hey guys

cant figure this out for the life of me, even after reading the manual.... is there any setting in the options to speed up the prompts when making a call? it feels that for a quick call its just easier to dial the number thru my phone rather than go thru the process of voice dialing and waiting thru the prompts while it asks you what you wanna do, which number to dial, etc

 

do you have the full voice command turned on? by default its only the abbreviated one, turing on full makes it quicker

or just dont use the voice command, use the phone button on the steering wheel

 

i dont have navi. how do i turn on the full voice command?

pressing the phone button on the wheel still makes it go thru the lengthy prompts

 

ummm go to settings -> phone -> voice command -> options -> xxx something like that, when I go home from work I'll get the exact sequence and give it to you then if you don't have it working

you can just add voice tags and then put them in your phonebook, then all you have to say is "phonebook" and "xxxxx" then it dials xxxx's number (2 prompts isnt a big deal to me)

 

thanks. ill give it a try

 

So I'm guessing there is no way to hit the voice button and say "Call Kim" and have it call that number? I read the voice commands are less capable than they were in earlier models.

 

you'd have to say "phonebook" then "kim"

 

See my thread on this...I asked exactly the same question as you and the answer is that, unfortunately, it is just incredibly poorly designed. If not for the ban on using handheld cell phones in cars, it would be just about as easy to pull the phone out and dial manually than go through the stupid, plodding steps of this system. Note it was apparently simpler in the '08's.

Marc

 

I thought the ban was on talking on a phone, not dialing. So wouldn't it be easier to pick up the phone and dial, but not talk on it - basically car acts as a giant $40k speakerphone.

 

I haven't messed with "Vehicle Phonebook", but I believe you can say "Call [Voicetag]" and it will dial the number you have saved. Another way to speed through the menus is hit the phone button again, and it'll prompt you. At least you don't have to listen to the options.

Not sure what changes with the "Extended Voice Commands".

Now if it could only do speech to text...

 

I skip the voice commands. Press the phone icon, choose recently called numbers, and pick a number. That works for most of my calls. Of course, this isn't helpful if you're trying to call someone that you haven't called recently.

 

No, you can't. I tried on my way home today -- at least in 09's it doesnt work

you have to say "phonebook" then "[voicetag]"

 

Yeah, it kind of sucks sometimes. Even when you are in advanced mode, you only really get to skip the initial prompt. Then when you say "Phonebook" you have to listen to the slow-talking computer ask you who you want to call, then you say the name, listen to some more feedback and then say dial.

From what I've heard it actually used to be a lot better until about the '08 or '09 model year when they inexplicably changed the design to be more irritating to use. Sort of reminds me of this comic, titled "Why I Don't Check Voicemail Anymore:



I have no issues with the default mode giving verbose feedback like it does, but they need to provide a sincere option to cut down the feedback to almost nothing. I'd like find out where I can leave comments for the manufacturer about that -- I don't know anyone who is happy with the way it works now. I imagine if they got enough complaints they'd redesign it for the future.

 

On the steering wheel, you can press the upper of the two phone buttons to fast-forward through the prompts. If you know what the next prompt is and you don't want to wait, just press that and you'll get the beep. Makes pre-set dialing MUCH faster.

 

I press my button twice, once to activate the system and and another to skip ahead. I say "Call Debbie Mobile" and it repeats that back, and I confirm it with a Yes.