[BobosCurse]

Ready to drive up and buy a Fiesta.
Guess what? Title for my trade-in is nowhere to be found. Called DMV. Three weeks to get one.

Screw it, I'll buy the car and sell mine when I get the title.

Phone rings. Dealer says the heated seats are wired, but they forgot to install the switch to operate them.

I asked them to just knock off the price of the Winter package anyway.
They can't because it's X-Plan.

Screw it...I'll take it anyway.

So that's where I am now. Getting ready to leave.
I'll post back when I get home.

Hopefully there are no other quality issues.

 

[MegEtc]

Wow. I'm amazed your dealer caught that! Is the dealer going to install it later under warranty? I'm glad to hear your car is here at least! I hope nothing else goes wrong!

 

[Audrey]

Breathe.

 

[BobosCurse]

Got the car home. I love it.
I couldn't get Sync to access the music on my Droid, so that was a bummer.
In fact, Sync is really complicated in general.

 

[GapBoyPCS]

Got the car home. I love it.
I couldn't get Sync to access the music on my Droid, so that was a bummer.
In fact, Sync is really complicated in general.

It takes a while to "adapt". I think a lot of people just use it at first to take phone calls. Then GRADUALLY they get more confident and try out the commands Friends of mine who are usually scared about computers managed to get used to it, and love it.

 

[Jazzdog]

Got the car home. I love it.
I couldn't get Sync to access the music on my Droid, so that was a bummer.
In fact, Sync is really complicated in general.

Did you "PAIR" the DROID to SYNC or just plug in the USB? I have an ENV3 that has a USB cable, I get zip from USB cable not even charging. I can play music from it using Bluetooth media however.

Try the voice command "USB" - if that doesn't work then try voice command "Bluetooth media"

While you are at it go to http:////www.fordvehicles.com/technology/sync/?searchid=426441|28125565|205373340 and register your car and phone number as the primary phone. That enables the traffic, directions and other services.

 

[TeamFord]

For those that have Andorid OS phones.

The key is when you plug in the USB cable, you need to use the drop down bar and "mount" the phone as a USB drive. It will work perfectly after that. I have a G1 and use it in my Fusion everyday. Just mount, press the SYNC button and say "USB".

You can also use it without a cable and use Bluetooth stream by saying "Bluetooth Audio", problem with that is you can not use your voice to choose the artist, track, album, genre, and such. You can only do that with USB. You don't even have to have the phone paired to do this.

Another tip for SYNC, once you get the commands down, or you know what you want to say, press the voice button 2 times to bypass the lady and the prompts. Once you get it down to a science, you can also shut off the prompts totally.

I also recommend signing up at SyncMyRide.com, your dealer is supposed to do this before you leave the dealership anyway.

Have you seen what's coming later this year for Android phone and SYNC?
Ford launching SYNC AppLink with voice control over BlackBerry, Android apps | ZDNet

 

[BobosCurse]

Thanks for the expansion.
I have to say I'm really disappointed. All of the tech reviews I read about sync lead me to believe that all of these voice commands were available over bluetooth. So I have to plug on and mount the phone every time? Not cool.

Even so, I had it connected and all my albums showed up but it wouldn't let me say play artist. Instead it said say one for queen, say two for billy idol, say three for...

That can't possibly be the way it works, can it?

 

[anverc]

Thanks for the expansion.
I have to say I'm really disappointed. All of the tech reviews I read about sync lead me to believe that all of these voice commands were available over bluetooth. So I have to plug on and mount the phone every time? Not cool.

Even so, I had it connected and all my albums showed up but it wouldn't let me say play artist. Instead it said say one for queen, say two for billy idol, say three for...

That can't possibly be the way it works, can it?

You'll learn to hate that lady... If she's asking you questions like "say one for..." it means she didn't understand what you said.

Bluetooth voice commands for music only work for some phones - they don't work at all for iPhone for instance.

try saying: "what's playing" every once in a while to learn how the sync lady pronounces things
Eventually you'll learn how the lady pronounces things and then everything gets really easy.

For instance, if I want to call "Bros Tacos" (a local mexican restaurant) I have to say "Call Bra's Take-Ohs"

I also hate having to connect my phone to the usb cable to get full functionality - this is why I either use my iPod which I keep connected, or use a USB thumb drive (you should have one either from your delivery, or pre-order) and stick some music on there.

And most important, if you want to get the most out of it, install a harddrive in your car!
Some people on the escape site have found an extra mini-usb port hidden in their dash (not sure if anyone has looked for where it is in the fiesta yet - but it's going to be wherever the sync guts are) and have used it to install a 100 gig external harddrive (gotta find one that doesn't require power). When you connect to the mini-usb, you ask sync to play "USB 2". Every once in a while, disconnect the drive and fill it up with any recent music you've gotten

The entire guts of the sync system only costs about $20, close to 90% of that is the voice recognition chip which, if you ask me, isn't that great but as I've said, you'll get use to it.

edit: i was looking over the sync website and can't find any bluetook information for controlling music via voice commands. my guess is that this will only work via applink - another thing that isn't yet available for iphone (hoping it will come in a sync upgrade at a later date). this reminds me - make sure you hang onto the usb thumb drive that comes with your car /or/ preorder so that you can upgrade your sync whenever one is released. the upgrade process is pretty painless, but it requires the car to be running for around 20 minutes.

 

[Jazzdog]

You should be able to tell it "Shuffle On" so it plays tracks at random, the left right arrows on LH side of steering wheel allow you to skip to next song.

Double push on SYNC gets you out of the interactive thing but you need to know what you're doing. Eventually when you get comfortable go into SYNC Menu to Advanced settings and you can switch to less interactive feedback. Still does it for some stuff but it doesn't parrot every command back to you.

 

[MegEtc]

I won't really know if this was helpful until I get my own Fiesta to play with, but this YouTube video is 10 minutes long and goes through several popular commands without editing, making it a very real-world demonstration. It's boring as hell, but as realistic as you can get.

 

[ilovetigger]

I have installed a hard drive. There is a small space next to the passenger seat where it slides right in perfectly so I don't have to use my limited glove box space for storing it. Currently there are about 5000 or so songs.

I use voice command. While I have not tried to specify a specific artist yet....I just tell it what genra of music I want. (ie. rock, indian, island, easy listening.) If I want shuffle, I say shuffle. I DO NOT have to plug in my phone as someone else said. While I am still learning, having only had my Fiesta a few days, it has seemed relatively easy so far.

I hope this helps.

 

[MegEtc]

I have installed a hard drive. There is a small space next to the passenger seat where it slides right in perfectly so I don't have to use my limited glove box space for storing it. Currently there are about 5000 or so songs.

I use voice command. While I have not tried to specify a specific artist yet....I just tell it what genra of music I want. (ie. rock, indian, island, easy listening.) If I want shuffle, I say shuffle. I DO NOT have to plug in my phone as someone else said. While I am still learning, having only had my Fiesta a few days, it has seemed relatively easy so far.

I hope this helps.

Would you be willing to take photos of where you've connected the hard drive and where you're stowing it? I'd really like to see that setup so I can copy it when my car comes.

 

[TeamFord]

Let clear some things up. First, not all phones are the same. I am using a G1 that is an Andorid and thats how I have to do it in order to use voice control, in order to do that I have to use the USB cable and mount my phone. Most of the time you can just hop in the car, say "bluetooth audio" and it will play. You just can't use voice to select artist, title, etc.. You can use the controls on the steering wheel to do previous or next track.

Remember, its a phone, not a MP3 player. If you used a Zune, iPod, or USB drive it is just plug and play, very easy.

Also, when talking to the system don't yell or talk slow. Just talk normal. I will admit it does have problems with my Boston accent sometime, but most of the time everything works perfectly.

 

[anverc]

I have installed a hard drive. There is a small space next to the passenger seat where it slides right in perfectly so I don't have to use my limited glove box space for storing it. Currently there are about 5000 or so songs.

I use voice command. While I have not tried to specify a specific artist yet....I just tell it what genra of music I want. (ie. rock, indian, island, easy listening.) If I want shuffle, I say shuffle. I DO NOT have to plug in my phone as someone else said. While I am still learning, having only had my Fiesta a few days, it has seemed relatively easy so far.

I hope this helps.

Did you install it on the hidden mini usb port or are you taking up the single one on the console? I'd like to use the mini port so I can free up the console one to charge my phone or run my ecig

 

[BobosCurse]

Where is this mythical hidden USB port?

 

[blueflame]

On the center console behind the shifter bezel, only Sync package comes with USB.

 

[BobosCurse]

I know about that one but I read there is a second port somewhere.

 

[blueflame]

Originally the base s sedan came standard with usb, that would be the second usb you heard of, ford cancelled that usb port.

 

[LMTech]

I know about that one but I read there is a second port somewhere.

It is on the APIM module I don't know where it is yet but all APIM modules have 2 usb ports. APIM stands for Audio Protocol Interface Module