My Ford Touch Thread

[fixxer]

When is 3.5.1 going to be available for MFT w/Navi (without having to stop by the dealership)?
I thought they said early Jan?

[feta_mgp]

Originally Posted by fixxer

When is 3.5.1 going to be available for MFT w/Navi (without having to stop by the dealership)?
I thought they said early Jan?

Navi update requires an SD card. Best thing to do is take a day and let them do it there, otherwise you'll be waiting a while. I've yet to receive my USB from the original 3.0.2 update, and probably never will, though I was clearly within the range of owners to supposedly receive it.

[copernicium112]

Originally Posted by feta_mgp

I've seen others with the IA issues, I don't think that has to do with the update. As a matter of fact neither of those should have to do with the update. I say should because I can't be 100% positive, but I would imagine the system that controls the headlights/wipers/IA is entirely separate from the MFT system...

Yeah, that was my initial thought, unrelated. It was just the coincidental post-update timing that made me wonder. My IA has been twitchy (trouble unlocking with the front two handles) before but never to this extent, completely non-functional in all facets (unlock and lock, all door handles). Never had anything go wrong with the wipers/headlights on auto thing before though so that is totally new. Making matters worse, like so many other things, it is sporadic for both the headlights and IA. Sometimes completely not working. Several hours later I go get in the car and both function fine.

Originally Posted by feta_mgp

That said, your car seems to have had voice command issues for EVER.

Ever since 3.0.2. They were great before that. After 3.0.2 (and even after 3.2.2 was applied) they were completely unusable. Don't get me wrong though. They are still 1,000 times better with 3.5.1 than they were with 3.0.2. They now function OK most of the time for the most part and are workable . Still get lists but at least the song I want is usually in the first page of choices. My only point with the comment about this is that it does for me still seem to, now and then, get locked into this temporarily unbreakable loop of misbehavior, in my example no matter what I said or how I said it, it just wanted to give me wrong songs and put "-U2" after everything, again and again and again. Like I also said, tried the same thing the next day and BAM, worked fine no problem. Just can't figure out why it seems to get locked in like this on occassion (as opposed to 3.0.2 in which it was constantly locked into this misbehavior loop which is why they were unusable).

Originally Posted by feta_mgp

I wonder if it has anything to do with the microphone in your car functioning improperly? I don't think anyone has ever made the suggestion but if the microphone isn't properly picking up your voice than it would certainly result in issues with the system.

I thought of this back then and tested it extensively after a while w/3.0.2. My conclusion was that this was at least part of it (what made me think of it was that my BT call quality also tanked after 3.0.2). I have the luxury(?) of having decent stretches of very smooth (low road noise) and very rough (extensive road noise) roads on one of my regular routes so I did a lot of testing in these stretches. High road noise and I could not get it play a song by title at all. Lower road noise and I could usually eventually get it to work, though it was still about 7-8 screens of "none of those" before the title would show up. It led me to believe that the mic was picking up a lot more background than it did w/2.11 and it was interfering with interpreting what I was saying. Now I have better BT call quality with way less background noise according to people I call (still not as good as 2.11 but way better than 3.0.2) and voice commands work better so I really think that was part of the past problem.

Again, don't get me wrong. Happy to have voice for music back after so long without it. Just still baffled by these occassional little "quirk cycles" that it seems to lock in to. Compared to what I faced with 3.0.2 every day I'll take 3.5.1.

[feta_mgp]

Originally Posted by copernicium112

Yeah, that was my initial thought, unrelated. It was just the coincidental post-update timing that made me wonder. My IA has been twitchy (trouble unlocking with the front two handles) before but never to this extent, completely non-functional in all facets (unlock and lock, all door handles). Never had anything go wrong with the wipers/headlights on auto thing before though so that is totally new. Making matters worse, like so many other things, it is sporadic for both the headlights and IA. Sometimes completely not working. Several hours later I go get in the car and both function fine.



Ever since 3.0.2. They were great before that. After 3.0.2 (and even after 3.2.2 was applied) they were completely unusable. Don't get me wrong though. They are still 1,000 times better with 3.5.1 than they were with 3.0.2. They now function OK most of the time for the most part and are workable . Still get lists but at least the song I want is usually in the first page of choices. My only point with the comment about this is that it does for me still seem to, now and then, get locked into this temporarily unbreakable loop of misbehavior, in my example no matter what I said or how I said it, it just wanted to give me wrong songs and put "-U2" after everything, again and again and again. Like I also said, tried the same thing the next day and BAM, worked fine no problem. Just can't figure out why it seems to get locked in like this on occassion (as opposed to 3.0.2 in which it was constantly locked into this misbehavior loop which is why they were unusable).



I thought of this back then and tested it extensively after a while w/3.0.2. My conclusion was that this was at least part of it (what made me think of it was that my BT call quality also tanked after 3.0.2). I have the luxury(?) of having decent stretches of very smooth (low road noise) and very rough (extensive road noise) roads on one of my regular routes so I did a lot of testing in these stretches. High road noise and I could not get it play a song by title at all. Lower road noise and I could usually eventually get it to work, though it was still about 7-8 screens of "none of those" before the title would show up. It led me to believe that the mic was picking up a lot more background than it did w/2.11 and it was interfering with interpreting what I was saying. Now I have better BT call quality with way less background noise according to people I call (still not as good as 2.11 but way better than 3.0.2) and voice commands work better so I really think that was part of the past problem.

Again, don't get me wrong. Happy to have voice for music back after so long without it. Just still baffled by these occassional little "quirk cycles" that it seems to lock in to. Compared to what I faced with 3.0.2 every day I'll take 3.5.1.

I'm glad at least that 3.5.1 is a big step up from where they were at. It's odd to see them unveil the release of the AppLink API at CES when so many models are going to be offered with MFT and that still not only does not have AppLink, but also is just not 100% there yet. It's getting better and better, if only we had 3.5.1 and still had the original look of the system with the added abilities it had. I never used the favorite functions, but I know several of you did, but I do miss the progress bar after not having it for so long.

[copernicium112]

Originally Posted by feta_mgp

It's odd to see them unveil the release of the AppLink API at CES when so many models are going to be offered with MFT and that still not only does not have AppLink, but also is just not 100% there yet. It's getting better and better, if only we had 3.5.1 and still had the original look of the system with the added abilities it had.

I totally agree and it struck me as strange as well. Not getting Applink for MFT feels like getting punished for paying extra for a supposedly higher-end system. That on top of everything that has been removed with all of these updates is kind of insulting.

I know we have some rudimentary steering wheel control over things like streaming music apps that reside on our phones and I've only given a cursory glance at some of the articles about Ford's visions for app integration into Applink but it seems like some of their ideas for non-music apps would require Applink. Doesn't seem like they could be controlled, even in a basic form, simply running off the phone. Again though, haven't looked into it that much.

[blackraven456]

The other day I switched phone providers from a typically Canadian overpriced one that gave me only 1 gig of data to one with unlimited data with no contract that I can cancel at anytime. Now I see what all the fuss is about when it comes to applink. I listened to slacker the whole way home from work and it was like listening to Sirius, but with more choice. It would have been very cool to have a link between the wheel and the phone. Ford seriously has to jump on giving MFT a bridging app. It would magically solve all of their compatibility problems in ONE APP. Ford also has to seriously get rid of the "for your safety" speech. It's not only annoying its fairly insulting to the intelligence of the car owners.

Originally Posted by copernicium112

I The next morning I got in and headed off to work and for fun tried "Play song Quite Unusual". Bing, command accepted and it played the song first try. No hassle.

At first I thought you mean't Not Unusual by Tom Jones. I pictured you driving down the street doing the Carlton dance like a weirdo...lol

[copernicium112]

Originally Posted by blackraven456

The other day I switched phone providers from a typically Canadian overpriced one that gave me only 1 gig of data to one with unlimited data with no contract that I can cancel at anytime. Now I see what all the fuss is about when it comes to applink. I listened to slacker the whole way home from work and it was like listening to Sirius, but with more choice. It would have been very cool to have a link between the wheel and the phone. Ford seriously has to jump on giving MFT a bridging app. It would magically solve all of their compatibility problems in ONE APP. Ford also has to seriously get rid of the "for your safety" speech. It's not only annoying its fairly insulting to the intelligence of the car owners.

Grats on the unlimited plan. Awesome isn't it? I BT stream Slacker constantly in my car and Pandora occassionally. I can track skip with my steering wheel controls but that is about it for functionality and honestly, since I set up my own stations it is all music I like so don't generally have a need to skip anyhow (and I'm on the freebie so I have limited skips and have to put up with the occassional Lowe's or Geico ad but not a big deal to sit through).

Originally Posted by blackraven456

At first I thought you mean't Not Unusual by Tom Jones. I pictured you driving down the street doing the Carlton dance like a weirdo...lol

Hah! Believe me, "Quite Unusual" by Front 242 and "It's Not Unusual" by Tom Jones are vastly, vastly different though I would love to hear Tom Jones cover Front 242, that would be interesting. Hey, if Johnny Cash could give a run at NIN, why not? Stranger things have happened.

[PratoN]

Originally Posted by blackraven456

At first I thought you mean't Not Unusual by Tom Jones. I pictured you driving down the street doing the Carlton dance like a weirdo...lol

Other people don't do that?

[oritpro]

I found a work-around for the FM voice command issue. Say FM <frequency #> , don't just say FM by itself.

What's interesting is that the problem doesn't reproduce with the AM voice command.

[lewisra]

Originally Posted by oritpro

I found a work-around for the FM voice command issue. Say FM <frequency #> , don't just say FM by itself.

What's interesting is that the problem doesn't reproduce with the AM voice command.

Or just say frequency, no need to say FM.