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My Ford Touch Thread

2M views 4K replies 396 participants last post by  Teamlosi23 
#1 ·
A member mentioned about having a sticky for the MFT sytem and I thought it was a good idea. Here's the thread for owners to discuss the MFT system, talk about and share issues they are having and to even share solutions. I know there are several MFT threads already out there, but we gotta start somewhere. Please keep this clean as it's going to be for everyone's benefit.

For everyone's information:
http://owner.ford.com/servlet/Conte...wnerGuidePage&year=2012&make=Ford&model=Focus

Enjoy.
 
#519 · (Edited)
Upgrade installed smooth. Everything seems to work fine just nothing comes up for NAV -- so I assume when I get the new SD card it'll load the NAV upgrade and that functionality will return. Really couldn't care less about NAV if this upgrade fixes most if not all of the problems I have been experiencing...

First screen


Hopefully the last time I will see this, AKA the MFT BSOD


Upgrade successful about 45 minutes later


Home with wallpaper (title/artist not showing for my connected and playing iPhone 4S). When I touch NAV nothing happens, but the systems seems to be working fine.
 
#526 ·
I noticed it too, almost started to press it again until I saw that it was actually switching. But I almost never use that corner so it's of no concern to me right now.

Upgrade installed smooth. Everything seems to work fine just nothing comes up for NAV -- so I assume when I get the new SD card it'll load the NAV upgrade and that functionality will return. Really couldn't care less about NAV if this upgrade fixes most if not all of the problems I have been experiencing...

First screen


Hopefully the last time I will see this, AKA the MFT BSOD


Upgrade successful about 45 minutes later


Home with wallpaper (title/artist not showing for my connected and playing iPhone 4S). When I touch NAV nothing happens, but the systems seems to be working fine.
Looks like you have a screen protector on it... where did you get it from? Or did you just get a universal one and cut it yourself? Looks good!
 
#532 ·
#522 ·
How are you guys formatting your background images so it looks nice on the touchscreen?

The times I've tried it, the images appear stretched...

BTW - audible.com has updated their website to say that "Audible compatibility with MyFord Touch should be made available to you by early April". So apparently Ford has done their part and now it's up to Audible to update their end. Doesn't surprise me that audible is behind on their timeframe.... :(
 
#523 ·
How are you guys formatting your background images so it looks nice on the touchscreen?

The times I've tried it, the images appear stretched...
The picture needs to be 800x378 pixels to appear unstretched.

What I do is scale any image down (in Paint.NET, Photoshop, ... whatever), preserving aspect ratio, so that one of its dimensions matches (width = 800 or height = 378) and the other is larger (width > 800 or height > 378). Then crop (not resize) the other dimension to select the viewable region without squashing the image horizontally/vertically.

You can make almost anything work with this approach. Widescreen images (16x9) work best because they're closer to 800x378 aspect ratio than 4x3, so you don't need to crop as much.
 
#529 ·
I updated my MFT thanks to txskeets and others who provided the file... thanks!

It took about 45 minutes.. easy peasy. I played around with it for about 5 minutes and everything is working great! I would have been thrilled if it came like this out of the box, but at least it is here now. Good job, Ford!

Nav doesn't work yet but I don't care... it was pretty useless with the old version of the software anyway. I'll gladly be without nav for a bit to have the update now.
 
#530 ·
Am I the only one whose update is "Interrupted" at 142MB? It's happened 3 times already.

Maybe I'll try another browser...
 
#537 ·
Hmm. My laptop must hate me or something.

EDIT:

THIS JUST IN: My D:\ only had 142MB free. Jesus Christ...

I've been saying I'm going to do a clean install for like a year now but I keep putting it off. Look at where I am now. lol
 
#543 ·
Well not having the displeasure of using the MyTouch 2.11 or older versions, I have found the 3.0 upgrade that was loaded at the dealership on Weds. when I picked up my Yellow Blaze Ti very nice and intuitive to use.

Kinda glad I waited till now to make my purchase. [thumb]

[loveff]
 
#549 ·
Thanks guys. I downloaded the file at work and expanded to a stick and began the upgrade. About 15 minutes into it I got a "System Failure...bring to dealership" message. I couldn't do a thing with it. When I got home I downloaded file again with my FIOS connection and disconnected/reconnected the battery. Started the car with the new file in and it worked beautifully. It took an hour, but it worked. Thanks again.
It's awesome to have this site as a resource.
 
#551 ·
I'm not sure if this affects the warranty, so I definitely did NOT:

Download the file from >txskeets's website<
Verify the MD5 checksum with >this program<
Format an 8GB SD card (FAT32)
Unzip files to said SD Card
Start car (waited a second for everything to load - just in case)
Went to entertainment quadrant and inserted SD card
Let install do its thing (restarts a few times during the update)

Because I "did not" do this, it didn't take about 45-50 minutes
It also "does not" work great. [;)]

Am I making myself clear?
 
#857 ·
That is not correct. We've started mailing both nav and non-nav packages and will continue to do so over the next few weeks. Do you happen to know the name of the agent you spoke with?

Jaclyn
 
#555 ·
And I feel the need to document problems I currently have with the update:

1) Not being able to assign the favorites buttons is ridiculous. They're both completely useless, as it is. Does Ford really think we need a button to go...to the main screen? Or to the Sync Services screen?

2) No Valet mode. WTF were they were thinking here? No Valet mode means my personal addresses and phone numbers are available for anybody that gets into my car. Guess I won't be accepting valet parking anytime soon...

3) No progress indicator on USB. WTF again lol. Who on Earth would remove this? At least give us a "1:00/3:04" or something. I have no idea how long some of these songs are and I'd like to have *some* indication of when they might end. Same is true for both iPod and USB sticks.

4) Randomly the Play/Pause button didn't function when I was playing from the USB stick. I switched inputs to and from the iPod and it worked fine.

5) Volume indicator doesn't update for every change. It only updates every *other* change. I like to set my volume one notch under the first main notch when I park it overnight...but that notch isn't one of the ones that gets updated. Meaning: I set it to the first main notch, then drop it a bit lower, but there's no visual indication. Huh??

6) Separation of AM/FM. Lol what? Did they honestly think people wanted the AM and FM stations separated into different buttons?? Now my first USB device is on the first screen and my second is on the second page. If I could, I'd just remove AM from the list completely. What a waste. Why would they feel the need to change this?? The best option would be letting us re-order this list as we see fit. I'd throw AM and CD at the bottom of the list, as I never use them.


Outside of these things, I freakin *LOVE* the new system. It is incredibly fast, seems to be stable and reliable, and is far more intuitive (although this doesn't really matter to me...just important if I pick up my parents to take them somewhere since the old system was just a bit beyond them). A few small changes and this system would be perfect!
 
#559 ·
2) No Valet mode. WTF were they were thinking here? No Valet mode means my personal addresses and phone numbers are available for anybody that gets into my car. Guess I won't be accepting valet parking anytime soon...


6) Separation of AM/FM. Lol what? Did they honestly think people wanted the AM and FM stations separated into different buttons?? Now my first USB device is on the first screen and my second is on the second page. If I could, I'd just remove AM from the list completely. What a waste. Why would they feel the need to change this?? The best option would be letting us re-order this list as we see fit. I'd throw AM and CD at the bottom of the list, as I never use them.
I installed the update last night, and messed around with the settings for a few seconds before taking off for work this morning. There is a valet mode. I didn't go into the actual valet mode menu to test it, but it's there.

I like the separation of the AM/FM buttons. If I want to listen to a baseball or football game, I don't want to have to press the "FM" button four times to cycle through FM, FM1, FM2, and AM, or whatever they used to be. Personal preference I guess. I agree that it would be nice to be able to drag and drop the buttons to a specific location.

One thing I really don't like is the fade effect when the screen changes. Fading gives the illusion of slowness. Maybe the system really is processing the data to be displayed while the screen fades in and out, but if not, they should eliminate the fade effect so screens just pop up instantly.
 
#556 ·
Thanks for the info jbird. I've been torn as whether or not to grab the file through here and do it myself now and live without Nav or wait. Being without Nav for a few days is no big deal deal but since Ford has said "over the next few weeks" for mailing I didn't want to be without it a month or so.
 
#561 ·
Thanks for the info jbird. I've been torn as whether or not to grab the file through here and do myself now and live without Nav or wait. Being without Nav for a few days is no big deal deal but since Ford has said "over the next few weeks" for mailing I didn't want to be without it a month or so.
Apparently the scary guy warning it could magically somehow void your warranty said it should hit the smr website by the end of the week.

Im going to wait for that, or until some brave canuk tries this download and chimes in.

Sent from my Telus Samsung Galaxy S Fascinate
 
#560 ·
Well, we all knew that the new update wouldn't be everything to everyone. Honestly, I think what matters is stability at this point. If this update successfully resolves the lockups, reboots and random stuff that MFT/MLT has been doing for many people, then I think its a good update. Menu's and temperature features can always be added back in with another update. I think the main point of this update was to address the stability and mess that was MFT/MLT. I read in one of the forums somewhere that they found when they were rewriting this, that there was actually a 2nd processor in the system that was there for graphics and it was BARELY being used. Apparently the old company (BSquared) missed that. Supposedly the new update actually makes use of the "graphics" processor the way it was intended to be used! Like I said, though the new update may not have been exactly what you wanted and hoped for, if it resolves the issues that MFT/MLT has been having, then be content for now. :)
 
#562 ·
OK, so the list of things they removed seems to be growing. I have, and will again, make the argument that giving people a bunch of cool features and then taking them away does not constitute an upgrade but a downgrade. If you sell people a great feature and then take it away it is not good but at least replace with an equally cool or cooler feature. It would be a lot easier pill to swallow if they said "Well, we took away your home screen and customizable shortcut buttons and temperature and valet mode and progress bar but guess what? We gave you Applink!" Instead of "Well, we took away (all of the proceeding) but guess what? We gave you nothing!" Speed and stability don't count as a replacement since nowhere in the brochures or at any dealerships was it advertised that MFT was a slow, bug-riddled, crash-prone, unstable mess. We were all under the impression we were getting stability when we bought it.

Maybe the dumbed-down look is, like csvt said, necessary for speed (though I wonder because if one of the things they said they did was actually utilize the GPU this time around the CPU should have more resources available I would think but I don't do this for a living so I don't know) and I also agree that the new big blocky fonts look ridiculous and dated. I too had no problems with the appearance of the old version, functionality/menu structure, and really liked the info that was provided in the four corners when on home screen. I don't see why they could not have offered an menu option for appearance, the ability to select between "I'm an idiot that can barely operate a blender" mode and "classic MFT" mode.
 
#564 ·
I just got an email stating that the update is shipping. After reading these recent posts I am unsure if I want to install it. I haven't had any problems with the interface just a few problems with stability. I don't want to lose some of the functions in the current version (temp display, ability to assign *1 & *2, etc...) WTF, I have been waiting for ths promised update for months!!!
 
#566 ·
Hopefully they can add some of this functionality back quickly because my favorite buttons WERE useful.

The GUI is inconsistent and looks like a cobbled together mess; some elements of the GUI are too big and others are too small. On top of that, why do the virtual buttons have to look like physical buttons? Does someone really need that much of a hint to know that you're supposed to press it with your finger?

This update to me so far is only a win for stability and a loss regarding all other aspects. The look may grow on me but they really need to address some of the graphics sizes and missing elements like a progress indicator for playing media and shortcuts.

For our sake, I hope they shipped this update knowing it wasn't perfect but intended to follow up with a quick update to address outstanding issues. There are just too many glaring oversights in a product that needs to be successful. Otherwise either Ford didn't listen to their testers or they need more competent testers.

/rant
 
#568 ·
I just spoke with the 800 number and apparently all the NAV SD cards are identical, they are not serialized. It looks like that someone that has the NAV SD card may be able to post the contents like the update was posted, and those of us with NAV can use it. (I'm betting there is some switch deep in the OS that controls if it even looks for it, and this particular version of the maps does not bother with a serial, since everyone will have this as a base map now)

So... if someone wants to PM me a link to a copy of their Maps SD, I would be more then happy to test the theory :)

(fyi, I did the downlaoded update last night, and aside from not being able to use nav now.. its like a night/day difference, its amazing)
 
#569 ·
I'm still convinced (though I have no way to test this) that even though my MFT did not come with NAV, that if I popped an official SD card from Ford into the SD slot that the NAV would work perfectly. Fords BS line that it has to be activated at the factory in my mind is just wrong. Even though I dont have NAV, I can use Sync Destinations and it will give me turn by turn directions though MFT. I'm going to figure out a way to test this theory one day. :)
 
#570 ·
The update finished on my way to work this morning (I have a 50 mile commute). It basically finished with 3 minutes left to get to work - needless to say, I've barely tested it yet - but I'll come back with my comments (read: complaints) sometime after 4pm.
 
#572 ·
Well, I got the update and was able to play with a bit. My criticism/gripes (and issues due to personal preferences) are as follows (I'm aware a bunch of this has been covered already):

I knew the temperature display was gone from previous posters/pre-release videos, but it still bothers me a great deal.

The compass is entirely useless (I can only imagine how people with the upgraded rear-view mirrors feel. I'm sure three different compasses all displaying the exact same thing are super useful.) and would much rather have something like a compressed calendar or the date, that would be a far more expedient use of the space.

The lack of the artist/song on the entertainment tab for Sirius on the home screen is insane. I almost didn't do the upgrade for this alone and experiencing it kind of makes me wish I didn't. I thought this was upgrade was supposed to make the most important information more easily visible.

No track end time for USB, Bluetooth, or CD makes no sense and there is absolutely no excuse for not having it. The space is there, use it.

The Climate display on the home screen is mostly useless now as well as it provides no information other than the current target temperature for both sides. What mode am I in?

Someone didn't run spell check on their strings when they were typing them up. Nice QA job...


When I plugged in my USB drive that has my music it began indexing. Shortly thereafter, it stated that it had finished and was building media commands. A bit after that, building media commands disappeared. I attempted to use voice commands to play music and it stated that it was still indexing and I would have to wait. It then showed index complete once again, followed by building media commands, which went away after some time yet again. Tried again, sync told me the same thing. This went on for several iterations before it finally let me do anything.

When it misunderstood me for the first time and couldn't find a matching command the information prompt was excessively long. You can say this command, or this command, or this device, or call Ford at this number for support. Really? I hope this is a one time thing because that's just annoying.

The fade-out/in animation makes my skin crawl. I have never liked that effect and it makes things look choppy. If it is using that time for calculation I would much prefer it did absolutely nothing and switched when ready.

I had to re-pair my phone for whatever reason. This may not be a sync thing though, my phone has been doing some weird things lately.

The volume increment display is very annoying now. Why does it only update the bar every other increment?

Favorite buttons are now useless. How did nobody notice this when testing?

The information quadrant has zero feedback (audible tone) when it is touched. This just makes it seem apart from the others. No clue why this was done this way.

I don't know why, but after the upgrade I seem to have to push the buttons longer than I did before otherwise it doesn't recognize the input. I've found myself having to touch buttons multiple times before it actually notices I have touched it.

Also noticed that several times (at least 4) during usage (I was stopped and the car was off), sync warned me about the dangers of driving while distracted and that some features would be unavailable while driving. Not sure why it did that.
 
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