I know this is of interest to very few of you, but MINI just released a big update to the phones supported by the OEM integrated bluetooth handsfree kit. I bought the iPhone (3GS) adapter (see pic), but many many smartphone adapters are also available.

To those of you familiar with this kit, the functionality remains the same: it charges the phone, transfers the contacts, voice dialing, etc. Everything works as it should

Drawbacks: No music/audio support, since there is no direct connection to the headunit with this kit. TOM@EAS - if you're reading this - can the DICE kit be modified to work with the iphone from the armrest cradle? That would be very nice.

The part # is 84-21-2-158-682 (actually a BMW part).

 

Briggsy, I know this is in the gen 1 forums, so this is a dumb question, but to clarify; are you using this snap-in with the R53 Bluetooth kit?

I got that snap-in part number as an R56 part, but if it works and the 3GS works with the R53 kit, that'd be good to know!

 

Yes, I have an R50, and I bought the bluetooth kit back in '06. I wouldn't be surprised if it's an R56 part (I saw the update on Motoringfile, but they only mentioned compatibility with 2nd gen MINIs).

The point of my post was just to let 1st gen owners know that these new smartphone adapters are fully compatible with the old handsfree kits.

Now, as I said before, it would be NICE if someone could run the cable from the iPod integration into the center armrest instead of the glovebox and create kind of a hybrid system. (Although if the iphone was connected via line-out, would there be any need for bluetooth? wouldn't this have better voice quality?)

 

Cool, thanks! A couple people with the previous Bluetooth kit have asked over there (EDIT: err... that is, the 2nd Gen Bluetooth thread), but I hadn't seen anyone mention it before. Good info on compatibility is hard to come by, so it's really appreciated.

For what it's worth, I haven't seen anyone modify one of the snap-ins to provide a line out/iPod connection. I imagine that as long as the snap-in has the correct pins where the iPod connects you could break the existing connections (if there even is any) and solder it up to make what amounts to a long extension to a DICE unit.