americangame Posted November 11, 2011 Report Share Posted November 11, 2011 Not a conspiracy theorist...just a pessimist. Especially after seeing a lot of decision companies big and small make to try to cover up problems/issues. Just from an logical perspective, if most portable GPS use the same speed processor or better I don't see how you can reasonably expect this one to do that much more. It also didn't sit well with me that in the one video I saw of the new software the car is clearly not moving but when they show nav the vehicle is moving down the road. Again I really hope I am wrong. There's a mode on the nav that allows you to demo the route. I'm sure that's what they used when they were showing off the new software. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weezer Posted November 12, 2011 Report Share Posted November 12, 2011 Normally I would agree with you but after seeing what many companies decide to do to either cut costs or cover up issues I wouldn't be surprised if they stuck with the outdated core. I think the software if written properly can help the hardware but I still believe they know they have a hardware issue at least for those units that have nav. Again the processor was released in 2007 and is only running ~400MHz which is what stand alone GPS units run. No matter how clean you write your code (not something MS is known for) you are still pushing the limits of this CPU's capabilities. I think Ford is taking a calculated risk and figuring the overall % of nav sales is low and cost to carry or change CPU platforms would be too high. I remember reading before I made my purchase that the majority of the people having issues were those with Nav. I had also looked into adding nav later as that would have been beneficial to us at the time, but found Ford didn't offer it. There is no real reason Ford couldn't offer Nav as an upgrade. All the hooks are there they would just need to update the software and provide an SD card. Again this is just speculation but I think Ford was aware of the limitations and decided that performing updates would just cause more issues and they were already stretched too thin trying to patch things up. Again I could be completely wrong and I hope I am but based on my experiences with MFT it is running like and old underpowered PC with a bloatware on it. I wouldn’t get too hung-up over just the processor’s clock speed. Lots of things can influence a processor’s overall performance: bus width (8/16/32 bits), Onboard Cache, Hardware Floating Point acceleration, RAM speed, Graphics processors, and intelligent communications processors can contribute greatly to offloading work the central processor needs to perform to get the job done. Poorly designed/implemented code and incomplete knowledge of the underlying system hardware can also contribute greatly to pissing-away a significant number of processor cycles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wlepse Posted November 12, 2011 Report Share Posted November 12, 2011 I wouldn’t get too hung-up over just the processor’s clock speed. Lots of things can influence a processor’s overall performance: bus width (8/16/32 bits), Onboard Cache, Hardware Floating Point acceleration, RAM speed, Graphics processors, and intelligent communications processors can contribute greatly to offloading work the central processor needs to perform to get the job done. Poorly designed/implemented code and incomplete knowledge of the underlying system hardware can also contribute greatly to pissing-away a significant number of processor cycles. Agreed but from what I can find online the 400 MHz Freescale i.MX31L processor only seems to be used in e-readers. The core itself was released in 2007 and that is when Ford designed Sync to be released in 2008 with this CPU. The original sync systems were not controlling anywhere near what the new MFT does. So while I think it was more than adequate for the older system the added complexity and touch interface of the MFT errode any extra capacity making it marginal in the MFT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilsons66604 Posted November 12, 2011 Report Share Posted November 12, 2011 (edited) I wouldn’t get too hung-up over just the processor’s clock speed. Lots of things can influence a processor’s overall performance: bus width (8/16/32 bits), Onboard Cache, Hardware Floating Point acceleration, RAM speed, Graphics processors, and intelligent communications processors can contribute greatly to offloading work the central processor needs to perform to get the job done. Poorly designed/implemented code and incomplete knowledge of the underlying system hardware can also contribute greatly to pissing-away a significant number of processor cycles. I agree. The processor is not the fastest but we really aren't asking MFT to do a great deal of processing. Most of it's function is to perform as a menu/interface to other systems. Such as tune a radio, flip switches for HVAC system, make a phone call. The first round of development failed at managing the resources. PERIOD. If you look at the demos & photos of the new system, you may notice that they trimmed some fat. Things I noticed that were omitted from MFT in the latest press releases...(but may still exist) Totally useless Home screen wallpaper Totally useless Browser Totally useless hotspot feature (we still have the wifi hardware in the car so it may still be an option.) I wonder if they have fixed the Nav so it can read addresses from the Contact book. UPDATE: They are adding support for my iPad. WHY? Why would I want to play iPad media on the smaller MFT screen? Am I missing something here? Edited November 12, 2011 by wilsons66604 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted November 12, 2011 Report Share Posted November 12, 2011 They are adding support for my iPad. WHY? Why would I want to play iPad media on the smaller MFT screen? Am I missing something here? I assume that's for music and apps, not video. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilsons66604 Posted November 13, 2011 Report Share Posted November 13, 2011 I assume that's for music and apps, not video. I can plug my iPad in and play audio now. That's why I'm not catching what they are talking about here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted November 13, 2011 Report Share Posted November 13, 2011 I can plug my iPad in and play audio now. That's why I'm not catching what they are talking about here. Then I'm also stumped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dingo Posted November 13, 2011 Report Share Posted November 13, 2011 From Ford: Customers will now be able to connect compatible tablet devices like Apple iPad to SYNC and access content such as music and podcasts. Also, we’ve enabled Audible.com audiobooks to be accessed via SYNC. Customers that purchased the optional navigation system will also receive an SD card with new and improved map data, as well as an updated Point-of-Interest and Gracenote album cover art database. I wonder if they mean by bluetooth... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcw Posted November 13, 2011 Report Share Posted November 13, 2011 From Ford: Customers will now be able to connect compatible tablet devices like Apple iPad to SYNC and access content such as music and podcasts. Also, we’ve enabled Audible.com audiobooks to be accessed via SYNC. Customers that purchased the optional navigation system will also receive an SD card with new and improved map data, as well as an updated Point-of-Interest and Gracenote album cover art database. I wonder if they mean by bluetooth... I currently do all that trough blue tooth now on android, why would it be different in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilsons66604 Posted November 13, 2011 Report Share Posted November 13, 2011 (edited) From Ford: Customers will now be able to connect compatible tablet devices like Apple iPad to SYNC and access content such as music and podcasts. Also, we’ve enabled Audible.com audiobooks to be accessed via SYNC. Customers that purchased the optional navigation system will also receive an SD card with new and improved map data, as well as an updated Point-of-Interest and Gracenote album cover art database. I wonder if they mean by bluetooth... I just took the iPad out to the car to test it. I stand corrected. The iPad was not seen by v2.11 MFT. I must have dreamt that I used my iPad before (possibly v1.8 or audio via the AV ports). Nice upgrade feature. Now I know what I can use that Big Ass center console for. I'll keep my iPad stored there. Too bad the USB ports don't have the power to charge the iPad. Could that be addressed in the new software release? Edited November 13, 2011 by wilsons66604 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dingo Posted November 13, 2011 Report Share Posted November 13, 2011 I just took the iPad out to the car to test it. I stand corrected. The iPad was not seen by v2.11 MFT. I must have dreamt that I used my iPad before (possibly v1.8 or audio via the AV ports). Nice upgrade feature. Now I know what I can use that Big Ass center console for. I'll keep my iPad stored there. Too bad the USB ports don't have the power to charge the iPad. Could that be addressed in the new software release? Get a power port usb thing and then use bluetooth to the car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr.edge Posted November 14, 2011 Report Share Posted November 14, 2011 (edited) Get a power port usb thing and then use bluetooth to the car. The iPads are designed so that they won't actually charge off a USB port unless the cover is closed or the screen is blank. They need to have a power source with enough current capacity (typically an AC adapter). I just plugged my iPad into a 12v to USB adapter and it's not charging but like I said, if you shut the screen off, it will actually start to charge up. I also had no issue with playing audio off of it through the USB or Bluetooth connection so I'm not sure what Ford's talking about in the press release. Edited November 14, 2011 by dr.edge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilsons66604 Posted November 14, 2011 Report Share Posted November 14, 2011 The iPads are designed so that they won't actually charge off a USB port unless the cover is closed or the screen is blank. They need to have a power source with enough current capacity (typically an AC adapter). I just plugged my iPad into a 12v to USB adapter and it's not charging but like I said, if you shut the screen off, it will actually start to charge up. I also had no issue with playing audio off of it through the USB or Bluetooth connection so I'm not sure what Ford's talking about in the press release. Really?!? Your iPad worked? That's MFT for ya. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilsons66604 Posted November 14, 2011 Report Share Posted November 14, 2011 (edited) Get a power port usb thing and then use bluetooth to the car. I have an adapter that charges the iPad via a power point. It would be nice to have one of the USB ports charge though. BlueTooth is just too flakey with one device. I can't imagine having 2 devices to confuse MFT. Edited November 14, 2011 by wilsons66604 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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