What phone do you own?

[dean_g]

So all you M5 owners, what phone do you pair to your car? iPhone5? Windows phone?

Where I am trying to get is, are there any advantages to owning an iPhone vs a Windows phone? In essence, will the iPhone and Siri work with the car to for example read text messages? Send text messages? Read emails? etc..

[wdimagineer]

Thanks to my work I carry 3 phones with me. Currently the iPhone 5, Galaxy Note 2, and Nokia Lumia 920.

iOS support for the vehicle features is hit or miss. Android rarely ever works, but it depends on your phone. Most OEMs tweak their software to add in additional support.

Windows Phone 8 - so far - has the best level of integration. I can even sync contact pictures to iDrive and see them when I dial or receive a call.

[Rohardi]

Originally Posted by wdimagineer

Thanks to my work I carry 3 phones with me. Currently the iPhone 5, Galaxy Note 2, and Nokia Lumia 920.

iOS support for the vehicle features is hit or miss. Android rarely ever works, but it depends on your phone. Most OEMs tweak their software to add in additional support.

Windows Phone 8 - so far - has the best level of integration. I can even sync contact pictures to iDrive and see them when I dial or receive a call.

Sounds like you work for AT&T with that phone line up...

[wdimagineer]

Originally Posted by Rohardi

Sounds like you work for AT&T with that phone line up...

I don't. Private company that does mobile software development.

[cmhsam]

I carry the Iphone 5 and it works flawlessly with the M5. I had tried the Samsung Galaxy S3 a couple of weeks ago but after three days went back to the IP5. Integration with the car, amongst other problems, were too much for me to make the switch. I have been an iPhone user since the first iPhone and their integration with 3rd party offerings seem to be more seamless. Call me a fanboy!

[jphughan]

BMW Apps to my knowledge still only works with iOS. The M5 also supports that Nuance speech-to-text feature for sending text messages on the go; I know that works for iOS but not sure about other platforms. It's not a free service either, though. Siri support as far as I know is not truly implemented yet unless you count having to invoke her on the phone itself, at which point you can speak to her through the car's mic.

That's interesting about the WP8 phone syncing pictures to iDrive, didn't know that!

[Tomcat2048]

iPhone 5 here, upgraded from a 4 on launch day.

[Porsche997Techart]

I'm interested in knowing which phones actually work with Office for text and email receipt. The BMWUSA/bluetooth site shows that the Motorola Droid Razr works. Has anyone gotten the iPhone5 or any of the newer phones to work with Office?

[jphughan]

Originally Posted by Porsche997Techart

I'm interested in knowing which phones actually work with Office for text and email receipt. The BMWUSA/bluetooth site shows that the Motorola Droid Razr works. Has anyone gotten the iPhone5 or any of the newer phones to work with Office?

Newer BlackBerries work and they were in fact the original platform to support this. Yes, Office works with the iPhone 5, in fact any iPhone running iOS 6, and there are already at least 2 threads in this section of M5Post that cover how to do it; I know because I posted walkthroughs in both of them. Note that email delivery on iDrive is still finicky (texts seem to work fine), but why would you want to ruin your enjoyment of your M5 by turning it into yet another way to be plagued by email anyway?

[M54ccibo]

iPhone 4S w/iOS 6.0.1. Office with text and email as well as calendar are all functional. Only problem is that I don't use the native iOS mail client, rather, Sparrow and Gmail. So, receiving mail is not a big deal.

[jphughan]

^ Fyi, being able to view your calendar is a feature of BMW Apps, not the Bluetooth Office profile. That means you'll need your phone connected via USB for that feature, and I believe (though I have not tested this) that you need to have the BMW Connected app open on your phone, which means you can't use other BMW Apps like Pandora or MOG at the same time.

[chrisratz]

Originally Posted by jphughan

^ Fyi, being able to view your calendar is a feature of BMW Apps, not the Bluetooth Office profile. That means you'll need your phone connected via USB for that feature, and I believe (though I have not tested this) that you need to have the BMW Connected app open on your phone, which means you can't use other BMW Apps like Pandora or MOG at the same time.

In my experience this is the big weakness in the system. I've got to go in and start MOG, Pandora or BMW Connected on the phone before I can access their content/features. Snapping the phone in and out of the cradle to do this is tedious. I have mostly given up on all that and just use spotify and the phone features via BT.

[M54ccibo]

Originally Posted by jphughan

^ Fyi, being able to view your calendar is a feature of BMW Apps, not the Bluetooth Office profile. That means you'll need your phone connected via USB for that feature, and I believe (though I have not tested this) that you need to have the BMW Connected app open on your phone, which means you can't use other BMW Apps like Pandora or MOG at the same time.

That is correct...the calendar requires that connected be running and the phone unlocked. Poor design IMHO. I personally don't use Pandora or MOG, preferring to listen to my music library on the phone.

[jphughan]

Originally Posted by M54ccibo

That is correct...the calendar requires that connected be running and the phone unlocked. Poor design IMHO. I personally don't use Pandora or MOG, preferring to listen to my music library on the phone.

Cool, that's what I thought. Fyi that's not really poor design on BMW's part. It's a function of iOS providing very limited support for interacting with apps running in the background. Removing the requirement that Connected be launched on the phone would require a change from Apple, not BMW.

Of course that means that if BMW Connected were ever ported to Android (as BMW has promised for so long now), you WOULD actually be able to use all of those features without having the app open because Android doesn't have any background process restrictions that I'm aware of.

[LAKEOM5]

i

[Alex.br]

iPhone 5

[cmhsam]

Originally Posted by chrisratz

In my experience this is the big weakness in the system. I've got to go in and start MOG, Pandora or BMW Connected on the phone before I can access their content/features. Snapping the phone in and out of the cradle to do this is tedious. I have mostly given up on all that and just use spotify and the phone features via BT.

So you can stream Spotify to the car via bluetooth?

[M54ccibo]

Originally Posted by jphughan

Cool, that's what I thought. Fyi that's not really poor design on BMW's part. It's a function of iOS providing very limited support for interacting with apps running in the background. Removing the requirement that Connected be launched on the phone would require a change from Apple, not BMW.

Of course that means that if BMW Connected were ever ported to Android (as BMW has promised for so long now), you WOULD actually be able to use all of those features without having the app open because Android doesn't have any background process restrictions that I'm aware of.

Yep...didn't mean BMW...that comment was pointed at Apple

[boots]

I have a droid x. I guess from what I am reading that android phones wont work too well. Am I wrong.

[chrisratz]

Originally Posted by cmhsam

So you can stream Spotify to the car via bluetooth?

Yes, and you can use the steering wheel controls to move through the playlist you're in. But AFAIK switching between playslists requires picking up the phone. Also, no album art. MOG and Pandora via cradle/USB allow you to switch playlists/stations through the idrive screen and also shows album art, which looks pretty dang nice.

[Bliz33]

a cracked screen 4s...but my upgrade is now available and im likely going to go with the 5

[chillin4now]

I have an iPhone5 and cant seem to get the email to work. I have texts coming through but no email.
I have tried pairing upairing sharing unsharing everything a dozen times to no avail.
Watched the BMW video and it shows options that I dont even have.
I understand that all my software is up to date as well.