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Last night I got to test out my new in-dash Pioneer radio. It's basically a GPS and multi-source AV unit with a single LCD display that controls everything. I have the XM radio option and the GPS, but the basic unit comes with some extra goodies, like Bluetooth support, an SD flash card, an AUX port to take input from stuff like your iPod, and some other stuff.
On a whim, I thought I might try out the phone features. I tapped a couple spots on the screen, looked for nearby phones, found mine, entered the PIN on my iPhone, and a few seconds later all of the phone options in the radio lit up. Feeling adventurous, I opened up the dial pad and made a call from the radio's touch screen while my iPhone sat snugly in my pocket.
A few seconds later all the speakers in the van (the van can hold quite a few speakers...) were broadcasting the audio of my phone call. The radio unit in the van now keeps track of all calls made from the van and received while in the van. If you're from New Jersey, then you know that stuff like this is almost required because you can't make cell phone calls when your vehicle is moving (not that it was a good idea to do so anyway...).
I remember thinking to myself, "Holy crap - this is one of the coolest things I've ever done.".. Then it really hit me, "Not only is this ridiculously cool, but its ubiquitous. EVERYBODY has this stuff. Everybody knows how to work bluetooth and making handsfree calls in your car is old news."
So what is the point of this blog post? I'm not sure... I just wanted to share with people the sheer joy I felt at not having to find some damn place on the side of the road to pull over and take that occcasional really important call. Now my van will auto-answer my iPhone and life is good.
Moral of the story:
As software developers, we don't have the option of creating hardware that makes our customers crap their pants and squeal with joy. However, it should always be our ultimate goal to make our customers squeal with joy. They should exclaim, "Oh my god, all I have to do in order to get this piece of pure awesomeness is pay for it!?!? sign me up!!". If our customers are not doing this when we deliver software to them, we're not doing our jobs.
Wouldn't it be cool if they could make the radio display act as the iPhone
touchscreen?
I love bluetooth. I just wish it had wider compatability. The iPhone and
other phones just don't support enough profiles, and neither does my mac.
Bluetooth file exchange is nice, but where is the wireless headphone
support. The phone does headphones, but how about keyboards (and vice versa
etc. ad absurdium)… Okay, maybe you don't need to use a bluetooth keyboard
with your iPhone… but one can dream right.
