How does the phone function work?
04-25-2013, 04:58 PM
#2
Burning Brakes
Short answer to your question; it works wonderfully.
I am a blessed person in that I do not have a cell-phone; however, in their frustration, my sons got me a pre-paid SIM for my last 997 so at least they can call me (or send text) when I'm in the car.
I just slotted it in to the dashboard and the 'phone function operated perfectly, dialling out (using steering wheel if you have the multi-function) or just the screen functions, answering calls. The speakers are on top of the steering-column. Sending/receiving texts, too, is really simple and intuitive.
My 991 has a the SIM slot in a slightly different place but otherwise works just as well.
Not having a cell-phone to compare with I'm perhaps not a perfect assessor of how it compares with an actual modern 'phone (I guess it's rather paltry by comparison - no images or internet), but it suits me just fine.
I am a blessed person in that I do not have a cell-phone; however, in their frustration, my sons got me a pre-paid SIM for my last 997 so at least they can call me (or send text) when I'm in the car.
I just slotted it in to the dashboard and the 'phone function operated perfectly, dialling out (using steering wheel if you have the multi-function) or just the screen functions, answering calls. The speakers are on top of the steering-column. Sending/receiving texts, too, is really simple and intuitive.
My 991 has a the SIM slot in a slightly different place but otherwise works just as well.
Not having a cell-phone to compare with I'm perhaps not a perfect assessor of how it compares with an actual modern 'phone (I guess it's rather paltry by comparison - no images or internet), but it suits me just fine.
04-26-2013, 07:08 AM
#4
In order to be able to use that SIM slot, you need to have the telephone module (which is optional, at least in the US). The car is then equipped with an antenna that supposedly gets better reception than your cell phone would.
I don't have this option so I can't vouch for its effectiveness, but the reason I didn't order it for my car was that I was told by my dealer that you would need a 2nd SIM card and therefore a 2nd phone number. This would have been a huge hassle (which number are people supposed to call you at? How would they know that you're in your car and can take calls from that number? Why not just call your cell phone then?). Or if you wanted to use just one SIM card, you'd have to swap it between your phone and your car every time you get in, and the SIM card probably doesn't have all your saved numbers so you'd have to type them in the car manually. I suppose this wouldn't be a problem for people who didn't have a cell phone to begin with, but if you do, you're probably better off just pairing it through bluetooth. The main downside to bluetooth right now is that the PCM cannot access your text messages to display them on the car's screen (at least on most phones), but this may be fixed in a future update to the PCM.
There is one other feature enabled by the telephone module called the SIM Access Profile. This is how Sascha Glaser explained it to me: " In addition to the HFP (Bluetooth) profile that is used by the standard Bluetooth connection in the car, the telephone module can use the SAP (Bluetooth) profile for connecting a phone. This enables to switch off the phones antenna to save battery power and enhances the reception by using the vehicle antenna. However, the phone has to support the SAP profile and iPhones as of now don't do that. The following link will give you more information which phones support SAP (sorry, I was only able to find a German website): http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIM-Access-Profile"
Sorry roadrat, that was probably a lot more than you asked for but I thought I'd throw it out there because not many people seem to know what the telephone module does.
I don't have this option so I can't vouch for its effectiveness, but the reason I didn't order it for my car was that I was told by my dealer that you would need a 2nd SIM card and therefore a 2nd phone number. This would have been a huge hassle (which number are people supposed to call you at? How would they know that you're in your car and can take calls from that number? Why not just call your cell phone then?). Or if you wanted to use just one SIM card, you'd have to swap it between your phone and your car every time you get in, and the SIM card probably doesn't have all your saved numbers so you'd have to type them in the car manually. I suppose this wouldn't be a problem for people who didn't have a cell phone to begin with, but if you do, you're probably better off just pairing it through bluetooth. The main downside to bluetooth right now is that the PCM cannot access your text messages to display them on the car's screen (at least on most phones), but this may be fixed in a future update to the PCM.
There is one other feature enabled by the telephone module called the SIM Access Profile. This is how Sascha Glaser explained it to me: " In addition to the HFP (Bluetooth) profile that is used by the standard Bluetooth connection in the car, the telephone module can use the SAP (Bluetooth) profile for connecting a phone. This enables to switch off the phones antenna to save battery power and enhances the reception by using the vehicle antenna. However, the phone has to support the SAP profile and iPhones as of now don't do that. The following link will give you more information which phones support SAP (sorry, I was only able to find a German website): http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIM-Access-Profile"
Sorry roadrat, that was probably a lot more than you asked for but I thought I'd throw it out there because not many people seem to know what the telephone module does.
04-26-2013, 11:11 AM
#5
