Well folks, just when I thought I had heard everything from MB on product issues, they unveiled another beauty. When I had my non-NAV car, the phone book downloaded from the MB handset into the car system all phone numbers including the "pause" and "wait" characters. This made the phone system unbelievably convenient when checking voice mail - you dialed the number, and the pause entry in the string provided the sequence of entries at the right time, followed up by the PIN number, etc. I just initated the call and sat back while my messages played.

Low and behold, when I get my NAV car, the pause and wait features are no loonger recognized by the car phone (it still works in the handset). I take it to my dealer, who informs me that they called MB and was told that the telephone program written for NAV C0MMAND no longer recognizes pause/wait. So now when I call voice mail, I have to take my hands off the wheel to punch in the pound sign, PIN numbers, and the rest of the voice mail retrieval sequence manually. Unbelievable!

Other problem that they seem stumped on is that my NAV is 150 feet off in some directions. I sit at an intersection of two streets, and the map shows me 150 feet away from the intersection.

I also got the voice recogniition system installed, and so far it seems marginally accurate. No one seems to have a manual for the system, so I am flying blind.

Appreciate comments.

 

well, that really sucks that the 'pause' and 'wait' characters are not recognized. Kinda hard to believe as it sounds like retro-engineering!!!

 

I would have been surprised if it had worked. I'm pretty sure the special characters haven't worked between Motorola and COMAND since COMAND came out. So it's not that it "no longer recognizes" it. It never did. My CLK COMAND and Motorola phone didn't get on very well, either. I think it might work with the Nokia phones, however... the phone interface for COMAND really was written with Nokia phones in mind.

-s-

 

My original E500 system did recognize quite well the * (pause) and other numbers to enter my passcode, etc. The new one does not. I tried with voice activation to put that in the Comand and it would not take them either. Not an improvement.

Jeff

 

I think the point is... COMAND NEVER did. Some of the radios do... it depends on the radio (head unit), as that is the D2B master.

-s-

 

Very interestingly, I just read the voice activation handbook. While the phonebook will not store using voice activation or use a cellphone phonebook stored * or #, you can, after you are in the call to your voicemail (office, cell, home, etc.), use the voice commands as well as the keypad to dial a * or #. You pull back on the voicemail stalk while in the call and dial the * or # and password and then, after the system repeats the command, you say "dial" and it plays what you commanded. For my office, I need to first put in a * and my extension followed by a password, so there may need to be two steps.

I also learned that while you can't control the navigation, you can control the radio, cd player and cd changer, all by voice commands. Pretty neat.

Jeff

 

My car phone book does in fact strore * and # characters. The real issue is that it won't store pause and wait functions. Since a phone call needs some time period between dialing and connection, the lack of pause/wait makes it impossible to do automatic sequence dialing for voice mail/answering machines, even if * and # are recognized.

Personally, I am furious. I spoke to MBUSA this week, who queried their engineering group. The answer that came back is that, while pause and wait worked in the non-nav Comand, it does not work in the NAv comand.

Jeez, I only paid $1595 for the car phone, and it doesn't have a feature that is contained in any free phone you get from your wireless service provider. To make matters worse, the non-comand NAV had it and it worked fine. To make matters even worse, its a critical need in a vehicle, when you are trying to minimize being distracted by having to seperately input numbers via the keypad.

Just what kind of car company are we dealing with here? I am beyond disgusted.

 

well I'm guessing that when calling my voice mail (pause function used) I will just have to open up the phone enclosure and use the pre-programmed #1 button for that!! Hopefully since it's the phone that's dialing and not the Command the phone will pause as programmed. anyone tried this yet!!

 

Do you think the pause issue can be resolved through software upgrades? If so, woudn't you expect that they will get this fixed? I am really bummed out to hear about this as well. I have one on order.

 

I can only hope that a software fix is coming, but of course, they have no information on when and if at all this will be addressed.

On the question of using the phone dialer instead of the car dialer, I assume that if you use the phone, you won't get the sound thru the car...

 

It's issues like these that really demonstrate MB's incompetence. There's a bad precedent regarding your hope for a software update.

Consider the inability to scan preset stations from the multifunction steering wheel. The new E is the only car model without it. They've gone thru an entire model year without additng this feature which effects all '03 E's. There are far fewer E's with phones. What's their motivation to add the feature?

Then consider some running changes made during the year. The airmatic suspension settings now display in the speedometer area. The suspension settings have also been softened. I'd be surprised if you found one owner who has been contacted by their dealer or MB about bringing the vehicle in for an upgrade.

 

Is it true that you can;t use the steering wheel to change to preprogrammed stations??? Can't this be programmed?