E39 and SmartPhone - How to connect?

Originally Posted by ExpatOilWorker

What is the easiest way top connect the smart phone to the stereo? Bloothtooth? USB connection?

Bluetooth is the easiest IMO. No wires to mess with.

It's possible to get the official BMW kit installed, but that runs you more than $400 last time i checked. So i got this instead, and that's been working great for me. Cheap (i think i found mine for like $35), and i can easily carry it to another car (like my wife's when we take hers on a trip).

So i got this instead, and that's been working great for me. Cheap (i think i found mine for like $35), and i can easily carry it to another car (like my wife's when we take hers on a trip).

What? All I do is buy that and I'm talking hands free through the car's sound system? Sounds a little too good to be true.

Originally Posted by Edgy36-39

What? All I do is buy that and I'm talking hands free through the car's sound system? Sounds a little too good to be true.

It's close Of course this is not quite as good as a full-blown integration.

The way it works: Your phone connects to this thing over Bluetooth. It has speakers and microphones built-in. So you can make phone calls hands-free with this.

The beauty of this thing is that it has a built-in FM transmitter as well. So you just tell it to not play sound through its own speakers, but send it out over a (selectable) FM frequency. You then tune the radio to the frequency, and voila, your phone's sounds are coming over the car's sound system.

Since I play audio from my phone (music, podcasts) 99.9% of the time and hardly ever listen to the regular radio anymore, this works fine for me. If i wanted to be able to listen to regular radio and at the same time have a hassle-free hands-free solution, this would not work as well obviously. Another potential limitation is that it uses an FM frequency, and depending on where you live, it may be hard to find an open frequency. It also does not give you a nice graphical interface to show you an address book for example. You'd have to use your phone for that. But put that in a nice cradle (with charger even) and you have a nice solution that's cheap & portable.

For the money, this is certainly good enough for me. It's not worth $400+ dollars more to me to get the full-blown integration.

As an aside - From what I've been reading, some of the aftermarket head units seem to fit nicely in the BMW decor, and many of the higher-end ones at least have Bluetooth phone support built-in as well now, allowing you to play music and / or make hands-free phone calls that way. So that's a nice hands-free, fully integrated option to consider as well.

OK thanks much for the details. I've got an iPod integration already, use that for music. So...

If I've got this device, and tune it to a specific FM channel, will an incoming call interrupt the music and play over the speakers? And what do you mean exactly by an open FM station, just a station on my local dial that has no signal?

Sorry if these questions sound newbie, never really explored this before and trying to understand the pros and cons. Nice to be able to ask a current user. The text in the Amazon ad wasn't so clear to me.

Originally Posted by Edgy36-39

If I've got this device, and tune it to a specific FM channel, will an incoming call interrupt the music and play over the speakers?

This device is like a mini FM radio station broadcasting inside your car. You tune your radio to it in order to listen to it, just like any other radio station. So it does not interrupt music playing from some other source. If you're listening to music from your phone over this device on your radio, and you receive a call, your phone will stop the music it is playing and you can answer the call.

And what do you mean exactly by an open FM station, just a station on my local dial that has no signal?

I mean a frequency on which no other radio station is broadcasting. (For example, in my area several of the 88.x/89.x frequencies are mostly "unoccupied", and are what I use.) If a radio station is broadcasting on the same frequency as this device, chances are that the radio station signal is more powerful and overpowers the signal from this device, and all you'll hear is the sound from the radio station instead of the sound from your phone.

Sorry if these questions sound newbie, never really explored this before and trying to understand the pros and cons. Nice to be able to ask a current user. The text in the Amazon ad wasn't so clear to me.

No problem glad to help.

Trying to think of how to explain this clearly, i keep fumbling So bear with me.

There are lots of solutions out there that can connect to an iPod/iPhone (with a cable) and then broadcast the audio over a FM frequency so that you can tune your radio to it. It's especially useful for cars where there's no aux in of any type to connect your iPod/iPhone to.

This solution takes it a step further, and instead of having to use a cable to connect to your phone, it uses Bluetooth. It's basically a wireless external speakerphone, which also is capable of transmitting the audio over FM so that you can play it over your radio.

The way it works is phone audio -> Bluetooth -> this thing -> FM frequency -> your car's radio.

Think of this similar to using a headphone with your phone. You can listen to music played by your phone that way, and if a call comes in, your phone should stop the music and you can answer the call etc. Now by using this instead of using a headphone, it is basically broadcasting your phone's audio as a mini FM station (of which you can select the frequency) so that you can tune to it with your radio and listen to your phone's audio output that way.

So if you already have an iPod integration, this will probably not work together? You have to have your radio tuned to this device's FM frequency in order to be able to hear the audio.

This is how i use it:

My phone and this device are 'paired', meaning they will connect to each other automatically when they can. When I get into the car I typically need to press the big button on this device to wake it up from stand-by, and it'll connect to my phone. Then i'll push another button on the device to activate the FM broadcast. My radio is typically already tuned to the device's frequency, so from then on i'll hear over the car radio whatever my phone is playing. Then i start up my podcast player on the phone and hit play, and i hear the podcast audio over my car radio.

If somebody now calls me, my phone will stop the podcast, and i can hit the big button on this device to answer the phone call. The phone call audio (the other side's voice) will be played over the radio (it's still broadcasting the audio like a radio station), while this device's microphone will record my voice and send it back to the phone. So i can have a hands-free conversation this way. When the phone call ends, the podcast resumes.

If i want to make a call, i just use the phone's screen to find & dial the number, or I can even use voice commands to tell it to dial so-and-so. The phone will stop the podcast, and i will hear the other side's phone ringing over my car's speakers, and when they answer, it's the same thing again - i hear them over the radio, my voice is recorded through this device's microphones, and when the phone call ends, my podcast audio resumes.

When i use Google Navigation on my phone to help me get to some destination, whenever it has an announcement to make (turn right in a quarter mile onto so-and-so street), it'll stop the podcast audio briefly, say what it needs to say, then resumes the podcast audio.

I hope this explains it If not, ask away.

Thanks again. Sounds like if I was using my phone for music, I'd be almost there. Unfortunately I'm not. Music is iPod, phone is Android.

So, real world the only way I'm doing calls over speaker is if its scheduled, I know its coming. Then I can have the radio set to the open channel. Much more likely, I'm doing calls over the device speaker.

Which is still a lot better than what I have now, which is zip. Thanks again for spelling out, makes the decision easier. Will probably look to buy one, though at a better price than $50 for refurbished.

Originally Posted by Valorum

So i got this instead.

For the record, here's a picture of "this" because links are ephemeral but pictures are forever:

Originally Posted by Edgy36-39

What? All I do is buy that and I'm talking hands free through the car's sound system? Sounds a little too good to be true.

My solution is similar to the Jabra above (and I have a DICE Silverline for iPod music - but the DICE is problematic - as we all already know).

I can't say enough good stuff about the bluetooth/FM Motorola Roadster that I bought about a year or so ago for around $100 (must be vastly less by now).
I don't remember exactly which model I have (I can check if anyone needs that information) but what mines does is:

• It fits on the visor, and isn't even noticeable.
• The two watts make it very LOUD (you have to turn it down & then it's fine).
• It works with two phones at the same time (asks you which one to use)
• It dials people by name & does Siri/S-Voice queries (must have a smart phone)
• Sends & reads text (basically it handles anything the smart phone 'hears' or 'says')
• It answers (or ignores) calls by you saying "answer" or "ignore".
• Charges with micro-USB (doesn't everything nowadays?)
• Oh, and, yes, it has the FM transmitter (although I never use it)

There's even an app which will log the GPS location on your GPS-enabled smart phone when you get out of range of the thing. I haven't installed that on my Samsung Galaxy SIII yet, but the purpose is to find your car in the mall parking lot.

Originally Posted by bluebee

For the record, here's a picture of "this" because links are ephemeral but pictures are forever:

Thanks, i always forget that

Originally Posted by Edgy36-39

Will probably look to buy one

The Cruiser i have is an older model by now, so definitely read up on newer models. There's a difference in the sound and microphone quality between the different brands. From what i've recall, bluebee's Motorola's Roadster also gets good reviews. This may be of use to you: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7...st-comparison/

You just need to get your music on your Android phone so you don't need to use your iPod any longer

Thanks for weighing in, Blue! And contributing to my crash course in the latest hands free tech.

You just need to get your music on your Android phone so you don't need to use your iPod any longer

No, not that simple V. The jack that comes out of the center console (installed by PO) fits Apple devices, not Android. Not near worth it to totally redo a nice integration, just to take calls.

Originally Posted by Edgy36-39

No, not that simple V. The jack that comes out of the center console (installed by PO) fits Apple devices, not Android. Not near worth it to totally redo a nice integration, just to take calls.

Why would you need a jack or wire? With this device everything would be wireless. Play your music on your Android phone, stream it through this type of device to your radio, and leave your iPod at home. Basically what I'm doing.

Originally Posted by Valorum

Why would you need a jack or wire? With this device everything would be wireless. Play your music on your Android phone, stream it through this type of device to your radio, and leave your iPod at home. Basically what I'm doing.

You still need wire to charge the phone, especially if you're using for music/GPS/pandora/etc. I didn't think this was a problem until I got an iPhone, that thing always needs to be charged!

I'm glad to have aux input for my iPod, 120GB storage holds all my music with room to spare. And integrated BT BMW phone system, mutes anything on the stereo when a call comes in. Expensive, but amortizing the system cost over 10+ years makes it easier.

dave
03 540i6
iPod classic 120GB
iPhone5 16GB

Originally Posted by 540nj

You still need wire to charge the phone

My Samsung Galaxy SIII consumes TONS of power, so I'm with you on that.

Nowadays, I think most of us just pop in a low-profile dual USB 3.2 Amp (2.2 Amp + 1 Amp) "usb plug" into the lighter socket. At least that's what I do.

That way I can keep three cables in the car to use at will:
a) USB to mini-usb
b) USB to micro-usb
c) USB to iPhone

I used to use those multi-purpose USB-to-anything cables - but the ends kept falling off, getting lost, or just not connecting (making the phone beep all the time as I drove down the road - so now I use the dedicated cables, one color for each type).

Note: The DICE, while it comes with an iPod 'charger' cable, will NOT charge a totally dead iPod/iPhone so that's why you need the iPod cable even if you have the Dice Silverline like I do.

Why would you need a jack or wire? With this device everything would be wireless.

Good point. Though I'd probably still use the iPod, b/c I don't want to wrestle with transferring all my songs over. I don't currently have music on my phone - probably a demographic thing.

Great feedback and thanks for all the tips.
I found a dealer in Thailand, where I live, that had the right adaptor. I can now BOTH connect an iPhone and Samsung Galaxy. I can use the steering wheel controls for the iPhone, but not for the Galaxy. Price, $175.

It uses the CD input, so the CD shifter in the trunk have been disconnected. Would it have been possible to leave the CD shifter connected and functional?

I opened up a somewhat related thread just now, asking what most folks use for their hands free cellphone integration (whether or not it's a dumb or smart phone, Android, or iPhone).
> E39 (1997 - 2003) > It's 2013: What do you currently use for handsfree cellphone & audio in your Bimmer?

Here are two pictures I posted to that thread, for reference, of my previous and current setup:

OLD:


NEW:

Thanks again for the intell shared. I pulled the trigger on the Roadster 2. Here's my quick review based on the first weekend of use: http://chrisparente.com/2013/02/10/e...or-older-bmws/

Originally Posted by Edgy36-39

Thanks again for the intell shared. I pulled the trigger on the Roadster 2. Here's my quick review based on the first weekend of use: http://chrisparente.com/2013/02/10/e...or-older-bmws/

Cool

FM transmitter for music — not working.

Is this a device malfunction or something else?

Is this a device malfunction or something else?

Can't say yet. If it was a malfunction calls over FM wouldn't work either, but they do. Since I have the iPod for music, wouldn't be a deal breaker for me.