IPOD touch vs. Iphone in the M3..

[tbonem3]

Hello all,

My 2012 E92 will be here in a few weeks, which also includes the BMW Apps. I don't have an Iphone, and was planning to use my latest generation IPOD touch in the car, to listen to music, videos, perhaps some online apps like pandora..(I think pandora, etc.. is availbe via Iphone paid data plan only, i think?)

Question, will the IPOD touch 4th gen. allow me to utilize all the entertaiment in the new M3, or does the Iphone/iphone 4s provide additional functionality and entertaimment?

[TOOFY]

Originally Posted by franc

Hello all,

My 2012 E92 will be here in a few weeks, which also includes the BMW Apps. I don't have an Iphone, and was planning to use my latest generation IPOD touch in the car, to listen to music, videos, perhaps some online apps like pandora..(I think pandora, etc.. is availbe via Iphone paid data plan only, i think?)

Question, will the IPOD touch 4th gen. allow me to utilize all the entertaiment in the new M3, or does the Iphone/iphone 4s provide additional functionality and entertaimment?

There is nothing different from the iphone options to the ipod touch options. The ONLY thing you obviously cannot do is the phone connection which will be disabled upon connecting your car to the phone. But that is about it. Correct me if I am wrong anyone?

[Mr. ///M3 RD]

Originally Posted by franc

Hello all,

My 2012 E92 will be here in a few weeks, which also includes the BMW Apps. I don't have an Iphone, and was planning to use my latest generation IPOD touch in the car, to listen to music, videos, perhaps some online apps like pandora..(I think pandora, etc.. is availbe via Iphone paid data plan only, i think?)

Question, will the IPOD touch 4th gen. allow me to utilize all the entertaiment in the new M3, or does the Iphone/iphone 4s provide additional functionality and entertaimment?

My iPod Touch (purchased in 2010) has all my music and it is permanently connected in my 2012 M3 works like a charm. So your latest one should work just great. I also have the $300- BMW Application option in my car. The iPhone would work just the same ... however I never connect my iPhone unless I go on a longer trip.

When I synchronized (via Blue tube) my iPhone with my M3 at the dealer it transferred my entire address book, so all I do to make calls is, push phone then turn the mouse dial over the name and press enter and it dials the number of my choice, very simple.

Cheers

[SamS]

Originally Posted by franc

Hello all,

My 2012 E92 will be here in a few weeks, which also includes the BMW Apps. I don't have an Iphone, and was planning to use my latest generation IPOD touch in the car, to listen to music, videos, perhaps some online apps like pandora..(I think pandora, etc.. is availbe via Iphone paid data plan only, i think?)

Question, will the IPOD touch 4th gen. allow me to utilize all the entertaiment in the new M3, or does the Iphone/iphone 4s provide additional functionality and entertaimment?

There is a ton of features you can't use via Touch that require iPhone. That includes Pandora, MOG, FB, Twitter, WebRadio, etc. The $250 Apps option doesn't get you much, until you get an iPhone.

[THE TECH]

Guess I gotta try MOG, just hate that you have to pay a fee for it.

[SamS]

Originally Posted by THE TECH

Guess I gotta try MOG, just hate that you have to pay a fee for it.

I am tempted, too. It's only $10/month, you can cancel of course.

[piloto]

I really like MOG. It's works well too with the app. It's neat that you can dial up almost any song at anytime using the iDrive controller. You do have to pay, but then again, you can download sounds at high bit rates as well and store them (only) on your phone.

[THE TECH]

Originally Posted by SamS

I am tempted, too. It's only $10/month, you can cancel of course.

Yeah true.

Originally Posted by piloto

I really like MOG. It's works well too with the app. It's neat that you can dial up almost any song at anytime using the iDrive controller. You do have to pay, but then again, you can download sounds at high bit rates as well and store them (only) on your phone.

Yeah that's a plus.

[crabman]

What's preventing someone from streaming pandora over bluetooth?

[THE TECH]

Originally Posted by crabman

What's preventing someone from streaming pandora over bluetooth?

Nothing.

[TVMA Doc]

With a newer Apple product I'd say that you'll have to wait and see what works with the M3. Apple seems to be praised for perfect coding, but I've experienced quite a few issues when Apple tries to leave their "walled garden".

I have a 3rd gen iPod touch. It worked perfectly with my late 2011 M3 until the latest iTunes update. Now it refuses to stay connected to the vehicle after the vehicle is restarted.

At least it should be an easy roll back, but if the newest iPhone doesn't work well with the BMW, expect Apple to complain about BMW's coding not "being up to standard" rather than Apple not knowing how to handle anything except their own system and its rules.

[jphughan]

Originally Posted by crabman

What's preventing someone from streaming pandora over bluetooth?

On an iPod touch, lack of Internet connectivity on the road -- unless you have a mobile hotspot of some sort that you can join the touch's Wifi to.

OP, you might have trouble with video playback and iPod Out because those require you to use the Media cradle, and I don't know if the iPhone 4/4S cradle will fit an iPod touch. I also don't think there's an iPod touch-specific Media cradle available yet (not to be confused with the cheaper and more common Music cradles that don't support those features). But yes, the other BMW Apps should work just fine because they only require regular USB connectivity.

[THE TECH]

So far, MOG is not that great. Making playlists is a pain.

[THE TECH]

*Edit* Looks like they just updated/are updating their site with an easier to use setup.

[crabman]

Originally Posted by jphughan

On an iPod touch, lack of Internet connectivity on the road -- unless you have a mobile hotspot of some sort that you can join the touch's Wifi to.

I'm using android and have no issues streaming pandora over bluetooth from my phone to my current ride so I was just curious if there was a car issue or something with the assorted apple products. The manual isn't entirely clear on what will or wont work and there is surprisingly little here that I turned up in a search so as the car is in production I can't very well step out to the garage and test it myself. I did not get the apps as the only one I use is pandora and I already have it covered with the phone.

[hammick]

I have a 2011 335d with BMW Apps. I use the latest generation Touch and it connects via wifi to my rooted Evo phone. I can use Pandora and Web radio. The calendar from the touch shows up in the office application on the Idrive. The phone book from my Evo shows up as normal and phone calls via bluetooth work like normal. I can stream music from the Evo via bluetooth as well. The touch is connected via a regular ipod cable to the USB in the center console. No Y cable needed.

[jphughan]

Originally Posted by crabman

I'm using android and have no issues streaming pandora over bluetooth from my phone to my current ride so I was just curious if there was a car issue or something with the assorted apple products. The manual isn't entirely clear on what will or wont work and there is surprisingly little here that I turned up in a search so as the car is in production I can't very well step out to the garage and test it myself. I did not get the apps as the only one I use is pandora and I already have it covered with the phone.

Sorry, I was thinking of "streaming Pandora" as pulling down the data signal, not pushing it to the car, hence my point that the issue with the iPod touch is that it won't have a data connection unless a mobile hotspot is available. In any case, the additional Pandora functionality you get with BMW Apps (when using an iOS device over USB or through the cradle) is the ability to display and control Pandora via iDrive. So for example album art and track info appear, you can upvote/downvote songs, bookmark songs for later reference, change stations, skip to the next track, and I think even view track/artist info (not sure on that last). Using regular Bluetooth or USB audio with Pandora running on your phone only allows you to jump to the next track.

[crabman]

Ok, thanks for that jphughan. That makes it quite a bit more clear. The sales lady was not exactly sure how it worked. I have little concern with that functionality and I can always do it on the phone should I wish. As I said I skipped the apps option anyways since I'm neck deep in android and don't wish to switch anything or deal with more devices. Before ordering I did however make sure it was available to me in coding if they added android support and I wished to get it later...

[jphughan]

Originally Posted by crabman

Ok, thanks for that jphughan. That makes it quite a bit more clear. The sales lady was not exactly sure how it worked. I have little concern with that functionality and I can always do it on the phone should I wish. As I said I skipped the apps option anyways since I'm neck deep in android and don't wish to switch anything or deal with more devices. Before ordering I did however make sure it was available to me in coding if they added android support and I wished to get it later...

The coding option might prove to be pretty tricky. The retrofits you may have read about all involve V42 of the software, but as of V43 software BMW Apps got a lot harder to retrofit because you have to enter an activation code into iDrive to enable it -- and to my knowledge no one has a key generator for those codes, so you'd have to purchase a code from BMW. Given that your car hasn't shown up yet it'll probably have V45 installed, so you might be stuck. Of course this type of stuff is always a cat and mouse game, so by the time BMW gets around to supporting Android you might be in luck!

[tbonem3]

thanks all for your feedback guys. I think I have a much clearer picture now. I guess bottom line, if I need to utilize the BMW apps, I need a phone with an Internet connection, either thru wifi or thru 3G/4G or such. Thanks again!

[THE TECH]

After signing up yesterday for MOG, I think I'm gonna drop it. I realized that since I already own an extensive music collection, that it would be like paying twice for songs that I already have if I kept the $9.99/mo service from MOG. I might as well just download any new songs I want from iTunes and just keep building the catalog instead of paying for a service that when I cancel, I have no library to show for it.

[OldenburgerM3]

just borrowed a 2nd gen ipod touch from a friend to try out and the app store says this ipod is incompatible with the BMW connected app...

no luck? or software update required? ipod app store says no updates avail.