I've been "borrowing" my wife's bluetooth phone while driving my Prius. I'm somewhat satisfied with the performance and am wondering if I should switch from Verizon to Cingular to get a BT phone now rather than waiting for Verizon to get a decent one. I'm also VERY happy with my non-BT PDA phone and am loath to give up the functionality. Now that some of you have been using your BT phones in the Prius for several months how do you like it? Is it really worth the trouble versus simply plugging in my headset with a phone I'm happy with? Any thoughts based on your experience will be appreciated.
My Nokia 3650 has done me just fine. The only PITA is transferring address data. I accidently chose "Overwrite" vs. "Add" today when adding an entry. Boy what a pain it was to transfer 15-20 entries. Took me a good 20 minutes or more after setting up the one-touch again, etc. But for day-to-day, it works pretty well. Some conversations do sound distorted (overdriven), but I'm not sure if it's the phone or the car. I've also got an older firmware in my 3650 which has caused some power off issues. The 3650 also doesn't show signal strength on the Prius display - just that it does or doesn't have service. There are other BT phones - I'd suggest that you do some research and see what fits you best. I'm fairly Nokia loyal which is why I got the 3650. It was also a pretty good deal for an unlocked phone on eBay at the time... LOL In the end, each one will have it's quirks though.
i am a VERY satisfied treo300 user for 2 years now. i don't have my prius yet either so i am praying for an 'alignment of the stars' because the bluetooth treo600 is due out later this year, and another possiblity is the motorola mpx. i would really miss my pda functions and keyboard. i'm also hoping my treo300 keeps going. as it is i think i'm the only user at treocentral.com who has not had to have it replaced under warranty 4 or 5 times...
I love the BT functionality of my T610. If you have a PDA phone and the PDA is more important than hands free use of the phone in the car then you'd best stay with your current phone. OTOH, if you use your phone in the car a lot the BT is fantastic. It's just so much safer and convenient.
i have the sony/ericcson T608, and i totally love the BT feature. highly recommend it, notwithstanding various quirks and burps at various times. altogether, a true convenience. the T608 itself is...well, nothing's perfect, acceptance is the key, and it gets far better reception then my 8(?) year old Startac.
The feature you lack is THE coolest for driving in traffic. I use a Nokia 6310 and despite some initial challenges with it getting hooked up- I now enjoy trouble free operarion. When I was having the earlier problem with the Nokia, I tried an Ericksen T610 and liked how the phone seemlessly hooked up to the car(the Nokia requires a command to connect).
Depending on Cingular coverage in your area, you may want to wait another month or two for Verison to start selling the V710, the first Verizon CDMA phone with integrated bluetooth. For me, Verizon is the only option that works at my work and my home so I'm stuck waiting.
IMHO one of the best features is that the car tells you when it can't connect to your phone. That means when my wife gets in the car and drives away with the phone turned off, the car reminds her to turn it back on or go back in the house and get it. I find it easier to contact her now that the car is nagging her about the phone. Fred
i agree with Sean in that you might want to wait. the GSM technology isnt as good as CDMA and CDMA has room for improvement. many people using ATT and Cingular experience problems because of it. if you were to switch carriers, you might want to look into sprint since they also use CDMA. however, cingular does currently have the best options for BT right now, but BT is so new that it will only be a matter of time before the rest catch up. without a few more states going "hands free" it might take a little longer, but i doubt if the time will be longer than the standard 1 year contract you will have to sign.
Has anyone had experience with the Blackberry 7290 or another model of BT enabled Blackeberry's? I want to know if the calendar synch properly and the addresses.
I consider the blue tooth phone support to be the coolest feature in a car full of cool features. It is both seamless and elegant. The phone never leaves my belt. Robert
At this point I am dumping Verizon because of their support issues and lack of response to my complaints. Motorola has only been marginally better in helping. Part of the problem is Verizon is blocking Bluetooth functionality probably because they don't want you to download pictures. I wish the phone did not have a camera. I have no idea what you use a camera phone for. I have a nice digital with twice the pixicles and it is not much bigger. Motorola is redoing the software and it should be aviable at the end of the month. I would like to use the phone book but I can't and I can't get it to ring. Having the auto answer is a help but I would like to have the thing work correctly.
I have a Blackberry 7290 (ATT) on order. Not sure what will or won't work but the company pays for it so wish me luck. I'll let you know how it goes. In a perfect world the phone would work, the address book would synch and the calendar would as well.
Got my 7290. Hands free works well. Rings on both car and phone, shows signal level on screen. No data transfer. I'm trying to talk to someone at RIM or ATT about this. Have any of you dealt with this? It boils down to this: * HFP (Hands Free Profile) Ver. 1.0 (not implemeted) * OPP (Object Push Profile) Ver. 1.1
If you are a Verizon customer, there are a variety of reasons you should switch to just about anyone else. Their horribly bungled BT introduction is just the latest one. Plus, you may get a better deal combining your phone line and your wife's into a single family plan.
cingular currently has the best BT phone out but they really had little to do with that. BT tech is still too new. its the hardware with the issues, not the service
My S56 has been seamless in signal, sound, and phonebook transfer. Now that I use the phone almost exclusively through the car, I find myself using the voice control to switch between AM/FM, skip up CD tracks, change cabin temp, etc. I know it's kinda silly, but I am noticing that I spend MUCH more time with my eyes on the road and I'm seeing a lot more people swerving around me with their cell phone crooked in their ear and their eyes on their radio. I know that there are other handsfree option for cell phones. I'm just enjoying the heck out of mine!
I've ordered the S56 as a replacement for my wifes phone. This should satisfy my BT obsession. From all account it is the best functional BT phone with the Prius. I'll continue my plight trying to get some product manager at RIM to consider enabling data transfer or at least putting the choice in software.
been using my sprint se806 for 10 months now. my experience is very positive...notwithstanding various shortcomings, overall, i give it an 8.8 out of 10.
