So I just replaced my Clubbie with a 2013 Countryman. So far I love it, but I'm not sure about whether I need the connected features or not. It'd mean an extra phone line to get the features not trading out my primary for an iPhone.

So what say you? Do you use it regularly (beyond just Bluetooth audio/phone sync which I can do with my current phone)?

 

How cool is mini connect you say...

It's cool as school...and school ain't cool! Ha!

 

i passed on connect and nav both

 

I connect my ipad to it. Quite frankly if I had an iphone, I'd use it more often, even to just leave it on "driving excitement" mode to get the extra guages, and Web radio. I didn't get aat radio because of this.

I think it has great potential, it's a decent start.

 

I ordered it hoping that some day it would work with a real phone (Andriod), because I refuse to be an iSheep. So, it may be wicked cool, but I will never know! :sigh:

 

I'm really liking my connected. Don't get me wrong, it could be a lot better. I've been hoping something new would come out for it. The good thing, it is capable of being improved. If mini/apple will ever get off there lazy buts and do it is another question. For now I like the album art on the screen, love the gauges in driving excitement, and my phone is jailbroke so I can watch whatever is on my phone on it. A added bonus is if you get tired of its glare at night you can turn it off. I'm hoping if mini/apple doesn't come up with new stuff for it the jailbreak community will

 

Interesting. Sounds like if I had a connected iDevice it'd be interesting, but it's probably not worth $30 a month just to have the features.

I suppose I could use an iPod touch and then tether it to my Lumia 920 just to experiment cheaply...

 

x2

 

Really like the Nav but Connected just isn't worth the money.
It's fun to show it to your friends but in real life, it's just to much of a hassle to actually use it
- connect phone to the cable
- scroll through the screens on your phone to find the Connected app
- start the connected app
- open the main screen in the car
- scroll to Connected
- wait for all the options to appear on the screen
- scroll to the feature you want to use
-

 

I haven't really used the mini connected app itself. However, I think the interior just looks a lot better with the screen as opposed to the standard speedometer.

 

Played with it the first few days. Been on the shelf collecting dust ever since.

 

I ordered Connected on my upcoming All4 - I got it for two reasons:

1: I think the center console looks better
2: I've never like the iPod interface that you get without it. And honestly that's the part I'll probably use more than anything else...

 

+1

That was actually a huge reason why I got it. I hated the standard spedometer as I thought it looked cheap with the huge needle. With Connected, the outer needle is much more tasteful IMHO.

Plus I do use the connected features, though mostly use the ipod interface so my album artwork shows up. Pretty cool. Plus I have been fairly impressed with the built-in Nav...I had no intentions of using it as I have Navigon on my iPhone, but the Mini Nav is fairly decent.

 

jameslew, x2 on the Lumia 920....awesome phone and great navigation with the Nokia Drive app. No need for mini connected or Nav, but have them both

 

I love my Lumia... and it's freaky strong, I've dropped it about ten times now (only once on concrete), and aside from a nick in the corner it's gotten more damage from sand in my pockets than anything else.

Glad to know I'm not really missing anything with having an iPhone connected. FWIW, I agree with all of you; it looks much better with the digital display in the center than it does with the standard speedometer.

 

I got it, thought I would use it, and as mentioned prior never became an iSheep. I have tried it with my iPad was cute for 30 seconds, next time I plugged in the iPad after an update it wouldn't work, Even tried my daughter's iPhone5 even after we updated the connected on both car and phone and iPad's, iTouch's and still no dice. The Navigation as a stand alone is decent, and the bluetooth for phone and streaming music though my blackberry still works ok (don't slam me my berry works great )... other than that no need to hop up and down about it.

 

There's a lot more it does than just the connected App. There's the iPod interface which is much easier (and includes album artwork) than when you just use Bluetooth connectivity with the phone. Also Internet radio.

 

well you can mirror the display from the phone onto the LCD, so that is pretty unique. facebook/twitter/rss eh, fun but you won't use it often. The ability to see vehicle diagnostics, easily reset warnings like TPM . . . are all very useful. Its a much easier and nicer way of accessing your media. Dealing with phone calls and now texts is just faster and better looking too

 

I don't get why it's an app and an app only for the iPhone. I had an iPhone and used it alot when I had it, not I switched to an Android, it no longer works.

 

I believe the recent update to the software expanded it to Android devices.

 

I like the way it works. I have my iPhone tethered and my iPad connected via Bluetooth for audio. I just wish the app did more.

 

There isn't a MINI Connected app in the Google Play store...

 

It updated Bluetooth issues for a few Android phones. BMW released a story that said they would never develop the Connected App for Android devices.

 

"Ever since MINI Connected debuted in 2010 for the iOS, people have been asking about Android. We’ve reported previously that the sheer number of different device types and hardware has made it very difficult to create a unified MINI Connected app for Android devices. Now we have the details.

With the exception of the BMW Android Remote app that will launch before the end of the year there will be no future offerings for the current crop of BMWs or MINIs. That specifically means no support for MINI’s in-car App platform MINI Connected. We learned this hard truth about the number one smartphone operating system from one of the BMW and MINI Connected Drive engineers during a recent trip to the FIZ (R&D center) in Munich.

The reason for this, is that until recently, the Android operating system did not have a standardized protocol for interaction with outside devices. With Android being an “open” system each phone and carrier could have different protocols making it almost impossible for devices to communicate in a similar manner with an outside device. The ability for App designers to create something to communicate with the car would be so truncated and device carrier specific that it would be a never ending battle. The current BMW and MINI radio “head units” were designed prior to this protocol and do not have the ability to be upgraded.

With Android now specifying how devices will communicate with peripherals as part of the OS underlying structure, BMW can design that into future head unit designs. This means that products using the next head unit design (expected in 2013 with the new F56 MINI) can be made fully Android compatible.

BMW is aware that Android has a larger user base than iOS due to the nature of the marketplace. Because of this they have been trying to find a solution for the current vehicles and will continue to work towards a potential solution. However at this time, it’s simply not possible. Mind you, the engineer who told us this was using a Samsung Galaxy SII for this personal device."

 

That might be true, but did they have to make it an app before using some of the features?