<_< The Bluetooth Cell Phone" system works great, but the speaker is a major point of contention to me. There should be a volume control and a BASS/TREBLE control on it and the speaker should be in the roof near your head if they are only going to have one speaker. Some folks I talk with speak quietly and others have too much bass in their voices. It would also be excellent if the micophones for the cell phones dropped down like a office boom mike, and could be swung around left/right and up/down to fit different size peoples bodies. Heck, how do they expect a 5 foot person to be close enough to the Microphone, in comparison to a 6'4" person. Not all folks are short and skinny like the japenese. Kindly, attitude
There is a volume control for the phone speaker, available on the MFD when a call is placed or received. I called someone from my car recently and he was very impressed with the noise-suppression. (I have a Treo 650 with service from Verizon.) He thought I was at home or in my office.
We find the bluetooth connection and sound excellent. There's no need for the car to provide a drop-down mike since, if that's what you really want, there are numerous bluetooth mic/headsets already commercially available.
I think the system works well. I had to learn to wait a second or two before speaking when someone called me; my wife told me the mic was not picking up my voice right away (discovered after she called me a few times). Other than that, no complaiints, and I'm about halfway between the two heights you gave....
If you really think a speaker in the roof and a drop-down mike are what you need, take a look at the BlueAnt SuperTooth II Bluetooth speaker. It mounts on your sunvisor and provides a speaker with volume control, as well as a drop-down mike which also acts as an on-off switch. They're around $80, cheap enough to leave one in every car you own. It might offer slightly better audio quality than the Prius' built-in solution, but not enough better for me to not use what's already built into the car.
