STKLAW

I just got a new E550 after having a 2003 E500 for 7 years. The voice dialing was real simple on the E500 but I cannot figure out how to do voice dialing by name on the E550.

When I push the button and the list comes up and one of the selections is "call name" I say "call name" and then it gives me a list of my phone book entries and asks me which number on the list.

Surely you can somehow say " Call name" and she says "the name please" and you say "john Jones" and then it dials his number!

Please help me with my new (OK it had 10K miles on it when I bought it) 51k car.

Brad

LaicepsYdobon

Say "Call by name" and then it will prompt you for the name of the person you are trying to call.

ttoE550

It works for me. Whether "Call name" or "Call by name" (whichever is on the prompt list), I get a prompt to say the name. In fact, I think it is cool because you can give only part of the name. So my wife's name is enter as "Mary Jones - wife" (not her real name; done in case of an emergency), and I can say "Mary" or "Jones" or "wife" and it will dial the number. It even does great with names I think are somewhat complicated, like "Francesca" (a real name on my list).

BPhillyBenz

I think the voice recognition is pretty "ok". I find it much more effecient to hit my "favorite" phone numbers via the number keypad on the Comand Center. I have my 10 most used numbers in sequential order (they have to be in this order on your phones "favorites". 1=Home, 2=Wife, 3=Son, 4= Work, etc...it's 10x faster than going throught the ritual of "call name"...and then stating the name...then having to pick out of the list the exact correct listing. Just my 2 cents. Good luck.

hyperion667

you could also call before you leave your house.........
like in the olden days

STKLAW

I guess there must be something wrong with my car because when I follow this procedure it just gives me a list and says "choose a line" and there is a list of numbers to choose from

silberrosa

Have you tried "call...and then insert the actual name? I think this is how it is supposed to work. For example, if you want to call John Jones, you would say, "call john jones" and the system would proceed to dial the number. If there is more than one entry (cell, home, work), it should then ask you which one. Good luck.

You can also use the VC for some quick references in the Navi such as "find nearest gas station" or "nearest gast station". There are a few other quick entries which can be very helpful.

newbie2011

Brand-new 2011 E350 has the exactly same problem, "call name" brings up a list instead of to compare voice tag.

Could veteran(s) help please? Thanks!

ImInPA

Make sure there is not profile saved for the voice recognition. That no one messing around started to "train" it to their voice. You can delete the saved one or use the default. Make sure you are not continuing to depress the voice command button. Just a quick press is all that is needed to activate it. I am sure you have tried all of these things, but, that is all I can think of to try.

petee1997

Silberossa has it right. All you do is say call Jos Smith and if that name is in your directory the voice will repeat it and dial the number. If you say dial number the voice will prompt you for the number. The comand manual has a list of commands for the blue tooth system and other functions.

Arrie

Well, I have the 2011 E 350 with the Comand update software package which enabled BT audio streaming (which is awesome) but I cannot use voice dialing just saying "call Joe Smith". I have tied this with many names I have in the directory but always I need to give the name separately.

Tjdehya

https://mbworld.org/forums/4600424-post238.html
Maybe tip #5 will help.

newbie2011

Thanks a lot to ImInPA, petee1997, Arrie & Tjdehya!

I don't have a voice profile, am not continuing to depress the button.
Unfortunately, "call Jos Smith", "call by name", "call by Jos Smith", all don't work for me, like Arrie. Just my situation is even worse, "call name" doesn't even prompt for name :-(

And, "Call Pete Cell" or "Call Pete Home" doesn't work for me either.

Arrie, and other veteran(s), how to get a Comand update software package please? And how to update a car please? Really appreciate!

LaicepsYdobon

Try "dial by name" and then the car will prompt you who you'd like to call. Then you can say "Call Pete Cell" or "Call Pete Home".

ImInPA

Make certain that you phone book contact names downloaded correctly to the MB. I have read somewhere that some phone have issues downloading the contact names. Not sure off the top of my head where it is, but, somewhere in your menus there is a way to delete what is there and reload. Just a hunch.

newbie2011

Thanks a lot to LaicepsYdobon & ImInPA!

"dial by name", or "dial (by) Jos Smith", doesn't work for me.

As for phone book contacts, my car doesn't download from my phone, so I had to enter manually. Only 2 entries so far.

I'm seriously considering Comand software update. How to get the update package please? Really appreciate!

LaicepsYdobon

I think we just found the culprit. I believe the reason why nothing works for you is because you need to have your contacts downloaded into your COMMAND headunit. Just because you have a bluetooth connection to your phone you can not say "Call Pete" and have the headunit reach into your phone, find a contact called Pete and dial it for you. The way voice dialing works you need to have downloaded your contacts from the phone onto your headunit. When you activate voice dialing and say "Call Pete Home" your headunit will look into its local storage (the headunit itself) find the contact called "Pete", get the number tagged as "Home" for the requested contact and then send the number over to your phone to call it. All the logic of recognizing the name, looking up the number is done on the headunit itself. The only thing the phone does is dial the number the headunit provides and does the actual call.

The first thing you need to do is download your phonebook from your phone onto the cars headunit. Erase the two contacts you have put in by hand from your headunit and then try re-synching the phone to download your address book. Now, you mentioned in your post that your address book does not download from your phone. I haven't seen the devices you are using but my guess is you need to have External Authorization enabled on the headunit. Basically when you go and try to pair your phone with the headunit the car is looking for the phone and your phone needs to be listening for the car's requests. 99% of the time this works but there are some phones where this does not work. This is where you need to put the COMMAND headunit into External Authorization mode. When using External Authorization the role of the devices are reversed. The phone will be doing the searching and the headunit will be listening for search messages from the phone. It's very simple to do. On the screen where you do the actual phone pairing you need to go to the Options menu and select External Authorization. There are tons of videos of this on YouTube and if you do a search for External Authorization on this board there will be numerous discussions about this. Here is a video that explains on what to do:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xejoj-HrEs

Once you have successfully downloaded your address book the voice commands should work as expected. If you are still having issues go back to your dealer. They will show you how to do it. You also had a question about where to get the update to your COMMAND headunit. Your dealer will do this for you also.

ImInPA

Without the name download, I am not sure if the Voice dialing works. I think it will automatically present you a list of just phone numbers.

Arrie

I have my phonebook downloaded to the Comand but I cannot dial just by saying "call Mike". I have to go "call name" and after it asks for the name gi the name.

I also have the Comand software update installed.

newbie2011

Thanks to ImInPA for continuous help. Really appreciate LaicepsYdobon for such detailed explaination, especially of External Authorization. Thanks a lot again for the time.

I wasn't trying to call any name on the phone. I didn't think the contacts downloading problem related to voice dialing, unless I don't have a long enough contact list in order to bring calling by name live.

I was just trying to call 1 of the 2 names I had manually entered and assocaited voice tags. Any possibility MB software disables calling by name for short contact list?

The dealer simply says it works as is. Speaking of having whom to update the software, any chance anyone knows how to find out current version in the car and where to get information of latest version including bug fixes and/or feature enhancements please?

ImInPA

Interesting. I can say "Call Mike Mobile" and it dials.

SMR

I am experiencing the same problem. Do you have to say the LAST name before the first name? It appears that my phonebook downloaded into Command that way.

ghstudio

I remain frustrated by the phone. My address book is loaded. When I start the car, my iphone 4 with ios 5 is found just fine. If I say call name...it says there are no names in the phonebook. If I say read phonebook, I get the same message.

At times, the phonebook is loaded and phone name works...but phone Joe home has never worked.

How is comand 4.5 supposed to work???