in the month that i've had my xb, i have been playing music through both bluetooth and connecting my iphone directly to the aux port with an audio cable. this is the dilemma i have come across:

using bluetooth, you can control the songs on your iphone from the steering wheel controls but the audio quality is bad.

using an aux audio cable, quality is good but you can't control the songs on your iphone (using the steering wheel buttons to go fwd/back, switch songs). i am left picking up my iphone each time i want to change a song or go back... very annoying.

i wish there was a solution that would give us the best of these two. from what i have read, scion has not made a cable for the xb "ipod port" for our iphone 5's. and even if they did, from what i've read, the port doesn't charge the phone! why is there not a single good solution for this?

there should be something that would allow us to connect our iphones (in my case and for many people, an iphone 5) to our head unit, have usable steering wheel controls and allow us to charge the device all through the lightning connector. am i asking for too much...?

 

Sorry for the dissatisfaction with the functions of the AUX and bluetooth on the radio. You should be able to use the same power USB cable used to charge the iPhone 5 to connect the phone to the USB port. However, if you currently have the BeSpoke system in the vehicle there is no iPhone 5 cable available for the system at this time and a fix is under investigation. I have documented the feedback at HQ. ^AP

 

If you have the base stereo there's a setting someone on it that says iPod controls. Play with that I believe if you turn it off...? That will give you back your steering wheel stuff when it's plugged in. That's what I did anyways.

 

albert - thank you for the suggestion. if i connect my iphone 5 via USB cable to the jack, will that also allow me to answer/make calls with the phone or is that with bluetooth only?

xb toaster - thanks for the heads up, i will try this out this weekend. that would be pretty nice. does the phone charge as well?

now if i have the phone plugged in with the USB cable, that does nothing for allowing me to answer calls, right...? that's just bluetooth only...? i feel like all this functionality is so close yet so far.

there has to be a way to connect the phone with the following requirements:
- charge the phone
- use steering wheel controls to skip tracks if/when playing music
- make/answer calls
- all this while not compromising sound quality

 

Yeah you can still answer calls.

 

If the phone is plugged into the USB port and paired to the Bluetooth system it should still allow you to make calls or take them while the phone is plugged in. ^AP

 

very cool! thank you both for the prompt responses. i will test this out this weekend.

Cheers!

 

Try going into "Audio Control" and change the ASR setting while you stream from your Iphone. You should notice a huge difference between "Off" "Low" and "High" Also you might want to make sure your radio is set for your XB.