How good are Subaru's gadgets - nav, bluetooth, satellite radio, etc.

[Turbowned]

What's up with the SMS text messaging capability? I know what you're thinking; "you work at Subaru, why don't you know this?" Well, the only cars that have this head unit are not in our inventory, so I haven't been able to play around with them yet

Can you dictate a text message kind of like with Siri/Iris?

[Chauntalei]

Originally Posted by Turbowned

What's up with the SMS text messaging capability? I know what you're thinking; "you work at Subaru, why don't you know this?" Well, the only cars that have this head unit are not in our inventory, so I haven't been able to play around with them yet

Can you dictate a text message kind of like with Siri/Iris?

I haven't tried using the SMS function, since right now, I can't even get my phone to connect to the head unit anymore.

[c1150]

Originally Posted by Turbowned

What's up with the SMS text messaging capability? I know what you're thinking; "you work at Subaru, why don't you know this?" Well, the only cars that have this head unit are not in our inventory, so I haven't been able to play around with them yet

Can you dictate a text message kind of like with Siri/Iris?

It will read messages to you, but the replies while moving are limited to a fairly long list of canned answers. Things like "Can't talk, Driving" and such, however, mine couldn't send the response I selected through my 4s with iOS 6. not sure where the issue is.

[soconfoozed]

The BRZ headunit is utter garbage.

It would be shorter to list what they got right.

For instance...

What Subaru got right:

• Nothing. At all.

[mike18]

Originally Posted by soconfoozed

The BRZ headunit is utter garbage.

It would be shorter to list what they got right.

For instance...

What Subaru got right:

• Nothing. At all.

[shrike92]

so far on mine it seems like most things are very manual. it's not a big deal to me coming from a 2001 Golf 2.0 with no extras but I can see how you might be disappointed if you're coming from something more advanced.

Nav works fairly well here in CA, a repeating pattern seems to be: start up, select location, it works out a path, start navigation, lose signal immediately, pick up signal 5 minutes later. Done it three times now and I have no idea why.

XM controls are limited and browsing stations is a pain. Overall the response on the headunit is very slow (ie: hit button, wait half a second, screen updates). It has a built in EQ with like 8 presets which is nice but a tad overkill.

HD radio is pretty consistent and gets the local stations about 90% of the time in digital/HD.

My phone (android OS) sync's automatically and it downloads my contacts every time I get in. I haven't tried using voice commands yet but I'll try and report back. Audio quality is good and the people I've talked to say that they can hear me very clearly.

I'm having trouble getting the homelink to learn my garage door opener's code but I only tried for like 2 minutes the other day so I'm going to give it another go. It should be compatible according to Homelink's website so I'll keep trying.

I'll try playing some MP3's off of my phone and reporting back tomorrow.

It does detect traffic but I haven't rerouted yet based on it. I think that is an option though.

[rainmonkey]

Has anyone noticed that you can't use type in the address you're looking for if your car is moving?

This makes it so that every time I want to input an address, I have to pull over. I understand that its a safety concern, but even when there's another person in the car and can safely do the input, it doesn't permit any.

Is this an option you can toggle or something?


Thanks!

Oh, other than that, the only thing that bugs me on the NAV is that every time I leave my garage, I lose signal for a while. Probably because there's a big sensor that detects the badge for entry and exit (kinda like an EZ pass)

[Turbowned]

Originally Posted by rainmonkey

Has anyone noticed that you can't use type in the address you're looking for if your car is moving?

This makes it so that every time I want to input an address, I have to pull over. I understand that its a safety concern, but even when there's another person in the car and can safely do the input, it doesn't permit any.

That's a pain in the ass. My Audi used to prompt me with a warning if I tried to enter an address while driving, but then after pressing "OK" I could enter it. What if you have a perfectly able passenger to do it while the driver is focusing on the road? Lame.

So it does sync all your contacts and allow you to call them by name? You don't have to program in a list of dial-by-name contacts?

How many presets can you have? With my Audi, I could mix 50 presets between AM/FM/HD/SAT which was awesome. I think I only used 20 of them, but I could go up and down between FM and SAT stations without having to change inputs. I ended up turning HD radio off because it was just too spotty where I live; I got tired of hearing the blending every 5 secs.

*Again, I'm not expecting Subaru's electronics to rival Audi MMI. I can't afford an Audi with MMI now that I don't sell them anymore, and it isn't my top priority; if in-car electronics were my top priority I'd be looking at GM, Ford, Toyota or Hyundai but it's all about the car, not the media!*

[rainmonkey]

Originally Posted by Turbowned

That's a pain in the ass. My Audi used to prompt me with a warning if I tried to enter an address while driving, but then after pressing "OK" I could enter it. What if you have a perfectly able passenger to do it while the driver is focusing on the road? Lame.

So it does sync all your contacts and allow you to call them by name? You don't have to program in a list of dial-by-name contacts?

How many presets can you have? With my Audi, I could mix 50 presets between AM/FM/HD/SAT which was awesome. I think I only used 20 of them, but I could go up and down between FM and SAT stations without having to change inputs. I ended up turning HD radio off because it was just too spotty where I live; I got tired of hearing the blending every 5 secs.

*Again, I'm not expecting Subaru's electronics to rival Audi MMI. I can't afford an Audi with MMI now that I don't sell them anymore, and it isn't my top priority; if in-car electronics were my top priority I'd be looking at GM, Ford, Toyota or Hyundai but it's all about the car, not the media!*

yeah I want to think that i used to be able to input on the go... but i'm not sure if i remember correctly.

Anyway, I haven't really played around with the voice activation/recognition yet. But it IS able to browse your phonebook through the car's interface. I have an iPhone, so I'm pretty sure most smart phones can do this with the car. I can give it a shot later if I get the chance (for the voice stuff).

Regarding radio, I've only been able to preset 6 channels. If there's a way to do more than that.... well that's lost on me lol. But the FM and HD sat ARE separate. You can't have them intermingled in the same programmable list.

I actually prefer to just browse on the phone then call. My parents' s6 (audi) had a pretty good interface but I found it a little cumbersome when looking for numbers.

[avp1]

Originally Posted by rainmonkey

yeah I want to think that i used to be able to input on the go... but i'm not sure if i remember correctly.

Anyway, I haven't really played around with the voice activation/recognition yet. But it IS able to browse your phonebook through the car's interface. I have an iPhone, so I'm pretty sure most smart phones can do this with the car. I can give it a shot later if I get the chance (for the voice stuff).

Regarding radio, I've only been able to preset 6 channels. If there's a way to do more than that.... well that's lost on me lol. But the FM and HD sat ARE separate. You can't have them intermingled in the same programmable list.

I actually prefer to just browse on the phone then call. My parents' s6 (audi) had a pretty good interface but I found it a little cumbersome when looking for numbers.

You can preset up to 18 stations in FM - groups FM1, FM2 and FM3. Switch between them by another press on "FM" icon. XM is probably the same.

All hands-free and voice commands are handled by Parrot BT module. If Fujitsu Ten didn't screw up its own code, it should work very well. So far I was able to use voice commands to dial numbers from address book and do direct dial spelling number.

[DSPographer]

You can use voice recognition to enter an address when driving, but it isn't very intuitive. You need to wait for the tone each time before speaking. You enter the address, then you need to change the town etc unless you are already in the town your destination is in. It seems annoyingly backwards if you are used to a normal portable GPS interface. The GPS voice search feature seems to be very limited also: it just looks for a few things like gas stations and hotels etc. Many more destination types can be searched by typing in when stopped. It all seems pretty crude compared to the voice search on my Android phone, but I prefer to leave that in my pocket when I'm in the BRZ.

[zoomzoomers]

I posted this on another thread, but, YES, it's lame you can't manipulate the navi while moving. Even the route screen (shows your next paths) gets blacked out when moving. Which is a pain if you just want to know what your next path is/will be.

BTW, has anyone found out how to set XM radio stations in memory? 6 came preloaded with the car, but I can't seem to figure out how to change them.

Overall, the navi system sucks, but does function well enough once you get it all sorted out. Stopped of course.

[jeebus]

Here's my brief review...

The headunit is OK. Not great, not terrible, ok. On a daily basis, I have a 16GB thumb drive in the USB port and my iPhone4s synced via BT. Navigating the USB music is cumbersome, but I generally just do random so it's not that big of a deal. It displays the artist, album, and song info; as well as a crappy, tiny, album art pic (if you have one in the folder). If I want to listen to music that's on my iPhone, I generally do so over BT. Normally I'm too audiophile-snob-douche to do that, but the quality of the headunit sound, and the speakers, mixed in the with the road noise of the car; makes it all sound pretty shitty anyway. So I can't really tell the difference over BT (in this car). Once again, navigating is cumbersome. But I random play so, eh. If I run Pandora or Slacker on the phone, it streams fine over BT; and even displays the song/album/artist info. Skipping tracks via the headunit works too.

When I want to make a call, I generally hit the voice dial button. Sometimes this works great. Sometimes it's totally retarded. Not sure why. If you want to navigate your phone's phonebook, you can do it on the headunit IF you are stopped. If you are moving, you only get recents.

When I receive text messages on my phone, the headunit displays a message telling me I got it. If I'm stopped, it will display the text on screen. If I'm moving, it reads it out loud. Sometimes it reads it well. Sometimes. I cannot reply to a message, even using the on-screen options. That errors.

I have never used the NAV to navigate. I leave the map up on-screen and it seems fine. I keep it in 3d mode and it seems relatively quick. I tried to navigate with the unit once. It was too clunky, bleh, so I used my iPhone instead. When I navigate with the iPhone, I let the turn-by-turn speak over the car's speakers via BT. I glance at the car's NAV screen sometimes to verify streets. The combo works great for me. I'm not a retard though, I don't get lost when I drive.

So there you have it. It has gadgets. They work....usually. They aren't fancy or very polished. Error messages are often in Engrish. Often my phone doesn't connect via BT when I start driving. It usually fixes itself after a mile or so.

[Thongpocket]

Its terrible. Go aftermarket for $400 and you will get a better unit. Phone has to repaid EVERY time i get in. GPS works 40% of the time, other 60% its searching for signal. Ipod scrolling takes forever. Will not remember to keep random setting for ipod. Bluetooth audio is good. Speakers are alright for stock. Its no reason to go premium to limited tho.


EDIT: I have 3 Android devices. Anytime I try to steam audio via Bluetooth it cuts in and out like a CD skipping badly. I gave up.