When I ordered my MINI Clubman I asked the MA to pair the car with my Treo to make sure I could at a minimum make and receive calls, particularly by voice dialing a number such as call 555.1212. It worked flawlessly.

My new Verizon 6800 does not have voice dialing, instead using pre-recorded voice tags. Does anyone know if the phone needs to support voice commands in order for you to use voice dialing through the MINI's bluetooth interface? I really just want to say call "Wife" or "dial number"

 

The voice commands are done through the BMW/MINI bluetooth software.

I dont think it matters if your phone has that ability or not.

 

It depends on the compatibility between the phone and the Mini- the Mini will handle the voice control as long as the phone will connect with Bluetooth and it can access the names on the phone.

Usually if the Mini can display the phone's address book when it's paired, it can read it for the voice control also- you don't even need to record a voice tag, the car sounds the address book entries out for itself.

If the phone will connect via Bluetooth, but the Mini can't read the address book, you can still make voice tags through the Mini (which I labeled as 'Manual Only' in voice dialing section of the Bluetooth compatibility sheet).

I haven't seen anyone else trying the 6800 yet- the 6700 has been reported as working, but the original reporter didn't mention whether they'd tested voice command dialing or not. There's a chance you'll need to disable power saving for the phone to keep the Bluetooth connection up, since the 6700 was that way too, but try it first and see if they fixed it.

If you could let us know if it works, I'd appreciate it!

 

Just beware this does not always work. I have Motorola E-815 which has voice command built in and the address book is displayed on the dash, but it still can not be voiced dialed from the Mini.

This is becuase the Mini does not conform to the Car Kit standard of bluetooth . This standard seems to have been dropped by the Bluetooth consortium a few years ago. If it did have this standard built in it would work.

 

The voice command may not always pick up your programmed voice commands from the phone but the MINI interface has the ability to record voice commands independent of the phone.

Neither my wife's nor my phone's voice commands have ported over but I can use voice commands programmed into the MINI interface regardless of which phone is connected wirelessly.

You will press the upper of the two phone buttons and then the command is ->save name: the interface will ask you to say name and then repeat name followed by the number. It's not terribly intuitive but is fairly straightforward once you start.

To dial the name you say -> dial name -> interface will ask you the name -> and then to confirm the name -> then will dial.

I haven't been able to get my VX6700's voice dialling to port over at all. In fact it's pretty flakey on the whole...

 

My question is has anyone actually been able to get this function to work properly.

I can get mine to save a name and number and actually read out the phone book but when ever i try to dial with a voice command it always dials the last number i dialed from the phone not the one programed into the interface.

I.E.
1. I dial 999-888-7777 from the phone and hang up then get in the car and let the phone pair.
2. I activate voice dialing from the steering wheel
3. System prompts me and i say Dial Name
4. Then say Monica (it has been previously programed with number 123-123-1234)
5. The system then dials 999-888-7777. I hang up because it is not correct.
6. I then dial 555-1212 from the controls on the dash and hang up
7. I then activate voice dialing and run through to call Monica
8. the system then dial 555-1212.

Is anyone else having this sort of problem.

 

Mine seems to work pretty flawlessly. I've used it w/2 verizon phones - my wife's razr 3c (which incidentally works REALLY well w/the bluetooth) and my vx6700.

Have you verified that Monica has the correct #? Sounds as if you need to call your SA to have that sorted out.

 

Yes, she is my other half and if i had that wrong she would @#$%^&* kill me.

I am heading into Boston for MTTS this weekend so i will be near the dealer. I am going to take the phone in to the showroom and see if i can pair it with a few other cars and try it out with vice dialing to see what happens. My MA said his phone works just the way it is supposed to so it may be the phone. But if my phone works in other car correctly then they will have to fix it.

 

Bump for this method!!!! I can now make calls using names!!!! Very easy to program, and you actually hear the voice command that YOU recorded when the system confirms the number. Thanks again for the info on this one, Rexicon. Everything else works flawlessly with the Bluetooth system.

BTW, I have a Motorola Razr V3m with the latest software version and Verizon wireless service.

 

dhoosee, I take it that the V3m doesn't work with voice dialing the more automatic way? Does the address book show?

 

You are correct, Nick.

The address book shows on the display and can be accessed by turning the center **** & selecting a name, but when you actually say "Dial Name" and then call out the name in the phone book, you get "phone book empty" back from the computerized guy in the dashboard!

By "manually" loading your contacts as described, it now works perfectly! A small time investment considering that you only do it once, but you'll use it the life of the car.

 

Thanks- that was the one column I was missing for the V3m in my compatibility list

 

I have a Motorola KRZR K1M and can't get the voice system to work. I'm having to add the voice tags manually. I say the name, it asks for the number, but doesn't recognize what I'm telling it. Can you help?

 

[quote=rexicon;2307826]

You will press the upper of the two phone buttons and then the command is ->save name: the interface will ask you to say name and then repeat name followed by the number. It's not terribly intuitive but is fairly straightforward once you start.

quote]


Ok I get this part (above) I say save name, Mini asked for the name and then we repeat, Mini asks for the number and I say the number. Mini says continue and I say ????? What do I say? Save?

 

[quote=Flytime;2431481]
Ok Save works!!! this is very cool

 

I have the KRZR K1M. I have begun to manually add the names/numbers to the voice system. However, I'm having the same problem someone noted earlier as the phone will dial the last number called. Interesting in that the first time I called using the voice I called home with no problem. The next time I called my sister and it went through to her. Today I added someone else's number and it kept calling my sister. Solutions?

 

Pressing the phone button on the steering wheel will automatically redial the last person called (unless you have the number you want to dial selected on the Nav screen, I think), to specify which person you want to call, you need to press the voice control button and use the 'Dial' command.

 

I have had this problem as well no matter what i tried, it would always call the last number that was accessed by the Screen (NAV or standard).
Not even the last call made on the phone when not in the car.

I gave up after about 45 attempts to program the system for voice dialing.

i have not checked with my SA in the past 5 weeks about any software upgrades so i am not sure it there is any to report that may correct this problem.

 

Actually, I did press the top button and when asked who I wanted to call gave the name. However, it called the last person called. I did find that if I press the top button, tell it "read phone book" it will dial the person I tell it to right after it reads the name I want. At least it worked today. If I press the top button and wait several seconds it will read a list of possible commands to speak. That was how I found out this alternate method.

As it reads through the names in the voice phone book I put in manually it will pause after each one. Say "dial" after you hear the name you want.
Good luck to all!

 

So I took my clubman with NAV to the dealer last night as neither my LG Venus or Verizon 6800 would download the address book. I have turned off the power save feature on the 6800 as indicated by others who have the 6700, but no dice.

Since I only routinely call about twenty people I thought I would use the "Save Name" trick. However, neither me or my MA were able to get the computer to recognize this command from within the communication menu. It usually put us into a store radio preset function.

So my question is, is nayone with a NAV able to use the "Save Name" function, or is this just limited to non-NAV folks.

Thanks!!

 

The xv6800 is known not to transfer the address book, turning power save off is just meant to keep the phone from turning the entire Bluetooth connection off. (EDIT: People have had problems syncing the Venus also- but there has been at least the one person that had it start working after a while)

Not sure why you're not able to make voice tags- Nav or not shouldn't make a difference. Have you tried 'Add Name' instead? Schatzy62's car is also an 08 Clubman, and his post on voice dialing is here.

 

I just got a call from the IT guy at the dealership. He tells me that adding tags is not possible unless the phone book function is working. His reasoning is that the car needs to store the name and number on the phone as it does not have any internal memory to accomplish this. I am inclined to believe him if not for the fact that it fails to even recognize the command and then fail to save. I would also think that MINI gave the car some amount of memory to save a few names.

I will check the other posts to see what tricks have occurred, but would still be curious if anyone with NAV is known to have manually saved a name and number.

 

That shouldn't be the case- the voice tags are only necessary when the phone doesn't sync the address book. One example is the iPhone, where voice tags work, but address book sync doesn't- it should be a common/popular enough example that they'd know this?

There's more than one comment on NAM noting that voice tags can be created with one phone and used with another phone later on.

 

Two responses to this statement from your dealer.

1. My phone book transfers and works but the voice dialing phone book in the MINI still does not work properly. It will store different names and numbers and read them back to me when I ask it to. So why does it not work. the software is broken or not functioning properly. Even phones that work in other Mini's for voice dialing do not work in my car.

2. I can store names and numbers in the cars voice dialing system with out a phone paired or connected to the system.

So the Mini does have memory to store this info., and will save it even if a phone book is not available for it to use or see. The reason mine does not work is because the software is not using the data properly.

now for my 2 cents

I am not sure I would believe anyone from Mini as most of them have know idea how the electronics in the car work and have never had a lick of electronic programing other than what is in the book that tells them what to do in case YYY happens. And then most of the time if that doe not fix it they will tell you "there is nothing wrong that is the way it is supposed work"

Now about the phones you are requesting info on why they do not work:

As for an LG Venus not wokring, that is because the firmware in the phone is not designed to transfer the Phone Book (contacts what ever you wnat to call it) is is only designed to transfer a VCard not a Contact. Now exaclty what info a VCard has in it is up for debate some carry all the contact info and others (LG) only carry an identifier so that the phone that it is sent to can download the number and name form the phone carrier system. The later having only the identifier means that the name and phone number are taken from the data that the phone service provider sends to anohter phone and loads it as a contact in the recipeints phone.

As for one person stating that their Venus worked it may as long as the OLD firmware they have on the phone is not updated. There are some old versions of LG firmware for some phones that did work at one time but when the upgraded firmware was designed changes were made. Changes to the extent that if a firmware is upgraded and then downgraded it looses the funciton that did work.

The Verizon 6800 should transfer the phone book but agian if there has been a firmware change on the phone it may have deleted that functionality.

Does 6800 phone pair with the car and are you able to dial it from the dash as well as the keypad on the phone. If not then the pairing is the problem and that needs to be solved first. If it is able to be dialed from the dash then let it sit in the car for a while (1-3 hours) during driving to see if it finaly doe s a transfer. There have been reports of some phone even known good phones taking a very long time to transfer the data the first time.

BTW the LG Voyager and and enV2 also do not work with the Mini and many other car bluetooth systems.

 

I have the Iphone 3G and my phone book syncs when I have it paired via bluetooth. I have dialed from the dashboard searching via letter.

I haven't set my voice commands yet. I will try that today.