[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] SirSparkles:
After further learning and intergration while dealing with my GS3 car integration, I've come across some more notes.

(Sine the original post, I'm now using JB 4.1.1 leak from Sprint, installed via Odin)

Text to Speech (TTS) Notes:

So, there are a few threads out there that talk about having problems with getting TTS (text to speech) to work for phone call and text messages, while in Driving Mode.

Some say had it working, but can't anymore, or can't turn it off, etc.

I had the same issue, but couldn't figure out the exact settings.

But, this does the job:

System Settings - Language and Input, Under the Speech header, go into the 'Text-to-speech output' line and configure your preferences (google vs samsung engines, speech rates, etc)

But, here's the partially non-intuitive kicker...

MAKE SURE you click on the 'Driving Mode' line, NOT the ON/OFF toggle, but the the actual line entry.

That should open up a list of tickboxes for what Driving Mode with read out loud for you.

Incoming Calls

Message

New Emails

New Voicemail

Alarm

Schedule

Unlock Screen

Therefore, if you want something read, make sure there's a checkmark in the appropriate box

Also, another big kicker...make sure that in the 'Voice recognizer' line, under the Speech header, you set it to the Samsung Vlingo setting, NOT the google setting. Selecting the Samsung entry vastly changes the options for the 'Voice search' line item.

Make sure that after you select 'Voice search', scroll down to the Message header where there's a tickbox for 'Show body of message', and place a check there.

That's Soooo Intuitive, isn't it? :)

Why would I tick 'show body of message' to get it to read something. Makes sense, huh? :)

(although it does mention the phrase Driving Mode here, to play devil's advocate)

Anyways, I'm guessing this should allow all people to hear FULL text messages read out loud to them.

If the last tickbox mentioned above wasn't checked, you only get the "New message from 'person X' " voice.

If the last tickbox mentioned above was checked, you get "New message from 'person X', The message says 'body of text message' "

(I can't remember if the settings were exactly the same in ICS vs JB, some system settings menus got tweaked between the 2 roms)

And after all of this above fun, I still can't get the TTS to read any of the New Emails count number that it's supposed to read. Hmmmpf.

Additional Driving Mode Notes:

So, for 'driving mode', there's a few ways to turn it on.

1) The system settings menu to toggle it on/off (make sure to click on the 'bar' for this item to get access to many checkboxes

2) The Driving Mode Widget that you can download from Google Play

3) my NFC Task Launcher app can turn on/off/toggle Car Mode and also couple 'Driving Mode' to it. (note the original NFC Launcher app did not do the Driving Mode thing) (Also of note, Driving Mode can not be manipulated by itself, it must be coupled to the Car Mode on/off/toggle function)

4) S-Voice that can turn driving mode on or off

5) Non Sprint users might have it in their notification bar

6) I talked with the Developer of NFC Task Launcher, and he mentioned, that engaging Car Mode opens S-Voice on the Samsung GS3, by default, and could be trumped by another Car Mode app installed, therefore opening, for example CarHome Ultra, instead of S-Voice (vs AND S-Voice). The reason I mention this, is that it might be involved with why Driving Mode won't turn on sometimes. It could be that both S-Voice has to be opened in the background also, to get this to work. Testing to follow soon. This is what helped me find the solution below. Thanks NFC Task Launcher author/authors!

So, if you've had problem with the above, you've probably noticed items like this:

I've noticed a difference between items 2, 3, and 4

When I solely turn DM on via 2, it DOES NOT allow TTS to work

However, when I got to turn on DM via 4, then it DOES allow it to work

Then, when I go back to toggling DM on/off via 2, it will toggle the functionality of DM accordingly with TTS.

What the heck?

So, not being a programmer, but just simple tweaker, I can only assume that turning on DM via S-Voice turns on an additional service/task/activity or some android equivalent.

This is Usually how it goes for me. Ive had instances where this exact flow doesn't happen all the time

Can anyone help me out here? I'd love to know exactly what S-Voice turns on in the background when starting DM vs just starting via the the DM Widget.

Solution Found for TTS! This should work for ALL who are having Problems:

I had been using Car Mode for so long, I had forgotten one simple fact.

When Android sees multiple apps that can meet a request to open a new app, you have the binding options (This Time Only vs Always).

Well, when Car Mode started for me, it always opened my Car app (CarHome Ultra). I had forgotten that it gave the choice of CarHome Ultra OR SVoice.

So, I immediately tried launching Car Mode (and therefore CarHome Ultra), AND independently having my NFC tag programmed to open SVoice prior to launching CarMode (order of operations important, since launching CarMode also triggers DrivingMode ON....but SVoice has to be open already).

I've been using for a while now, and it seems good. 100% TTS fucntion ON and OFF with NFC Task Launcher