Blackberry Assistant via Bluetooth while Driving

Cortana in WP8 has the ability to automatically read incoming text messages via Bluetooth, w/o the user/driver having to touch the phone. This ability is awesome when driving. It enables the driver to focus on the road w/o having to touch their phone.

Does BBA have the ability to do this? As of now, it seems that I have to press the mute key in order to activate BBA, then I can tell it to read to me my last message. This is extremely inconvenient and unsafe compared to using Cortana on WP8.

Are there any other apps besides "Drive Safely" that would enable my phone to do this?

This feature ought to be high priority for a company that prides itself on helping people on the go to get things done (safely).

The ability to interact with your phone via Bluetooth, without ever having to touch your device, is extremely useful while driving, shopping, taking a walk, watching little kids, doing the dishes, working on a project, etc.

Once you've used Cortana in these types of situations, it's hard to go backwards with BBA. :(

What type of car are you driving?

My BMW had been able to read the emails and texts direct from my phone for quite some time. I can even call up BlackBerry Assistant by pressing 1 of my radio buttons. But many things are restricted when driving. You can't browse the Internet etc. Too distracting.

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My car does not have Bluetooth built in, so I am using a Voyager Legend Bluetooth headset. This headset worked seamlessly with the Lumia 635 and Cortana.

Are there any Bluetooth ear pieces known that would enable touchless interaction?

Does anyone else have any input or help regarding this feature?

I can touch the actuation button on my Jawbone Icon and in my Plantronics M155, and then tell BBA to read the last email, SMS, BBM, etc.

It won't automatically read messages though. At least I don't have to find the phone.

At this point I don't think we can do this. BlackBerry has some work to do on BT+ voice assistance. My BlackBerry voice assistance performance has been ok, but other platforms like Cortana sure beat it. I will do some searching around and see if there are other apps for this functionality.

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What I used to do on my Z10 is activate screen reader so one you get a new toast, screen reader reads it once for emails and twice for texts.

That was on 10.3 and I haven't tried using it on my Z30 with 10.3.1 but it should work the same.

Always practice safe driving. Do not reply to message on your phone while in a running car. Wait till your out of the vehicle to reply.

Anyways, I hope that helped. Works well over maps too!



Sent with the help of my beautiful Z30

I use the BlackBerry VM-605 handsfree kit in my truck.
It's not too bad, the VM-605 has an FM transmitter so I can stream music to all speakers, and when I get a call - stereo surround sound phone calls =)

I can press and hold the big touch button to enter the BlackBerry Voice Administrator.
The administrator definitely needs some more work, but I can tell my BlackBerry to search, call, read and send: texts, BBM, email, play music...

Post via my BlackBerry  Z30!

Originally Posted by martivera

What I used to do on my Z10 is activate screen reader so one you get a new toast, screen reader reads it once for emails and twice for texts.

That was on 10.3 and I haven't tried using it on my Z30 with 10.3.1 but it should work the same.

Always practice safe driving. Do not reply to message on your phone while in a running car. Wait till your out of the vehicle to reply.

Anyways, I hope that helped. Works well over maps too!



Sent with the help of my beautiful Z30

I would love getting new toast read to me! ;)

I'll have to try this but I don't quite understand when you say "screen reader reads it once for emails and twice for texts"?

I have a Pioneer AppRadio 3. In the Bluetooth area where you can access the calling features their is a icon to access the voice activated features. When I hit it the BlackBerry Voice Control is launched and I'm asked what I would like to do. I can have it read and respond to messages.

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Originally Posted by lnichols

I have a Pioneer AppRadio 3. In the Bluetooth area where you can access the calling features their is a icon to access the voice activated features. When I hit it the BlackBerry Voice Control is launched and I'm asked what I would like to do. I can have it read and respond to messages.

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You can also press and hold the menu button on the pioneer radios and it will launch the assistant.

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Thanks for letting me know about these Bluetooth devices...I may have to try one of these since my Voyager Legend does not seem to have an actuation button that allows me to activate BBA. :(

When I spoke with Plantroncis, to see if they could enable this feature, they told me the following...

"Those applications are programmed to use the voice dial prompt. So when you use the voice dial press on the headset it activates those applications. Your blackberry application would need to do the same thing to work with the headset like that."

Does anybody know how I can contact Blackberry in order to ask them to enable this feature in Blackberry Assistant?

Thanks so much! :)

there is an android app that I have set up to read text messages to me when I have my headset in. I wonder if it will work out of the box or could possibily be ported.

won't let me post a link. Search for a2dp volume on f-droid

Originally Posted by centralpark

When I spoke with Plantroncis, to see if they could enable this feature, they told me the following...

"Those applications are programmed to use the voice dial prompt. So when you use the voice dial press on the headset it activates those applications. Your blackberry application would need to do the same thing to work with the headset like that."

Does anybody know how I can contact Blackberry in order to ask them to enable this feature in Blackberry Assistant?

Thanks so much! :)

There no need to contact BlackBerry. It's already enabled. Every one of my wired and wireless headsets or hands free devices activate BlackBerry Assistant out of the box. No specific configuration required.

Originally Posted by Zedi Master

What type of car are you driving?

My BMW had been able to read the emails and texts direct from my phone for quite some time. I can even call up BlackBerry Assistant by pressing 1 of my radio buttons. But many things are restricted when driving. You can't browse the Internet etc. Too distracting.

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Zedi, please help me, i should be able to do as you do but i can't, how did you set your connection, please give me instructions.....

Thanx

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There's an app called safedrive that does exactly what you mention. Read the latest mail and sms messages.

Assistant does work over bluetooth as well for me, but unfortunately it's not in Dutch language yet. So the latest email read out doesn't quite make into something understandable...

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I have the Platronics Backbeat 2.0 wireless headphones. I can turn on my music and also BA by pressing the middle button. Although I'm not a big user of BA since she hardly ever understands me (even without the headphones), you can access it and use its features without touching the phone once it's Bluetooth connected.

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