Here at Avault, we tend to only review games and related hardware accessories. Yet, every once in awhile, I feel the need to comment on something hardware related that has little to do with games. I’ve complained before about the lousy product performance of NetGear wireless products, but today I am compelled to write something much more positive.

For the past few months, I have been the proud owner for a 2011 Ford Fiesta (a good car, by the way). What is relevant to the technologically savvy crowd is Ford’s Sync system, an option available on most new models. Now, I admit, I was a bit skeptical when I read some advertising on Sync’s capabilities; after all, what could be more pretentious than driving a smart car that requires regular updates from the Internet? However, after a test drive, purchase, and five months of ownership, I feel confident saying that Sync is a wonderful piece of automotive engineering, even though it doesn’t utilize any cutting edge, science fiction technology.

Sync is a computerized automobile system, courtesy of Microsoft, no less, that integrates media, vehicle diagnostics, Bluetooth technology, and GPS/Roadside assistance services all in one voice-controlled piece of hardware. Utilizing a microphone centrally and unobtrusively mounted in the car’s ceiling and a voice actuator switch on the turn signal stalk, Sync allows the driver to control various important functions of the vehicle by voice. You can tell Sync to change the source of media, order the car to diagnose itself and send the report to Ford, demand that the car bring up a list of Italian restaurants within a few miles, or call someone with your cellphone. Advanced cellphones can even have Sync read text messages to you while you drive, although my phone in this case is less advanced than Sync (thus, I still don’t drive and text). Sync even acts as a GPS, utilizing Sync services ($60 a year, but the first 3 years are free with purchase of a new vehicle) to get directions, as well as grab news and weather reports. All of these features are just a few voice commands away.

Sync also has two different dedicated points that allow access to media devices. Whatever you like to keep your music on, just plug it in and you can use Sync’s voice system to select playlists, individual tracks, folders, and even play by artist, genre, and album. However, that is not really what I consider to be the coolest aspect of playing music with Sync. Sync’s USB port also supports flash drives. Just put your favorite music on the flash drive, plug it into the USB port, and just leave it there. It recognizes multiple playlist formats (I use Winamp playlists just because I’ve been using Winamp for years), as well as recognizes all the same tags on your mp3s that your portable media player recognizes. And since flash drives are really cheap compared to iPods, I just put all of my music on a cheap drive and keep it in the car. No one is breaking into my front seat to steal a flash drive. For satellite radio aficionados, Sync also works well with satellite radio, although I did not get that option since any radio, satellite or local, is anathema to my musical interests. Satellite radio competes with Radio Jason (all Jason music, all Jason talk, all the time) and since even cheap flash drives can hold a few hours of music, I find radio quite unnecessary. (I’m sure Sync would let me program and voice control dozens of local radio stations as well, but I haven’t bothered with all of that, and you shouldn’t either.)

Sync’s voice recognition system is pretty good. It learns your voice as you use it, which means that its ability to recognize my very fast idiomatic speech has improved over the past few months. Because of the way the microphone is mounted in the car, it has a hard time recognizing voice commands when your head is turned towards the left (like when you are looking over your shoulder to merge or turn left), and if you are in the middle of traffic, Sync sometimes gets confused when you say something like “Play list OMFG that #%^(*$# just cut me off!” When Sync does not understand a command, it patiently asks you to repeat it or, if it thinks it knows what you might have meant, it will ask if you meant X. Sync also cannot understand voice commands when twelve people are talking at the same time (much like a human being), and you really can’t use it while driving with the windows down. The ambient noise is just too great. Also, there are three voice commands that I think Ford should have included in Sync’s database:

1. Raise shields.
2. Fire photon torpedoes!
3. Intensify forward firepower; I don’t want anything to get through.
(This last command really confuses Sync. I think Sync was installed on the Super Star Destroyer, which just goes to show that Ford products are reliable, but they cannot be made to serve evil.)

All joking aside, I have been impressed and pleased with the way Sync works in my car. Sync is not really as smart as KITT, nor is it quite as psychotic and condescending as KARR, but I consider it more or less indispensible now. The closest thing to a complaint I have is that I cannot change the voice set. I really wanted Douglas Rain to reprise his role as HAL and do the voice menus for Sync. This would match well with the HAL quotes from 2001 I use for my sound events in Windows. Still, while we don’t have commercially available flying cars, personal jetpacks, or space travel, it is nice to know that I can have a driving experience that is in some ways more advanced than Knightrider, with the added bonus that the Hoff is not required.