Getting the Treo 650 to speak with the Prius

Hello all! Here is a my experience in getting the Treo 650 working with my Prius.

After removing the 650 from the box I immediately sat down in my Prius, with full knowledge that the phone repotedly does not work of the box, and attempted to get the two to speak with each other. My phone could detect the Prius, but the Prius never left the "begin search on phone" screen.

I then went to PalmOne and downloaded the latest Carkit Update. Followed the instructions and installed the the update onto the phone. After doing so I went back out to the car and tried to get the two speaking with each other, several times, with the same results as above.

All during this time, my phone had not been activated onto the SprintPCS network. I didn't see why this should matter, but I accepted it as a possibility. I went back inside, activated the phone and slept on it.

This morning I tested the phone first, called my land line a few times and then went outside to try the get the phone and Prius on speaking terms. A few attempts later, I was no closer to a solution. Could it be that reports of the two devices working together is mearly a fluke!? A strange chance communication permited only to the lucky few?

Then, while the Prius was still in it's "new phone detect" screen, I placed a call from my phone and *BAM* the Prius picked the phone up! I was shocked, amazing... stupefied. The Prius was in full contact with the phone. I turned the car off, turned it back on and the connection was re-established, no trouble. Joy!

Because of this. I am not 100% confident that you are *required* to download the Carkit Patch. Perhaps someone could duplicate this experience without installing the patch and let us all know. Personally, the phone is working with the car now and I'm not touching anything.

The 650 was able to pick up the Prius, with no trouble and no patches. I was only able to get the Prius to detect the Treo 650 while the car was in the new phone setup screen and I made an outgoing call from the phone. After that, both devices are listed as paired on the other device.

I created a few small entries in the 650's Contacts, pressed the button and Prius to transfer the information and sent the Contacts. The Prius picked up the entries with no trouble.

I made a few outgoing calls to my home number. Call initiated from both the 650 and the Prius were routed through the Prius.

I can not comment on incoming calls, but the 650's manual specifically says it will route the incoming calls through the Bluetooth connection. With the success of the outgoing call routing, my guess is that incoming calls will no trouble ringing through the Prius.

Concerning voice quality, I have not gotten or made any real calls yet so I can't say. I will point out that my reception bars are awfully low, but listening to my answering machine message came through alright.

What about this "Linux user" stuff?
I decided to toss that in just to make a point. I am a Linux user, horribly anti-Microsoft and very happy I can give my PocketPC to my mother now. :lol: But I do have a very old Laptop with WindowsXP installed on it, which I use to install Windows apps that have trouble with Wine and then transfer them over.

The point to that? I haven't done anything with this phone on Linux yet. I didn't update the Carkit patch with Linux, or set up the initiali communication with the device on Linux. No information concerning how to update the phone on Linux is given by PalmOne, nor do I believe you will get any help on the subject from tech support.

If you are Linux user, my suggestion is just bite the bullet and break out that Windows partition (or machine) you probably still visit on occasion, but don't tell your friends about. Get everything set up there -- then worry about getting it to work with Linux.

 

After you install the CarKit, you still need to do the above in order to get it paired.

Two additional points I've noticed:
(1) The reception bars do not show up on the Prius.
(2) The car will not connect with the phone if it is in standby mode. It must be *on* in order for the connection to be made.

 

Auto Wakeup
Can be found in the Bluetooth menus. Hit the Bluetooth icon (or select the menu option in Prefs) and hit the drop down menu key. The option to turn on auto wakeup is the second option down.

Palm and Linux
Ironically... I just reinstall Windows last night. I got so tired of fighting with Linux to do even the simplest of tasks - such as Bluetooth being able to read/write from a flash rom stick. I have my eye on the Ubuntu distro right now -- when it will actually install on my computer (the install hangs) then I will give Linux another go. Until then, I'm a bleeding hypocrite.

Anyway - there is good support for syncing Evolution and Palm devices in Linux... if you can get Linux to recognize the damned device to begin with (ah... we find another program I never overcame). There are many threads on the subject at TreoCentral, some using the sync cable while others use Bluetooth.

But in the end, it is all hit or miss in the Linux world. Here I sit hoping for the day that Linux distros will stop fighting eachother and realize that Microsoft is laughing at them.