MarinersRule

I am about to order an E60. Exactly how does Bluetooth work? If I have a bluetooth phone and a bluetooth headset, will the phone use its own antenna or does the car have one? Will the voice activation I am used to, work in a bluetooth car the same way? Is there a web site or existing discussion topic that answers these and other questions? So many questions! The sales staff I have talked with did not know very much about it.

Thanks very much.


BGMurphy

alohalc

welcome aboard, marinersrule ! if you do a search "bluetooth", i'm sure you'll find a lot of info .

pennetta

If the rest of us get ours working we will let you know.

jrm21

I think I can answer at least some of your questions...

All you need is a _compatible_ BT phone. No headset required. The car will act as the headset.

Think of it this way - the car does not become a cell phone, it only acts as a (really big) wireless headset. The phone does all the actual "dialing" and "communicating" just as it normally does. It just transmits the audio to/from the car. (I know, the phonebook data is transferred, but I am simplifying this on purpose to explain the concept.)

Voice activation/control... depends. My understanding is that this will work fully if you have the voice navigation option in the car. Without that option, I have heard that you can still store some numbers in the car and have limited voice dialing ability. (Although I have never tried it)

Antenna... uses the phone. However, I have heard that if you get a cradle installed (plugs into the phone and also charges the phone while driving) that it will use the car antenna. Again haven't tried this. I use a T637 with my 525 and have not had any reception issues - the phone is either in my coat pocket or in the console storage bin.

Web site... search this forum. It is by far the best resource I have found for information on the topic. There is also some discussion on compatible phones. From what I gather, most of the "regular" GSM phone work well. The phones that have problems are the PDA and Blackberry devices and the higher end Sony's (i.e. P800/P900). Also, the new LG that Sprint is offering supposedly will work for "handsfree" but does not transfer the phonebook data. (I do not have personal confirmation on this, only what I read).

With a compatible phone your phonebook data (from the phone, not the SIM card) will be automatically transferred to the car. This will allow dialing directly from the iDrive screen. It has "A-Z" "Top 8" and a few other lists for phone numbers, making it easy to find the number you want to call. You can also directly enter a phone number using the iDrive controller.

When a call comes in the radio/CD automatically mutes. You see and "incoming call" and the phone number on the iDrive screen and you have and option to answer the call or not. If the number is in your address book, the name will show up on the screen.

Hope this helps.

--Joe

MarinersRule

Thanks, Joe. I hope I get the opportunity to be as helpful to you on another topic!

BGM

Iceman

Welcome aboard, MarinersRule !

Iceman

I think it becomes available soon in the US. I drove a loaner with bus nav (just arrows, no map) and BT. I was able to voice dial from the phone book. The voice command comes with pro nav over here, so the phone book can be entered via voice command. Because it's possible in German E60's I think it will become available on US E60's soon.

uukahn

welcome a board MarinersRule.
I have one more question about the bluetooth to everyone or to Joe
When making a phone call, how does it work?
Do we press phone button from the steering wheel? or from the phone itself?

I just purchased bluetooth phone today and It's on first 24hrs charge period now. I didn't have chance to figure this out yet.
thanks in advance for any help.

Iceman

On the loaner I drove I used my cellphone or the idrive. I think the steering wheel button works too, but I am not sure.
What's really cool is, when you jump in or out of the car the call automatically switches in between the car and the cellphone. So the car really acts as a headset. No delay or so. Very cool. I wish I would've had a chance to retrofit it. But when I bought my E60 the option was still unavailable, so I went with the phone pro instead.

kt8509

My steering wheel phone controls work just fine (I don't have nav so no "full" voice recognition).

The lower left one (head speaking icon) prompts you with a BEEP to say a command (Dial number, Dial name, save name, etc., *commands listed in manual under Communication) - works great.

The top left one (phone icon) starts a call if iDrive has a number currently highlighted and ends an active call.

You can use either phone or iDrive to dial - iDrive is much easier.

This is the best phone/car integration I've seen. Finally something useful from Bluetooth technology!