Culture|Garage

Ok, we have all seen the Sync commercials. We all understand the basic premise. But how many of you have actually used speech technology and voice recognition devices? We have all tried it at one time or another using our shitty Motorola or had to deal with the computer chick on Comcast’s 800 number. And you know what, it has all sucked.

Ford’s biggest dilemma is going to be convincing people that the Sync doesn’t suck. One of the friendly Ford booth gals asked me if I was familiar with the Sync and if I wanted to try it out.

I told her I had an iPhone so I doubted it would work with the Microsoft interface. Wrong. So I hop in the Focus with her, we set my iPhone to discoverable, and then entered the PIN number that the car provided.

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Within a matter of seconds it had indexed my phone, and using the steering wheel buttons, we could view my call history, battery level, signal strength, etc. But how did it work with voice recognition? Very well! You simply press the speak button and say, “call Bob Lutz” and the car replies, calling Bob Lutz and connects the call. The call is conducted through the cabin stereo speakers, it’s easy to use and test calls proved clarity on both ends.

One feature that did not work (due to the iPhone not being 100% compatible) was the text message function. As I understood, if your phone is compatible the car will read new text messages to you, even to the point that it knows common l33t speak, for example, LOL, becomes laughing out loud.

Music playback is similar. You just dock your iPod, or if you are one of the eight people with a Zune, into the center console. The car indexes the play lists. You then press the speak button and say, “play artist Modest Mouse,” and it will begin playing the first song on the list. Or, you can dial it down and say “play track Cowboy Dan.”

They are expecting a few big updates to be coming out soon, one being 911 support. If I understood it correctly, the car would be able to dial 911 in the event of an accident (i.e, it becomes On Star’esque). The other big (and creepy) one is the diagnostic function that allows the dealer to speak to the car, etc. It could start becoming too good and end up being Orwellian.

More good news, this system is cheap. Like a sub $300 option cheap. Far too cheap to consider passing up. The system is great because it is updatable and there is no monthly charge. This is truly an On-Star killer.

Microsoft, this is a first and probably a last, but damn, my hat goes off to you. You have made a Mac fanboi surprisingly pleased.

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