Quote:
Originally Posted by jphughan
Plug-in has several requirements:
1. BMW Apps factory option (6NR) on your car.
2. iPhone Media cradle (NOT Music or Basic cradle).
3. iPhone 4/4S. Technically the 4th-gen iPod touch would work too but it doesn't fit into the cradle and Plug-in doesn't work over normal USB.
I have it, it's kinda cool but honestly I think it's a gimmick. Sure the iPod interface up on iDrive looks nice, but honestly iDrive's normal iPod navigation interface is really good. The only other feature Plug-in offers is video playback of stuff in your library, but of course that only works while you're stopped. Every other feature of BMW Connected is available over normal USB and should therefore work from any iPhone or iPod touch. The one BMW Apps feature I really do enjoy is iDrive-controlled Pandora. If you run Pandora and then plug it into your car via USB or the cradle, you can do things from iDrive like switch stations, skip songs, up/downvote songs, etc. Only bummer is Pandora album art doesn't appear in split screen Entertainment view like normal iPod music does (it shows in the main Pandora app though).
If I could do it again I would probably still get BMW Apps for Pandora and because it could be a really cool feature if more BMW Apps-compatible apps come out, but I'd pass on the cradle. I just don't use the features that require the cradle, so the only time it's come in handy is when both my wife and I need to charge our devices, so one of us uses the cradle and the other uses USB. But that's been a very rare occasion.
|
Thanks, but how do you use the cradle my iPhone 4 doesn't connect.