Language for idrive
02-08-2007, 09:40 AM
#1
Members
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Nieuw-Lekkerland, The Netherlands
Posts: 171
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Who knows what languages are used in the idrive.
Although I'm from Holland, having no troubles with english/german, I'm curious.
Besides: in 2007 when a cheap navi like tomtom has 25 languages to choose from (even male/female)
i think that bmw has only a small amount of different languages.
Although I'm from Holland, having no troubles with english/german, I'm curious.
Besides: in 2007 when a cheap navi like tomtom has 25 languages to choose from (even male/female)
i think that bmw has only a small amount of different languages.
02-08-2007, 09:51 AM
#2
Contributors
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Helsinki, Finland
Posts: 7,790
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
My Ride: My ex-ride: EU '08 LCI 520dA. Space Grey, Sport Seats in Black Leather/Fabric Anthracite, Sport Steering Wheel, A/C with Extended Features, Hi-Fi Speakers, Cup Holders, Cruise with Braking function, Folding Rear Seats, Xenons, Park Distance Control.
Not to my knowlegde available in any others, but maybe Chinese Kanton 
02-08-2007, 09:56 AM
#3
Members
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Nieuw-Lekkerland, The Netherlands
Posts: 171
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Originally Posted by Ricracing' post='388875' date='Feb 8 2007, 07:51 PM
Not to my knowlegde available in any others, but maybe Chinese Kanton
no maybe not chinese, but i dont need that.But other:
English
German
French??
Dutch??
Other........
02-08-2007, 10:51 PM
#4
Members
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Denmark
Posts: 18
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
My Ride: 2006 520i
History: Ford Cougar -00, Volvo S40 -04, Renault Laguna -03, Citroën Xsara -98, Citröen ZX -93, Citröen BX -88
Originally Posted by eddy' post='388880' date='Feb 8 2007, 07:56 PM
Other........
Spanish, apparently :
(Link)
02-09-2007, 12:06 PM
#6
Members
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 215
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
My Ride: 2007 530xi
Originally Posted by JSpira' post='389348' date='Feb 9 2007, 10:18 AM
French also.
But keep in mind, the language options vary by market. What I have does not necessarily reflect what others might have.
But keep in mind, the language options vary by market. What I have does not necessarily reflect what others might have.
So I go get when iDrive user interface is not available in, say, German in US due to limited market, but why it is unable to display iPod song titles in multiple languages is beyond me. Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player can do it on stock Windows CE and iDrive for some reason can't. Maybe it is limitation of the CD changer interface that they employ to connect iPod? If so, '08 model that supposedly reads data over USB may be able to pick titles named in Unicode.
I am wondering if iDrive address book can contain non-English characters... It is populated via Bluetooth, not over CD changer interface...
02-09-2007, 01:42 PM
#7
Senior Members
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: New York und Wien
Posts: 2,158
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Originally Posted by uglybear' post='389417' date='Feb 9 2007, 04:06 PM
Which is funny actually. As long as I know Windows CE is capable of displaying characters in many languages out of the box and with a few fonts added is definitely capable of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Hebrew, Hindu, Arabic, etc. You may not know, but even if you purchased your Pocket PC PDA is US, it is perfectly capable of displaying Cyrillic, for instance. Same for Windows-based Smartphones. General user interface is in english, but fonts contain characters in many languages.
So I go get when iDrive user interface is not available in, say, German in US due to limited market, but why it is unable to display iPod song titles in multiple languages is beyond me. Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player can do it on stock Windows CE and iDrive for some reason can't. Maybe it is limitation of the CD changer interface that they employ to connect iPod? If so, '08 model that supposedly reads data over USB may be able to pick titles named in Unicode.
I am wondering if iDrive address book can contain non-English characters... It is populated via Bluetooth, not over CD changer interface...
So I go get when iDrive user interface is not available in, say, German in US due to limited market, but why it is unable to display iPod song titles in multiple languages is beyond me. Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player can do it on stock Windows CE and iDrive for some reason can't. Maybe it is limitation of the CD changer interface that they employ to connect iPod? If so, '08 model that supposedly reads data over USB may be able to pick titles named in Unicode.
I am wondering if iDrive address book can contain non-English characters... It is populated via Bluetooth, not over CD changer interface...
In addition, the Interface for iPod can indeed display song titles in multiple languages as long as the language in question uses the Latin alphabet (also called the Roman alphabet).
Regarding the address book, same thing as above.
02-09-2007, 02:30 PM
#8
Members
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 215
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
My Ride: 2007 530xi
Originally Posted by JSpira' post='389450' date='Feb 9 2007, 02:42 PM
I suppose, since this is not Windows CE we are dealing with, what Windows CE can and cannot do doesn?t impact iDrive terribly much.
BMW is also listed here: Microsoft press release
You ARE driving Windows PC my friend...
02-09-2007, 04:04 PM
#9
Senior Members
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: New York und Wien
Posts: 2,158
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Originally Posted by uglybear' post='389460' date='Feb 9 2007, 06:30 PM
Really? How's about this: BMW iDrive uses Windows CE
BMW is also listed here: Microsoft press release
You ARE driving Windows PC my friend...
BMW is also listed here: Microsoft press release
You ARE driving Windows PC my friend...
02-09-2007, 09:55 PM
#10
Members
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 215
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
My Ride: 2007 530xi
Originally Posted by JSpira' post='389479' date='Feb 9 2007, 05:04 PM
You can believe (erroneously) whatever you wish, but your car has no Windows, it runs on Vxworks.
Now, here. it says iDrive is Java based (which explains then why it is slow as molasses), but Java != OS so it may be as well be JVM running on CE.
However, this says it is VxWorks + Sun JVM. Which may explain why there is a limited set of language supported: Unicode fonts are expensive. Microsoft could reuse fonts from Windows in CE while Wind River would have to pay Bitstream or Monotype separate license fees.
However, I am yet to find an article that would clearly say what is exactly in iDrive.