2010 Prius Bluetooth A2DP & Iphone 3.0

[healthylaugh]

First, I should apologize to Jonathandz, as my initial response to his post doesn't read too kind a day later. I didn't mean it to come out that way. I've researched this hard today, as it has bearing on what I buy...

Just spoke with my large regional dealer and their leading edge audio people from Car Toys, and here is the deal:

-This 2010 is going to sell tons of units, creating serious aftermarket infotainment product demand.

-Compared to the Prius Gen 2, this car is far easier to retrofit the head unit and won't wreck havoc on the electronics, climate, etc.

SOOO...according to these experts....

1) There should be a module that will adapt the Pkg. III to allow for audio streaming WITHOUT the factory NAV. If one does not exist currently, it will be available very soon.

2) There will be aftermarket double DIN head units to replace the radio in a Pkg. II that will, in addition to the radio
-Permit BT phone calling
-Include a NAV screen
-Include a backup camera
-Permit music streaming via BT

Now, here's the decision we must make:

A.) Do you buy a Pkg. II and retrofit the head unit as per 2), knowing you don't have the sexy, factory phone controls on the steering wheel or the nicer JBL speakers and upgrade the entire head unit later (likely will be under $1,000 installed after the novelty wears off)?

or Do you buy a Pkg. III (without NAV) and ...

B.) Upgrade the head unit completely to something that will do all I've outlined in 2), except now you'll have the steering wheel controls and factory JBL speakers?

C.) Just buy the BT music streaming module (likely under $150 to start) and use the Portable TomTom or Garmin for NAV?

I'm leaning toward C, while keeping my eye on B if the price drops low enough....

Anxious to hear what you all think!

.

[SilentPanda]

Originally Posted by ggood

Hi - there is nothing in the manual or in the marketing info that indicates bluetooth streaming on the non-nav system is possible. I've seen one ambiguous post from someone claiming to have done it, but they never posted instructions on how they did it or a follow up post confirming that they had actually done it. Have you actually done it, and/or can you provide instructions, or a link to instructions, on how to do it (without using a 3rd party dongle)? Thanks.

On the standard 2010 Prius III package (no-nav) there is currently no way I can see to stream audio via bluetooth. I spent a good hour sitting in my car going through all the Bluetooth menus for the phone and there was nothing. The radio has no options really at all except to change basic EQ levels, switch stations, and switch from FM/AM/SAT/Aux/CD. I also went through all the settings on the upper dash display (just in case!) and nothing. So unless you have to hold down the brake, twist the volume knob at 3 RPM, and honk the horn with your nose, I don't see a way.

I don't even think an iPhone update would help as there is nowhere to even try to sync it up in the car. Only for the phone.

Of course again, I'd love to be wrong but unless something gets installed aftermarket I feel like I've done the hands on.

I also tried the "Prius Phonebook" application (found at Softpedias site, sorry still < 5 posts for me) with my MacBook Air to get contacts loaded in that way but didn't have any luck. I'm assuming that it has changed slightly from the 2nd gen Prius.

[GreenSteve]

On Labor Day we bought a 2010 Prius with Package II and a port-installed Blu Logic bluetooth adapter. The dealer paired my DH's iPhone 3G and off we went.

This morning my DH was in the car with his iPhone paired when I called his phone. When we hung up his iPhone indicated that it had found a device that supported the A2DP streaming profile, the car, and it began playing audio through the car speakers that are used for phone calls.

No cables of any kind were connected to his iPhone.

The car stereo was turned off.

The audio volume could not be adjusted because the car stereo was not playing the audio, it was coming from the car as though it were a phone call.

My DH is a programmer and writes code for cell phones, he is also a registered developer with Apple, I mention these facts as a way of indicating that he is a technically qualified source of information.

[rrolff]

Not sure if anyone understands the whole A2DP thing - but the iPhone has a bug (current OS) where track changing is not supported (or technically it's broken in the iPhone OS). So, you can adjust volume, send music, pause the music, but you cannot change tracks.

This is rumored to be fixed in a future release...

[banshee08]

What I did was purchased the Prius II and am going to install a double din head unit to take care of the Nav, Bluetooth, DVD video, and IPOD controls. I am glad I did not get the package III since the upgraded JBL speakers are still worthless paper cone speakers (just more of them and a more powerful 8 channel amplifier). I think the only advantage of the Package 3 is the homelink for me but I install it on my own.

Your option C. is interesting but I prefer to have a 7" display for my nav and actual full ipod controls with album art. The 4.3" displays of the portable Nav just don't cut it for me.

[cmalberto]

The iPhone got updated to 3.1 today. This fixed my issue with the iPhone not remembering its last position of a song or podcast one BT is terminated my turning off the Prius. Yeah!

[rrolff]

Originally Posted by cmalberto

The iPhone got updated to 3.1 today. This fixed my issue with the iPhone not remembering its last position of a song or podcast one BT is terminated my turning off the Prius. Yeah!

Be careful about upgrading iPhones if you ever want to Jailbreak (run 2nd source apps - like ones that lets you video stuff - even on older iPhones) your iPhone... Never be the first.....

[aaronfreimark]

Originally Posted by cmalberto

The iPhone got updated to 3.1 today. This fixed my issue with the iPhone not remembering its last position of a song or podcast one BT is terminated my turning off the Prius. Yeah!

Did the 3.1 update allow you to issue voice commands directly to the iPhone? Or are commands still handled by the Prius?

[EternityInBlack]

Originally Posted by cmalberto

The iPhone got updated to 3.1 today. This fixed my issue with the iPhone not remembering its last position of a song or podcast one BT is terminated my turning off the Prius. Yeah!

I can confirm this. I updated my iPhone to 3.1 and it retained the last position of the song after leaving my Prius. Baby steps I suppose... I'd like to be able to cycle through tracks on it though

[OvertheHill]

Can you have 2 bluetooth devices connected at the same time - for example an Ipod Touch for streaming music and a cellphone for calls?