iDrive Telephone and Multimedia Update Available

[BigBobDeuce]

Hello All--
I discovered today that a new iDrive Telephone and Multimedia Update is available, dated December 2011, which apparently provides better support for Office email messages, iPhones and iOS 5, and bluetooth audio, among other things. It took my 2012 X6M (built April 2012) from version MX/TX version 3.4.31 to MX/TX version 3.5.4. I downloaded the update from www.bmw.com/update using the last 7 characters from my VIN, put the downloaded .BIN file on a USB drive, plugged-in the drive to the USB port in the center dash flip-up compartment, and installed it by going on iDrive to Settings --> Software Update --> Update. Took about 2 minutes. I have noticed that bluetooth audio from my iPhone 4S with iOS 5.0.1 is clean and improved (still no playlists or album art over bluetooth), and that email messages from my Blackberry are quicker and that the entire text is read (it used to skip some paragraphs). Anyway, enjoy!

[doug_999]

Originally Posted by BigBobDeuce

Hello All--
I discovered today that a new iDrive Telephone and Multimedia Update is available, dated December 2011, which apparently provides better support for Office email messages, iPhones and iOS 5, and bluetooth audio, among other things. It took my 2012 X6M (built April 2012) from version MX/TX version 3.4.31 to MX/TX version 3.5.4. I downloaded the update from www.bmw.com/update using the last 7 characters from my VIN, put the downloaded .BIN file on a USB drive, plugged-in the drive to the USB port in the center dash flip-up compartment, and installed it by going on iDrive to Settings --> Software Update --> Update. Took about 2 minutes. I have noticed that bluetooth audio from my iPhone 4S with iOS 5.0.1 is clean and improved (still no playlists or album art over bluetooth), and that email messages from my Blackberry are quicker and that the entire text is read (it used to skip some paragraphs). Anyway, enjoy!

Center dash flip up compartment?

[crunchingnumbers]

Good catch BigBobDeuce.

Doug_999 what he means is the center console between the driver/passenger seats with the split half compartment where your phone adapter resides.

It took 3 different USB drives before I found one that Idrive would recognize. Having completed the update now myself, I cannot see any changes for my iPhone messages or much else. Not sure what was really accomplished but for at least the iPhone I would have expected quite a bit more integration.

[doug_999]

Originally Posted by crunchingnumbers

Good catch BigBobDeuce.

Doug_999 what he means is the center console between the driver/passenger seats with the split half compartment where your phone adapter resides.

It took 3 different USB drives before I found one that Idrive would recognize. Having completed the update now myself, I cannot see any changes for my iPhone messages or much else. Not sure what was really accomplished but for at least the iPhone I would have expected quite a bit more integration.

Yea, I read this thing called the manual (who knew?) and figured it out. I agree, I did not see much of an update and since I don't stream via Bluetooth, I guess I wasn't sure what I should be looking for.

[BigBobDeuce]

Well, I was wrong--the Office feature still skips paragraphs when reading emails from the Blackberry. I really wish BMW would fix that.

[acejam4]

I tried the BMW site and entered the vin# for my 2011 BMW X5 50i and it stated that no update was available. My wife has the 2011 535i and her multimedia software is much nicer...shows pics from iPhone/iPod when playing music and she can play music wirelessly w/o iPod connector.

[somonster]

Originally Posted by acejam4

I tried the BMW site and entered the vin# for my 2011 BMW X5 50i and it stated that no update was available. My wife has the 2011 535i and her multimedia software is much nicer...shows pics from iPhone/iPod when playing music and she can play music wirelessly w/o iPod connector.

my x6 shows album art when connected via USB in the center arm rest (?? may not work if you use the dashboard glove box USB port)
my iPhone will connect wirelessly through bluetooth, but no album art.

i think there are multiple stereos for the X5/6 family, and the capabilities vary depending on the weird option packages (BMW assist with bluetooth, combox for the album art, etc...).

the update may not apply to your version of the hardware. kinda sucks that they make it like that - would be nice if you could just download a software update and upgrade your radio with new features.