[Raspartan]

Originally Posted by STAT1

I'm a little confused though, do I need BMW App for SMS support? I am getting BMW assist with enhanced Bluetooth, but do not plan on paying extra for the Tech package or BMW Apps.

This is a topic that I have always found really murky when it comes to BMW. Since the functionality occurs over Bluetooth I would think you would be OK but due to regional differences someone from the States should confirm for you.

[svache]

Originally Posted by Raspartan

Mobile hotspot is still available in this mod and it seems to work. Many other things are different from my stock Android 2.3.3 ROM though.

...

As before, it's a risky process and you follow it at your own risk.

Thanks! I think I'll give it a try soon =)

[svache]

Well, I gave it a shot last night and went to Cyanogen as well. Dunno yet what it does in my car but at least the mod works and the process was easier than I thought at first will let you know if it also sees my text messages now =)

[Raspartan]

Originally Posted by svache

Well, I gave it a shot last night and went to Cyanogen as well. Dunno yet what it does in my car but at least the mod works and the process was easier than I thought at first will let you know if it also sees my text messages now =)

You didn't waste any time! Glad to hear it went smoothly for you though.

[Raspartan]

Actually svache, after reading the other post about BMW Apps I'm curious as to how your setup is working now. Do all of the apps work with your iPod Touch setup? Which iPod Touch did you use?

[Raspartan]

I tried to get around the automatic reading of text messages by setting up a Tasker profile to read them, but unfortunately it seems that this use of Bluetooth audio doesn't work in the car. The reading part works fine because you can set the task to read the text message through the phone, just not over the car speakers.

[svache]

Originally Posted by Raspartan

Actually svache, after reading the other post about BMW Apps I'm curious as to how your setup is working now. Do all of the apps work with your iPod Touch setup? Which iPod Touch did you use?

For me it works perfect if that's what you mean

I use the latest iPod Touch (bought it a couple of days ago lol), the 4th generation and updated this first to iOS 5.1. The apps that I can use are the same as I've seen with my sister's iPhone 4. From the top of my head, these are:

- News
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Webradio
- Wikitour
- Calendar (it currently gets synced with my Outlook calendars (which are synced with Google calendars through gsyncit lol))

And I believe there's something else but I forgot what exactly this was lol. I do know that contacts are now also available in my 'office' on the idrive, so no need to enter them manually either and there was something else in the office that was available now.

To me it seems it's all working nicely. I didn't use MOG or Pandora or the likes yet.. haven't even got them installed as they're pretty much useless to me (they never gave me what I want before lol) but I'm sure that should work flawlessly as well =)

For me, this setup is a blast. No need to put my phone in and out the cradle every time, no heat issues either, there's always WIFI in the car (so my daughter and wife can use their iPad online while I'm driving), I get to keep my beloved Android system and in a couple of months I will be making the switch to 4G and get a provider with better reception (I'm on t-mobile until September, that was the worst decision ever lol), which should speed things up a lot as well

[svache]

Originally Posted by Raspartan

I tried to get around the automatic reading of text messages by setting up a Tasker profile to read them, but unfortunately it seems that this use of Bluetooth audio doesn't work in the car. The reading part works fine because you can set the task to read the text message through the phone, just not over the car speakers.

Wouldn't that be Bluetooth audio in that case? Basically it is nothing more but a headphones connection if you stream audio over Bluetooth with the Android in the F30. I had all kinds of sounds coming out of my car speaker so, technically, it should be possible to do (but perhaps not the best thing to do as it might involve constant changing between radio-Bluetooth-etc-etc).

[Raspartan]

Originally Posted by svache

Wouldn't that be Bluetooth audio in that case? Basically it is nothing more but a headphones connection if you stream audio over Bluetooth with the Android in the F30. I had all kinds of sounds coming out of my car speaker so, technically, it should be possible to do (but perhaps not the best thing to do as it might involve constant changing between radio-Bluetooth-etc-etc).

See that's the thing: I think it may be possible to do this if you had the BT audio connection already, but as it stands the default state won't allow you to play just anything over BT. The phone says it's playing over BT but the car doesn't play it over the speakers. I haven't played with BT audio streaming so I don't know what you need to do on iDrive to initiate that, but it sounds like a hassle to get audible SMS.

[svache]

Originally Posted by Raspartan

See that's the thing: I think it may be possible to do this if you had the BT audio connection already, but as it stands the default state won't allow you to play just anything over BT. The phone says it's playing over BT but the car doesn't play it over the speakers. I haven't played with BT audio streaming so I don't know what you need to do on iDrive to initiate that, but it sounds like a hassle to get audible SMS.

There are two places in the iDrive where you can select the bluetooth stream, one works and the other doesn't. If I remember correctly, you'll need to go to the media part, then go to external devices and then select bluetooth or your phone's name or something. It should be there somewhere (I believe it also showed the iPod audio and some other things there), it worked in that part but when I actually selected the separate Bluetooth audio (so the one where you do not see the iPod and other options), then it didn't do anything. I hope you understand a bit what I meant

Also, make sure that when you connect your phone over Bluetooth with your car that you have allowed it to play audio and do all those other things. I didn't do this the first time around and that caused some problems with me before (when I just received the car, so my excuse is a bit that I got overwhelmed with the car haha)

[Raspartan]

Originally Posted by svache

I use the latest iPod Touch (bought it a couple of days ago lol), the 4th generation and updated this first to iOS 5.1.

So you leave the iPod in the car all the time, hooked up via a USB cable? I presume it's always on when you park the car at night?

Also why do you have the contacts on the iPod as opposed to your phone? Does this interfere with phone contacts?

[Raspartan]

Originally Posted by svache

There are two places in the iDrive where you can select the bluetooth stream, one works and the other doesn't. If I remember correctly, you'll need to go to the media part, then go to external devices and then select bluetooth or your phone's name or something. It should be there somewhere (I believe it also showed the iPod audio and some other things there), it worked in that part but when I actually selected the Bluetooth audio. I hope you understand a bit what I meant

Hm, no but I'm sure I will soon. Let me give it a try this week and report back with my findings.

[svache]

Originally Posted by Raspartan

So you leave the iPod in the car all the time, hooked up via a USB cable? I presume it's always on when you park the car at night?

Also why do you have the contacts on the iPod as opposed to your phone? Does this interfere with phone contacts?

Yep, it just stays on as far as I noticed so far (don't have this setup so long but for now this is the case). I just leave it in, nobody sees it and nobody knows it is there. I also did this with the old iPod classic (that my wife gets now lol).

As for the contacts, well, I know it's a bit double but the office part of the car shows that it can hold contacts but there were no names. Only the telephone part of the car showed my contacts. By doing it this way, I actually have my contacts also under the office part.. plus side of doing this is that you get to see much more information for your contacts.. if you have their addresses listed, for example (I tend to keep my contacts as complete as possible, so most have an address listed), then you can simply select their address and use it as destination in the nav. From what I've seen so far, it did not interfere with the phone contacts

[Raspartan]

Originally Posted by svache

Yep, it just stays on as far as I noticed so far (don't have this setup so long but for now this is the case). I just leave it in, nobody sees it and nobody knows it is there. I also did this with the old iPod classic (that my wife gets now lol).

As for the contacts, well, I know it's a bit double but the office part of the car shows that it can hold contacts but there were no names. Only the telephone part of the car showed my contacts. By doing it this way, I actually have my contacts also under the office part.. plus side of doing this is that you get to see much more information for your contacts.. if you have their addresses listed, for example (I tend to keep my contacts as complete as possible, so most have an address listed), then you can simply select their address and use it as destination in the nav. From what I've seen so far, it did not interfere with the phone contacts

I sync my phone contacts with GMail. All I would need is a way to sync an iPod's contacts with GMail and I'd be in business.

[svache]

Well.. I spoke too soon about keeping the iPod on at all times.. I didn't drive for a while and, sure enough, the iPod had no power anymore. Guess that didn't go as I thought it did, the car does not keep powering the USB port apparently.. I wonder if that's something we could chance.

[svache]

btw, I forgot to confirm.. the car does indeed display the text messages in the messaging system when using Cyanogenmod. It also reads out the text messages, just like the FB, Twitter, Wikipedia etc etc etc texts. But you have to manually press the play button when viewing the message (kind of odd as you can just as well read it quickly when you have to look for those buttons lol). Downside of this system, however, is that it also reads out symbols literally (like 'asterix' for * and such). Another downside, but that could be a personal thing, is that the woman sounds like she is Steven Hawking's wife lol

[F30SD]

I am also using Cyanogen, and I am pleased to know there is a work around to using the phone in the car. Is there a work around for the BMW iphone app? I want to be able to remote lock/unlock, and the other functionality of the app. Any word on when the Android BMW app will be available?

[svache]

Originally Posted by F30SD

I am also using Cyanogen, and I am pleased to know there is a work around to using the phone in the car. Is there a work around for the BMW iphone app? I want to be able to remote lock/unlock, and the other functionality of the app. Any word on when the Android BMW app will be available?

I am unsure if they ever will have it available. Thing is, I have been reading reports for about a year that it would come, but it never did.. seems to me BMW is very much on board with Apple and not so much with other phones/OS's.

As for the app itself, I played a bit with it on my wife's iPad but deleted it again. It didn't exactly feel right to me that basically anyone could open my car without having the keys (not to mention our 2.5 year old daughter who likes to pay with the iPad without fully understanding what each thing does lol). If I ever lose the keys, I will simply call BMW Assist and provide them with my password and such instead. A little bit more hassle when needed but at the same time a little bit safer

[F30SD]

Originally Posted by svache

I am unsure if they ever will have it available. Thing is, I have been reading reports for about a year that it would come, but it never did.. seems to me BMW is very much on board with Apple and not so much with other phones/OS's.

As for the app itself, I played a bit with it on my wife's iPad but deleted it again. It didn't exactly feel right to me that basically anyone could open my car without having the keys (not to mention our 2.5 year old daughter who likes to pay with the iPad without fully understanding what each thing does lol). If I ever lose the keys, I will simply call BMW Assist and provide them with my password and such instead. A little bit more hassle when needed but at the same time a little bit safer

When you were playing with it, were you able to select the precondition? Does this allow you to send a signal to your car and have the car start cooling down?
It gets pretty hot in the summer here in San Diego and I would love to be able to have my car cool down before I leave my office. Also I like the idea of sending directions from my phone to the Nav and not have to type them in manually using the idrive controller.
So frustrated they do not have the android phone working. There are now more people using android phones than apple...

[svache]

Originally Posted by F30SD

When you were playing with it, were you able to select the precondition? Does this allow you to send a signal to your car and have the car start cooling down?
It gets pretty hot in the summer here in San Diego and I would love to be able to have my car cool down before I leave my office. Also I like the idea of sending directions from my phone to the Nav and not have to type them in manually using the idrive controller.
So frustrated they do not have the android phone working. There are now more people using android phones than apple...

I haven't tried that part but I believe it is indeed possible through the app..

however....

I tried it before in my X5 (by just entering it manually in the iDrive before I left the car) and I was honestly disappointed by that system. It did try to make it cooler but it pretty much failed at it as well, the car did not noticeably cool down imo.


As for the addresses, I usually enter the address on maps.google.com and simply use the send function to send it to my car, that works like a charm and is, imho, better than entering it on my phone =)

[F30SD]

Originally Posted by svache

I haven't tried that part but I believe it is indeed possible through the app..

however....

I tried it before in my X5 (by just entering it manually in the iDrive before I left the car) and I was honestly disappointed by that system. It did try to make it cooler but it pretty much failed at it as well, the car did not noticeably cool down imo.


As for the addresses, I usually enter the address on maps.google.com and simply use the send function to send it to my car, that works like a charm and is, imho, better than entering it on my phone =)

Thanks,
I did not know you could send through your computer.
It is a little disappointing to know the precondition does not work well.
Oh well, Still excited for my first BMW!

[Raspartan]

Originally Posted by F30SD

Thanks,
I did not know you could send through your computer.
It is a little disappointing to know the precondition does not work well.
Oh well, Still excited for my first BMW!

In fact if you put up with the non-mobile full version of Google maps on your phone, you can send it from there too.