Don't think the Blueberry is a supported device (wouldn't count on it being either), especially with respect to address book transfers, etc... . Not a popular enough device to be certified.

 

OK. as I reach for the Asprin. This whole Bluetooth thing is giving me a headache.

So pharding has gone through hoops to get the retrofit. A small step for him, but a giant step for us, the E60 community. Thank you. Your posts have been invaluable.

Alas, here is how I see the situation:

Will the cradle improve audio?
If the cradle's purpose is solely to connect your V600 to the DC for charging and to the sharkfin for antenna, then I cannot see any reason why your audio quality would improve. Both the Mot V710 and its GSM counterpart the Mot V600 are excellent phones for reception so a boosted signal will not help, nor ofcourse will having it plugged in to DC power. It's the BT connection that needs to transmit the mic audio and speaker audio to the car. This seems to be an inherant BT problem, not specific to BMW or Motorola. A poster from the UK confirmed on this thread that his BT audio is terrible. So that rules out the US vs Euro wireless superiority argument. Yes GSM has been more easily standardized in the rest of the world, but this is not a coverage issue. The same GSM is now being used here.

If on the other hand the cradle hardwires the mic and speaker to the car, then the audio might improve, which then begs the question, why Bluetooth???

The Whole Verizon V710 thing!
Yes a firmware release is expected around year end, which may be available by simply doing the *228 thing. What this will do is not clear at this point, but a Radio Shack manager told me that Verizon has changed their position on crippling BT on the V710 in response to consumer demand and will open up the phone. What this means to me is that it will now be as fully supported at phardings V600. i.e. The address book will then sync with the car and my BT enabled computer. I have no reason to believe that the audio quality will improve, since Motorola and Verizon have had no complaints about that aspect of the phone.

CPT9000 Looks better everyday!
Skipper and a few others keep nudging me. The fact remains that the CPT is a tried and working solution with full functionality. No ifs and no buts.
I bought a holster that will keep the CPT flush with my belt.
My wife had a V60 a couple of years ago and the reception was excellent. That thing rang everywhere.
Its a nice size too. I am into small phones. I need it on me all the time and sometimes just want it in the lapel pocket of a suit or in my jeans without a holster. The V710/600 are huge.
No color screen, I will put up that. I'm used to the bright color screen on my Samsung but the screen on the I-drive beats the hell out of that. heehee
No Camera- No big deal. I have a Cybershot T1 in the glove box.
No MP3 Player. Please. I need that about as much as I need the phone to make toast.
Old technology? I am not so sure. I don't think the underlying technology of a tri-mode phone has changed in the last 2 years. It's still the same two digital frequencies and the one analogue. I know for a fact that it has better reception than my all digital dual mode Samsung.

So as you can see I am talking my self in and out of this BT thang. Prudence tells me, to hell with the retrofit and put in the CPT9000.

Apologies for the long rambling post.

 

I tend to agree with you at this point. Just keep in mind that there are some minor issues with the CPT9000 so there's no perfect solution.

My solution, since I wasn't going to wait for BT and wasn't sure it would ever be available for MY2004, was to keep my tiny little Nokia GSM (on T-Mobile) on my belt and leave the CPT9000 (on AT&T) in the car all the times. I already had two numbers with these two carriers since I need to have rural coverage once in a while while travelling and the T-Mobile system isn't robust enough to give me coverage in those areas. Also, very few people call me on my cell phones. I usually am the one initiating the call so having two numbers doesn't cause me too many problems.

So basically, I just changed my AT&T phone from a Nokia that I had to the BMW branded Moto V60. I don't really like the Motorola user interface, etc. but thankfully, I never really need to use it except to program my speed dials, etc. so that iDrive picks them up. (The text-to-speech voice system works quite well!)

 

It's the other way around with me. Although I do initiate calls, those are done at my convenience when I have had the time to plug in a headset and dial when I'm not in the the middle of a lane change. When I leave my office, my extension at work forwards to my cell phone. This practice saves me hours in retriveiving vms and returning calls and my customers get a prompt resolution. So I must have a system that allows me to safely identify and answer a call when driving.

The danger is still using the keypad on the phone to initate an outgoing call. I'm looking forward to the voice commands.

How do you find the CPT9000? Rudy?

 

Overall, the CPT9000 works well enough. There is the echo issue that BMW is supposedly working on and there is a minor issue where once in a while you have to eject and reinsert the phone in the cradle to get it to sync with the car.

I'm able to dial using the iDrive 'keypad' although it can sometimes be a little bit of a pain due to the speed of the CPU. I can't get any inbound "call waiting" calls, and I can't insert a pause into a dialing string so I can't automate the checking of my (many) voice mailboxes.

I like the way the car keeps track of the "Top 8" dialed calls. I use that screen 99% of the time (I actually think that screen should be the default screen when you first select "Communication" from the main menu.) The voice commands are great. Dial number and dial name are two commands that I use often and work quite well.

Again, I'm happy with my setup but only because I don't ever have to take the V60 out of the car. From a portable phone standpoint, I don't like the V60 so if that was my only phone, I'd be going crazy.

 

Who makes the CPT9000 and where can I get it. Is it available for Cingular?

 

It's the BMW supplied "system" that is essentially a Motorola V60 phone plus an "eject box" that allows the phone to interface with the car.

You can get the system for the following carriers (including part numbers):
Verizon (East): 84-11-0-308-479
Verizon (West): 84-11-0-308-479
Alltel: 84-11-0-309-034
GSM: 84-11-0-308-473
Cingular (TDMA): 84-11-0-300-516
AT&T (TDMA): 84-11-0-300-513
Sprint PCS (CDMA): 84-11-0-308-482

 

I am going to do talk with the BMW Service Manager and see what ideas that he has to improve the sound quality. I saw a post on the X5 Board at RF which documented improved sound quality by re-coding the UHF Module according to the BT Installation Instructions. I have no idea if we even have a UHF Module in our e60s. I may have the cradle installed which will have some impact on audio quality because the antenna will be better. I am also going over to the local Cingular Store to see if they can do a firmware upgrade to improve the sound quality. I intend to pursue looking for ways to improve the sound quality before I pursue another course of action. The sound quality is usable but not very good. Meanwhile others may have BT installed in their e60 and they can provide input.

 

Pharding - as a partner in an architectural Firm, you must be quite busy.. Save your time. Trust me.. firmware on the phone won't help since it is the BMW ULF that converts the sounds and reproduces them. As for re-coding the car.. recoding is really only necessary on older cars, but worth a shot. I went through the BT thing with my 2004, and even had the most recent ULF module flown in from Germany (it was 5 generations newer than what the US dealers had)... It made such a minor difference, if at all, I wondered why I went through the trouble.

the shark fin antenna will do NOTHING, repeat NOTHING for sound quality.. once the call is connected, 2 bars, 3,4,5, it is the same quality.. it is when you get to one bar and start losing signal that it becomes an issue.. and by the way, the portable antennas are nearly as strong as that on the car.. There is no more a perfectionist then me, and I've done all this.. Believe me, save your time, and your money.

I promise you, as newer software upgrades come out from BMW, some will have improvements to the bluetooth coding.

As for the Cradle - let's talk about how inconvenient it is.. it is buried under an armrest, so you flip up the armrest... pretty cool to show your friends though, right... then, you must turn your body to the right, so you can extend your arm to either place the phone in, or snap it out of the cradle... put the armrest back down.. then do it all again when you are leaving the car? make no sense..

take a look at http://www.kuda-phonebase.com/home.htm and follow along to telphone consoles.. you can mount professionaly your phone in front of you, easy access, hard wired, etc.. and still pretty darn good looking. Iam holding off for a better BT solution with BMW, myself..

SAVE YOUR MONEY!!!

 

Do a search on ebay for "CPT9000", basically it is a Motorola V60i phone available for GSM, TDMA and CDMA networks.