[lemonsquash]

Ok, I've had my hatchback a little over a week and I'm ready to replace every single piece of the electronics/infotainment system. :-(

I hate the bluetooth, the quality is horrible - people on the other end of the line can't hear me well enough to hold a conversation. I also hate that I can't get my phone apps to work properly though the aux port and/or bluetooth. And the voice activation??? OMG don't even get me started. I can't just say "Call Lori" and have it dial Lori. I have to go through a process that takes several steps. I can press one button on my cell phone and say "Call Lori" - no problemo. Why is my $300 cell phone smarter than the electronics in my $22k car?! So far the only thing I've figured out that I can do with one command is "Go Home". Oh and "tune to [station number]".

I would love to get something to replace all pieces of this horrible system. Is this even remotely possible???

I like this little unit: PARROT ASTEROID - Apps, Web, Phone & Music in your car. but I would either have to mount it elsewhere or replace my big nav map (and yes, I think I would miss the large map). I would prefer to just replace the larger unit with something Android-based, but I suspect that's not on the market yet.

I'm willing to spend a few thousand to get better bluetooth, voice command, and audio quality - without sacrificing nav. Any ideas?

 

[[email protected]]

I have a Forte Koup SX and I use a Blackberry Bold. The bluetooth is excellent on mine. People have told me I sound crystal clear. In addition, calling somebody is easy too; simply push the call button and say 'call Lori' should work fine [mine does]. I would recommend you try another phone and see how that behaves. What phone apps are you trying to work through the aux port?

 

[ForteSXFan21]

If I am not mistaken the 2011 use a diffrent system all together, very few similarities between the 2010. Where as michael is correct in the function of the 2010's operation. I would recommend getting an aftermarket headunit that has the navigation, bluetooth and sirius radio of that is needed. It will work better then what you are describing and have the quality you are looking for.

 

[derkk]

I have my bluetooth working great. Sometimes I have to restart bluetooth on my phone, but I think that's an Android issue, not the car. The sound is awesome, nobody complains. I have a Samsung Captivate with a 2.2.1 ROM installed. If you have any Android OS less than 2.0, you will not like your bluetooth experience at all.

In my 2011, I have to:

Hit the Command button on the steering wheel <beep>
ME - "Call LastName, FirstName"
CAR - "Calling Lastname, FirstName. Say Yes to proceed or Cancel or Back to go back"<beep>
ME - "Yes"
CAR - "Dialing"

I wish you received an option to Confirm in the menu system, but overall I like it a lot.

Additionally I listen to podcasts/pandora/watch movies via Bluetooth A2DP.

I have a mount on my dash for my phone. I will eventually look to get a 7" Tablet to replace my phone and tether the tablet to my phone for Google Maps navigation, Pandora, Movies, etc.

I don't have the Navi unit, just the standard Sirius unit. I love mine though. Once bluetooth is connected, I just hit the AUX button and it switches to my stereo bluetooth and all phone audio streams to my car audio.

Good Luck!

 

[ForteSXFan21]

Hey derkk, is there anything special you do to get pandora to play through the bluetooth, any settings that are changed. I have a 2010 and I would love to do that but dont want to use the cable.

Is that a diffrence in the stock headunits?

 

[DruDog]

Lemon, which cell phone are you using?

 

[derkk]

Hey ForteSxFan21,

I don't know if the 2010 supports A2DP (stereo) profiles. On your phone, go into Bluetooth and look up Options for your Forte bluetooth profile. See if you get phone or phone and media. I've heard that even some of the 2011 Soul's don't have A2DP yet.

 

[schmitty]

Sounds like a crappy phone and not knowing how to work the blutooth correctly to me. I have a problem with my phone and my forte but that is because it is so new, it isnt fully compatible with the phone. I can't say call name can only do call number.

 

[carthis]

On my Forte 5, I had a few problems with Bluetooth, but that was how my blackberry was configured, not the car. Once I figured out to turn encryption off, it worked beautifully.

On another note has anybody figured out if you can dial <firstname> <lastname> or if you always have to do <last>, <first>? It's the ONE thing that irks me with an otherwise fantastic audio system.

Also A2DP + Slacker Radio is awesome.

 

[derkk]

I'm still looking for a way to do that too with the First/Last ....havent found a way to do it yet.

 

[boostedscooby]

had an android phone connected to the bluetooth and did not have any problems . This is another reason i purchased the car. all the lastest gadgets and a small price .

 

[tgunz78]

I could be wrong but I thought the voice recognition processing is acutally done by your phone. Blackberry for example will improve it's ability to understand you as you use the same command (or name) more often. And on my 2010 sx, I call out <First Name> <Last name> and it (the phone) recognizes the name just fine.

 

[derkk]

If it was done by the phone why would we need to load the contacts into the kia bluetooth unit? If I don't have my contacts loaded, it always says 'name not found'.

 

[sje0123]

Well hey if you don't like it, replace it and I'd be happy to work a deal for the stock system out of your car.

 

[tgunz78]

If it was done by the phone why would we need to load the contacts into the kia bluetooth unit? If I don't have my contacts loaded, it always says 'name not found'.

Derkk you're right I forgot about the contact transfer, so the car actually process the voice dial.

As for your <lastname><firstname> problem, check your phone set up, somewhere in the Contact or Phonebook setup, there's should be an option that lets you choose which order the names are sorted. Set it to firstname first.

 

[lemonsquash]

Ok oops - neglected this forum for a couple months. Sorrys.

DruDog, I have an Epic 4G (Sprint), on Android 2.2

Thanks Derkk, I haven't tried saying the last name first - I'll try that later today! The voice command steps you listed sound perfectly reasonable. Way better than what I was going through to dial. I have since given up on bluetooth, but I'll try again this evening and see how it goes.

Does anyone know how to disable the map confirmation? I hate waiting 15 seconds then pressing "I agree" before I can see the nav map.

Side note: Boyfriend bought a FIAT 500 last week and the "Blue & Me" infotainment system in that car is amazing - simple to use and very responsive. I'm hoping Kia kicks it up a notch soon so they can compete with Ford Sync, Blue & Me, etc.

P.S. I have a buyer for my scooter this weekend, if all goes well I'll sink the scooter money into my Forte: tinted windows, smallish bazooka tube, DVD player headrests for the kiddos.

 

[Walpole5]

Glad to hear people are buying Fiats again! I've had my 82 for about 18 years and it's been a great car. Can't wait to take a 500 out for a spin.

 

[archebuy]

I have 2011 Koup SX and my Blackberry 8100 (Pearl) works great with the Bluetooth system (w/ Navigation) except that it doesn't recognize the names I call out (last/first or first/last after multiple speaker adaptations). It did originally, but got worse and worse to the point that a "Smith, John" would return names like "Doe, Mary" (Not close). I paired my son's phone (not a blackberry) and it works fine. Does anyone else have an issue like this? I do have 1002 contacts in my Pearl (did transfer all to Koup). BTW, Kia service has worked hard on this, but no solution.

 

[derkk]

I recently switched from a Captivate to the Tmobile G2x and my bluetooth reliability went up 10 fold. The name is still Last/First. I think this is built in to the Kia BT and cannot be changed to my knowledge. I might try calling Kia Tech Support to see if I'm missing something though.