[beerfan]

This is my first post on the forum and I apologize if this has been asked, but I couldn't find any info about how android phones work with the enhanced bluetooth and other aspects of connected drive.

I've been to the BMW website, but my phone (HTC ThunderBolt) is not listed as a tested phone. Would anybody with an android phone (preferrably a ThunderBolt) be able to answer my questions.

1. Mobile office - Is this option useless unless you have a BlackBerry?
1A. Will BMW have the ability to do software updates to make the iphone/droid phones work with mobile office in the future? Any rumors on this front?
2. Does the enhanced Bluetooth sync the contacts in your phone book or do you have to enter them in manually? Do contact's pictures pop up?
3. Does streaming audio through Bluetooth work?
4. If you store music on your phone and connect through the USB are you able to control your music through the car? Does the album artwork pop up on the screen?

Any info would be greatly appreciated!

[Harplayr]

I hope somebody with more info pipes up here.

I have a Droid-X and Verizon. I have the tech package but did not order office.
The only thing Bluetooth does for my setup is download name and numbers and hands free operation.
It doesn’t download addresses or stream music.

It’s my understanding that some features are blocked by Verizon that are available on other carriers.

[pault]

Originally Posted by beerfan

1. Mobile office - Is this option useless unless you have a BlackBerry?

Limited functionality, text messages, emails and calendar dont work/not supported. Only phone and address book work.

Originally Posted by beerfan

1A. Will BMW have the ability to do software updates to make the iphone/droid phones work with mobile office in the future? Any rumors on this front?

BMW supports Bluetooth Message Access Profile (MAP). This is supported by some Blackberry phones. It is not supported/available on the iPhone or the Android platform. I've read that one/some of the Droid phones support MAP but cannot confirm this, nor to I know which phones. If it does then it is because Motorola added MAP support to their Droid. For this to work on iPhone/Android it requires updates from Apple/Google. Have no rumours to comment on

Originally Posted by beerfan

2. Does the enhanced Bluetooth sync the contacts in your phone book or do you have to enter them in manually? Do contact's pictures pop up?

Contact sync works for me from a Nexus S phone. I do not recall ever seeing contact pictures, but would need to look again to be sure.

Originally Posted by beerfan

3. Does streaming audio through Bluetooth work?

This has worked for me from a Nexus S phone, but had problem with it recently and not had time to investigate.

Originally Posted by beerfan

4. If you store music on your phone and connect through the USB are you able to control your music through the car? Does the album artwork pop up on the screen?

Yes, appears the same as inserting a USB device into the car, can search/browse and control tracks. Would have to check on album art as I don't use this option for music.

[beerfan]

WOW... thanks for the info Paul.

It is interesting to learn about MAP. I was under the impression it was a bad decisions on BMW's part to make their system only compatible with Blackberrys, but If I understand correctly Blackberry is the only (or one of the only) company using this technology. After doing some research on the internet, I found that the text and e-mail features only work on a few phones even for different automobile manufacturer's systems (i.e. Ford Touch).

Hariplyr, apparently the Droid X is the only (or one of the only) android phones that has MAP....at least that is what I read on a couple of android message boards. Also, I don't think that the streaming function is blocked by Verizon. I have Verizon and when I test drove the RX350 I hooked up my phone with Lexus' Bluetooth system and it streamed my music fine. However, I think my phone is the newest phone released by Verizon and it may have some additional features???

[Harplayr]

You are right in that Verizon doesn’t block Bluetooth streaming on the Droid-X.
I can stream music via Bluetooth to my laptop just fine, but for some reason I can’t stream it to my X3.

The only feature that would be really nice to somehow enable with my Droid-X would be for it to not only download the address book names and numbers, but I would really like to find a way to have it also download my contact’s addresses to make the Nav more convenient.