Voice recognition on handset phonebook

[Deleted member 1622]

Hello --

Ever since the last software upgrade, the "Phone talk" function has not been very good. I use it often to do hands-free calling, and it is supposed to be able to access your handset phonebook and recognize the names in your address book. It worked fine when I first got the car in Feb. 2011. But since that "upgrade" I might as well be speaking Japanese (maybe it WANTS me to speak Japanese rather than English). Has anyone else had this problem with address book name recognition.
I eventually get frustrated and then have to fiddle with the phone myself, which is a safety hazard.
Any ideas on how to fix this?

- JG

 

[lpickup]

I'd love to give you feedback on this, but for some reason I haven't been able to get the handset phonebook feature work at all. I have no trouble connecting Bluetooth, but when I try to sync/download/validate/"whatever they call it" the handset phonebook it just sits there waiting for something and nothing ever happens.
I'm not really sure what is supposed to happen at that point. BTW, I've had no problem downloading my phone's phonebook to my Bluetooth compatible cordless phone.

 

[SierraQ]

FYI: when reporting these issues it would help if you gave the phone model your are using. Not all bluetooth phones are created equal.

Ever since the last software upgrade, the "Phone talk" function has not been very good.

I have not seen any difference with my phone (an iPhone 3G) but I don't use that particular feature that often since my frequently used numbers are stored in the car.

Note that short names, unusual names, and large address books will make it harder for the recognition system to operate. You might try a few other names from your address book just to see if you get better results.

You could also try deleting the phone from your Leaf and setting it up again. I believe the Leaf goes through a caching process which analyzes your phonebook to setup voice recognition and perhaps the cache has been corrupted.

I have no trouble connecting Bluetooth, but when I try to sync/download/validate/"whatever they call it" the handset phonebook it just sits there waiting for something and nothing ever happens.
I'm not really sure what is supposed to happen at that point. BTW, I've had no problem downloading my phone's phonebook to my Bluetooth compatible cordless phone.

As I said not all phones work with all devices properly. Since you can download to other devices it appears the phone at least supports the ability so that is good. What phone do you have? I'd give it at least 5-10 minutes for the Leaf to download your phone book. I seem to recall for mine it was very slow and appeared to not be doing much but it eventually got it done.

 

[lpickup]

I have no trouble connecting Bluetooth, but when I try to sync/download/validate/"whatever they call it" the handset phonebook it just sits there waiting for something and nothing ever happens.
I'm not really sure what is supposed to happen at that point. BTW, I've had no problem downloading my phone's phonebook to my Bluetooth compatible cordless phone.

As I said not all phones work with all devices properly. Since you can download to other devices it appears the phone at least supports the ability so that is good. What phone do you have? I'd give it at least 5-10 minutes for the Leaf to download your phone book. I seem to recall for mine it was very slow and appeared to not be doing much but it eventually got it done.

It's a Samsung Mythic (not a smart phone).

Here's what happens: I go to the Download Handset Phonebook menu and request Download on the NAV screen. A window that says "Download Checking.." pops up briefly, and then the following happens simultaneously: I get a "MY-CAR Disconnected" message on my phone (indicating the phone is no longer connected to the car) and a window pops up on the NAV screen that says: "Please transfer the phonebook from the Bluetooth phone. The PIN is 1234." It's at this point that I am clueless what to do next. I did not have to initiate a transfer on my cell phone when I set up my cordless phone and I don't see any obvious ways to initiate a transfer of my contact list/address book on the cell phone. As soon as I give up and hit the "Cancel" button on the LEAF, my phone responds with a "MY-CAR Connected" message!

I've done a brief internet search on my phone's Bluetooth capability but haven't seen any mention of initiating transfer of the phonebook from the phone side, however there are mentions of initiating it from the PC side. And as I said, my Panasonic cordless phone transferred it just fine without having to initiate anything on the phone side.

On the phone side I can "Print via Bluetooth" one contact at a time, but it is specifically looking for Bluetooth printers. It does not see the car!

I've pretty much chalked it up to it simply being one of those "not supported" cases, but I'm pretty disappointed since my $70 Bluetooth cordless phone can apparently do it, so why shouldn't my $30,000 car!

 

[davewill]

... a window pops up on the NAV screen that says: "Please transfer the phonebook from the Bluetooth phone. The PIN is 1234." It's at this point that I am clueless what to do next. ...

Your phone should have a "send" choice associated with either the whole address book or individual entries or it may let you select multiple entries and send them. When you choose send, you typically get a choice of SMS or bluetooth.

 

[lpickup]

a window pops up on the NAV screen that says: "Please transfer the phonebook from the Bluetooth phone. The PIN is 1234."

I also tried to forcefully connect my phone to the car at this point (from the phone side as the LEAF is "tied up" waiting for me) just to see what happens. If I do so, as soon as the phone connects to the LEAF, the LEAF reports "Download failed".

It's almost like the LEAF can't walk and chew gum at the same time. Either it can download the phonebook or it can be connected to my phone, but not both!

 

[lpickup]

Your phone should have a "send" choice associated with either the whole address book or individual entries or it may let you select multiple entries and send them. When you choose send, you typically get a choice of SMS or bluetooth.

Yes, it would appear that this is what it's expecting, but I've looked and looked and cannot find such a function. I can send pictures and video files and what-not, but not contacts. And just to reiterate, initiating the transfer from the phone side was not required for my cordless phone. The cordless phone somehow initiated the transfer itself.

 

[SierraQ]

Lance,

I looked up your Samsung Mythic phone and it says that it does not support PBAP (PhoneBook Access Profile) for bluetooth which is what I believe you need to make this work.

To be clear there are two kinds of transfers.
1) Copying names and addresses from your phone's phonebook to another phonebook (I assume this is what your cordless phone was doing). The Leaf can do this too--go to vehicle phonebook, pick add, import from phone (I think), pick a name, pick a number, hit back, repeat...

2) Accessing the phone book to process it for voice recognition

#2 is what I think require PBAP. #1 may or may not but you can try it.

 

[SierraQ]

Hello --

Ever since the last software upgrade, the "Phone talk" function has not been very good. I use it often to do hands-free calling, and it is supposed to be able to access your handset phonebook and recognize the names in your address book. It worked fine when I first got the car in Feb. 2011. But since that "upgrade" I might as well be speaking Japanese ...

I followed up on this and I learned that my latest download pulled all the names in backwards! I don't know if this was always the case and if it may be affecting you. To check, go to the phone menu and press handset phonebook, then scroll the list of names to make sure you are not saying "John Smith" when it expects "Smith John"

Other than that it seems to be working fine for me.

 

[NYLEAF]

Mine does that, too. All the names have to be said backwards. I just hold down the Home button on my iPhone for a few seconds and the iPhone's own voice recognition (it would be Siri if I had a 4S) takes over, right through the car's bluetooth system.

 

[rain922]

a window pops up on the NAV screen that says: "Please transfer the phonebook from the Bluetooth phone. The PIN is 1234."

I also tried to forcefully connect my phone to the car at this point (from the phone side as the LEAF is "tied up" waiting for me) just to see what happens. If I do so, as soon as the phone connects to the LEAF, the LEAF reports "Download failed".

It's almost like the LEAF can't walk and chew gum at the same time. Either it can download the phonebook or it can be connected to my phone, but not both!

yes, you can connect your phone to the car


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[peterleaf13]

I have a new iPhone 5 and a 2013 Leaf. I downloaded the handset phonebook to the Leaf. No matter what order I choose for the names on the iPhone, it will only show them last name first on the Leaf handset phonebook. Consequently, the voice recognition is not as effective as it should be.

I took it to the dealer and a couple salesmen fiddled around (trying everything that I've already tried) and concluded that it was a mystery. As a first time Nissan owner, is there any way to get any help from Nissan? Are customers basically on their own in these matters?

Otherwise, I love my car.


2013 Leaf SV
Delivered 4/28/13