TRANSFERRING PHONEBOOK TO PIONEER HEAD UNIT

Question

Just purchased a new Pioneer AVH-P4100DVD automobile head unit, and I have synched the my iPhone 3G, but I'm having problems transferring my phone's "contact information" to the head unit. Without access to the iPhone's phonebook, it's really annoying (to say nothing of dangerous) to have to peck numbers into the screen while driving.
The Pioneer unit recognizes the iPhone and will receive calls, but it doesn't have a specific way to import the iPhone's stored numbers. In the "function menu," the Pioneer unit has an import phonebook option, but you push a button that says "start," (which puts the Pioneer unit on "standby"), and then you're instructed, "Perform phonebook transfer using the cellular phone -- refer to cellular phone for instructions."
I haven't been able to find iPhone instructions that tell me how to transfer my phone contact information.
Any help would be appreciated!

Answer 1

I hope I have the facts correct here...Apparently, Pioneer's newer Premier DEH-P710BT head unit (May 2009 release) and a sister, consumer model, the DEH 7100BT, will support file transfers to the iPhone, according to a Pioneer support technician to whom I spoke. Pio's AVH models (with DVD players) don't have built-in Bluetooth -- instead they use an external BT adapter, the CD-BTB200 (which costs about $179). I think this is may be even older adapter that has been available since early 2008.
I was told the DEH-P710BT/7100BT models (or any models with built-in BT adapter) use the Bluetooth PBAP profile for file transfers and that this is the only file-transfer profile currently supported by the iPhone. Apparently, Pio's add-on CD-BTB200 only supports the Bluetooth OPP profile. To refresh our memories:
Object Push Profile (OPP)
A basic profile for sending "objects" such as pictures, virtual business cards, or appointment details. It is called push because the transfers are always instigated by the sender (client), not the receiver (server). OPP uses the APIs of OBEX profile and the OBEX operations which are used in OPP are connect, disconnect, put, get and abort. By using these APIs the OPP layer will reside over OBEX and hence follow the specifications of the Bluetooth stack.
Phone Book Access Profile (PBAP, PBA)
This profile allows exchange of Phone Book Objects between devices. It is likely to be used between a car kit and a mobile phone to allow the car kit to display the name of the incoming caller.
I tested the iPhone/Bluetooth connection on an older, Pio DEH-P700BT head unit still in the store and even it worked flawlessly (and sounded great) in a very limited, two-minute test. But the bigger issue I uncovered is this:
While these otherwise terrific, new Pioneer car head units have iPhone-compatible Bluetooth adapters (built-in or external), they only support the transfer of 400 contacts and 3600 phone numbers to the head unit...Here at our home office, our two laptops and iPhones each have Address Books with over 2,500 contact names, and perhaps 8,000 (or more) numbers. I think Pioneer's short-sighted, Bluetooth storage limitation creates a problem for business users with large Contact lists. With more contacts, I assume you have to constantly switch back and forth between head unit control and direct iPod control to place calls through their Bluetooth system, though admittedly, I don't really know. It's a bit difficult to foresee how this silly limitation manifests itself in daily use.
At worst, it could make for a quirky dialing flow when using Pioneer's Bluetooth, especially if you have to disconnect from the head unit to manually dial any contact of above number 401 on the list to dial directly from the phone interface. At best, it introduces unpredictable operational questions when considering these devices.
Ideally, Pioneer, and all Bluetooth manufacturers, need to use user-upgradable Bluetooth Flash storage cards or provide sufficient storage so that this isn't a problem for advanced users. A limit of 400 mobile contacts is so last century. Then again, I've also heard the Bluetooth 2.0 file-transfer process is still very slow with these (and other) head units (which is why Bluetooth 3.0 will become important).
I would appreciate hearing thoughts from others on this issue. I'm trying to ascertain if it's better to purchase a had unit with an more expensive external Bluetooth. At least you could (theoretically) upgrade it in a year, if Pioneer ever introduce a Bluetooth module with greater storage capacity. This probably isn't the case with the built-in Bluetooth modules in the new 7100BT/710BT models.