More Fun with Booger
I got a brandy new LG VX9900 phone from Verizon. My previous car had proprietary hands-free tech that would only pair ONE certain phone to be useful through the center console. That phone was a 2001 vintage Motorola. Now I was free to upgrade my phone! W00t! Given that the Treo isn't very happy with the Prius (which is really something that Palm ought to fix), I got the LG.
Here's where things get stupidly complicated. The Treo allowed me to upload ALL contacts to the phone book stored in the car. This is a good thing, because the LG will not sync with the Mac, thus I can't put all of my contacts onto the LG as yet. This is ridiculously stupid, since the VX9900 is really a cool phone, with a full sized keyboard that you slide the top part of the phone away to use, a REALLY nice screen, and other relatively cool features. It is not as flexible as the Treo, but it's also MUCH less expensive. So why do I have two phones? Good question. I bought the Treo with GSM which only Cingular/AT&T has. BUT, it has really lousy coverage near my house. Verizon has great coverage. Why not dump the Treo and use just the LG? Well, because I want an iPhone which only comes with Cingular (blah). When the iPhone comes out I will sell the Treo on ebay or something, and see if the iPhone will interface with the Prius AND iSync, however the Verizon phone will still be very useful for the many coverage areas in which Cingular no workie.
The upshot of things is that since my contacts are loaded into the car, I can use either the Treo OR the LG in the car by choosing the appropriate little icon on the touch screen. I can then access the phone book that is already loaded into the car, regardless of which phone I use. I can update the phone book in the car through the Treo. Hopefully with Leopard, iSync will suddenly begin to support LG phones (please please please).
In our next installment, I will talk about the world's lamest feature of the Prius - the backup camera. LAME! Also the coolest feature - gas mileage. I'm averaging 43 mpg driving the car like a regular car. That will increase as I drive it like a hybrid. Joy :-)