KeithL

OK I have my 4G AWD a few days now and I am gettin aquainted with all the new tech toys, have some wall paper, ripped a few dics to the HDD while I firgure out which IPOD to get and dumped some stuff on a flash drive. So onto the hands free Bluetooth. I spent an hour+ going over the manual and fiddling with it in the car, and for the life of me think they took a step backward. On the 3G NAV you just hit Phoen Talk and said Phonebook and yada yad and were abel to program and save phone book entries. On the 4G it always tries to download a phonebook from my phone, whic my phone does not support. The only 2 ways to populate speed dial is via phonebook or call history and I see no way to manually set up a phone book? Am I missing somehting here? This seems liek a huge step backward.

MikeElmendorf

My phone supports the phonebook download, but I absolutely think the bluetooth phone function is a step backward and one of the real disappointments for me having come from the 07.

First, it doesn't show you the phone number of an incoming call-waiting call. My 04 and 07 both did this. Absurd that an 09 does not. I also find the voice dialing process a little more cumbersome than before, even with the phonebook imported, but at least it dials without having to confirm like in the previous models.

Also, the function of having the name of the caller from the phonebook display on an incoming call is intermittent at best.

bmode

Your not missing anything. I spent a good 10 minutes writing my reviews to Acura about this topic. This is a huge mistake on Acura's part. Once you have a technology in place of a very successful 3G line of cars, you don't take it away, and they did. The one I miss the most is simply hitting the voice talk button and say, "dial 555-1212", that feature is gone and you have to use a awkward digital rotary type of display. Pretty f'in stupid if you ask me, because the whole idea is to not take your eyes off the road!!!

We have a new law in California that took place in January, no texting while driving, but now we have to deal with Acura's Nav screen system to make a new non-phone book related phone call. What us all get a ticket for this! HUGE step backwards yes.

CraigMacDTA

Agreed, pretty f'n gay how the system is set up now, especially if you used the previous system. Unless you have an Iphone or Blackberry, you're pretty much screwed cuz it won't take your phone numbers. I've had LOTS of complaints from previous Hands Free Acura users now with a 4G TL. If you're brand new to Acura family, it doesn't seem to bother them.

Colin

Yeah, I gotta go practice on this more. I can barely use the damn thing. I think the reason for the change is the new system seems to be integrated with the Navi so maybe it's now build by Alpine. I believe the old system was by Motorola or maybe Johnson Controls,

CraigMacDTA

It's very frustrating. My GM refuses to link his phone with the new Hands Free Link in his TL and has made a few complaints to those in the know.

It seems as though the non-Navi system is easy to use, but yes, it's still different.

KeithL

Well I'll be writing my letter to Honda about the HFL, honestly I passed on the G37 becasue I liked the TL ride better, and Infiniti usablity for their technology sucks, seems Honda was envious of Infiniti sucking and decided to join them. The entire HFL usage is so convoluted it is amazing they actually had any previous owners test it in usabliity during design!

bmode

I see a change of this feature in the Mid line model. It's just too important to overlook as they initially did. Possibly even an update for the Nav.

crxb

agree 3G seemed easier to use for numbers in memory. I could just say "call Steve" - and the car would respond "call Target?"

KeithL

What were they thinking tohave to hit the phone button then the voice button. The book and voice prompts make it sound liek you can hit voice and say "call ...." but that does nto work, and if you hit the cell button and hit it again it does what ever you have highlighted. Boy did these guys ever do any kind of usability testing?

MikeElmendorf

It seems like this could be, in part, corrected with a software upgrade. I've been meaning to call client services to raise the issue. Everyone else should too. It's unlikely there will be a fix for us, but it is worth making some noise. Also, don't forget the fact that you no longer get a caller ID or notification from the system when a call comes in while the phone is already in use. The old system in my 04 and 07 did this.

It really does make you wonder how they test this stuff....

KeithL

I also noticed that when in NAV mode and a call came in I got now caller ID info nothig other thana ringing sound through the sound system, I miss the old info ont he MID that showed the caller ID.

crxb

I miss the voice telling you there was a call from the 3G