Advice on phone

J

johnbirt

Member
 Blackpool, Lancashire
Currently use a Blackberry 8520, elderly, but which works fine with iDrive although not mentioned on BMW compatibility list. At least the ability to phone and use the address book seems to work solidly. Not tried any Office stuff as yet as not had car long and just getting used to iDrive. Doubt it will work with Office. Couldn't get the phone to work at all with Merc bluetooth.

I have just got a Contour +2 video recorder for use recording nice scenery etc on travels. This needs I'm told a 'recent' (last year) mobile phone, Android 4.1+ or iPhone to run a controller app for the recorder. Blackberry is out even if you can run the app in the Android player so Contour say. That's a Z10 out then.

Would be greatful for any advice on Android phones which work well with iDrive, Office etc.. not keen on iphone, too expensive for what I need which is just basic apart from would be nice to integrate well with iDrive and use with camera.

When you try the compatibility list many apparently high spec phones like Samsung's seem to have quite a few features that don't work over iDrive.

Thanks.
John B
 
ronk said:
I might go iPhone at update time. :(
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According to the BMW Z4 compatibility list the iPhone5 for e.g. is not all that 'compatible', in that some of the potential facilities are missing.

Was rather hoping for confirmation from forum members of what they have found to be reasonably compatible phones and perhaps a suggestion of what doesn't work on different models.
 
The vehicle system must have been designed around a particular phone system, so one phone must be top of the list?
 
Robbeh said:
Which features do you really want?
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:driving:

I've currently got a Samsung Galaxy and it doesnt seem to integrate with iDrive paricularly well. ie It wont read texts from the system.
 
I don't know which android phones will do that (I'm sure some will) i can say iPhones do though and based on another thread on here so do windows phones - really anything with Bluetooth MAP support should allow that - I like iPhones for the other features - BMW connected drive and BMW remote etc - also iPod out (iPhone 4) lets me use spotify and still get cover art on idrive display etc :)
 
Robbeh said:
I don't know which android phones will do that (I'm sure some will) i can say iPhones do though and based on another thread on here so do windows phones - really anything with Bluetooth MAP support should allow that - I like iPhones for the other features - BMW connected drive and BMW remote etc - also iPod out (iPhone 4) lets me use spotify and still get cover art on idrive display etc :)
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And yet the BMW Z4 UK compatibility list says none of the OFFICE features work on iPhones at all!? According to the red x's.

I just wonder how accurate that list is, as most phones don't seem to provide OFFICE features at least not fully, according to the list.

On the other hand my elderly BBerry which doesn't even appear on the list works fine for basic telephony. I haven't tried it with any OFFICE features or text etc. as I don't really need that at present.

However if I do get a new phone it would be good to know in advance what features would work. This appears currently to be difficult to get definitive answer to.

Specifically then. Anyone one know what definitely works and what doesn't work on say an iPhone 4 as I'm sure the BMW compatibility list can't be right.

Thanks.

John B
 
I've an iPhone 4 with iOS 6 installed and the following work (at least for me!):
* Phone calls :-)
* Contact list
* Addresses for sat nav in phone (although it is a bit fiddly)
* read texts received while driving (on screen and out loud, I don't have voice control)
* Bluetooth music (including from spotify)
* plugin support for iPod-out display on idrive (gives cover art etc for spotify/music (requires cable/snap in adaptor))
* BMW apps for calendar support, facebook and twitter integration etc... (requires mobile app prep (option 6nr I think))
* BMW remote app to lock/unlock car and program sat nav from phone (requires BMW online)

I think that's about all i use my phone for car wise, other things might work too :)
 
I'm not sure what will and won't work but what is your budget? I work in telematics and know the phone market quite well.
 
I currently pay £26 a month on the Three network and have a 500mins / 5000texts / 1Gb contract - I dont really want to pay more than £30 but would like to get something that does all the tricks!
 
Seb.F said:
I'm not sure what will and won't work but what is your budget? I work in telematics and know the phone market quite well.
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I am considering my options. Budget is not the main criteria but £30/£35 per month would be OK . I am not a great user of phone at all and to be perfectly honest my elderly Blackberry 8520 which a friend gave me with a Tesco top up every month deal with just texts and calls is good enough currently for what I need .

However I would like the flexibility of using most of BMW Office. Another criteria is that I have just got a Contour 2+ camera for video of journeys and other stuff. This is controllable via either iPhone or Android and NOT Blackberry even with side loading so I'm told. They have recently upgraded the firmware for the camera and also the app that controls it. As is typical these days many users, of a disparate set of Android phones particularly, are screaming nothing works now since the changes! All Bluetooths aren't equal. As I understand it nothing less than iPhone 4 or an Android >=2.2 will be compatible for the camera and even then it appears a bit of a lottery. Hard to find a guaranteed phone that works with it and also does the Office stuff.

Then there is the issue of BMW compatibility lists which appear to be inaccurate. 'Robbeh' kindly posted back in detail that his iPhone 4 (OS6) does most of the Office stuff whereas the BMW UK list says non of iPhones do much Office stuff at all! Don't think BMW are up to date with their testing maybe only OS5. My phone isn't on the list but does all the telephony perfectly.

Currently looks like IPhone 4 is the best/most economical bet for me unless anyone can suggest a good Android. I would like a Z10 as I have a Blackberry Playbook tablet also but no go with Contour camera AFAIK so that's out.
 
Friend tried Samsung Galaxy II with OS 2.0? which isn't anywhere near latest but maybe most stable for Samsung and most stuff seemed to work. I was able to get a spoken version of a text with no problem. Didn't try email as that isn't an issue for me.

On the other hand the app to control Contour +2 camera didn't work which is what I was looking for as 1 needed option.
 
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