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HTC EVO and activating Prius USB Tab

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Audio and Electronics' started by web1b, Feb 8, 2011.

  1. web1b

    web1b Active Member

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    When the SD card is mounted, and you plug the cable into the USB port, the USB tab on the nav screen is supposed to become active and you should be able to play any MP3 files on the SD card.
    I have not ever seen this work with an EVO 4G with Android 2.2 Froyo.
    It works on some other phones, but not this specific phone model.
    I can plug the phone into a PC with the same cable and see the files, but not when I plug into the Prius.

    Is there a fix or workaround?
     
  2. Thai

    Thai Prius Neophyte

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    Welcome to my hell hole! Link: http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...ng-sucks-android-phones-so-usb-interface.html

    I had a Samsung Epic. Basically, the Prius system is designed for Apple Ipods and Iphones. The best thing is to link up BT Audio streaming, but that does not get you good quality sound. I ended having to use MELODYCAN (http://melodycan.com/) to get my Prius to see the songs on my phone...but, beware, there is no playlist or anything. In the end, i dumped my Epic and went back to my Itouch because i drive long distances and music is very important to me.

    Good luck.
     
  3. web1b

    web1b Active Member

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    Besides a bit better sound quality for music, the advantage of USB over bluetooth streaming is that you have much more playback control and you see the tracks on the nav screen instead of having to look at your phone to browse and find tracks.
    If you are doing bluetooth streaming for more than a few minutes, you really need to plug in to power to keep the battery charged, so why not just use the USB port then since you are not gaining anything by streaming?

    As far as sound quality, the bluetooth streaming is "OK" for me. Not bad.
    Worst to best sound quality I've seen in the Prius:

    AM
    Satellite
    FM
    Bluetooth Streaming
    AUX
    USB
    CD

    Once you get to AUX, it's pretty hard to tell any difference at all between AUX, USB and CD as long as you are playing the same music file on the Prius stereo.
     
  4. Thai

    Thai Prius Neophyte

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    web1b, did you even read the thread i linked?

    Well, if you were to do BT Audio, then all you have to do is plug your phone into the 12V socket and charge it while BT Audio does its thing.

    Like what i wrote above, BT Audio for Android phone is problematic...and it has NOTHING to do with sound quality per se. It sounds as if your tweeters are blown...i have downloaded numerous apps with equalizers to try and isolate this noise...no good. This is all across Android phones with maybe the exception of the Droid because it has "Enhanced Audio" option...no other Android phone has this option. So, this BT Audio streaming on Android phone is WORST than going thru your AUX.

    BTW, BT Audio via my iTouch works very well...but like you said, USB is the best connection for music. Unfortunately, most car audio systems USB (e.g. Prius) do NOT recognize Android phones well. With Melodycan, my prius was able to recognize my songs on my Epic via USB, BUT there was no playlist...so, you end up scrolling (via NAVI) up and down all your songs one-by-one. In the end, i gave up...and just went back to my iTouch via USB.

    And this is where i think Apple has the advantage. Not that it has more apps or cooler apps, but the industry is all geared for Apple stuff. Hopefully, this will change in the future as Android becomes more popular. My wife's TSX audio USB won't even recognize my Epic, even using Melodycan.
     
  5. web1b

    web1b Active Member

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    I am not having any problems with playing local bluetooth audio on my EVO. It sounds fine without any "blown tweeters" sound others have with other Android devices. The only problem I have playing local files is with USB and only USB since it won't recognize that the cable is attached.
    Sometimes there is a static sound over bluetooth when streaming online music (Pandora, Stitcher etc.), but not local files. Sometimes this is caused by WIFI interference.
    If there us no USB fix l'll keep streaming bluetooth and just get a ProClip mount so it will be easier to control tracks from the phone without having to pick it up and hold it.
    The app in your link is not related to my USB issue.
     
  6. equake

    equake Member

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    The SD card has to be set to Mass Storage mode before it could be mounted on the Prius. The only way to do this on my OG Droid was to get one of those widget addons like Extended Controls. Rooting would also allow you to get the Dual Mount SD widget to mount to the Prius and Phone.
     
  7. web1b

    web1b Active Member

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    When you plug it in to the USB port in the Prius, the phone screen asks you if you want to mount it it as a drive a drive, and even when you select that option, it doesn't work in the Prius.
    The problem is not caused by forgetting to set it to mass storage mode. Apparently it worked as expected with Android 2.1 and the 2.2 update broke it.
     
  8. equake

    equake Member

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    It never worked on the OG Droid unless its preset for Mass Storage mode prior to connecting up the phone to the Prius. The notification to set to Mass Storage never worked for the OG Droid. Have a look at the Dual Mount App in the Market to see what I'm talking about. With the phone already set to Mass Storage mode you won't have these problems.
     
  9. Ricklin11

    Ricklin11 Junior Member

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    I have the HTC Droid Incredible, the BT streaming is problematic. A new issue is failing to go back to streaming after a phone call, issues seem to change when Droid software changes.
    It's annoying, but workable.
    I just use USB flash drives for music storage, a couple of 8 gig flash drives is a lot of tunes. Has anyone tried using a hub, or a USB hard drive with the Prius USB port?
     
  10. dnaboston

    dnaboston Junior Member

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    Question - I know that there are inherent problems with audio books and the usb interface. Specifically, it normally starts the book over everytime. It seems that the iPod Touch works better. Can anyone confirm or deny if the iPod touch has the same problem with the audio book starting over each time?

    Dave
     
  11. Thai

    Thai Prius Neophyte

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    Not sure about audio books, but as long as i do not "close" the app on my iTouch, it plays where it left off.

    "close" = double click the home button and closing the app.
     
  12. bistritapcv

    bistritapcv Junior Member

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    I want to be sure I understand because that was my problem too. I plugged my HTC droid Eris into USB port but could not access music through it. I notice the USB has 3 options on the Droid: charge only, HTC sync, and Disk Drive (mount as disk drive). Even the mount as drive did not work. Are you saying (by mass storage) I should sent Mount As Drive. Disconnect the USB leaving it on Mount as Drive (mass storage) and then reconnect the USB and that should let me play audio through the USB port? I wasn't clear on that.

    Another something. If I get the USB port working to play audio, and I want to use the phone via Bluetooth, won't I have to turn Bluetooth on anyway, overriding the USB connection (except for charge)?
     
  13. equake

    equake Member

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    Apparently the Prius needs to have Android set to mount as a Mass Storage device prior to connecting up or else the USB does not get recognized. Stock Android when its in Mass Storage mode will dismount from the phone. Now this is only probably for phones that have no Internal storage and rely on the SD for all storage like the older Droids like the OG Droid and Eris, Hero etc. Those with a combo internal memory and SD card may not need to operate this way. Rooting always helps :).

    Bluetooth is separate and has its own tab and not affected by the USB.