I upgraded the operating system software in my iPhone 3GS a few weeks ago. Today, the fully integrated iPod connection in our 2010 GMC Terrain doesn't recognize the iPod music player half of this device at all.
It all seemed so wonderful. Apple introduced the iPhone 4, but they also threw a bone to those of us with the lowly 3GS model: they gave us the iOS4 operating system for free. No one could resist. Cool features and multitasking ensued.
Soon after I started noticing odd Bluetooth pairing and phonebook synching glitches on a variety of cars. iPod menus didn't always work right. In a 2011 Kia Sorento, I couldn't access any phone numbers through hands-free means. Then, yesterday, our 2010 GMC Terrain gave me the silent treatment. It toally refusd to recognize the iPod half of the device it had worked so well with weeks earlier, when my device ran on iOS3. I had to resort to the standard Aux jack and cable and use the iPhone's own interface to play podcasts and music.
Dear Apple: I suppose you guys drive cars. You can't all be riding fixies, right? So why does you new iOS4 totally Bogart the in-car iPod interfaces that carmakers have been designing for the last several months and years? Did you have to go and re-program all of the pin-outs to screw things up this badly? How about settling on one standard "iPod" interface and stick with it? You know damn well that cars are designed on a 5-year cycle. Besides, haven't you heard about the hands-free movement? If you're not careful, hands-free incompatibility with cars might actually put your customers in a legal quandry. The legislative tide is rising. Worse yet, insurance companies may weigh in. None of us wants that.
Dear Carmakers (except for Ford): Look, new phones are coming out all the time. Weekly, I'd guess. And they're not just Apple devices. Consumer electronics nerds are all about the latest and greatest, and the development cycles of the newest must-have gadgets are tens times shorter than the glacial pace of new car development. And within this hardware framework, new firmware and software for existing products is released quite often, in a form consumers can access and upload into their devices by themselves, for free. You guys have to get you act together and get compatible with this reality.
Dear Ford: Sync isn't perfect, but it's pretty damn good and it's easily the best automobile interface out there for such user devices. Best of all is the ability to upgrade the software to recognize new phones with a user's own computer and USB stick, for free, without a dealer visit. I did it a few months back so our 2009 Ford Flex could recognize a 3Gs iPhone. Worked like a charm. You get it. Thanks.
What? Wait a minute. My iTunes just alearted me to a new update for iOS4. iOS4.0.2 is ready for download into my iPhone...
This is exactly what I was talking about. New software is freely available and can be downloaded in seconds. Let's hope iOS4.0.2 has the fix everyone is hoping for.
Dear Apple: If you're not going to take this seriously, can I have the downgrade-upgrade back to iOS3? I don't seem to be able to do that, but I need to. This and many other cars in the fleet can't be upgraded any way that I know of--there's no built-in provision for doing that. In this relationship, you're the only one that can change. What do you think this is, Ford Sync?
Dear Carmakers (except for Ford): What are folks with this and other as-yet unreleased new phones supposed to do if they won't work? What is your plan to keep up with the constant forward push of cell-phone and media player technology?
Dear Ford: I'll be taking a USB stick down to the Flex to install the latest upgrade that will support an iPhone 3GS upgraded to iOS4. I trust you've cracked that code or will soon.
Dan Edmunds, Director of Vehicle Testing @ 12,000-odd miles
questionlp says:
03:35 PM, 08/19/10
This might help with the downgrade to iPhone OS 3.1.x:
http://lifehacker.com/5572003/how-to-downgrade-your-iphone-3g[s]-from-ios-4-to-ios-313
I've been considering as well, since my iPhone 3G has been molasses slow ever since going to 4.0.1.
7driver says:
03:58 PM, 08/19/10
"Dear Dan: Your letter has been forwarded to Microsoft.
-Sincerely, Ford."
actualsize says:
04:39 PM, 08/19/10
@questionlp: I just may have to do this. I'll miss the multi-tasking to be sure, but this thing has got to talk to cars properly.
windsor5 says:
04:50 PM, 08/19/10
Lolz for apple this also means many Iphone 4's are probably not sincronizing. Apple really needs to get its act together.
actualsize says:
05:24 PM, 08/19/10
Any new phone (iPhone 4, Android x.x, whatever) runs the risk of being incompatible with cars that were built before it was. Even the 2011 cars that are just coming out can be an issue, because the software in their systems is usually frozen months before production.
In the 2011 Kia Sorento, for example, the iPod part of my iPhone (3GS running on iOS4), if plugged in when I key up, will play for like 10 seconds, then stop. I have to disconnect it from the plug then reconnect it. It works fine like this until the next time I start the car. But at least I can get it to play. It was totally shut out in the Terrain.
questionlp says:
05:37 PM, 08/19/10
@actualsize,
I'm also wondering how well iOS 4.x will behave with a 2011 MY Audi with 3G MMI. I know it will pair with my work phone (BlackBerry 8330 on Sprint) but will have to try it when I get the car. That's the other reason why I've been researching a downgrade solution.
Also, in about 6 months, I plan on ditching my iPhone for an Evo 4G or its replacement... which means I'll probably have the same set of issues then.
While it is fine and dandy to have standards (Bluetooth, OBEX, A2DP, etc.), but implementations rarely follow standards completely and truthfully. I understand the need to stand out and add new features, but at least make the contact synching and basic headset profiles across any Bluetooth device a priority!
Sorry for the rant, but I'm also ticked off about the lack of standards enforcement (I have to deal with soooo many niche market products that are made by vendors that are proud of their lack of proper interoperability).
tmanz says:
09:44 PM, 08/19/10
Apple just loves to do that. Honda had an iPod interface they sold for awhile that would read the song names. They finally had to kill it off because everytimg Apple 'upgraded' their software the system would stop working.
But in the Apple commercials I thought their products worked with everything flawlessly? Carefull, Steve may not approve of you plugging it into a Terrain. He might come take it back.
just buy a cheap USB flashdrive and use that in the Terrain. They only cost a couple bucks anymore, are tiny and you can just leave it in the vehicle.
lostboyz says:
04:21 AM, 08/20/10
agreed with tmanz, I just have a 16gb thumbdrive in my car. I hated constantly charging my ipod everytime I went for a drive. Now I just leave the thumbdrive there and update the music every once in awhile. If I want to play music off my phone I will just stream it via bluetooth.
mrb5091 says:
04:21 AM, 08/20/10
Every time a new device comes out for the computer, a new driver must be installed. This is easy and automated, because our computers have access to the internet where they can automatically determine the needed software and install it.
Most cars do not have the opportunity to upgrade right now, however, this isn't the fault of the manufacturers of phones or their software.
For reference, my iPhone 3G worked great on my 2010 MS3, and now my iPhone 4 works even better on the same car - Pandora and LastFM now work through bluetooth when only the iPod program did in the past.
wobbly_ears says:
07:12 AM, 08/20/10
Steve Jobs' solution:
"Stop driving the wrong car. Change your car. No big deal
- Steve
Sent from iPad
"
dougnewcomb says:
09:23 AM, 08/20/10
I had the same issue in the Terrain the other day. My 3GS w/OS4 didn't work. I tried another editor's 3GS with OS4 to double-check and got the same thing (after he said it previously worked). A third editor's 3GS w/OS3 worked fine, as did a fourth editor's 3G with OS4. Way to go, Apple. But my iPhone/iPod still works fine in our LT Camaro ...
Automotive infotainment software upgrades should be the norm: http://www.edmunds.com/ownership/audio/articles/161726/article.html
bankerdanny says:
09:25 AM, 08/20/10
wobbly_ears: Nice!
cello_one says:
09:58 AM, 08/20/10
You're holding the car the wrong way.
See if you touch both the drivers front quarter panel and the left rear bring piston you will have worse gas mileage and other performance related issues.
But wait, this is also the case for many other cars, if you touch this one on the hood and then the passenger side dome light the same performance related issues occur.
It must be the user.
tmanz says:
10:10 AM, 08/20/10
"this isn't the fault of the manufacturers of phones or their software."
Except that they must realize that their devices are being use in connection with devices that don't allow for 'driver updates' and could likely, with a bit of effort and concern about the experience of the customer, make them backward compatible.
netbear says:
10:40 AM, 08/20/10
Apple intends to sell you the i-car in a few years, then your upgarde will work fine.
1487 says:
11:08 AM, 08/20/10
"You're holding the car the wrong way."
LOL.
I agree that this should not be on the manufacturers. Car software cannot be updated every other month like a computer or smartphone. Its insane that Apple or any other phone maker wouldnt ensure that a new update wouldnt disable the phone's ability to pair with vehicles. This is on the phone manufacturers and it shows they don't even care about how their phone interfaces with products they don't make.
ac12311 says:
12:58 PM, 08/20/10
I am running iOS 4 on my iPhone 3GS and it works perfectly with the nav system in my 2010 SRX... and from what I can see... it's practically the same one in the Terrain.
actualsize says:
02:18 PM, 08/20/10
@ac12311: As GM itself is quick to point out, the SRX is not simply a badge-engineered Terrain. Don't expect the electronics to be the same, either. I'd hope an SRX would have a more premium system than this!
I drove our LT 2010 Camaro SS just last night. My iPhone had problems with it, too, but it would play if I preselected a podcast before I plugged-in the cable. But if I tried to navigate to anything other song or podcast with the car's head-unit controls, it would "dismount" the iPhone and kick me to FM radio. Not surprising. I would expect varying levels of compatibility from car to car with a single device, even within a single carmaker. Your SRX, our Terrain and Camaro: all three have varying degrees of success with the same device, an iPhone 3GS running on iOS4.
ac12311 says:
11:44 PM, 08/20/10
@actualsize: Oh, believe me, I'd be the first to say the same thing. There is no comparison between the Terrain and SRX... but this is GM. The navs in the Terrain/Equinox, CTS, SRX, and Saab 9-5 are based off the same version of the newest GM system. I would expect my phone to have the same compatibility on all of those vehicles.
redgreen1 says:
07:58 PM, 08/21/10
My 2010 Infiniti G37 actually had a recall just for Apple OS4 compatibility issues. So it look like Infiniti may be getting it anyway . . .
skurny says:
11:12 AM, 08/23/10
same thing happened with my 2009 Audi A5. Upgraded my iPhone 3G to OS4.0.1 and now it won't sync with the ipod feature. No more music.