My new iphone is not pairing with the $1250.00 factory BMW MINI bluetooth hands - free system. Of course it is not connected to the holder in the armrest, but it should be recognized by the system. Solutions?

 

Read this recent thread.
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=111137

 

As per an answer from the wizards at MINI USA, posted in this thread https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...=111137&page=2 , The Iphone will only work in MINI's produced after October 2007.

 

$1250??? You must have a gen 1 MINI as the factory Bluetooth prep kit in the gen 2 MINIs is only $600. Not that it really matters since it should be working with both of them.

 

I updated my iPhone to 1.1.1 last night and re-paired my phone just a few minutes ago and my address book now works. I'll update again if anything changes but for now all is right in the MINI bluetooth/iPhone world.

Keep in mind that 1.1.1 update has taken a long time for some and a short time for others. My iPhone crashed and needed to be restored from scratch and it took about 3 hours.

 

I also just did the 1.1.1 upgrade last night and it only took maybe 20 minutes. When I paired the phone this morning I too see all of my names in the Mini address book! I also tried out the voice commands for the first time (I've only had my mini for 2 days).

It worked great w/o training. I tried Dial by Number and spoke at a normal pace and it recognized every digit correctly! This is awesome.

Pat

 

Have you tried dial by name yet?

 

Dang it BigNewt! You had to spoil my party.
Well it now looks like I spoke too soon. Though I can voice dial using "Dial by Number" I cannot "Dial by Name". The Mini says that the Address Book is empty. I have not had time to play with it much yet. When I tell the Mini to Read My Address Book, it also says that the Address Book is empty.

 

iPhone version 1.1.1 solved my issues as well. When I first paired my iPhone it was version 1.0.2. The voice dial worked but my address book was garbage. Now my address book is perfect and voice dial works.

FWIW: Week 37 build MCS, I sync my iPhone using a Mac w/ OSX Tiger.

 

CooperB, so you are aying that Dial By Name is working for you now (ie you say "Dial Mary" and it does.)? When I do that it still tells me that my address book is empty.
Pat

 

Yes, provided I have stored "Mary" in the MC bluetooth addres book. If your asking can I say "Dial Bob" and it finds Bob in my iPhone address book the answer to that is no. I can also use "Dial 555-1212" sucessfully.

 

All of our phones (four different Sony Ericssons) work with voice dialing names stored on the phone's address book and not directly in the car's address book. Thus, it does indeed look like there's still a problem with the iPhone in that regard.

 

Is there a way (w/o Nav) to enter names in the "MC Address book"?

 

Do you have voice tags stored in your cell phone's phone book for each entry?

I ask because I do not see how the MC bluetooh system could dial by name when it has nothing to associate the name with a number?

 

Nope, no voice tags are stored in our phones at all. In fact, I have the voice dialing feature of all the phones switched completely off on the phones themselves.

Each time our phone pairs with the MINI, it downloads the address book, recently called, and missed calls lists into the MINI. After the pair/sync is complete we simply hit the voice button on the MFSW and say the name of the person in our phone's address book and the MINI finds that person and dials their number. No voice/name tag training is involved or anything like that. It works great!

Also, we don't have a single address/name stored anywhere in our MINI except for our home address that was entered into the nav's address book list. Thus, the MINI can indeed convert your voice into text and then compare that against the list of names in your phone's address book to find an entry (assuming you have a phone that supports the proper Bluetooth profiles/protocols that is).

 

That is sooo odd! I tried deleting the pairing with my iPhone, recreated it and still no Dial by Name.

 

That's because you have to give the Mini your name dialing entries one at a time using your own voice. Maybe not with some phones but with my phone (Blackberry Pearl) you do. I think the command was "store name" for me. For a list of commands say Help. You just do one at a time, the name then the number.

 

No offense to iPhone owners, but the reason it's not working properly for you guys is because Apple doesn't have a clue as to how a "real" Bluetooth capable phone should work.

I'll give them kudos for creating a really awesome phone on their first attempt, but come on now... As expensive and modern as their iPod phone is, it still can't do simple stereo Bluetooth connections??? Oy!

Manufacturer's like Sony Ericsson, Nokia, etc. have been around for a long time and so most of the problems with their Bluetooth profiles were worked out eons ago. Our phones all paired up instantly with our MINI and worked perfectly without ever having to change a single setting on either the phone or the car. A true "plug-n-play" solution (without the plug of course ).

 

Only recently did most of those manufacturers start making their handsets with an A2DP profile. On top of that, if you've ever listened to anything via stereo bluetooth, it's horrible compared to a wired headset.

 

Ha! Not on my Sony Ericsson W950i... I've had the phone for more than a year now (probably closer to two years) and the stereo Bluetooth sounds absolutely AMAZING with the phone.

You really need to check out a phone where the manufacturer actually knows what they're doing. I'm not saying the SE's are perfect (far from it), but they definitely got the Bluetooth stuff down pat.

I use my W950i with a Sony Ericsson DS-970 stereo Bluetooth headset and the sound quality rivals (if not beats) my iPod for sure. Heck, it even displays song names on a digital display and pauses the music and acts as a standard headset whenever a call comes in (including caller ID on the display). I never ever have to take my phone out of my pocket. Can't do that with an all mighty iPhone I'm afraid.