vp911

The razr for verizon was released today $199 after $100 instant rebate. Only available at verizonwireless.com and according to their bluetooth chart it IS fully compatible with the RLs HFL:
http://dts.vzw.com/pdf/Motorola_carkit_RAZR%20V3c.pdf

DaveGee

Don't know if it's a national promo or not, but in SoCal you can get a Razor through Cingular for $99 after $50 mail-in rebate. 2-year agreement required.

vp911

Yes, I think that is national. The razr for verizon is new and people have been looking for it to be available using the CDMA network.

Dr. E in TN

I know that the new Palm Treo 700 Windows based unit will be available probably in January thru Verizon. Would you happen to know if it will be bluetooth compatible with the Acura RL's handsfree link? Have the previous Treo units been compatible?

vp911

Some of the treos have been compatible, but I don't think anybody will really know until it comes out.

Dr. E in TN

Thanks, I know that the Treo 700w and the Motorola Q should both be out early next year. Both will be running Windows Mobile 5.0 and be available on Verizon. I am trying to decide on which to buy and a lot of the decision will be how well they work with my RL. Any thoughts? I don't think the V3c is a significant upgrade but hopefully the V3i will be, but I don't know if the V3i will be available on Verizon or when.

vp911

Don't expect a V3i version for CDMA (VZW) to be available for several months, if ever. Ther razr just came out - moer than a year after the GSM version was released.

Honestly, you are going to have to wait to see when the Q and 700w come out. If I had to guess, I would say the Q will work because moto has been good at making their other phones compatible with vzw. The 700w I am not really sure.

hendjaz

I have the Verizon Wireless Razr now and its paired without trouble to the RL. It is fully functional via bluetooth in the RL as was my moto v.710. The Contacts can't be transmitted to the phonebook via bluetooth and must still be entered verbally per the directions in the RL's owners manual. This is the same with our Lexus so is not unique to Acura with VZW phones. The RL is much better than the Lexus for handsfree operation since it can be done in the RL while driving via voice commands whereas the RX400h is limited to touching numbers on the screen or phone with voice capabilities. On-screen use in the Lexus is limited while driving to numbers saved for one-number dialing.

A big difference with the Razr over prior VZW motos is that obex is functional without hacking so it is possible to link via bluetooth or cable to a pc for the transfer of pictures and music clips for ringtones to the Razr. Very handy/fun. Razr's a great phone and combo with the RL so far. It is the only Razr with the Vcast video capability since that is unique to VZW.

vp911

Thanks for the info. As far as the phonebook - the acura cars are NOT capable of doing it no matter what phone you have. It was my understanding that some of the lexus cars are capable of doing so; however, not with all vzw phones because some of the phones disabled obex as you explained. I thought the razr was going to be disabled also - I guess not. I know the 6256 is fully functional BT.

Dr. E in TN

What is "obex?" And how do you transfer things specifically to the Razr? Do you have the old original Razr or the new V3c?

vp911

Dr. E - obex is basically a protocol which when enabled, allows you to use a bluetooth enabled computer with software (Such as mobile phone tools from motorola) to transfer music, ring tones, pictures, etc to the phone without wires. You can get a bluetooth usb adapter from any major electronics store (e.g. best buy, compusa, circuit city) for a cheap price to add bluetooth to your computer.

hendjaz

Dr. E, it is the Razer V3c that has just come out for Verizon Wireless.

With Motorola's Mobile Phone Tools (MPT) software loaded on the pc one can easily transfer files back and forth between the pc and Razr via bluetooth or a connecting cable. I haven't tried the transfers without MPT so not sure how or whether it works without that software. MPT makes it very easy to excerpt out of a 4 minute song the 20 seconds or so you want to use for a ring tone and then transfer that 20 seconds to the phone. You can do similar things with photos before transfering them or just transfer as they are. Easy to use software for even low techs like myself.

Dr. E in TN

Can you tell me where to get Moto's Mobile Phone Tools software? Online perhaps?

vp911

You can generally buy it from places like smartphonedepot.com or ebay is the cheapest place for only a few bucks.

Dr. E in TN

Thanks

dadcat1

I agree that the RL is much better than the Lexus for the phone/Nav. There is a way to modify the Lexus RX-400h to use the on-screen keyboard to phone, but it involves cutting a wire behind the Nav screen. I plan to do this modification shortly.

hendjaz

Dadcat1, I am surprised Lexus doesn't have voice commands for bluetooth phone operation as does the RL. Voice commands are fairly limited in number and for use with the navigation map only as far as I can tell. I am so used to using voice for phone operation in the RL that it feels like I have slipped back into the dark ages when driving the 400h and using either the phone or screen keypad to initiate a call. Please share the workaround details if it winds up working well when you make the change.

Dr. E, you can also get MPT directly from the Motorola website store where you can get the CD software alone for $29 and probably cheaper at other online locations. You might want to order it without the cable as I don't think it is paired yet with a cable that fits the V3c, which uses the mini USB connector. You can always get the cable separately to make sure it has the mini USB or just go with the bluetooth if your pc has bluetooth. Have you gotten the V3c yet and paired it with the RL?

Dr. E in TN

Currently I have the old V3 paired with my RL, but have never used MPT to the full extent you guys mention. Thanks for the info.

samchuck

After easily pairing my new Verizon V3c with my 05 RL and placing a few calls without any problems, I soon discovered a bug which I wonder if other people have experienced. When I attempt to send additional numbers while on an automated attendant, my phone freezes and produces a high pitched sound. The only way to stop it is to turn off the phone and disconnect it from the bluetooth connection in the car to make any other calls. I called the HFL 800 number and spoke to a knowledgable rep who stated that the V3c is currently in compatability testing with Acura and they cannot offer any advice until their testing is complete in about two weeks. Has this happened to anyone else?

Nocturnal

Nice phone but lack of trimode is a deal breaker for me. That said my 6256i is a buggy phone for sure that needs a little more work and a few upgrades. Caller id matching doesn't work properly when you have a large address book and sometimes the phone will switch to analog mode and refuse to switch back to digital until you power cycle it.

Other than that the obex is great, got a MS BT Mouse and the phone sync'd right up. No need to buy an extra cable or software.

I have a Motorola cable/software I don't need anymore. I'll look up the exact part number and post in the classifieds forum. I'll be away from Sat. till early jan though.

jquilty

samchuck,
I am experiencing the identical problem. When my phone freezes I have to actually shut the phone down and restart it before I can make calls on the phone itself.
I also noticed that when entering a number in the phonebook, I can't use the voice command "add more numbers" even though it's a prompt. It just won't recognize the command.

vp911

When you are trying to add more numbers. You simply push the talk button and say the additional numbers. You don't say "add more numbers"

dadcat1

[QUOTE=hendjaz]Dadcat1, I am surprised Lexus doesn't have voice commands for bluetooth phone operation as does the RL. Voice commands are fairly limited in number and for use with the navigation map only as far as I can tell. I am so used to using voice for phone operation in the RL that it feels like I have slipped back into the dark ages when driving the 400h and using either the phone or screen keypad to initiate a call. Please share the workaround details if it winds up working well when you make the change.
QUOTE]
hendjaz: I completed the wire cutting modification on my 400h to allow the phone keypad dial to work while in motion and I agree that the RL's phone operation is top notch.

The workaround details can be found by doing a Google search for "zube phone dial while driving", which will lead you to another forum. It appears that you may have posted in that forum back in Sept., but the solution was not posted until Nov. You may want to pay a local stereo/alarm installer to do this mod, since it involves a moderate degree of difficulty.

jcha2

Bought a Razr V3c from Verizon on Saturday. I paired the phone to the car right outside the store. Everything worked great, signal, battery and caller ID is displayed on the MID. No name only number on the caller ID. Another really cool capability is you can call any number in the places of the navigation system thru the interface dial. I am very impressed with the phone and the capability of the HFL of the car. If you don't have a bluetooth phone yet, better get one, it is awesome.

The phone cost $199 with a two year contract with Verizozn. The sales rep gave me a 100 dollar Motorola mail-in rebate - expires 12 feb 06 - total cost after rebate $99. Hooha!

PeterL1

Hi - how do you set up a Verizon phone to work with Acura Link? Verizon is not listed in the setup menu...

vp911

It takes a bit of work to setup verizon to do this. I am not sure if you can use the Razr for it either. If you search, you will find a thread that another member started explaining how to go about doing this.

jcha2

Acura link is not fully fuctional at this time (according to an Acura rep I just talked to on the phone) and Verizon is behind the times as compared to other providers to provide this feature for easy installation. So, basically, we can receive Acura link information thru the Sattelite radio but the car cannot forward technical info from the bluetooth car phone to the Acura dealer.

Keep in mind that the Verizon feature that will connect to Acura link has a monthly charge. I believe it is V Cast, but not sure (15 dollars a month). I personally do not see the benefit. The car has a diagnostic capability and it will identify any problem and store it in the computer. A trip to the dealer will reveal the problem to the mechanics. The only advantage of the phone link would be to pass the info early, before you arrive at the dealership.

That is my understanding of the system and I choose not to connect even when it becomes available.

vp911

You need mobile web with verizon not vcast and it is $5/month. It needs to have obex enabled and dialup enabled to do it. It can be done - and it has been done.

cortc

Have the Verizon V3c and paired with my RL, handsfree works great but not AcuraLink... Have the settings from the other thread used for connection and not working... Any one have the V3c working with AcuraLink?

hendjaz

I have read that the DUN (dial-up function) on the V3c will work in the 1x network for VZW but not for the evdo network. As noted, I believe the DUN function has to be working for the Acuralink connection to be made by a cell phone. Your phone display will show "EV" when connected to the evdo network and "1X" when in that network. I seem to always be in the EV area and have not gotten DUN to work. When using the phone as a modem it will dial successfully but then never connect. I have not tried in a 1X area to see if there is a difference in that slower network. My old v710 worked fine in this regard both as a modem and with Acuralink but that phone is not evdo enabled so only works off the 1X network. By the way, I would never go back to the 710 after living with the Razr.

If the information I read is valid and it seems that it may be given my experience with the two Moto/VZW phones then this may be the reason the V3c is not working with Acuralink in many cases as perhaps the RL and the user's phones are mostly in EV network areas, which I believe is most urban/suburban areas these days.

To get the DUN to work it may be necessary to turn off the evdo in the V3c if one is mostly in that network area. One has to get into the hidden menus to do this and its not that important to me so I haven't done this to try it out. The Howard forums have lots of info on how to go about this if interested.