Thinking of SYNCing (Microsoft SYNC)
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In most areas, a lot of the blue laws have been put aside with the exception of liquor and car sales.
I believe that the car sales restriction is actually strongly supported by the dealer association. If it gets lifted, the everybody will have to stay open 7 days a week, with no real increase in sales. This way, they can lower operating costs while blaming those nasty blue laws.
I believe that the car sales restriction is actually strongly supported by the dealer association. If it gets lifted, the everybody will have to stay open 7 days a week, with no real increase in sales. This way, they can lower operating costs while blaming those nasty blue laws.
Well, based on some things I've read, and owners' opinions about the I4 vs. the V6, I've got the dealership looking for a Vapor Silver V6 Premier without a sunroof and the stone interior. I spent an hour tooling around this area of the country looking for "my car" and just about every car has the "Moon and Tunes"' package which has the moonroof I don't want with the upgraded stereo I would like.
And Sync, of course.
And Sync, of course.
I ordered my Fusion about a month after they were first introduced, in order to get exactly what I wanted, in the color I wanted it. My local dealer (small town dealership), got his initial Fusion along with every other Ford/Mercury dealer in the country and quickly sold it (it didn't have what I wanted). A former co-owner of the dealership put his order for a Milan a couple of weeks sooner, and the dealership sold another one right after they were introduced, that he got through a trade with another dealer. So my order was for the fourth Fusion/Milan he had sold. Months went by as we waited for it to be delivered. He did some checking and was finally told that since there were other dealers who were still waiting for their second Fusion/Milan he had to wait. Which meant I had to wait. Normally a car that is actually sold when ordered does not get backordered like this. Finally got here. The backlog is not a problem now. If they can't find what you want, order it to your spec. It doesn't take that long. The only downside is that a dealer will often make you a better deal on one he already has sitting on the lot that he has carrying charges on, than one you order direct from the factory. That's why I buy from small dealers who don't have huge numbers of vehicles sitting there. Low overhead gets passed on in a lower price.
Right now, the price difference between ordered and "on-the-lot" is around $2,500 due to the various rebates tied to taking delivery from dealer inventory. I can give up an item or take something (other than the moon roof) in order to fall under the "dealer inventory" category.
According to Edmunds, the "optional" heated seats are present on 95% of the Premier, which isn't an option in my book. Likewise, the I4 comes "standard" with the 5-speed manual transmission, but it's a "Special Dealer order" in order to get the I4 without the "optional" $875 automatic transmission!
I've been in a holding pattern on the car due to personal family business (it's the subject of a whole thread not unlike the "Colonoscopy" thread) but should be able to do something in two weeks.
Back to the subject matter, I did see that Microsoft will be expanding the "SYNC" package to other manufacturers in a few months after their exclusive deal with Ford expires.
According to Edmunds, the "optional" heated seats are present on 95% of the Premier, which isn't an option in my book. Likewise, the I4 comes "standard" with the 5-speed manual transmission, but it's a "Special Dealer order" in order to get the I4 without the "optional" $875 automatic transmission!
I've been in a holding pattern on the car due to personal family business (it's the subject of a whole thread not unlike the "Colonoscopy" thread) but should be able to do something in two weeks.
Back to the subject matter, I did see that Microsoft will be expanding the "SYNC" package to other manufacturers in a few months after their exclusive deal with Ford expires.
Two years ago, we got a Pontiac G6. It's been a great car for us. We get over 34 mpg on the road at highway speeds.
We took delivery of our new 2008 Mercury Milan V6 Premier last night. I spent about 75 seconds getting my Motorola RAZR linked via Bluetooth to the SYNC in the car, set the phonebook to "Autoconnect", and now I can press the phone icon to call anyone in my phone by speaking their name. The voice-recognition has been 100% accurate so far, no training needed. The voice quality of the phone connection using the car's audio is excellent and my friend I called said the quality on his end was better than usual, too. The SYNC uses a pair of microphones in the rear-view mirror to cancel noise.
I have a 2GB MicroSD card in my RAZR that I loaded about a dozen albums on, and by plugging the phone into the USB port, SYNC can play the songs on my phone by title, artist, genre, etc., while charging the phone, too. Again, very slick. I'll try out my 30GB iPod Video today. It's got a few thousand songs to sort through, so that should be a good test.
Microsoft, I have never said this before, but with SYNC, you have out-Appled Apple!
I have a 2GB MicroSD card in my RAZR that I loaded about a dozen albums on, and by plugging the phone into the USB port, SYNC can play the songs on my phone by title, artist, genre, etc., while charging the phone, too. Again, very slick. I'll try out my 30GB iPod Video today. It's got a few thousand songs to sort through, so that should be a good test.
Microsoft, I have never said this before, but with SYNC, you have out-Appled Apple!
Another day of exploring SYNC: With my RAZR, I can stream music files via the Bluetooth, so I don't need to take the phone out of my pocket to play songs. :up Also, the Software upload seemed to make the voice recognition better at handling the larger music library in the iPod Video. Before, SYNC was pretty bad at figuring out what I was telling it to do. Interesting note: When I plugged in the iPod into the USB port, the Mercury logo came up on the iPod's screen! Nice touch...
Speaking of the car, here are some pix:
Speaking of the car, here are some pix:
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SYNC Update: After living with the system for a little over a week, I guess it's time to break down and read the manual. The volume level "Synthia" (my name for the voice SYNC uses) starts out at a level that is a little too loud for my tastes. I'd like her to take it down about two notches. There should be some way to do that.
Also, I have too many contacts in my phone, so when the phonebook gets automatically downloaded to the SYNC from my phone, "Synthia" isn't sure if I want to talk to my sister or some consultant I met two years ago overseas (their names are "close" enough phonetically to confuse the poor girl).
For some reason, the Bluetooth Audio streaming with my RAZR V3xx doesn't work anymore. It starts the music player on the phone, but nothing comes out of the car's speakers. When I shut off the car and exit, then the song's audio comes out of the phone's speaker.
I haven't figured out how to do my global conference call PIN through SYNC yet. If I use the phone by itself, it seems to know to dial the PIN at the right time, but there isn't a way to do it through the car's controls. I end up leaving the phone open and manually dialing the digits, then pressing "#". Likewise, I need to mute the car's microphone, but again, I need the phone open so I can press the mute on the phone's keypad. A mute button on the steering wheel would be very handy.
My step-mom is not too good with technology and electronics. When I took a mobile call while driving, I had to explain to her why my car was ringing! Later, when "Synthia" started talking, her eyes went wide. I couldn't keep my step-mom from talking after I gave SYNC a command, so that confused it to no end. I eventually gave up and put the radio on Sirius JazzPlanet. She heard nice music, but I wasn't about to explain how the signal was coming from one of three satellites in a geosynchronous "figure-8" orbit...
I did score brownie points with my niece and her new beau when I was showing off the system. "Synthia" was behaving that time and did everything I told he to do. I almost told her to grab her iPod and try it out, but I guess old Uncle "R" had cool enough music on my iPod to run the demo.
Also, I have too many contacts in my phone, so when the phonebook gets automatically downloaded to the SYNC from my phone, "Synthia" isn't sure if I want to talk to my sister or some consultant I met two years ago overseas (their names are "close" enough phonetically to confuse the poor girl).
For some reason, the Bluetooth Audio streaming with my RAZR V3xx doesn't work anymore. It starts the music player on the phone, but nothing comes out of the car's speakers. When I shut off the car and exit, then the song's audio comes out of the phone's speaker.
I haven't figured out how to do my global conference call PIN through SYNC yet. If I use the phone by itself, it seems to know to dial the PIN at the right time, but there isn't a way to do it through the car's controls. I end up leaving the phone open and manually dialing the digits, then pressing "#". Likewise, I need to mute the car's microphone, but again, I need the phone open so I can press the mute on the phone's keypad. A mute button on the steering wheel would be very handy.
My step-mom is not too good with technology and electronics. When I took a mobile call while driving, I had to explain to her why my car was ringing! Later, when "Synthia" started talking, her eyes went wide. I couldn't keep my step-mom from talking after I gave SYNC a command, so that confused it to no end. I eventually gave up and put the radio on Sirius JazzPlanet. She heard nice music, but I wasn't about to explain how the signal was coming from one of three satellites in a geosynchronous "figure-8" orbit...
I did score brownie points with my niece and her new beau when I was showing off the system. "Synthia" was behaving that time and did everything I told he to do. I almost told her to grab her iPod and try it out, but I guess old Uncle "R" had cool enough music on my iPod to run the demo.
I have a 2008 Lincoln MKZ with Sync. It works great for me. It always updates all of the phone information including call history after starting the car. The speech recognition is almost perfect. Sync not only works with most MP3 players, but USB flash drives also. Simple commands to play artist, album or track. My age is 72. Software updates are available on web site. Download into a USB flash drive and plug into car jack. 911 assist and vehicle health report promised for fall update. However this scheduled update could be like Microsoft's delayed updates to Windows products.
I joined the SYNCmyRide Forum (as Foxbat, natch) and it looks like a good place to find common problems. So far, I've picked up a couple of suggestions. One of the common things people should try is removing the fuse (removing power) which substitutes for the three-finger-salute reboot required by other Microsoft products. This tends to restore full function to the SYNC system, so I'll give that a shot.
Maybe I need to graft a CTRL, ALT, and DEL keyset onto the dash someplace?
Maybe I need to graft a CTRL, ALT, and DEL keyset onto the dash someplace?
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