markch

Since Verizon in their ultimate wisdom crippled the ability to upload my phonebook from the V-710, I was wondering if anyone has found a workaround. I’m still waiting for the delivery of my new SC (should be here on Wednesday – don’t ask, long story), so I have not been able to experiment.

However, a thought did occur to me. Will the SC NAV-Phone system link with my palm T-3? If so, can I upload my phonebook from the T-3, and then link my V-710….

Any thoughts, ideas or comments would be appreciated.

Enigma869

Hey Markch...

I own a 2004 LX470 and recently purchased the v710 thinking it was this great phone. From my early observations, this phone is abysmal and Motorola should be ashamed of themselves for releasing it. I replaced a Motorola v600 that worked flawlessly in my LX. The only reason I made the switch was that I needed to switch over to Verizon because Cingular reception is very spotty in my area. The only real workaround to upload your phonebook would be if you had another phone (i.e. my old v600) that you could enter the numbers and then use the send feature on the v600 ( a feature that doesn't even exist on the v710) to upload your data. The Lexus will store the information and dial from it no matter which phone it was uploaded from.

One other word of caution for you...In addition to this inexusable design flaw by motorola, my v710 does not ring, ever, after it links up with the Bluetooth in the Lexus. Every person who has tried to call me says the phone rings 15 times and then goes to voicemail. I'm not sure why this is happening, as this never happened with the v600. It works fine to make an outgoing call, but this is another really frustrating issue. I've never spent so much money on a phone that seemingly has more problems than I know what to do with. You would think the designers of the v600 would know how to improve upon what is a fantastic phone, and in my opinion, they blew it with the v710. Let's hope they update the firmware and repair this very non-functional (in the Bluetooth world, anyway) phone.

I would love to hear some feedback from anyone who is having the same issue with their phone not audibly ringing on incoming calls and if they've figured out a solution.

John from Boston

loflin

Couple of thoughts, may not help...

My Nokia 3650 also does NOT support phonebook upload. But it will send one contact at at time. That worked for me with 2005 GX. Took about 15 minutes and hundreds of button pushes to put the approx 100 nums in.

On the not ringing problem after connected with Moto V710. I don't know about the Moto, but some phones allow you to have different ring profiles, NOT just for things like Silent, Normal, Outdoor, etc. They also let you set a seperate ring profile for Handset use (that is the mode the phone is in when linked to the Car or to a BT Headset). Further sometimes you can't even see this profile to change it, unless you are in headset mode (i.e. linked to the car). Perhaps, the default headset profile is non ring (i.e. silent).

Good luck.

markch

The new firmware is available for the V710 and it fixes the ring issue as well as signal strength, roam indicator and some other minor items. But I would agree that Verizon blew it. That is why there is a class action filed against then for the Bluetooth flub.

asolare

I purchased a used Siemens S56 phone eBay just to upload numbers into the Lexus phonebook and it does actually work. I was able to upload the entire Siemens phonebook at one time and after it was loaded I am able to use that phonebook to dial through to my v710. That's the good news - actually great news. The bad news is I couldn't get the phonebook in my v710 to upload my current phonebook directly into the Siemens phone using Bluetooth (no surprise) so I had to manually re-enter everything into the Siemens before uploading it into my car. A pain in the *** but a relatively small price to pay to finally get rid of this inexcusable shortcoming onf the v710 and Lexus.

thelarry

Hey...Asolare...great idea!!!

What did you pay for the S56? Did you have to buy an "unlocked" phone? Did you buy a phone formerly from Cingluar/AT&T or T-Mobile?

I really want the v710, and this seems to be a great way to have the best of both worlds.

asolare

I paid about $50 but you can get one for less if you have more patience than I did. There are several models that will work and I suggest you check http://lexus.letstalk.com/bluetooth/bt_userguides.htm for a guide as to which ones will and, more importantly, step by step instructions in English on how to do it. God help you if you depend on the instructions in the Lexus and Siemens manuals. Some Sony Ericsson models are supposed to work as well. You do NOT need service from a carrier but, at least on my phone, you do need a Sim card in the phone. My phone would not do anything but ask for a Sim card until I put it in. Once the card was in it kept looking for service (which of course it couldn't find since I don't have any from Cingular) but the bluetooth and phonebook work perfectly without it. Most of the phones on eBay seem to be sold without Sim cards but if you can buy one cheaply without it, you can also buy a Sim card on eBay cheaply (around $9) on ebay too. Good luck.

frantzk&d

Since this is our first posting, we obviously have many more questions than answers at this time, so any & all input would be very much appreciated.

We will take delivery of our '05 LS 430, Ultra lux pkg in 3 weeks. My primary question at this time is whether we should purchase the V710 bluetooth phone or wait for the newer model. It seems from reading the previous postings that there are still a lot of issues to be worked out.

We're extremely excited about getting the new car and looking forward to many years of touring the country in it.

Thanks

Ken & Diana

Enigma869

Hey Ken and Diana...

If not uploading your phonebook via Bluetooth isn't a major issue for you, I would say go ahead and buy the v710. I am really stunned that Verizon crippled the capability, as it's a pretty important feature for Bluetooth users. Getting another phone to transfer your numbers is really a hit or miss prospect. I had a v600 (from my old AT&T service) and the phone book would not transfer, even though it transferred fine when I had AT&T service! Just make sure if you go with this phone that it has the updated firmware before you even leave the Verizon store! If you don't, this phone will drive you nuts and it will never ring for you on an incoming call when you're linked up with the bluetooth in the Lexus. Why Verizon is actually sending these phones out the door without the new firmware already installed and forcing a customer to return to request it is beyond my comprehension.

For what it's worth, I was told by a Verizon tech that this firmware only precludes to owners of Lexus, Toyota, and Audi from uploading their phone books. If you drive any other model, you're okay. I believe he said it was a compatibility with the car kits in these vehicles. I believe the manufacturer of the car kit is a company by the name of "Densa" (not sure on the spelling of that, but, that is what it sounds like). He also went on to say that he doesn't think this issue will ever be resolved for those of us driving the aforementioned models. He was even honest enough to tell me that if it weren't for the two class-action lawsuits filed against Verizon, that the updated firmware wouldn't even be released. That was part of the court settlement. Good luck with the car, and the v710 should you decide to purchase it.

John from Boston

markch

The problem is not limited to the car models you mentioned. Verizon disabled the ability to "send" or "upload" the phonebook entries from this phone, so that affects all car makes. The lawsuit has not been settled and the firmware update to ver 1.4 is stalled. All the Verizon stores in the SF Bay Area "claim" to have the update but none of them seem to be able to load it into the phone. They try to say the phone is either damaged or the firmware won't install. When you try to invoke the replacement policy, they say they don't have any replacement phones available....hummm, makes you wonder. This is based on my recent personal experience.

mer24

My Verizon 710 transfers the phonebook nicely. Only problem is it does it on my BMW X-5 and not my LS-430. The question is why does it transfer on the BMW implementation and not in a Lexus?

Maybe lexus is at fault?

I think the BMW uses a Motorola chip and the Lexus does not. So let's blame Lexus as well as verizon

markch

I lay the blame on Verizon since they disabled OBEX in Bluetooth which allows transferring data including uploading of the phonebook to protect their useless “Get-It-Now” feature. They are afraid that with full Bluetooth functionality, people would transfer from phone-to-phone paid for ring tones, games etc. hence lost revenue. What a joke…Perhaps they will learn something from the Class Action.

mer24

I think that verizon is not totally at fault. When you buy the phone, they tell you you have to use Get it Now for ring tones. My contacts traansfer to my PC via a USB cable. I think the only thing that the Bluetooth matters for is transfer and car capabibilty. Since just about every car except Lexus and Toyota transfer the phone book with the V710, then how can it all be Verizon's fault. Lexus could upgrade the chipset and use the same one BMW does and it would work just as well. In a luxury car, this is what should hppen. Remeber thier denial of problems with the GPS until a new disc was sent free. We should bo on Lexus to upgrade the chipset. Personally, if the Verizon phone works in other auto's how do you justify a class action suit against them. The suit should be against Lexus for not putting i an adequate chipset. At the end of the class action suit, the lawyers will make a lot of money and you will probably still have a dysfunctional phone

markch

It is a Verizon issue since there is NO WAY to initiate the phone book upload on the V710. If you know where it is, please let me know. It is not in any menu on my Verizon Crippled V710.

e-man

Does anyone know if this issue was ever resolved? It's been a few months, so I thought I would ask. Thanks.

e