by staff writer, Peter Kottwitz
Toyota of the Black Hills
If you have been in the market for a new Toyota in the past year or so, you may have noticed that hands free calling via Bluetooth is the next big thing. Almost every trim level of every model in Toyota’s lineup comes equipped with this feature thanks to recent regulations on talking and driving laws.
If you are looking at a higher end trim, most have a large display screen where the radio sits, this new feature is called Entune, Entune takes hands free calling to the next level by connecting to the internet via your smartphones data plan. From there you can search for nearby coffee shops with Bing, check your stock’s look at the weather forecast, or even find the cheapest gas in your city! It’s truly a technology with the user in mind, just after playing with it for a few minutes we became instant experts.
Unfortunately there are many people that buy vehicles that come equipped with Entune and never use it, what a shame! A lot of times we hear that connecting your telephone to your car is the hardest part, for that, here are some easy to follow step-by-step instructions on how to get started using your hands free feature.
1. Touch Setup on the faceplate
2. Touch Bluetooth, Setup
3. Touch Search for Bluetooth, Devices or Make This System Discoverable
a. The system will begin searching for devices
b. Touch Cancel if you wish to cancel the search
4. Touch the device to be paired.
5. A message will direct you to start the pairing process on your phone.
6. Touch Accept to pair your smartphone to your vehicle
7. A confirmation will appear that your phone has been paired
That wasn’t so hard was it? Now that you are connected for calling, you also will probably also want to connect so you can use the internet through your new Toyota. To do that, you will need to download the Entune app on your Blackberry, Droid, or IPhone, from there you need to register your vehicle and create a username, then you just follow the simple instructions on your smartphone app, and there you go! Make sure to keep track of how much you use the data on your Entune system, as it is billed to your phone’s data plan, and if you don’t have unlimited data, could end up costing some money.
All in all we love the new Entune, It is sure to raise the bar in hands free car technology, Let us know how you like your Entune, have you had any problems with it? Or could you never live without it?