JohnAMG

I just purchased 2 Motorola E815, for my wife and I, and it works fine with the Lexus. The only complaint is the car only recognize one phone at a time by the designated default phone. I registered 2 phones but I have to manually choose which phone to use. And if I choose my phone as default phone and my wife use the car with her phone, she would have to manually select her phone in the phone menu in order for the bluetooth to recognize her phone. I wish the system has an automatic search function and seeks alternative phone when the default one isn't available. Or am I doing something wrong here???

John

Knicksfan

You are right. And the truck has to be stopped in order to select the other phone....dumb and dumber

Rockville

at the phone end and at the car end. If you would like to use a bluetooth earpiece then that will preclude using the GX470's bluetooth at the same time. Another common issue is wanting to turn off the bluetooth connection when a speakerphone conversation is not appropriate. The screen controls are not allowed when moving so this can be inconvenient. Since you are probably on Verizon and they don't allow the phone book to be transmitted to the GX's phonebook then you must use your dial out log to transfer the most used numbers into one touch dials. One touch dials are active when you are moving but the numbers disappear! Since you can set up 17 one touch dials then you might need a little cheat sheet to remember who's number is in each one touch location. If Verizon allowed the phone book to be downloaded to the car via Bluetooth then the names would still show even when moving...

Rock

JohnAMG

I was able to download the phonebook from a Sony phone I bought off Ebay and program the 1 touch dials with names and numbers. I needed the Verizon Motorola phones because of the coverage and the E815 are integrated into my Mercedes hand-free system.

John

Donger

The 'auto search' feature (or lack of feature) appears to be a limitation in the Bluetooth software stack (at least the Lexus implementation).

There are actually 2 functions with Bluetooth, the pairing and the connection. You pair once, but connect many times. The Lexus software can pair with multiple phones, but only connect with one active phone at a time. If the phone is not in range or there is a second paired phone, the software will wait for the last connected phone until you tell it to connect to another. Having multiple paired phones stored in the system just means you don't have to repeat the pairing process each time you want to connect.

On the one hand, I can see why they did it that way, when I get into the truck and my wife comes along, we both have Bluetooth phones. If the truck did an active type of search, it would be difficult to guess which phone it would pair with first. However, it would be nice to be able to control the connect function (switch phones or disconnect) while driving.

loflin

Donger, you are correct in your description of how it works, BUT that is not the way it should work.

You are correct that after you individually pair multiple devices to another BT device, you don't have to pair again.

After that once any of the devices come into range it should do an automatic connect. All the other BT devices I have do this. Lexus does only with the one selected phone.

However, there is no BT reason for the Lex to NOT connect with another paired device, when it's the only one present. Lex screwed this part up.

The case where you have 2 devices paired (i.e. both phones in the car at the same time), then there is a decision. This is usually handled by either having one specified as default, or it's the order in which you paired them or whichever one was the last to connect. Or in worst case, ask the user which to connect to.

Net:
1. with 2 phones paired but only 1 present, Lex should connect to whichever one is present, automatically.
2. with 2 phones paired and both present, Lex should follow some process to determine the priority

Since Lex doesn't do #1, then #2 doesn't matter.

Or you could say #2 in Lex implementation is the one that was last selected in the Select phone screen.

JohnAMG

Guys,

Actually when I have both of my wife and my phones in the Lexus, only one is paired and it is the one that is chosen in the setting screen as the default phone. If I want to use the other phone I have to manually select that phone then it will pair. Then the first paired phone will be disconnected. Little hassle but not to bad.

John

loflin

John, yes, but that's not the real issue.

Issue is when ONLY one phone is present is should automatically connect to that one.

Example, I drive (wife's GX), connect to my BT phone. Forgot to switch back. She drives next day, never understanding why she didn't get the calls while she was in the car (unless she hears her phone in her purse sitting on the floor!).

Yes, I could tell her to check everytime she starts the car, in case I forget, but actually I just get the evil eye!

JohnAMG

I totally agree with you. It should be automatic and not manual selection. I also have to change the setting for my wife if I knew she is taking the car out, since my wife is technology challenged.

John

Donger

Yes, there are other implementations of the Bluetooth software stack that don't act this way. I mentioned it was the way Lexus decided to implement it. Full implementations, like those found in a PC or PocketPC (or even a simple headset) don't behave this way.

Don't know why they built it that way, must be the same group of people at Lexus that decided I need to hit that stupid 'AGREE' button every time I start the car

billiam

Is there any chance that Lexus could supply a software update or is it too hard to update this stuff in vehicles already out in the world? I don't know if all the bluetooth code sits alone in some chip that could be replaced or if the code in spread across multile chips in different places. Any insight or guesses? Have they upgraded this sort of stuff before? (I'm new to the Lexus family.)

Donger

They could - the code is most likely in the firmware of the radio head unit plus a portion in the Bluetooth controller (my guess). Some automobile firmware can be flashed with an upgrade, others burn the code into the ASIC, which is much more difficult to replace.

The big question is will they - I am sure they designed it to work exactly this way and as such they would not make a change. Software is all about choosing feature sets - or in this case deciding not to implement a feature.

Salvator

Anyone have any new information about this situation; Re: Having to manually select the "secondary" phone when the "primary" phone is not in the vehicle? I just "discovered" this SNAFU this weekend... assumed it would be automatic, and someone calls me (wife's phone was primary, and not in the car) and I have to select my phone manually (luckily, I was stopped at the time... what a hassle!)

Anyway, any good news?

Ohmy05'

I thought the BT was cool until i was outside the truck trying to make a call, and couldn't understand why i could hear anybodyon the other end. Turns out my friends were listening to my radio playing. I was close enuf to the truck for it to pick up my phone signal. So now i choose the vibe selection on the phone and don't use the bluetooth, unless I'm on an extended trip!

mdchachi

Or you could stop wasting gas and shut off your vehicle when you're not in it.