GoatLocker
Member
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2015
- Posts
- 71
- Reaction score
- 19
- Ram Year
- 2014
- Engine
- Cummins 6.7
Like most factory entertainment systems, uconnect is lacking in phone integration for anything but making and receiving phone calls. Voice recognition is weak and with the iPhone, you can't even send a text unless you use your phone. The easiest option with the iphone is to keep your phone out, so you can use siri to access messaging, navigation (I have the 8.4A), music, calendar, reminders, dinner reservations and all the other stuff siri can do for you.
I have an iPhone 5 and prefer to keep my phone in my pocket, not mounted on my dash or sitting in a cup holder (as I will more than likely forget my phone in the truck).
Enter the Satechi bluetooth Home Button
Technical details can be found here, so I'll just cover how it works for me. This little accessory allows me to place my home button wherever I want and leave my iphone in my pocket. Once paired with my phone, it works well, at least most of the time. If not used for more than a few minutes, you need to press the button once to "wake" it, then again to access siri. Occasionally, it takes a third press before I hear siri's ready tone/prompt. Once you hear the prompt, you can do anything with siri as if you had the phone in your hand. You do have to give siri tasks that will result in a verbal answer, or she might reply with something like "here's what I found on the web", requiring you to look at the screen. With "siri eyes free", the phone keeps replies to voice only. 2016 uConnect is marketed as featuring "siri eyes free", but it looks like older versions will not be upgraded. Ford just released an upgrade to Sync 2 that upgrades my daughter's 2012 Focus to include eyes free, so maybe FCA will follow their lead. Or not.
The Satechi home button does allow me to keep my phone in my pocket, but does not get rid of some of the other limitations of uConnect/iPhone. With the iphone plugged into USB (obviously, the phone is no longer in my pocket), I have pretty much full access. I can browse music, place/receive phone calls, access siri, etc. If I tell siri to navigate to a location, turn by turn directions will announce over my streaming music. Bluetooth is similar, but I cannot browse the music on my phone; just tell siri what to play. The RA3 display gives title/album/artist info, but I lose album art. If I'm listening to AM/FM/XM/Apps/SD card/Aux, I can still access siri, phone calls, texts, etc, but I will not hear turn by turn directions.
The new 6s and 6s+ iphones can access siri even when the phone is in your pocket by saying "hey siri", so this product might not be for owners of the newer phones. Also, this button has been successfully used with some android phones to access S-voice, google now, etc.
Overall, the Home Button works fairly well and does what Satechi claims it does. It works for ME the way I use my phone. For $25 it's a sort of a poor man's Siri Eyes Free. For road trips I still pull out the phone and plug it into USB, but for short trips, the phone stays in my pocket and I still have access to most functions. Next phone purchase, I think I'll take the phone I want out to the truck for a test drive before I buy.
I have an iPhone 5 and prefer to keep my phone in my pocket, not mounted on my dash or sitting in a cup holder (as I will more than likely forget my phone in the truck).
Enter the Satechi bluetooth Home Button
Technical details can be found here, so I'll just cover how it works for me. This little accessory allows me to place my home button wherever I want and leave my iphone in my pocket. Once paired with my phone, it works well, at least most of the time. If not used for more than a few minutes, you need to press the button once to "wake" it, then again to access siri. Occasionally, it takes a third press before I hear siri's ready tone/prompt. Once you hear the prompt, you can do anything with siri as if you had the phone in your hand. You do have to give siri tasks that will result in a verbal answer, or she might reply with something like "here's what I found on the web", requiring you to look at the screen. With "siri eyes free", the phone keeps replies to voice only. 2016 uConnect is marketed as featuring "siri eyes free", but it looks like older versions will not be upgraded. Ford just released an upgrade to Sync 2 that upgrades my daughter's 2012 Focus to include eyes free, so maybe FCA will follow their lead. Or not.
The Satechi home button does allow me to keep my phone in my pocket, but does not get rid of some of the other limitations of uConnect/iPhone. With the iphone plugged into USB (obviously, the phone is no longer in my pocket), I have pretty much full access. I can browse music, place/receive phone calls, access siri, etc. If I tell siri to navigate to a location, turn by turn directions will announce over my streaming music. Bluetooth is similar, but I cannot browse the music on my phone; just tell siri what to play. The RA3 display gives title/album/artist info, but I lose album art. If I'm listening to AM/FM/XM/Apps/SD card/Aux, I can still access siri, phone calls, texts, etc, but I will not hear turn by turn directions.
The new 6s and 6s+ iphones can access siri even when the phone is in your pocket by saying "hey siri", so this product might not be for owners of the newer phones. Also, this button has been successfully used with some android phones to access S-voice, google now, etc.
Overall, the Home Button works fairly well and does what Satechi claims it does. It works for ME the way I use my phone. For $25 it's a sort of a poor man's Siri Eyes Free. For road trips I still pull out the phone and plug it into USB, but for short trips, the phone stays in my pocket and I still have access to most functions. Next phone purchase, I think I'll take the phone I want out to the truck for a test drive before I buy.
