I know I've been obsessing about this and have bored many folks so forgive me, but I made another step forward today.

I met with my service advisor today to discuss again the poor iPod/iPhone scrolling in my RX (build date 09/09). Using one of the hidden menus, it shows a Nav version of 3350. We went to a newer RX (build date 2/10) and using the hidden menu the Nav version is 3357 and iPod scrolling works as I believe it should. We went to yet a newer RX (build date 4/10) however the Nav version was once again 3350 and scrolling is wrong.

So I asked the service advisor to track this down for me, which he said he would do.

I believe this number (3350 or 3357) maybe a firmware or hardware numbers as all three RXs had version 09.09.10 of the Nav software.

I was in a 2010 Nissan Maxima yesterday and iPod/iPhone scrolling is very nice and bluetooth was amazing. I paired the iPhone with the car and nearly instantly my addressbook appeared in the car. Voice commands also worked extremely well. With the doors open, the AC running full bore, commands were responded to correctly.

 

yes, I was just watching a video review where they mentioned how horrible the ipod scrolling was (this was during the press launch) and they said that when they brought it up to Lexus, they said that they would fix it in a nav update.

 

i can't understand the lexus bluetooth system either. i always question why i need to transfer my whole darn phone book to the car, doesn't make any sense. in my bmw with bluetooth, it accesses everything in my phone book directly through the phone. this is great coz' you can pair any phone and you get that specific phone book. i always want to know why lexus isn't doing it

 

My wife is comparing a Nissan Maxima to a Lexus ES350. No comparison in my mind, but Nissan has more bells and whistles for the money. I connected my iPhone to the Nissan and instantly contacts transferred to the car. I guess I assumed having the phonebook in the car makes voice commands (which I think in the Lexus is horrendous) works faster than getting the info from the phone via bluetooth. You indicate this may not be the case.

The Nissan also recognizes up to five phones and automatically connects to whichever one is in the car using a priority list you set. We have three phones paired to our RX and you have to actively select the phone you want and the car will change to the matching phonebook. Just not automatically like the Nissan.

As an aside, nothing, in my opinion, beats the remote control joy stick. I hate reaching up to touch a touch screen, when the natural position is my arm on the arm rest and my hand on the controller.

 

david, i can't comment on nissan exactly, but i drive my m3 very often so i can comment on that a bit. access the phone book is as fast as you can go through idrive (make that the limiting factor). there is no lag, i can scroll through the names very fast.

you are also right, my bmw can pair few phones and then go over them by priority list. that's great coz' every time my wife and i switch drives on the gs350, we have to set the phone otherwise nothing is connected

 

At least Nissan, Lexus, and BMW have easy phonebook/contacts lookup. I cant find a way to sync my iphone contacts to my benz. for some reason, the COMAND unit refuses to work with the iphone

 

i don't think you can transfer iphone contacts to lexus? or that has changed on gen6? i believe on lexus unless contacts are transferred to the car, otherwise no access. and i am pretty sure at least on gen5, there is no way to transfer iphone contacts unless going through all the work to transfer contacts to sim and then use another phone?

 

Yes, that was fixed on gen6.

You can now transfer iPhone contacts all at once with no problems.

 

sweet, that's one big step!!!