Best verizon phones for 2006 Prius?

LG8100 works for me.

 

The only one I know with full bluetooth capability is the Nokia 6256i

Verizon doesn't have it on their website, but you can get it through Best Buy or Circuit City (at least around here).

It also has the benefit of being tri-mode which is a must for me.

Unfortunately, it has a camera which means I'm limited in where I can take it.

I haven't decided to spring for it yet, but it's the only Verizon Phone I know of that's not lobotomized.

 

Motorola E815 and RAZR work great in my 2006 Prius. Most Verizon phones can't transfer the phonebook, there is one Nokia that can. If you like that phone, go for it. Personally, I hacked my RAZR to allow for it. It works, but can only do one contact at a time. IMO, that's a serious limitation and it's a common one.

If you have a 2006, you can enter the phonebook data via the touchscreen. So you don't really need phonebook transfer. It's nice if your phone can do the whole thing at once, otherwise it's pretty worthless for 2006 owners. I can type a name and number in faster than I can upload it from my phone. Older Prius owners couldn't enter names to go with thier contacts, so the phonebook in the car was pretty worthless without upload capability. 2006 owners don't have that problem.

If you don't make phonebook transfer an issue, most any Verizon BT phone will work great with the Prius. I only mentioned the two above because I have used them personally.

At first, I thought the phonebook transfer issue was going to annoy me. But after playing with the entry screen on the car, I like it better. Too bad the car can't transfer the phonebook to the phone!

 

I have the LG VX-8100 and am very happy with it. I just got it witin the last two weeks on Verizon's 'New every Two plan' so basically it was pretty inexpensive. I narrowed it down to this phone and the Motorola Razr but salesmen at two different Verizon stores told me that the Razr had some software issues that made it a little less desireable. Getting Bluetooth to work in the Prius the 8100 was a snap and the phone has a lot of cool features and people tell me that the quality when I am calling them from the car is very good. I'm not a real big cellphone guy (even tho I worked for Verizon Wireless for 5 years), so Vcast and playing MP3's thru it doesn't matter to me but if you want a solid, dependable phone that won't have problems with Bluetooth, I recommend that you take a look at the 8100. Also, I agree with what a previous poster wrote about lack of phone book upload not being a big deal for the 2006's.

Rob

 

I use the Treo 700w. It works with my '05 Prius. Verizon has prevented me from downloading contacts, but otherwise is a good "Smartphone". One less device for this GEEK to carry on his hip.

Craig

 

One's for GSM carriers, one's for CDMA carriers. Verizon is CDMA.

 

E815

Such a good phone. Moto still can't made a easy to use menu design to save a life but the phone is very, very good. If you want a smartphone, go Treo.

 

I've had good luck with both my Prius and Sienna with Samsung a950's

gary

 

Treo is ok, but I prefer Samsung i730. Go to phonescoop.com and do a comparison and look at reviews.

 

also the blackberry 7130e works very well!

 

I just bought the Nokia 6256i at Circuit City on Sunday ($29.95 with 2-year extension of my plan, no rebates involved). I easily paired it with the car while in the parking lot, and got clear and easy handsfree use on the ride home. The next day I figured out how to transfer contacts to the Prius (one at a time, which is tedious).

A couple of problems though - there is no ringing through the Prius speakers when a call comes in. The audio system just mutes and the incoming call screen is shown on the MFD. This might be a configuration item, but I have not figured it out yet. The other is that the manual gives no indication of how to upload contacts to the car. I had to figure it out (use the Send Business Card menu option).

I was also able to pair the phone with my iMac and access the directories on the phone to download and upload files. The downside is that the Nokia desktop software (free from Nokia.com) only works on Windows, so if I want to use it, I either need to buy the USB cable for the phone or a BT adapter for my Windows laptop.

 

My Motorola E815 for some reason won't pair with my 2004 Prius. When I set the car and phone to discover they just time out before finding each other. I'm not sure why.

 

Tell the car to look for a phone.

Tell the phone to look for a headset. Do not tell the phone to "Find Me", that's for connecting to a computer.

 

I am with the LG8100 crew. Easy hook up, sound is OK. Inever miss calls now because the stereo is too loud to hear the phone ring. Wish I could hook up my work phone too but it is not Bluetooth.

 

Is there a web page or thread somewhere where current Verizon Bluetooth phone info is all compiled? I don't want Treos or Pocket PCs. I'm just looking for a decent phone w/BT that's not too expensive and works "well" with the 06 Prius.

It seems like my choices (besides stuff I don't want) are:
Motorola e815, RAZR
LG VX8100
LG VX9800
Samsung 950, 970

I'm looking for info like how well does it take incoming calls, make outgoing calls, phonebook transfer limitations, quirks, problems w/call waiting, etc. I don't want crap/issues like this guy at http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=1...ndpost&p=218923 is having w/his Sprint Samsung A900.

Sounds like the RAZR won't let you xfer phonebook entries at all unless it's hacked. Even if it's hacked, it's only 1 by 1. What about the others?

I'm on Sprint but my contract is up and since Sprint seems to have fewer BT choices and charges a lot for their phones, I figure I might switch to Verizon.

 

I use the Samsung i730. the bluetooth works great. I have it paired and leave the bluetooth turned on. Whenever I get into the car it automatically connects. I was even able to upload my phone book to the Prius. Now, does anyone know if the voice command will work with the phone book?


-saegai06
2006 Prius Package 8