iPhone contact photos?

[gerry in ohio]

Sorry - but get real - . This isn't something that is limited to the Iphone as not working, but really, Apple and Microsoft working perfectly? never.

 

Seems like it'd be very easy to list which phones it DOES work on ... there don't appear to be very many. But then again ... an ad that says ... "And ... if you happen to have a Windows 7 phone, or a brand X phone, you even display your contacts photos, probably wouldn't help sell many vehicles. Am I totally off base here, or is it false advertising to "imply" that it works, essentially on any phones that have pictures with their contacts.

 

At Mysync.com at how things work>phone> making a call, you can see a video and hear these exact words.

"When in a phone call, if your phone has a picture associated with the contact that you are talking to, you can see their picture here, on the main phone screen."

 

What if the issue was more than contact pictures ... what if you could only call and not receive calls ... would that be okay too, because "they aren't going to list all the phones that do or don't work perfectly with the system". Nope ... when I am mislead ... I am dissatisfied. ... And am I the only one who has noticed that there is no contact us number on either the ford, or the mysync site?

 

I didn't mean to "shout" with the bolded statement above ... I just meant to emphasize that Ford is very explicit in their commercials about "any phone with pictures associated with contacts". That is a direct quote.

Edited January 12, 2011 by gerry in ohio

[akirby]

Seems like it'd be very easy to list which phones it DOES work on ... there don't appear to be very many. But then again ... an ad that says ... "And ... if you happen to have a Windows 7 phone, or a brand X phone, you even display your contacts photos, probably wouldn't help sell many vehicles. Am I totally off base here, or is it false advertising to "imply" that it works, essentially on any phones that have pictures with their contacts.

 

At Mysync.com at how things work>phone> making a call, you can see a video and hear these exact words.

"When in a phone call, if your phone has a picture associated with the contact that you are talking to, you can see their picture here, on the main phone screen."

 

What if the issue was more than contact pictures ... what if you could only call and not receive calls ... would that be okay too, because "they aren't going to list all the phones that do or don't work perfectly with the system". Nope ... when I am mislead ... I am dissatisfied. ... And am I the only one who has noticed that there is no contact us number on either the ford, or the mysync site?

 

I didn't mean to "shout" with the bolded statement above ... I just meant to emphasize that Ford is very explicit in their commercials about "any phone with pictures associated with contacts". That is a direct quote.

 

Oh stop it. We already went through this once.

 

It has nothing to do with microsoft. It has to do with the bluetooth interface. Ford coded the bluetooth interface to use the profiles that provide contact photos. They have absolutely NO control over what the cell phone mfrs provide as far as bluetooth features and compatibility. This is an industry standard published interface - it's not something that microsoft created.

 

The same goes for reading sms text messages. When sync first came out they did a lot of testing and published which phones supported which features. But with all the new smartphones and OS upgrades it would be almost impossible for them to test and keep up with every phone, os version and provider. It would be nice if they did.

 

The only thing Ford could do is put an asterisk that says "only on phones that support that feature" but that wouldn't have really changed anything. You'd still be upset and claiming false advertising.

 

You should complain to the cell phone mfr for not fully supporting the bluetooth profiles. They're the only ones who can change it.

[gerry in ohio]

Oh stop it. We already went through this once.

 

It has nothing to do with microsoft. It has to do with the bluetooth interface. Ford coded the bluetooth interface to use the profiles that provide contact photos. They have absolutely NO control over what the cell phone mfrs provide as far as bluetooth features and compatibility. This is an industry standard published interface - it's not something that microsoft created.

 

The same goes for reading sms text messages. When sync first came out they did a lot of testing and published which phones supported which features. But with all the new smartphones and OS upgrades it would be almost impossible for them to test and keep up with every phone, os version and provider. It would be nice if they did.

 

The only thing Ford could do is put an asterisk that says "only on phones that support that feature" but that wouldn't have really changed anything. You'd still be upset and claiming false advertising.

 

You should complain to the cell phone mfr for not fully supporting the bluetooth profiles. They're the only ones who can change it.

[gerry in ohio]

OH .. now I understand what you are saying ... it's okay for Ford to make the statement that "when in a phone call, if your phone has a picture associated with the contact that you are talking to, you can see their picture here, on the main phone screen" ... because the general public will surely understand that what Ford really means is phones with pictures associated with contacts, and which also use the industry standard, published bluetooth interface will be supported. I must call my aunt on the farm in South Dakota and tell her that ... as she may be the only new car buyer left who is not following which phones use industry standard bluetooth interfaces. She may be foolish enough to believe Ford's advertisements mean exactly what they say.

 

In NO WAY do I, or did I, ever blame this on Microsoft ... and I understand Ford's position in not being able to support every phone idosyncrasy. I just totally disagree with their description of what will work in their system. Even if they said "for most phones that have a picture associated with the contact that you are talking to, you will be able to see their picture here, on the main phone screen", I could buy it. But, they unequivicobaly state "if the phone has contact pictures they will show on the main screen." Sorry you dislike iPhones so much ... that it has to be Apple's fault ... but I'm not talking about implementation here ... I'm talking about truth in advertisement ... and if you think that what Ford says in its ads is correct, then we just have to agree to disagree. I am done trying to make my point here ... I'm obviously failing ... but at least I will be getting Ford to officially explain it to me, rather than hear it only from other customers in a Forum. I've made my first call to the Customer Relationship Center (800-241-3673) and have been told that a supervisor will be in contact to give me a detailed explanation of the difference between what I've seen in advertisements and what actually works.

 

By the way ... my call does not indicate that I don't believe your explanation ... I definitely do believe it ... I just want Ford to officially tell me. I will publish their explanation here..

[wilsons66604]

By the way ... my call does not indicate that I don't believe your explanation ... I definitely do believe it ... I just want Ford to officially tell me. I will publish their explanation here..

I can relate to your frustration. I was (and still am) very disappointed to find out that not all features worked on my new car.

I went so far as to buy a Windows Phone 7 device just to get the advertised features. The features were very cool. However, not cool enough to justify using a crappy Windows phone. I returned the phone in 3 days.

I do think that Ford has realized that owners are upset. One technology podcast recently changed their Ford ads to say "...and if you have a windows 7 phone you get .(features)..." I wish they had been saying that to begin with. It would have helped to manage my expectations.

 

I hope the MAP bluetooth protocol will be included in a future iPhone update because the features that it provides are very cool!

[akirby]

Just for the record, I have 4 iphones and an ipad. I don't have anything against any specific cell phones or mfrs.

 

So what you're saying is if they put a disclaimer on the ad that says "not available on all phones" then it's ok. And my point is I don't see how that would affect anything except from a legal standpoint.

 

People who want that feature but don't have a compatible phone are going to be upset with or without the disclaimer.

 

Now if Ford had purposely restricted the feature to Windows based phones or something like that then it would be a different story. But as it stands any phone mfr that chooses to implement the correct bluetooth profile will have that feature. Unfortunately MFT is probably the only major commercial product that uses it right now.

 

Seriously - would anyone NOT buy a 2011 Edge just because it didn't support contact photos with their smart phone?

[Tulsa]

Personally I really don't care if they ever make the pictures work from my iPhone, I know what my wife and brother and others who I may have a photo of on the phone look like and I really don't need to be looking at that instead of the road.

 

Now I would like it if the phone worked with the texting feature. A bit disappointed when I found out that wouldn't function but certainly not enough to dissuade me from enjoying my vehicle.

[choff1138]

Personally I really don't care if they ever make the pictures work from my iPhone, I know what my wife and brother and others who I may have a photo of on the phone look like and I really don't need to be looking at that instead of the road.

 

Now I would like it if the phone worked with the texting feature. A bit disappointed when I found out that wouldn't function but certainly not enough to dissuade me from enjoying my vehicle.

 

 

I agree with you - took me awhile to bother putting pictures with the contacts on the phone at all.

[Richardya]

Would there be a way to convert your phone book to a file on a USB and upload it?

Then just turn off the auto update feature and use your phone?

 

I am not sure how this works exactly. I believe that if I upload my contacts and them someone else plugs in their fun they can use my contacts. Can anyone confirm or debunk this? I am trying to ascertain if the phone book is completely separate from the phone.