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Sync services is awesome!

5K views 39 replies 18 participants last post by  valmundo 
#1 ·
Well....it's been two weeks ago as of today that I bought my Ti hatchback. In that time I've had the opportunity to take advantage of most of the car's features, except for Sync Services. So this morning on my 45 minute commute to work I decided to check out the "Services" that Sync offers and boy was I impressed!

I learned that by saying, "Tell me my choices" Sync will list all of the different commands that you can use. I listened to business and top news stories, in addition to technology and entertainment news. The best part was it was all commercial free and it was personalized based on the criteria I set up on syncmyride.com, last evening. Sync told me the weather for where my trip originated and the best part was it also gave me the weather for my travel destination while I was enroute, in addition to traffic along the way. Wow! All I can say is, AWESOME! I even checked some stock quotes and a couple movie listings in my area. This thing could become addictive.

The entire time I used voice commands to navigate through the system and it was totally 100% error free. The voice command system worked flawlessly and the only time I pressed a button was when I ended my Sync session.

For all the criticsm that Sync/Ford MyTouch has received, all I can say is that those who do not have it are really missing out. Overall the system works very well. Before the 3.5.1 update I had only a couple minor glitches which the update seems to have corrected. Sure you can live without all the extra features, but the question is why would you want to? It takes driving the Focus to a whole different level. The system has features that my Lexus doesn't even have.
 
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#3 ·
Really? That's unfortunate. I suppose it will be available in Canada eventually, but I am rather surprised it's not already. I suspect this has more to do with Microsoft than it does with Ford since all the services such as stock quotes, weather, traffic, etc are all based on U.S. There's no reason that I can see why it couldn't be offered in Canada, other than Microsoft just hasn't developed the database of information for that market yet.

Who really knows what the answer is, but I do know this; it makes for a complete info-tainment package. Typically these are the kinds of things that I could care less about. I always buy my cars with Navigation and XM radio if available, but now that I have all the other features of Sync services, I think that has set a new standard in terms of minimal required equipment on my part.
 
#4 ·
I have used the Sync services a few times, but I rather not burn up my cell phone minutes to use the features. Also the interface might be different since I do not have MFT.
 
#5 ·
Very good point about the cell phone minutes. I hadn't thought about the interface in the non-MFT equipped cars. I assume the experience for you would be similar to having the On-Star feature where you press a button to be connected to On-Star. With the MFT however, Sync Services is completely integrated in to the touch screen environment which appears as any other feature or function. It's so seemless in fact that you don't even recognize that you're connected via cell phone. All the voice prompts and the familiar voice sound the same. Honestly, I think the critics have given this system a bad rap. It truly is one of the most advanced in car info-tainment systems I've seen and while it may not be perfect, living with computers seldom is....whether they be on your desk, on your phone or in a car. I'm truly impressed with what Ford has done and I beleive they are going in the right direction with this technology. With time the system will become even better.
 
#19 ·
I use the Sync Destinations app on my iPhone to setup "My Points", than shoot it to Sync via the app. Than use the turn by turn directions. I am really impressed on how well it works. Have not used my GPS in a while! The only down side is if you go off-route, it takes it a bit to redo the directions since it has to learn your location and download new directions.

Also use it all the time for weather, finding businesses and news.
 
#21 ·
As some of us were discussing yesterday, some of the features under, Services requires a cell phone connection, such as movie listings, stock quotes, news, etc... A few people brought up the increased data cost with cell phone providers to use these services which is why they don't use those them much, or in some cases the services aren't available in their market (Canada). Well...this morning on my way to work there were 2 accidents along my route to work and I discovered that not all of Sync Services utilize a data connection. For example, I was able to search for traffic conditions and it pulled up the two accidents that were along my route. In addition I was able to check gas prices without incurring cell phone data charges. So it would appear that some of these services operate off of GPS signals, whereas others do require the use of the cell phone (stock quotes, movie listings, news, etc).
 
#26 ·
It never uses a data connection nor does it ever use the phone's GPS. It simply dials an 800 number and you are talking to the computer over the telephone, so it uses minutes. If it needs to transfer data, it switches to a dial-up mode where it gets a ~14.4 kbps link over the voice channel.

All of the cars with Sync or MFT have a GPS receiver built in. The hardware is less than $30 each now to get a lat/lon reading so they just put it in every car pretty much. In fact, the MFT without navi and MFT with navi are the same except for a hidden option that allows the MFT with navi to access the navigation menu and sounds and read the SD card.

P.S. Don't forget to "renew" your sync services every year, 2012 owners! It's free for the lifetime of the vehicle, but if you lapse, you'll potentially have to pay to get it back.
 
#22 ·
I have used the traffic function as well,, although yesterday I was driving by one which hadn't appeared yet (too new maybe?). But the gas price one doesn't work (get the spinning icon only). I was thinking it was part of the Sirius package? Maybe soomeone else can clarify.
 
#37 ·
Tried Sync Services too...It's great

I've had my car for awhile but only barely touched sync services...until now. It really is pretty cool. Whether you have Myford or Myford Touch installed in your car, the turn by turn directions work really well. You won't get a map displayed on your touchscreen (MFT owners), but it is nevertheless, very well integrated into the system. Since its free for the first three years, I highly recommend that folks here try it out next time on your way to work or home.
 
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