Lexus ES 350 and Bluetooth

rocketdan

I just picked up my ES350 today (so far everything is GREAT) and tried to connect my old Nokia 3650 Cingular phone. I have been holding off replacing it til I saw what worked with the car, but it is bluetooth compatible and I have linked it to several computers so I thought I'd try it. The phone indicates it has paired with the car, but the car display never acknowleges that. It still shows no phone connected and it is still trying to connect. Has anyone tried and been successful with this model?

garyh1

In case it helps, a similar thing happened with me and my '05 Lexus LS430. Although it didn't appear to work and I kept re-pairing them over and over again, I finally just went ahead and made a call from the phone, and lo and behold, it worked and has worked from then on. Made me feel very silly.

Apparently some of these systems needs an actual call to be made to complete the process. Hope this helps.

rocketdan

Thanks. I never would have thought of that! I'll give it a try tonight. I did very easily connect a friends Razr (Cingular) today and made a call just to ensure the system is working.

mmoss1

When I picked up my 350 a few days ago the dealer told me they had "problems" hooking up the Treo through Bluetooth. We hooked it up at the time and it worked perfectly for several days. Now it is not working, and I cannot get it to work.

The phone is showing that it connects, but the car is clearly telling me "mobile phone not connected".

Has anyone else fixed this problem?

garyh1

Try these:

1. Make sure the transmitter is not being blocked by your phone case. Remove the phone from any case you have it in and see if that works.

2. Try a reset of the phone; that sometimes clears up problems. Use the stylus to press in the hole on the back of the phone under the battery cover on the left side.

3. From the main phone screen, click on the top left corner to show the menu, choose "Options">"Phone Preferences", then try turning on or off "Enable Voice Privacy" and see which way works better.

Let us know if any of these help.

rocketdan

Well, it was a good try but unfortunately the Nokia 3650 still doesn't work. I wrote to Nokia, and they simply said the phone supports the Bluetooth handfree protocol and I should check with Lexus. Everyone supports the protocol, but apparently there is enough variability in the standards that many don't quite work!

dp5

I have a Motorola RAZR paired with my new ES 350. Whenever I am speaking on my phone, I'll frequently get a second call on call waiting. If I don't answer the new call, both calls disconnect when the 2nd call rolls over to voicemail. If I do answer the 2nd call, both calls hang up when the 1st call disconnects.

Others don't seem to be having the trouble so I am sure that it is a setting on my phone but I can't find anything. Does anyone have any suggestions.

donegal

Check the car you're looking at to see if it works with your phone or enter your phone to see which cars support it.

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-10895_7-6550017.html?tag=nl.e501

dp5

Thanks for the link. My phone is a Motorola Razr V3 and it is supposed to be compatible.

However, whenever I am using the bluetooth and recieve a 2nd call on call waiting, both lines disconnect when either caller hangs up. Yesterday, I took my phone to the store I bought it from and was told that this was a software issue and they needed to load a different operating system on my phone. They asked me to call Lexus to learn which operating system works with the Lexus. I spent almost 2 hours being bounced around between Lexus, the Lexus bluetooth specialists and Motorola. Finally, a Lexus customer service representative told me that the Lexus bluetooth does not support call waiting and that I needed to disable call waiting on my cell phone when making a call to keep from having call waiting disconnect the original call. She said that this is true for all Lexus vehicles and all phones.

I'd like to know if all other ES 350 owners experience this problem or if I got some misinformation. Please post and let me know if a second cell phone call makes your phone disconnect when using bluetooth.

scman

I'm on the Sprint PCS network and don't really want to change mobile phone providers. I am, however, willing to upgrade my current phone to take advantage of the bluetooth capabilities of the ES350.

I noticed just today that Sprint has introduced a new bluetooth enabled cell phone (Samsung A640) that MAY be compatible with the Lexus ES350. Does anyone know about the compatibility of this phone? I would also be interested in ANY Sprint PCS phone that would work with the ES350 as long as it is NOT a PDA-style phone .Thanks

scman

Since no one has responded to my question on the ES350 Bluetooth Subforum, I have repeated it here:

I'm on the Sprint PCS network and don't really want to change mobile phone providers. I am, however, willing to upgrade my current phone to take advantage of the bluetooth capabilities of the ES350.

I noticed just today that Sprint has introduced a new bluetooth enabled cell phone (Samsung A640) that MAY be compatible with the Lexus ES350. Does anyone know about the compatibility of this phone? I would also be interested in ANY Sprint PCS phone that would work with the ES350 as long as it is NOT a PDA-style phone .Thanks

venture5

Did you know that the Lexus website has a list of phones that are compatible with the ES350? There's an icon that says "Is your Bluetooth phone compatible? Find out here."

me21379

It is my understanding that any Bluetooth device will work (pair) with any other Bluetooth device.

rocketdan

Your understanding would be incorrect. See Post #2. I was never successful in getting my Nokia 3650 to pair with the ES. Nor was my dealer. Nokia only replied that the phone supports the handsfree protocol. The Bluetooth standard has evolved, and older models of Bluetooth compatible phones may not pair at all. Even newer phones only support some functions. The Motorola T-Mobile Razr I picked up pairs beautifully, although it doesn't do group mailbox transfers. Before buying anything, I would borrow one and check it out thoroughly if it isn't on the list linked from the Lexus site.

westex1

Just started looking for solutions to the same problem. I had a Motorola V551 when I bought an 06 GS and it worked fine. Even the call waiting worked fine. I bought a Razor within the last 3 months and it works with the exception that the call waiting feature works just as you described. Since call waiting was working with the V551, the statement given that Lexus bluetooth is not supported is confusing. If you have had any luck, please let me know.

dp5

No luck yet. One Lexus technician told me that the only RAZR he had ever seen that worked w/ the call waiting was an "unlocked European phone". When I told him that this was the phone I had, he said that I could probably get mine to work by changing the operating software but he didn't know which version to suggest. He is supposedly keeping his eyes out for additional info. I'll certainly post if I learn something useful. Please do the same.

westex1

Thanks for the info. I guess in the meantime I'll have the V551 repaired?

oldman26

I have a Sony Ericsson/Cingular W600i cell phone that worked perfectly until I had the Navagation System replaced because of the Voice Recognition problem. Now it will not re-connect. Any suggestions? Anyone else with this problem? Who can I blame?

zekeman1

Don't know about your dealership, but mine had a new car sales customer rep who briefed me for about an hour on everything about the car and even programmed her phone # into my system so that I could instantly call her for clarification of problems working the system. Do you have a similar person "assigned" to your sale? If so, why not give them a call (or visit) to determine the connection issue(s). I've had occasion to call twice and visit once and gotten all my questions and issues answered and/or fixed.

oldman26

Thanks zekeman1. I'm going to give it another try today and if I still have problems I'll try the dealer tomorrow. So far the dealer in Annapolis has given me great service.

larrymit

I registered my son's Verizon Samsung phone today with the Bluetooth. The hardest part was doing the setup on the phone so that it would connect via Bluetooth. Once I figured that out, connection was easy and has worked everytime he's been in the car. As reported by others, the phonebook doesn't transfer with a Verizon phone.

malpert1

how do you make a call while driving? do you have to hit speed dial? i registered the name and phone and did voice training but i dont know how to call by voice...how is that done..
and another unrelated question... it used to be that you could cycle through mpg etc and set how long you were driving.. from the point you started to destination...if you stoped the clock stopped. the nav projects time and mileage but doesnt tell you how long you acturallly drove on the route.. did they take out the time calulation?

tdoh

You need to press the Voice Command button (sorry if I'm not using the correct name but I think you'll know to what I'm referring to) on the steering wheel; then when prompted, speak "Dial Name" (or was it "Name Dial"--my memory is pretty bad these days); then when prompted for the name tag, speak the name tag you registered for the phone number you wish to dial.

As far as your other question--I could be wrong but I think the ES 350 nav is not capable of displaying total elapsed travel time...at least not w/ the 5.1 nav disc revision.

jaspalb

Has anyone tried ES350 bluetooth with a portable navigation system with bluetooth. I wonder if car audio will pause when navigation audio is transmitted to car audio/speakers.

colorfulyears

Nokia 3650 is an old model and it should be supported. Please do the following:
1. Unpair your current connection with the car on your phone.
2. On your car's blue tooth setup, give the car's blue tooth device a name; do not use the default "Hand free...". For example, I use "freddylexuses" for my car.
3. Re-do the pairing again on both the car and the phone.

It should connect this time.

colorfulyears

I tried that with my friend's ES 350 with an old Belkin bluetooth Nav system, which requires the use of a PDA or laptop computer as the screen. The audio guidance is supposed to be broadcasted through the PDA or notebook computer's speakers. The car and the device paired up well but when the car audio is on, it would not pause to announce the guidance. Not recommended.

colorfulyears

Samsung A640 uses bluetooth 1.0 transmission protocal and is NOT compatible with the Lexus ES350. Find something else.

Many of the US cellphones are either "locked" so that they can support one service provider only, or use outdated operating system/software because Americans don't care. If you want to be safe, buy a phone from a US company like MOTO. You are more likely to get the latest operating system installed. Or, you may buy a phone in Hong Kong, where there are most advanced, unlocked phones in the world.

sirraf

Does any know if I can program my phone also on my wife's ES? We have already programed her phone to Blue Tooth but I was wondering if I could also program my phone. She has a Nokia phone while I have a Motorola.

larrymit

I can't comment on the specific brands of phone, but I have two different brands programmed into my ES. Only one at a time can connect. (At least I think that's the case, since I can't remember if I ever tried to get both to connect at the same time.)

jaspalb

Between any pair there can be only one bluetooth connection at a time, although you can pair several with ES. Whichever paired phone comes in the range first, connects and stays connected (preventing phone or car connecting to any other paired device)

ajmtbm

actually i think you have to choose the phone to connect with. so if you have phone a chosen, and phone b gets in the car, it will not connect until you tell the car to connect to phone b.

jlbmi

I have a 2007 ES 350 and the Bluetooth simply is not reliable. I have to state the phone number numerous times and when I am on the phone the person on the other end heres nothing but static or segments of what I say are garbled. Is anyone else experiencing this with their Bluetooth. I am using a Nextel Sprint I870.

zekeman1

Mine works fine everytime (and with clear reception) but I never use the voice activated feature; always use the touchscreen. I use the Motorola Razor on the Verizon network...perhaps it's the Sprint network which is the problem?

jlbmi

I thought it was Sprint as well but apparently not...others tell me that theirs work fine. Also giving me trouble is the voice activation...I do not have the nav. I have to say the numbers several times in order to finally get the correct number. To me it sounds like it is in the system itself.

jaspalb

I have non-nav version, and BT works just fine. Voice activation works well for numbers/names already entered in the phone book, but it is almost impossible to dial a number via voice (always errors). I had to enter numbers in the phone list by using the dial. But overall it works well.

jlbmi

What phone service do you use? My problem is that I use drive time to return messages which entails calling people not on the phone list. It sometimes takes five attempts to get a number in correctly. Frustrating experience. Once connected the person on the other end cannot hear what I am saying because they only receive bits and pieces of the message.

mdchachi

Could be a microphone or other problem. Have you had the dealer check it out yet?

jaspalb

Speech recognition technology is not yet that perfect that you could just "tell" the car number to dial once, and it would make it out. There are so many accents and variations to say something, and recognition software can only go that far. Best is, while driving. use directory, call return, etc. For bad BT connection, look at the signal strength display. Performance is very much dependent on the phone, and where you keep it. Signal could be impacted by other metalic objects around the phone as well. Try putting the phone in the cup holder.

tmitch6542

Has anyone solved this problem? The only thing I have been able to do to avoid losing my calls is to get to my handset quickly and try to link the two calls and then have one person hang up. Otherwise, I seem to lose both calls. I have called Lexus here (Massachusetts) and no one seemed to have any idea of what I was talking about.

hb3749

Do you have Bluetooth in your non-nav Lexus that was installed aftermarket by the dealer?
I was told Bluetooth is not available as an option without the navigation - is that true?

jaspalb

It is not true. Bluetooth IS part of the Premium package in the non-nav car. It works quite fine in my non-nav ES350

jwr4

This phone is listed by Lexus as completely compatible with my 2007 ES 350. The dealer graciously offered to help connect the phone and offered a mini-tutorial. Called from his phone and we used the voice activated feature to call his phone and everything worked fine. He then tried to tansfer the phone book and nothing worked. Neither when attempting to transfer the whole phone book or by individual number. He advised us to contact Sprint because another customer had problems with Sprint -the connection failed 5 minutes after he left the dealership and the problem was with Sprint programming. Sure enough, one mile down the road our connection was gone and the car has not found the phone again since. Went to a Sprint tech center and they showed us that the phone had no problem picking up several Bluetooth devices in their store. Therefore the problem was with Lexus not with Sprint. Now what? Is it Lexus or something in the way Sprint programs their phones?

jaspalb

Do you use any other bluetooth device with your phone, i.e. an ear-piece? A phone can connect to only one Handsfree profile. Try turning the phone off, and then on again (with no other paired ear-piece around)

Phone book transfer is a different issue. Most phones don't do that.

jwr4

No. All I had in the car was the phone and the car is not picking up the phone even though the BLuetooth function on the phone is enabled.

jaspalb

You may want to re-pair the phone with car again. Yesterday, I had to use another phone with bluetooth, it paired quickly. Note that when you are trying to pair, you have to first ready the phone with bluetooth on, put it in "searchable" mode (some phones can be in this mode only for a minute at a time), and then go to "Add new Device". Then in ES350 phone you enter into Phone Setup mode, then follow the prompts. When it is repeatedly saying "searching", reactive the phone to be in "searchable" mode, if it is still not in this mode. The phone should comeback with "Found new device", and asks for a passkey, which you enter what car audio gives you. That's all.

scottrobert

Does anyone know if there is a way to increase the microphone gain/sensitivity on the ES350? It pairs just fine, but even if I yell into the roof mic my voice is too faint. Does this sound like a service call? My IS250 had much better mic gain. Just wondering your thoughts. Thanks.

jaspalb

We never had any problem with microphone. We just talk normally. Other party doesn't even know that we are not on regular phone. May be some debris is blocking your microphone. If not make a service call.

devon_ga

Do you have a nav or non-nav system?

I had the same problem with my microphone. I called the service consultant and was told I had to bring it in to get it adjusted. No charge. One of the engineers accessed the service menu through the nav system, selected bluetooth and increased the volume. The volume is between 0 and 5. I think the default setting is 0. The tech set my volume to 4 and it works fine. Everyone I call can hear me much better. Don't let them tell you it can't be done. It can. I actually sat in the car with him and watched him do it. He was very helpful and told me to contact him if I have any more problems. I am not sure how they adjust it for non-nav systems.

He also told me that there were microphone problems in some of the RX models that had to be replaced. If I have any other problems, he suggested that they may have to replace it for me. So far, so good.

I hope this helps. Good luck. Please let me know if you get it adjusted and if it works better.

twq83

Have you tried teaching your BT your voice?????? If you take a Minute ..... not driving down the Highways, Maybe at home on a quite evening. Have a Learning session with your system. How ???? you ask ...... well if you hit the Voice activation button on the steering wheel it will ask you for a Command. This is normal........... If you press it AND HOLD IT for a 2 second count it responds "...... Voice recoginition Mode." then normally speak the number and see if it records it properly, if not repeat and correct the system it will learn your perticular voice and fluctuations........

See if that doesn't help with the problem........

thy_gallant

Has anybody used the pause or wait features in the lexus phone book. Typically you would insert pause or wait, to automatically release phone extensions or passcodes etc. I have inserted it in the phone number in the phone book but nothing happens. Thanks in advance.

ajmtbm

i havent had much luck.

i programmed a wait and have to hit the send button and manually have it send each tone.

pause and wait do not seem to work well