All messages from Rafi

Rafi
  • Jun-22
Something I hadn't realized until now is that my SYNC system no longer recognized a USB flash drive. I tried to run the update check application off of the flash drive this morning and SYNC couldn't find the file (even though it's been there all along). Very disturbing. Be forewarned, folks.
  • Jun-21
Here's my own report; due to the 1500 character limit (or is it 1600? the forum's contradicting itself in the error messages), I'm only going to report the incompatibilities; if I don't mention one of the bullet points, it means it appears to be functioning correctly.Configuration:iPhone 3G w/iOS4-Was initially able to play audio over bluetooth using the iPod app. This functionality has stopped for some reason, however. Now the iPhone doesn't see SYNC as an available audio output. Phone calls work, however.-Calls do no start at an appropriate volume level (too quiet).-SYNC often imports only a portion of my contacts and not the whole list.-SYNC does not import my favorite contacts, groups, or recent calls--at all (despite this functionality being turned on in the iPhone settings).-Until it stopped playing audio over Bluetooth, SYNC was routinely starting to play music off of the phone as soon as I turned the car on.-Frequently get USB connected/disconnected messages from SYNC. Have tried multiple USB cables. iPhone OS 3.x devices don't exhibit this behavior (have cross-tested).-Indexing approximately 1,000 songs takes around 17-23 minutes in tests.-Indexing is forced every time I plug the phone into USB-Cannot browse music library-Cannot control music playback via USB through SYNC (can't even initiate playback)-Can't start, stop, or skip tracksRafi
  • Jun-21
iPhone and iPod touch:-Are you able to charge your device over the SYNC USB connection without "USB disconnected" and "USB connected" messages appearing frequently?-How long does indexing take on average (specify the number of songs you have on your device as well)?-After you've indexed, does SYNC force you to index again the next time you drive the car?-Can you browse your music library via SYNC consistently? (Try during multiple car trips)-Can you hear the music playing via USB over SYNC?-Can you start, stop, and skip tracks using SYNC?I may have missed a few, so feel free to add more in. I'll post my answers to this list shortly.Rafi
  • Jun-21
As a matter of organization, let's cover the following (at least):iPhone-only:-Are you able to pair your iPhone to SYNC over Bluetooth?-Are you able to play audio via the iPod/Music application over Bluetooth?-Are you able to place a call using the iPhone touch screen and participate in the call over the car's audio system?-Are you able to place a call using SYNC and participate in the call over the car's audio system?-Do phone calls start at an appropriate volume level when conducted over SYNC, or is volume adjustment necessary?-Does SYNC import your iPhone address book contacts correctly?-Does SYNC import your iPhone favorites correctly?-Does SYNC import your iPhone recent calls correctly?-Does SYNC import other groups you've specified in the Bluetooth Preferences SYNC settings screen?-Does the iPhone begin playing music over bluetooth (whether you can hear it or not over SYNC) as soon as you start the car and the phone gets paired over bluetooth?-Can you run a diagnostic check for the car using SYNC and the bluetooth connection to the phone?
  • Jun-21
Today sees the public release of Apple's iOS4, formerly known as iPhone OS 4. We've been discussing initial problems/incompatibilities with the developer Gold Master, but today we'll see a widespread adoption of iOS4 among a very significant portion of SYNC users equipped with iPhones and iPod touches.Let's use this topic to collect our use reports.Just as a matter of review, iOS4 will be available as an iTunes-downloadable upgrade today (you must have iTunes 9.2 installed, which was released last week) for the following models:-iPhone 3G-iPhone 3GS-iPod touch (2nd Generation-2008)-iPod touch (3rd Generation-2009)An iPad version of iOS4 will be released this fall.The iPhone 4 will be released this Thursday (June 24) with iOS4.iOS4 is not compatible with first generation iPhones and iPod touches.I'll post a suggested testing checklist in a subsequent post (darn character count restrictions!).Rafi
  • Jun-17
For those who are interested, I have an update from Apple. It appears they contacted me to add the particular problems with SYNC to their internal knowledgebase in preparation for the iOS4 release. It sounds like they're bracing for calls from iOS device owners who magically find on Monday that their devices go from "annoyingly incompatible" to "almost completely incompatible" on SYNC systems. Unfortunately, they're categorizing it as a Ford/Microsoft-specific fix in SYNC, and there's little that can be done to the iOS4 build to bring back partial compatibility. They were very sympathetic, but the end line is basically: "get Ford and Microsoft to fix their system. In the meantime, we'll keep track of what the incompatibilities are." Rafi
  • Jun-17
l, Assuming you're running a version of iPhone OS 3, I'm not sure what the issue is with your 3G not connecting over USB to SYNC. In iOS4, I get multiple (and annoying) connection/disconnection messages from SYNC, but that wasn't my experience in 3 (that's not to say I didn't have problems in 3--don't get me wrong--it's legitimately broken as well, just not completely crippled like 4). My advice would be to try restoring your iPhone using iTunes and see if that helps. Rafi
  • Jun-17
Mike, I think many of us would welcome moving up to a beta rather than staying where we are, even if it means we can't back down. Where I am now (and where everyone else will be next week) with iOS4 can't get much less useful, so there would be little benefit in backing down. I, for one, would welcome a beta. Rafi
  • Jun-16
Dave, I hear ya, re the skepticism. I'm not holding my breath either, but I also tend to be the eternal optimist. There was a surprising turn of events for me in the past day or so, however. Apple has apparently been monitoring the SYNC forum, is aware of these issues, and has asked me to provide some data to them so they can get a handle on what's going on. I asked them if they were working with Microsoft on this issue, and the fellow I spoke with wasn't sure (he was merely acting as a conduit for the engineering team at Apple and wasn't really briefed on this topic in detail); as far as he knew, Apple was contacting me on their own accord without any prodding from Ford or MS. He also couldn't promise that Apple would provide a fix, either; they're merely collecting information at this point. Still, it's nice to know Apple's being proactive where they could easily just sit back and watch the show. Rafi P.S. I misspoke about Bluetooth auto-play being fixed; it's not. It started up again last night without warning. Yay.
  • Jun-14
Rich, Yes, there is a bit of good news on the bluetooth side of things. Here's what I've noticed on 4.0: -Audio doesn't start playing automatically off of the iPhone via Bluetooth whenever you turn the car on (this was a big problem for me as it used to always play at the car's ignition, regardless of what precautions I would take; I'd have to go to the iPhone and stop the music from being streamed). -Phone calls still work via bluetooth -Audio commands for bluetooth functions still work -You can still play audio via bluetooth streaming, using the iPhone to control playback, as long as the device isn't connected via USB (watch the battery drain, however) -Still no text messaging in SYNC. I should also note that today, for some reason, the phone actually showed up as a USB device, but refused to play any music. Rafi
  • Jun-11
Thanks for the followup, Mike. Sounds like our old friend Feature Creep has reared its ugly head. I feel the pain, but lord, it sounds like it got the better of you--stick to those requirement docs, man. A year's worth of testing, then adding features, then breaking, then fixing, then testing, then adding features, etc is a sure way to never get a good product released. I hope the team has locked the feature set beyond anyone's reach and is now in beta, headed toward FC; otherwise we'll never see it this summer. Keep up the hard work. And if you need an iPhone PM, I'd be glad to lend my expertise. (pardon the shameless plug) Rafi
  • Jun-10
Thanks for the clarification, Mike. I know that chatting on this board is not a job duty; I appreciate your help. If it had been 3 months, the "testing for complete compatibility" reasoning would be fine. But it's been a year, and even in the worst enterprise development environments (I’ve been there), something else has to have happened internally. I've never seen development linger this long for a firmware update when you're working with a manufacturer like Apple. At this point, my friendly suggestion would be to convince the Ford Project Manager on this update to post a statement just explaining things. Silence and "we're working on it" after a year of incompatibility, while the product is still being advertised as supported, is inviting a class action lawsuit, of which every SYNC owner could be a plaintiff. The more Ford can do to level with the customers on this issue, the better it will be for everyone. Otherwise, telling us where you are in development and what's causing the holdup would be beneficial in helping the us know that we're not talking about vaporware. Has the architecture design hit a snag? Is it communication problems between Ford, Microsoft, and Apple? Are you in alpha? beta? That sort of thing. Again, I realize you personally may not have the latitude to make these statements, but as a Ford owner, a SYNC user, and a colleague in the field, I hope you run this up the flagpole; people are not happy with a simple "we're working on it" anymore. Thanks, Rafi
  • Jun-9
Thanks for the reply, Mike. I'm glad to hear that Microsoft and Apple are working together on SYNC compatibility. My hope and assumption is that means we will see a "Made for iPhone" and "Made for iPod" certification given to SYNC with the next release. The fact that iOS 3.x+ has gone unsupported by SYNC for over a year now (while Ford continues to market SYNC as being iPhone and iPod compatible, despite the fact that all new iPhones released in the past year ran iOS 3.x) worries me. I'm intimately familiar with enterprise development timelines and frankly, I'm very curious as to what happened here. A note was posted on Feb 3 on this forum stating that Microsoft was working with Apple on 3.x compatibility, and that an update would be posted once more information was known. I'd say we're overdue for an update on at least that front, to say the least. Regardless, the fact of the matter is that beginning on June 24, the iPhone 4 will be released to much fanfare, the $99 3GS will become accessible to even more people, iOS 4 will automatically deploy to the vast majority of iOS devices out there, and SYNC will continue to be incompatible unless something's done. I sincerely hope we see a compatibility update for SYNC within the next 2 weeks. Rafi
  • Jun-8
Just for everyone's information, I installed the just-released Gold Master of iOS 4.0 (formerly known as iPhone OS 4.0) on an iPhone 3G last night (I'm a registered Apple developer) and can confirm that the new software is completely incompatible with the USB connection to SYNC (except for charging). When you plug the phone in, the SYNC system reports that it's initializing the device, and then times out with a "device not supported" error. It's regrettable that Ford and Microsoft have neglected iPhone compatibility for so long, and now the other shoe has finally dropped. From my perspective, I purchased my Escape 2010 this past December with the promise of iPhone OS compatibility, and I've been marred with problems ever since day 1. I had hoped that Ford/Microsoft would have worked with Apple to ensure that iOS 4.0 would function better than 3.1.x (either inherently in the 4.0 software or through a SYNC update), but it appears that has not happened. iOS 4.0 will be available to the public via a free iTunes download on Monday, June 21. Be forewarned: upgrading to iOS 4.0 will break SYNC functionality over USB. My assumption is that the iPhone 4 will also be completely incompatible when it is released on June 24. My configuration: iPhone 3G (16 GB) iOS 4.0 Ford Escape Hybrid 2010 SYNC 3.1 Rafi
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