My Mini is an '08 Clubman S with hifi, Bluetooth and iPod hookup. I have moved the bluetooth mic over to the driver side already.

I was quite excited when I realized that Siri would play through my bluetooth every time I activated it. However, the experience since then has been spotty at best. Trying to tell Siri to dial "home" resulted in me cursing loudly at Siri for several minutes - to which she answered calmly on more than one occasion "I'm not sure I understand you, Rex". I haven't even bothered trying to dictate a text as I'm sure I would end up filling my texts with blue language once I realize what Siri has interpreted.

How has anyone else been getting on with Siri/Mini bluetooth?

 

I have played with it a lot, and I have not had the issue you are having.

First I pause after I turn it on so that the BT and phone are connected.. just do a 3 count before you speak.

The other thing I do is point my voice towards the mic. I have a vertable, so the mic is on the column by where the key goes... and I have no issues.

 

Did you use the voice dial function prior to Siri? I don't have any trouble with Siri in my 07 with Nav. I just let the car do the voice dialing. For texts, etc and other features Siri can do it has worked fine over the car's microphone. I tried Siri's voice dialing and it worked the few times I tried it. I find the car's system works better at dialing since I don't need to touch the phone to get Siri to listen.

 

I do use the voice dial and will probably continue to do so. I'm going to try one of the bluetooth mic mods where it's moved to the front of the grill and see if that improves things.

I'll also try just texting vs dialling for a bit.

 

I will be getting a 4s soon, so I've been curious about this. How does siri work exactly, with bluetooth? I assume you activate siri on the phone by pushing the home button, and then the bluetooth and mic picks it up and you just operate it as you normally would?

 

Yup. Press and hold the home button and you'll get an Apple style bong sound after which you can speak just like you would normally to Siri.

 

Siri also works by just putting the phone to your head and talking...defeats the hands-free idea but just another way to do it.

 

Well, here in good ole Cali, if I do that while in my car, I get a nice big fat ticket. YAY

 

I know of two people who have gotten tickets for touching the phone while in the car here in Cali. Both were stopped at stop lights. One was using the speaker phone but pressing buttons for voicemail and the other person was using the GPS function and touched one of the on screen buttons (device was mounted in a holder). I was passenger with the one using the GPS function. The officer told us they don't care what you're doing with the phone, if you're not operating it by voice commands, they ticket. Using an earbud and dialing, etc with your fingers is illegal according to those two officers. When they say "hands free" I guess they mean it.

 

Glad I live way far away. They do some crazy stuff out there in the far west.

 

Wow - so how did the officer know the driver wasn't just switching stations on the radio? I'm all for hanging up the phone and driving but that's just extortion!

Siri might actually be useful in this instance. I keep mine right next to the handbrake in the little dust trap down there. I can reach down without looking and press the home button to activate Siri - from that point on everything is hands-free.

 

Yeah no kidding. I argued with the officer, big time. Especially since my friend was using the GPS app (which was still on the screen when the officer was at our window). He said he saw him physically touch the phone, which was up above the top of the dash on a weighted mount. He basically said they're no easy way to tell if you're on a phone call or texting, surfing the web etc so they just ticket for any us of a phone. I can kind of see the officer's point but it gets rediculous that it's ok to use a GPS mounted the same way but not a phone's GPS. The ticket was over $300 with all the "taxes" and stuff they add to it.

 

Rexicon...I have same MINI as you. Siri was useless. Did the "move the mic to the back" mod and works fine now (and btooth calls are way better too). Just hope you don't have the alarm.
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...bluetooth.html

 

Fortunately I don't have the alarm and have done the mod. So far so good and apparently the people I'm calling are hearing an improvement too.

 

Unless they come up with legislation against using a gps while driving, the officer is going by the rules. I'm all for completely hands free. We have too many idiots that run lights, weave, drive ridiculously slow and even crash in to things and people while doing anything on their phones. I would welcome that enforcement down here is S Florida.

Now, getting ticketed while at a stop light might considered fuzzy... I wonder if they allow you yo pull over to the side of the road away from a major road to use your phone...?

 

Would be nice if you could activate pandora or slacker, and I guess even Siri herself hands free (eg. Via the 'voice control' button on the steering wheel). Anyone up for that hack?

 

I've figured out why I'm having so many problems with Siri.

Having moved here 18 years ago from the UK my accent is a bit washed-out but not completely gone. It's about mid-atlantic now. Unfortunately there's no "Mid-Atlantic English" Siri voice recognition and I'm not sure if I want to find out if the Australian English (nothing against Aussies - I'm occasionally asked if I'm from there...) will work. I tried the UK English setting and it actually worked better but then Siri thinks you're in the UK and won't do some of the internet searches based on its thinking you're in the UK. BTW - if you want to have a small chuckle - dictate the word m**th****er into your text or reminders and listen to English Siri man mangle it when repeating it back to you.

Anyway - I'm glad I did the Bluetooth fix - even if Siri still hates me. All callers are commenting how clear I am compared to previously.

 

iOS 5 update that just came out had some mention of improving Siri's recognition when dealing with accents. Maybe it'll help.

 

Siri works great for me over BT....I have found tho that if you speak in a clear and calm voice you get the best results. I know it can be frustrating if it doesn't work, but getting loud makes the results worse.

 

Maybe somebody can tell me where I've gone wrong with my iPhone 4 (not 4s). I have the USB aux connection. When I first connect the iPhone I get a message on the iPhone that the accessory is not optimized for the device. Followed then by an automatic launch of my first iPod track, whether I want that or not. Getting the phone and the car to respond properly if I want say to listen to pandora, becomes a battle of wills to override the forced 1st track in my itunes. The dealer has been unable to help. What am I missing?

 

My wife has no problem hooking up her iPhone4 to my MINI via the iDevice plug. Once in a while though, there is no sound. A quick unplug, replying fixes it.

I would recommend you ask another iPhone owner to try to plug in and see if it's your phone or car. Also try another cable. Or maybe try a iTouch?

Did the dealer try that already?

Good luck