Can't answer your other questions, but on this one, you should be connected to the exterior antenna, and the phone (voice) connection is indeed via Bluetooth. The cradle charges the phone and connects to the antenna, but Bluetooth still provides the voice/data connection to the rest of the system.

 

Ok I have the same snap in adapter (part# 84 21 2 158 683), this the correct one. It works with my I phone 3G. I also have the same software version 3.1.2. My phone was not charging,it was the snap in adapter not installed correctly. Now it does charge. my phone will not play music on the car stereo. I have to use my ipod plugged into Y cable. the dealer said some I phones play music and some don't. As to the phone button on the radio,it will dial the last number called if you press the phone button. You have to push the buttons in a certain sequence,look in the book.
Ron

 

Ron, thanks very much.
What "book" are you talking about?
The owner's manual or the book that came with the snap-in adapter (have looked at the latter but may have missed this important information),
Thanks

 

Ron, BTW, mine had trouble initially playing through the car sound system initially - only one stereo channel was active - but the dealer re-inserted the adapter more firmly in the armrest and it started working on both. Hopefully this might be an answer for you.
BTW, can you tell me the "magic sequence" for using the phone button on the dash?
Thanks,

 

Hi Tom,
There's not version-specific instructions (otherwise there'd be thousands of them) but there's video guides and Bluetooth PDF'd manuals downloadable from: http://miniusa.com/bluetooth/ (I think these are the same as the supplemental Bluetooth manual that comes with the car) For some reason, the voice commands aren't covered in there, but they are covered in the regular manual.

Yep!

MINI only qualifies the versions periodically- only once for most of the phones really. There's only been a problem with one update on the iPhone; people had posted here within a few hours and a new update was released by Apple in a few days. Chances are if it's an iPhone update and has been out for a day or two and there's no complaints here that it'll work.

This is the expected/designed behavior- according to the manual, it's an accept/end call, dial number (when a number is highlighted in the phone menu) or redial in all other cases. if you're just looking to get to the phone menu, you use the voice command button instead and say 'phone', or use the phone button on the radio.

The snap-in for the iPhone doesn't have a direct connection for the antenna, it's an RF loop in the base of the snap-in. The phone's connection to the car is always through Bluetooth, it's only the cell phone's signal to the cell tower that's amplified using the snap-in.

You can use the voice command 'random' to turn on shuffle- in the nav cars there's a menu item for the random mode, so I'd guess that the non-nav cars have one also.

 

He said it better than i could have.
Ron

 

Moved to I phone 3G I pod thread

 

Nick and Ron,
Thanks soooo much!
Extremely helpful!
Happy Holidays,
Tom

 

Ron can you help me out. I've read this thread back and forwards and have pretty well determined that the cradle for using my iPhone 3GS with Smartphone prep is 84 21 2 158 683.

I just stopped at the dealership and picked one up (interestingly the parts guy tried to help me out and confirm...but couldn't even find any reference to this part in his book...I am guessing because it was an outdated book).

My car is still in Oxford, England...so I can't try it out. My question is I was surprised when I opened the box...and although the device has the above part number...it says iPhone 3G on it...not 3GS. You seemed to suggest that your part with the above number said 3GS on it?

 

An interesting additional bit of information...I just looked at my receipt.

It says "84-21-2-158-683 Snapin Adapter OLD# 84-21-2-151-043"

Which is the part number shown in nicknbecka's spreadsheet as specifically for the 3G.

I'd be happy for anyone else to jump in who has any other information as well.

 

Ok I will do my best to shine some light on this. The first part # above superseded the old one. And as far has I know the same adapter works on both the 3G and 3G S. I did find out later on that the reason the phone did not charge or act as an I Pod was the fact that the adapter was not clicked into the armrest correctly. It now works perfectly.
Ron

 

I don't see why the 3g and 3gs would require different adapters. The dock connections are the same for those phones I'm sure. Neither phone has an external antenna jack so that feature of the adapter isn't active anyway. It's just a charger I think.

 

The snap-in for the 3G does work with the 3GS, but if I remember correctly the fit was a bit tight because the shape is slightly different.

EDIT: Just realized that may not be clear, I was referring to the shape of the phone itself, not the dock connector.

Also, it does have an RF loop antenna in the snap-in to boost the signal- I'm not an electrical engineer, so no idea how it compares to a direct connection, but there's been anecdotal reports of stronger signals in the armrest.

 

From what I have read there have been all kinds of problems with the 3G phones with charging...but that being said the cradle isn't just supposed to be a charging base...together with the Smartphone prep it is supposed to allow access to your contact list and iPod functions of the phone through the dash mounted radio controls.

Without the correct cradle...people have been apparently finding that those functions don't work and then it IS just an expensive charger.

 

nickenbecka...thanks for replying...I hoped that you would.

The thing that tripped me up was the fact that my receipt from MINI said part number ...683 and then below that Old part# ...043...as if they were really the same thing. That and the fact that the bottom of the 683 part I have says 3G not 3GS.

Your spreadsheet suggested that these cradles were specific for the 3G (043) or 3GS (683).

If I understand what you're suggesting now...the 683 and 043 really are probably the same thing...all they did was tweak the cradle shape so that it would accommodate both the 3G and 3GS phones?

In which case with Smartphone prep installed and with the 683 cradle I should be good to go using my 3GS in my new MINI when it comes?

 

The problems with charging the iPhone has been limited to the USB/Y-adapter cables, I'm not aware of anyone posting about problems charging in the armrest cradle.

As for the cables, the popular opinion is that 3G draws more current to charge than the cable/USB port was designed to allow. Everything was originally designed to work with the original iPhone. MINI eventually released an updated cable, and the 3G seems to be okay.

The 3GS made another change (again requiring more current) and most people have not been able to charge through the USB port, even with the latest cable. For those that have been able to get their 3GS to charge using the Y-cable, it's intermittent at best or requires a special dance

When it comes to the armrest snap-ins, there wasn't a 3GS version of it available for months- everyone used the 3G version, and it's worked just fine, although the 3GS was a snug fit in the 3G snap-in. There may be other differences between the 3G and 3GS snap-ins that I'm not aware of, but the only differences that anyone's mentioned are the part number and the slightly different shape.

At the time the 3GS version was released, they were listed separately. It may be that the 3G fits easily into the 3GS version and the dealership or MINI has decided to only carry the one and avoid complications?

The SmartPhone prep adds an additional complication, but the 683 version should be 3GS and SmartPhone compatible. It's not the end of the world if you end up with the wrong snap-in- that's something that they can change out. The SmartPhone prep option that's part of the car isn't retrofitable though, so if it were me, I'd be testing it and making sure it works before accepting delivery of the car.

One other small point- all of the telephone and contact syncing is always handled via Bluetooth, regardless of how the phone is plugged in to the car. The SmartPhone prep option only adds the music portion of the connection, so if you're testing, make sure it plays music while it's in the armrest.

 

nincknbecka...thanks so much!...hugely helpful reply!

 

iphone 3G using iphone update V #3.1.3 with snap-in adapter:

I updated my 3G phone with V 3.1.3 software and iTunes stopped playing through the snap-in adapter.
Does anyone esle have this problem or is it a operartor issue?

Thanks in advance - Everyone's been a great help here!

 

Has anyone tried playing Slacker Radio through the snapin adapter? How does it sound and was it hard to use?

 

I don't have an answer for you...but I hope someone else responds as the answer is likely to be relevant to me when my car finally arrives. I'm using the same software version.

Which snap-in part number are you using?

 

I've now fixed the problem and all is ok. I discovered that the cradle became slightly dislodged and had to be removed and re-inserted, making sure the connection in the bottom rear is fully seated and secure. The connection was good enough to connect the audo from the unit but not good enough to recognize it as an ipod or to enable fwd/rev steering wheel functions. I experienced a similar problem shortly after I bought the unit when it would only play from one speaker. In both cases, completely removing the cradle and re-inserting solved the problem. So if you're having this problem, just remove and re-insert the cradle.
The cradle unit I have is Part #84 21 2 158 683
Sorry for causing any confusion or concern.
Hope this answer helps everyone who may have had some weird problems such as the ones I had.

 

That's great! Excellent to hear when things work the way that they should.

I have the same cradle and I'm hoping that everything works as well for me when I pickup my car.

 

For what it's worth to anyone...I finally picked up my Camden Cooper yesterday. They plugged in my cradle for me...plugged in the iPhone...and everything worked perfectly just as it should.

 

Congrats! Glad to hear the long wait is over :D

 

Have you all noticed that minimotoringgear.com is pretty explicit about options needed now?

http://www.minimotoringgear.com/#/pr...?CenterId=null