stefnee

Upgraged my phone from a S3 to S4 Saturday night. Spent all night getting to know my new toy and all the new tricks it could do. Got in my car Sunday morning to run errands. Connected to paired to the car with not problem. Later on, attempted to make a call. Problem. Could not hear through the car speakers. Tried every trick in the book to get the phone to work. Deleted, re-added. Messed with settings. Nothing. After searching on the internet. saw that this in a issue with older model (2004 - 2006) cars. Samsung says it is up to the manufacturer and the Lexus says get and older phone.

After fooling abour with the apps on the phone like S-voice and some more, i resigned myself that I either have to buy a new car or return the phone. So... I returned my brand new less than 15 hours old S4 minus the $35 restocking fee to AT&T.

The phone did not work in my 06 GS300, but did work in my husbands 07 GS350. Lesson learned... if I would have checked on mylexus.com first. https://secure.drivers.lexus.com/lex...s/bluetooth.do
I would have saved myself the hassle. It tells you that the phone does not work with my car.

Update: I just checked the link and entered my car and the S3 and it says the S3 phone will not work with my car either. So the link would not have trustworthy either. Great!!!!

lex-ative

Hmmmm...... I don't know what problems you are having...maybe it is Bluetooth related. My S3 works flawlessly in my 06 430. Mine has the ML though. Does yours have the same? My S3 actually worked better than my iphone I had. I could not get my contacts/ addressbook to sync with my Iphone. With the galaxy it synched right away and I was even able to set up my one touch dialing numbers.

Try deleting and adding the connection/ Bluetooth again (let it discover and enter the pin again).

When you said you can't hear the phone through the speaker do you mean you can not hear the phone dialing out? Or you can't hear the other person when they pick up? Sometimes when I make a call, I don't hear anything until the call actually connects. You won't hear the phone ring. Other times you will hear it ring.

Bummer... I would have bought that S4 from you......

worker

My Galaxy S4 works fine with my '06 GS430 too. I think my firmware in the car been update through the map update DVD.

stefnee

But according to Lexus website the S3 is not supposed to work either. Not supposed to work on your car either. Which we know is not true. My S3 has always worked. Never had any problems with it.

Unfortunately, I cannot trust the website. So for now. The S4 is out.

My only options now is whenever I decide to purchase another new phone is HOPE it works, or HOPE somone on the forum has bought the a new phone and post the results here if it does not work.

So I am back to my S3 unless I get a new car which is not going to happen anytime soon.

stefnee

so updating my navigation system will definitely update the Bluetooth firmware and allow the S4 to work on the GS300?

XxGoKoUxX

Have you checked xda-developers to see if there's a mod to get this working on older model cars? You can find your specific model and make a post about it, someone might be able to help you!

GL

worker

I don't know where to find a list of the updates that came with the DVD update map but I know it does more than just the map.

For example, before I could go into the hidden tech screen. But the update fixed that. And once the update is done, you can't use your old DVD map disk. It refuse to except it.

Could someone confirm if the '06 GS300 is having the same Nav as the '06 GS430? I believe they are. Note that this Bluetooth is the early early bluetooth. It only make phone calls. It can't stream media. When you are having the call conversation, you can use the steering wheel volume buttons to increase/decrease the phone's speaker volume of the car. I don't know how to do this without being on the phone talking to someone.

My Galaxy S4 is AT&T too.

lex-ative

Im still puzzled why you changed back your phone because of the car though.. the S4 is an amazing phone. Do you really really needed it to work with the car? Nothing a Bluetooth earpiece or an in-car Bluetooth kit couldn't fix. The BT35 unit I have in my car for streaming also takes phone calls.

If anything, I would have just kept the S4 and lived with the little annoyance instead of downgrading back to the S3 only because I wanted Bluetooth in my car....

stefnee

I expected the amazing S4 to work the same if not better than what I am accustomed to with the S3 without have to purchase additional hardware to go with my car. Having to pay $200 for the phone and an additional $150 for BT35 no thanks. My S3 was working fine. I just wanted a new toy. I have never used Bluetooth earpiece with the S3 and have not plans to use one for the S4. So it looks like I will just continue to use the S3.

I contacted Lexus to confirm if updating my GPS navigation would somehow also update the Bluetooth firmware and they said no. And I could not find any additional information on xda-developers for the 06 Lexus and the S4.

lex-ative

I don't know... still, I would have just kept the S4 and deal with the annoyance of (gasp) picking up the phone and holding it to my ear if/ when it rings. I mean unless you travel for business and need to be constantly talking on the phone, I wouldn't 'downgrade' my phone just because the Bluetooth doesn't work with my car. Heck, before my GS430 I drove an IS300 which didn't even have Bluetooth......but I still managed to survive...

Anyway, it is a moot point since you don't have the S4 anymore and your S3 works fine now with the car, right?

Also, did you try out to connect the S4 via Bluetooth to another source, say, maybe a Bluetooth stereo speaker or phone headset to make sure it isn't the S4's Bluetooth that may have crapped out?

lex-ative

Also, the site says "Unfortunately, your vehicle and phone combination has not yet been tested. We apologize for the inconvenience." It doesn't say that it is not compatible.

I just think they don't care to test newer phones on older cars anymore....doesn't mean they won't work though....

craigsf

Same problem. Galaxy S4 - 2006 GS300 bluetooth doesn't work with S4. I purchased the phone 17 days ago, had issues 3 days after, with its own features. I took it in told them. They said I was working the phone wrong. However, problems continued so back to the store. I also, discovered that my phone wasn't connecting with bluetooth or allowing hearing messages through the car. Lexus and Samsung have known about this issue for years since my Galaxy Sll. Which I downloaded some software on my phone that corrected the problem.

When I bought the phone, I wasn't expecting this issue again with a new Galaxy that seems would have this issue resolved. I contacted Lexus, because Sprint says it's their system that needs updated. A lot of BS by both manufactor's. But what I don't understand, is why they had a solution on the 2s but not the 4s. A lot of money to put on the consumer with their 14 day return policy.

worker

The new business methodology... it's the other guy's fault.

verly6565

i have tmobile s3 and a s4 they both work perectly
in my 2006 gs300 best thing since sliced bread

Simmsled

Anyone that has had their contacts sync with the GS with an Android phone... have you then tried to use an iPhone to dial the same number from the car and the contact show up on-screen?

Good to know about the S4.