phester

Is there a list of Bluetooth Cell Phones that work with the 5 series (in the US)?

Also, I have no Nav, but I do have the "Communications - Telephone" screen on the iDrive. Does this automatically mean I can use a bluetooth cell phone with the car? or do I need an option to have it?

gwf545

Use the search feature of this site to find what you are looking for. There is also a bluetooth forum here: http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showforum=26 . Good luck.

mr_london_247

Personally, always found this to be better than BMW's own official info:

http://www.x5world.com/html.php?file=bmw_bt_phones.htm

gwf545

Keep in mind that there are varying levels of Bluetooth support. In my case, I had to buy a used phone to get full capabilities on Sprint. The forum here provides a lot of information in addition to what BMW provides.

UUronL

This should improve. The Phone Book Access Profile (PBAP) 0.9 draft was recently approved and is nearing 1.0 status. Most of the features we ask about on this forum are enumerated in this spec. Part of the problem has been (as with all pre-standard technologies) is that the manufacters can only make "best-guesses" based on the existing talks that the community may be conducting. Motorola seems to have done pretty well, and BMW hasn't done such a bad job either. Once the PBAP is standardized, BMW will update to spec, as will the various phone manufacturers, making everything work.

rduncan

This should improve. The Phone Book Access Profile (PBAP) 0.9 draft was recently approved and is nearing 1.0 status. Most of the features we ask about on this forum are enumerated in this spec. Once the PBAP is standardized, BMW will update to spec, as will the various phone manufacturers, making everything work.
[/quote]
I'm not sure what benefit we'll see in our existing cars due to this new standard.

I understand that the existing Bluetooth OBEX Profile was the part where BMW was incompatible with some handsets, resulting in the E6* being unable to obtain a copy of the address book from the phone. As a result, I can make and receive calls (using the Handsfree BT Profile), but other features (that use stored names and numbers) are not possible.

So I question whether we would ever get an enhancement to provide greater Bluetooth compatibility in our current cars that would provide additional capability with future handsets that incorporate this new Profile.

Robert

cobradav

This should improve. The Phone Book Access Profile (PBAP) 0.9 draft was recently approved and is nearing 1.0 status. Most of the features we ask about on this forum are enumerated in this spec. Once the PBAP is standardized, BMW will update to spec, as will the various phone manufacturers, making everything work.
[/quote]
I'm not sure what benefit we'll see in our existing cars due to this new standard.

I understand that the existing Bluetooth OBEX Profile was the part where BMW was incompatible with some handsets, resulting in the E6* being unable to obtain a copy of the address book from the phone. As a result, I can make and receive calls (using the Handsfree BT Profile), but other features (that use stored names and numbers) are not possible.

So I question whether we would ever get an enhancement to provide greater Bluetooth compatibility in our current cars that would provide additional capability with future handsets that incorporate this new Profile.

Robert
[/quote]
If Bluetooth OBEX as implemented by BMW is incompatible with SOME handsets (not mine BTW) is it BMWs implemetation at fault or some of the mfrs / providers?

If a standard is improved and all users actually implement the standard I would think that yes, an improvement in compatibility would be experienced. Only time this does not happen is when someone chooses to not follow the standard or the standard allows variance as it appears we have now. I no longer have significant use in the mobile office arena so I have not followed this saga very closely. However, my past experiences with "standards" has been that there is always someone that for one reason or another simply does fully implement or varies their implementation and we get the mess we seem to be in now. Is there a vehicle mfr out there now that has 100% compatibility with 100% of phones and providers? I think not, but I don't know that for a fact.

Just MHO and $0.02 worth.

UUronL

This should improve. The Phone Book Access Profile (PBAP) 0.9 draft was recently approved and is nearing 1.0 status. Most of the features we ask about on this forum are enumerated in this spec. Once the PBAP is standardized, BMW will update to spec, as will the various phone manufacturers, making everything work.
[/quote]
I'm not sure what benefit we'll see in our existing cars due to this new standard.

I understand that the existing Bluetooth OBEX Profile was the part where BMW was incompatible with some handsets, resulting in the E6* being unable to obtain a copy of the address book from the phone. As a result, I can make and receive calls (using the Handsfree BT Profile), but other features (that use stored names and numbers) are not possible.

So I question whether we would ever get an enhancement to provide greater Bluetooth compatibility in our current cars that would provide additional capability with future handsets that incorporate this new Profile.

Robert
[/quote]
If Bluetooth OBEX as implemented by BMW is incompatible with SOME handsets (not mine BTW) is it BMWs implemetation at fault or some of the mfrs / providers?

If a standard is improved and all users actually implement the standard I would think that yes, an improvement in compatibility would be experienced. Only time this does not happen is when someone chooses to not follow the standard or the standard allows variance as it appears we have now. I no longer have significant use in the mobile office arena so I have not followed this saga very closely. However, my past experiences with "standards" has been that there is always someone that for one reason or another simply does fully implement or varies their implementation and we get the mess we seem to be in now. Is there a vehicle mfr out there now that has 100% compatibility with 100% of phones and providers? I think not, but I don't know that for a fact.

Just MHO and $0.02 worth.
[/quote]


I'm just saying - a lot of the BT profiles are still in pre- 1.0 draft form. This means that manufacturers are coding based upon existing work and some guessing. Car systems generally only support handsfree and/or headset. We're lucky enough to have a pre-spec Phone Book Access Profile (PBAP). I'd hope that future code updates would bring the car into spec once the spec enters 1.0.

Something as core as OBEX being wrong sounds fishy to me. Is there some way to substantiate this claim?

Also, please define "address book". My phone book is visible, along with call detail stored in some of the call history categories (although updates seem unpredictable). This functionality should be part of the specs that are still being ironed out. Bear in mind that each profile has to go through a long development process from draft form to eventual standard.

cobradav

This should improve. The Phone Book Access Profile (PBAP) 0.9 draft was recently approved and is nearing 1.0 status. Most of the features we ask about on this forum are enumerated in this spec. Once the PBAP is standardized, BMW will update to spec, as will the various phone manufacturers, making everything work.
[/quote]
I'm not sure what benefit we'll see in our existing cars due to this new standard.

I understand that the existing Bluetooth OBEX Profile was the part where BMW was incompatible with some handsets, resulting in the E6* being unable to obtain a copy of the address book from the phone. As a result, I can make and receive calls (using the Handsfree BT Profile), but other features (that use stored names and numbers) are not possible.

So I question whether we would ever get an enhancement to provide greater Bluetooth compatibility in our current cars that would provide additional capability with future handsets that incorporate this new Profile.

Robert
[/quote]
If Bluetooth OBEX as implemented by BMW is incompatible with SOME handsets (not mine BTW) is it BMWs implemetation at fault or some of the mfrs / providers?

If a standard is improved and all users actually implement the standard I would think that yes, an improvement in compatibility would be experienced. Only time this does not happen is when someone chooses to not follow the standard or the standard allows variance as it appears we have now. I no longer have significant use in the mobile office arena so I have not followed this saga very closely. However, my past experiences with "standards" has been that there is always someone that for one reason or another simply does fully implement or varies their implementation and we get the mess we seem to be in now. Is there a vehicle mfr out there now that has 100% compatibility with 100% of phones and providers? I think not, but I don't know that for a fact.

Just MHO and $0.02 worth.
[/quote]


I'm just saying - a lot of the BT profiles are still in pre- 1.0 draft form. This means that manufacturers are coding based upon existing work and some guessing. Car systems generally only support handsfree and/or headset. We're lucky enough to have a pre-spec Phone Book Access Profile (PBAP). I'd hope that future code updates would bring the car into spec once the spec enters 1.0.

Something as core as OBEX being wrong sounds fishy to me. Is there some way to substantiate this claim?

Also, please define "address book". My phone book is visible, along with call detail stored in some of the call history categories (although updates seem unpredictable). This functionality should be part of the specs that are still being ironed out. Bear in mind that each profile has to go through a long development process from draft form to eventual standard.
[/quote]
My address book works just fine as well which was one of my points meant by "(not mine BTW)". I get about as much usefulness out of my configuration as I can utilize as I am an infrequent user and probably average 1 conversation (xmit or rec) in 10 trips. So it is not (as I said ) a big deal for me. But for some I can imagine they want max capability especially if their livelihood is impacted.