this forum is VERY much appreciated. Very rarely do companies interact with consumers on this level. Toyota, and you, deserve high praise for being involved. However, even as much as we all love our Prius, Toyota is still a company and we are still consumers. Somebody talking negatively about a product released by a company does not constitute a personal attack- I didn't see anything in any of the posts that sounded personal. Negative comments about the app is no different than negative comments about the reverse beeps, center console design (which I actually love), radio reception, etc. As long as negative comments remain civil, not everything has to be sugarcoated before it can be posted. If others hadn't already typed what I thought or felt, I probably would have has a similar post.

So, we all know that the App is not what we expected, wanted, or would even use. Many of us set a higher standard for the Prius team. Come tomorrow, we'll all have forgotten about it and probably never talk about it again. It is what it is. Now, if the app was what we had expected, just think how many of us would have been singing its praises and telling friends and family about it. That's commercial marketing folks. From what I read on this forum, 95% of prius comments are extremely positive. I see nothing wrong with negative feelings being voiced for a small percentage of prius related topics. Again- nothing personal to Doug or anybody else from the Prius team reading these forums...a negative comment on a prius product should not be taken as a personal attack.

 

Wow... Posts are going missing!

 

When I first heard about the app, I had read that it was going to be exactly what it is. When everyone was talking about the release I said "isn't it going to just basically be an ad or mini version of the website?" and that was the first I heard there was going to be a fancy app for owners. But I heard that from users here. The only thing I saw officially from Doug was a description of what the app is. So where did the announcement of the fancy app come from?

I wish it had the other game on it. I am awful at the game that is on there. It's a free app, I am not going to complain.

ETA:
I remember in that thread that everyone gave a wish list of what kind of app they wanted and there was possibly a "well maybe in the future..." but that was about it. At least from what I recall.

 

All the Toyota apps are advertising for products. I was not surprised to see that this turned out to be lame.
For FAQ's I come here, and I can do so on the iPhone, so that's covered.
For logging my gas consumption I use Road Trip, having upgraded from the "lite" version. It works just fine.
I found that when I disconnected my SG II i needed to go through a specific routine, or I got a nasty exclamation mark on the dash and an error code, so disconnecting an iPhone from the plug might be a recurring problem.
iPhone apps are great, but I don't see any practical applications that aren't covered by existing apps. I just wish my '07 could receive music via bluetooth, so I could leave the phone in my pocket.

 

Unless the OBDII info is available via Bluetooth, then I don't set the point for iPhone users.

 

I just got the REV app, and a wireless OBDII adaptor that allows the iphone to get the info wirelessly. I haven't had a chance to play with it yet. Since the adaptor costs as much as a scanguage, and the REV app cannot be custom programmed (though noone knows the custom codes yet for the 2010), I'm sure there are people who will still say its not worth it. I just thought it would be cool to try it, and have a much nicer (and wireless) display than the scanguage.