Solution: phonoe won't maintain connection

[MikeS]

I was truly heartbroken when my Android phone (EVO 4G on sprint) could not maintain a connection to my new FF.

 

The solution was to disable automatic address book uploading.

 

What I eventually did was one by one, upload individual contacts via bluetooth. This was actually not bad because of the 500 contacts I have in my phone, I routinely call 10, and at most, 50.

 

When a bad itunes library caused my car to go crazy, and temporarily delete the pairings with custom address books, I researched a much better approach (outlined below).

 

Instead of one by one bluetoothing individual contacts, try this:

 

(these are from memory from a few days ago, so the exact language my not be 100%, but it does describe the basic concepts)

 

1. Go to gmail (or other email client).

2. create a contact category (I called mine: in_car)

3. I associated the 50 contacts I wanted in my car into this new category.

4. export that category of contacts to a CSV file

5. download & install the sync my contacts utility from syncmyride.com

6. import the CSV file.

7. using the sync my contacts utility, prepare a flash drive so you can install the contact to the car.

 

The advantage of this approach is you only have to categorize your contacts once, and if you ever have to do a master reset of the car (one of the first trouble-shooting steps), you can easily get your custom address book back.

 

Just wanted to share,

Mike

[xmech2k]

Of course, this only works with the cars with nav.

 

I find when I have connecting problems, turning the phone off then back on corrects the issue. Also, I think it has something to do with the timing of the phone connecting, or even during your aforementioned phonebook downloading, and the car starting. So I either start the car quickly once the key goes to on, or wait a long time to give the pairing a chance to complete before starting. Maybe I'm way off base, but it seems if I keep to those rules I have no connecting problems.

[MikeS]

Of course, this only works with the cars with nav.

 

I find when I have connecting problems, turning the phone off then back on corrects the issue. Also, I think it has something to do with the timing of the phone connecting, or even during your aforementioned phonebook downloading, and the car starting. So I either start the car quickly once the key goes to on, or wait a long time to give the pairing a chance to complete before starting. Maybe I'm way off base, but it seems if I keep to those rules I have no connecting problems.

 

 

Are you sure about this being only relevant to cars with nav? Can't a non-nav car upload a custom address book if the auto address book downloading is causing a problem? (BTW, by problem, I mean a problem every time - not intermittent).

[xmech2k]

Well, I was shooting from the hip. I saw 'CSV file' in your description, which I think is one used in Garmin GPS's, so I assumed it's for nav eqiupped cars, but I should know better than assumming. You're probably deeper into the Sync functions than I am, since mine hasn't had issues other than what I described, so I haven't messed with it much.

[MikeS]

no problem, and just for any other readers, CSV is a standard format for importing and exporting data. It stands for comma separated values.

 

Many applications support that format such as Microsoft Outlook, Excel, and even the old Palm Pilot PIM, as well as google contacts.

 

If Garmin GPS's support CSV, that means you could use the same technique: (in outlook or google contacts, create a category called IN_GPS, associate the desired contacts with that category, export that category as a CSV, then import it into the GPS, to spare yourself from having to enter each contact manual onto the GPS.

 

Mike