[Brian]

If so, what kind of phone? Comments on it?

I have the T616 and LOVE the bluetooth system on the Prius. Works great.

 

[AgentElrond]

Same here. I use a "real" keyboard and screen to update my Mac OS X Address Book, Bluetooth-sync it to the phone (picked up a D-Link DBT-120 USB Bluetooth adapter at CompUSA), and then Bluetooth transfer from the phone to the Prius. Welcome to the 21st century, eh? 8)

 

[LouieNet]

I'm pretty happy with my 17" PowerBook + T610 + Prius setup. But would love it more if the Prius would sync directly with my PowerBook.

 

[AgentElrond]

But would love it more if the Prius would sync directly with my PowerBook.

I take it iSync doesn't recognize the Prius (or vice-versa)?

 

[bradca21]

Well here's the deal, I had a phone with AT&T that was either the T610 or T616. Same phone but whichever one was with AT&T. I didn;t like the quality and no one was ever able to HEAR ME... I heard them okay...

Anyway, switched to Sprint when Cingular bought AT&T. Got nervous because I tried to get on with Cingular a while before and they had wanted $750!! in deposits. No way!! So I thought there may be a chance of them asking for a deposit when they took over. Also heard a LOT of bad stuff about Cingular...

Sprint only has one bluetooth option I'm aware of, and it's SOOOOO ghetto compared to my current phone. I'm hoping as bluetooth becomes more widespread, Sprint will catch on.

They don't make an adaptor that turns a NONbluetooth pphone into a bluetooth phone, do they? I'd buy it if they did

Oh, so even though I have tried the feature, I chose the want to but don't have a proper phone.

 

[Thomme]

Moto V710 with Verizon. Works great, with the notable exception of not being able to transfer my phone book from the handset to the car. According to scuttlebutt on phonescoop.com, there may be a firmware upgrade that should address this in a couplea months . We'll see.

 

[Jonnycat26]

I'm using a Siemens S56 on Cingular. Service is good, and I love the phone. I've got the phone synced to my desktop, and my palm. If only the Prius understood addressbooks properly, all would be good.

 

[Ron K]

I use my Moto V600 from Cingular. The features work perfectly except as noted before, the quirkiness of transferring phonebook entries (have to do this one at a time)

As a separate issue, imagine the functionality of being able to synch or at least upload a PDA calendar to the calendar already in the Prius?

Ron

 

[Ephemeral]

Adapter

They do make a blue tooth adapter the size of a roll of 10 quarters. It is not heavy but costs more than a $100.

 

[jeff]

Moto V710 with Verizon. Works great, with the notable exception of not being able to transfer my phone book from the handset to the car. According to scuttlebutt on phonescoop.com, there may be a firmware upgrade that should address this in a couplea months . We'll see.

I have been looking at this phone... the future does not look so good. According to a Verizon Spokesperson they will not be offering these features anytime soon because they don't fit with their buisness model (they are saying there is a security concern, but the real reason is probally that by enabling the transfering of data like address books it also allows the transfering of ringtones, photos, and other files between the phone and a PC, allowing you to skip their pay per use service)

if they don't change their mind and enable a fully featured bluetooth phone on the verizon network I am probally going to be leaving their service and trying soemthing else.

 

[Shepan]

Thanks to TechnoMage - I'm using the T616 - works great - However, I purchased a 30.00 car charger and adapter from Radio Shack - and something isn't working right - so I'm taking it back - Just an FYI - My Bluetooth connection always fails when I have it plugged in to this Radio Shack Universal adapter - so I'm go to go purchase the one that costs a little more, but works with the phone!

Otherwise - the connection is great - it's nice not to have to be juggling the phone - I love just charging the phone from inside the center console too.

 

[Jonnycat26]

However, I purchased a 30.00 car charger and adapter from Radio Shack - and something isn't working right - so I'm taking it back - Just an FYI - My Bluetooth connection always fails when I have it plugged in to this Radio Shack Universal adapter .

What's probably happening is, the adapter appears to be a usb serial cable to the phone. I don't know for sure, but it's possible that with that phone once serial communications are in use, the bluetooth isn't available. A "real" adapter may solve that issue, if it's just providing power and not pretending to be a usb serial cable.

 

[jfschultz]

I upgraded my old AT&T digital account to their GSM service to get a Nokia 6820. It works well with the Prius with good sound quality.

I even found that I could download Midi files to my iBook and use bluetooth to get them to the phone to use as ring tones. (From there, I was even able to message them to my wife's bluetoothless LG phone.)

 

[bradca21]

Re: Adapter

They do make a blue tooth adapter the size of a roll of 10 quarters. It is not heavy but costs more than a $100.

anyone heard of this? does it only work for certain phones (either by carrier or phone manufacturer)? How MUCH over $100. Any particular places you have seen this item?

 

[Brian]

Brad, I have heard of those for Laptops, which I have, but I have never heard of one for mobile phones. The one for laptop that I have is from Linksys and was about $69.

 

[KURT]

Motorola V710

I just got the Motorola V710 from Verizon and am very happy with it, i.e. except for not being able to transfer the phone book. I talked with one of their tech guys, he checked and said the update would be coming in November.

We'll see.

I'm going back to Verizon today and let them know I either want to return it now or if the update doesn't come in in November, see if they will take it back at that time.

 

[AgentElrond]

The D-Link DBT-120 "PersonalAir Wireless USB Adapter" was only $39.95 at CompUSA, and is smaller than the Prius fob. I have mine attached to a spare port on my keyboard. It came with a short USB extension cable and a CD with driver software for Windows XP, ME, 2000 and 98 SE. Mac OS X 10.2 and later have a built-in driver; I'm running 10.3.5 and all I did was plug it in and configure it under Bluetooth in System Preferences. 8)

 

[Jonnycat26]

Re: Motorola V710

I just got the Motorola V710 from Verizon and am very happy with it, i.e. except for not being able to transfer the phone book. I talked with one of their tech guys, he checked and said the update would be coming in November.

There was a big thing about this in several online publications yesterday, summary over on /., and supposedly Verizon is going to update the firmware of the phone, but the update will not allow for OBEX transfer. Verizon themselves (in the articles) stated they have no intention of enabling it.

Translation: You won't be able to push addressbook entries to the car.

 

[Jonnycat26]

http://www.nuclearelephant.com/papers/v710.html

A complete rundown on the V710 and what Verizon has done to it. The phone interview with Verizon is especially touching.

 

[Zach]

I put my name on a Prius waiting list back in February, then went out and switched from Sprint to T-Mobile so I could have a decent bluetooth phone. I had been a Sprint customer for 4 years, but got sick of waiting for bluetooth options when almost every other carrier had multiple phones to pick from. Of course as soon as I cancelled they finally added one phone to their selection, but as brad mentioned, it's not the best.

Current setup:

'04 Gun Metal Green BC Prius
SonyEricsson T610 T-Mobile
Belkin F8T001 bluetooth adapter for use with my iBook and PCs

All works wonderfully. 1 annoyance. When I use the phone to dial a non-address book number directly, the ringing happens on the phone, and there is a touch of lag when the call is transfered to the car. So sometimes I miss the initial "hello?" and there's that awkward moment of people repeating hello to each other or the person hangs up because they think they're getting a telemarketing call.