my car has the very old software so maybe the new software has it.

 

is there anyway to check the iDrive software version without too much of a hassle?

My car is 2006 M5 so I would presume it's new software?

 

there is a new software for the M5 but dont upgrade it cos some people say itis a bad upgrade, more bugs :thumbsdown:

 

My iDrive only display English, French and Spanish, no Chinese (traditional or Simplified). I don't think that there is an update available to USA which can display Chinese characters in iDrive interface. Don't even think about it

 

I, on the other hand, want to take a more proactive approach. I'm hoping this thread can get enough attention from all the E60 owner who wants to see their song titles or contact info in China. I think enough complaints sent to BMW will help in pushing them to roll that out.

If a $400 iPod or iPhone can display just about any language why can't a $600 option from BMW do just that?! it just doesn't make sense. Are they being cheap on licensing the fonts? this is simply not acceptable.

 

I heard that iDrive software is based upon Windows OS (correct me if I am wrong). If you just want the Chinese characters set for the songs, that should not be too difficult for BMW software engineer to incorporate the font sets and to deal with unicode under the Entertainment menu. If you are talking about the whole iDrive GUI, then that is a different story. Just like MS Windows, different countries have different version of Windows. Hong Kong, China, Taiwan use Chinese Windows, UK uses UK English windows, USA uses USA English Windows etc. Therefore, I would not be too surprised that we don't get Chinese iDrive in USA. This is all market driven. I would be very surprised that Hong Kong does not have Chinese iDrive.

 

Oh, don't get me wrong. I don't care what language it uses for the U/I. All I want is to be able to display my chinese song names. technically, i can see that might not be too hard assuming you are correct about the Windows OS part. But there might also be other issues such as memory space available on US model, or simply the willingness of BMWNA to go through the trouble and cost of installing it.

on another note, i did come up on a post that makes me not sure of which OS the china car is using.

http://forums.e60.net/index.php?act=findpo...&pid=389609

http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showtopic=...&hl=vxworks

if the china ones are CE based then I don't think there is a chance for getting it on a VxWork box (let's be realistic and not trying to say sure you can port it ...). but then, i guess VxWorks should have chinese fonts. So the question is how much effort does it take to put it in.

 

ever thought about aftermarket tuners?
www.nav-tv.com/

they might be able to help in modifying your iDrive.

 

I have a Pioneer DEH-P7950UB which is a japanese model and can not display chinese too.
But the HK model can. So I think itis where you get the car from and have the new software to read chinese.
Have you asked the US dealer will they give you a softwear update in Chinese?

 

Don't even think about it to port Windows CE to VxWorks