E89 Android iDrive Screen Group Buy - NOW CLOSED
- Thread starter AnubisZed
- Start date
TheThingIs
Member
I'll add that Tom Tom Go is my personal fave satnav. Works great on this unit with full stereo sound and house number entry. My second favourite is Waze for the user reports and the spoken destination entry. It does crash on me on occasion and sound is only out of left speaker. Sygic is ok. I do 4 or 5 quotations to private addresses every day so the satnav is the most important to me. I do find it necessary to use multiple satnavs though as they don't all carry the same data. If Tom Tom can't find an address I'll switch to Waze and then Sygic etc but 90% of the time Tom Tom gets it and Waze for the other 9.9%, very rarely do I end up using Sygic.
This unit is very good, everything I could ever wish for in my Z! What I will say is that the default software is not 100% perfect...it needs proper apps loading onto it from the play store. You do need to be careful though with what you load onto it. My tinkering almost killed the unit completely but thankfully Dave came to my rescue and I can't thank him enough for all the work he has done to bring this unit to us and support us with it afterwards.
Also, if it helps relieve the pressure on Dave any, I am happy to help anyone with installation and setup. I'm in Manchester.
PS. The best tethering app I have found so far for android is called "Auto WiFi Tethering". Works well and you can set it to auto enable tethering when it gets a bluetooth connection to the car and disable when no connection
This unit is very good, everything I could ever wish for in my Z! What I will say is that the default software is not 100% perfect...it needs proper apps loading onto it from the play store. You do need to be careful though with what you load onto it. My tinkering almost killed the unit completely but thankfully Dave came to my rescue and I can't thank him enough for all the work he has done to bring this unit to us and support us with it afterwards.
Also, if it helps relieve the pressure on Dave any, I am happy to help anyone with installation and setup. I'm in Manchester.
PS. The best tethering app I have found so far for android is called "Auto WiFi Tethering". Works well and you can set it to auto enable tethering when it gets a bluetooth connection to the car and disable when no connection
scottp3000
Member
Has anyone had the problem with google maps where it opens, but doesn’t actually display any visual map data? Is it just not getting a good enough data connection to my phone to download the map? Otherwise works really well 
OK, two things here....scottp3000 said:Has anyone had the problem with google maps where it opens, but doesn’t actually display any visual map data? Is it just not getting a good enough data connection to my phone to download the map? Otherwise works really well
1) Your hotspot, does your phone have a decent signal?
2) (and more likely!!) Have you set the time zone of the screen to London? By default the time zone is China and if it is not changed your clock will be wrong on certain apps and things like Sat-Nav will default to china but you wont receive a map, thus a blank screen!
To set your time zone, go to "Settings", then down to "More Settings", then down to "System", then to "Date & Time" and set it as "GMT+01:00 British Summer Time". Hopefully your Google Maps will now work properly
Evening all. I’ve read all 11 pages of this topic and also spoken with the folk at a-carnavi... and will probably be PMing you, Dave, at some stage when I get over the price...
However, I was wondering if anyone who started with an iDrive car and bought this unit had had a good enough look to see if a conversion to maintain the motorised screen would work. Obviously the manufacturer will have tried this but I’m wondering what the show-stopper was. Yes, it has the bulk around the back (but surely this could be in a separate box below where the screen mounts) and yes, it’s a bigger screen... but not wider than the original aperture so why can’t if be done? Too tall perhaps? Anyone had a good enough look to work it out? Regards, James
However, I was wondering if anyone who started with an iDrive car and bought this unit had had a good enough look to see if a conversion to maintain the motorised screen would work. Obviously the manufacturer will have tried this but I’m wondering what the show-stopper was. Yes, it has the bulk around the back (but surely this could be in a separate box below where the screen mounts) and yes, it’s a bigger screen... but not wider than the original aperture so why can’t if be done? Too tall perhaps? Anyone had a good enough look to work it out? Regards, James
scottp3000
Member
AnubisZed said:OK, two things here....scottp3000 said:Has anyone had the problem with google maps where it opens, but doesn’t actually display any visual map data? Is it just not getting a good enough data connection to my phone to download the map? Otherwise works really well
1) Your hotspot, does your phone have a decent signal?
2) (and more likely!!) Have you set the time zone of the screen to London? By default the time zone is China and if it is not changed your clock will be wrong on certain apps and things like Sat-Nav will default to china but you wont receive a map, thus a blank screen!
To set your time zone, go to "Settings", then down to "More Settings", then down to "System", then to "Date & Time" and set it as "GMT+01:00 British Summer Time". Hopefully your Google Maps will now work properly
Brilliant - i'll double check tonight, thanks!
Oh there is a e85 version coming out, it was supposed to be out now but it isn't just yet. It is cheaper than the e89 version, I've posted some info here... https://z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=114552Beedub said:AnubisZed said:You're not a million miles away from me, I could fit it for you if you don't fancy doing it yourselfBeedub said:Go on, you know you want to :driving:
this is the point..... i have an e85
Jersey said:
Sooooo…. does anyone know the answer to this? Amazing how, even just looking at pictures of this Android screen online for a couple of weeks, I jumped back in the car today (for the first time in yonks) and the iDrive screen instantly looked dated!
Maybe the Android screen sticks up slightly higher than the original... and would therefore mean that the top of the dashboard panel couldn't fold round the top of it as it kinda-does with the original...? A measurement of 'A' in the attached image (Credit: Dave) to compare with my measurement of 'B' might help me assess the feasibility of this if anyone would be kind enough...?
scottp3000
Member
Sorted the previous sat nav issue - cheers!
New one, does anyone else have the issue where the GPS takes about ten minutes to pick up current location? is there a setting for using current location with sygic to get you on the move? - sadly an IOS user, so Android and its quirks is all new
New one, does anyone else have the issue where the GPS takes about ten minutes to pick up current location? is there a setting for using current location with sygic to get you on the move? - sadly an IOS user, so Android and its quirks is all new
This has been brought up a couple of times now so it's something I'm looking into. Hopefully I'll be producing an update video shortly with some further info.scottp3000 said:Sorted the previous sat nav issue - cheers!
New one, does anyone else have the issue where the GPS takes about ten minutes to pick up current location? is there a setting for using current location with sygic to get you on the move? - sadly an IOS user, so Android and its quirks is all new
scottp3000
Member
perfect - thanks for all your work on this Dave
TheThingIs
Member
Mine also sometimes takes a good few mins for the gps to lock on...but other times its quick. I don't overly find it an issue though as I tend to enter my destination and drive off. By the time I get to the point of needing to know which way to turn it's locked on.
