Attention E46 owners..

[TW]Fox;15681382 said:
In theory though the GUI is infinately customisable given it runs on a Windows CE 5.0 backend?
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Yeah it will be, as i say above i have a satnav unit which runs CE, i have installed tomtom on it and all sorts. You can change everything about it. My concern would be the quality of the unit itself, aesthetically and with the amps.

The merc version also concerns me as i cannot imagine it working with the car properly.
 
If the GUI is fine I care only about asthetics. If the amp is utterly hopeless than its on bar with the existing BMW Audio anyway :p
 
With mine i have the issue of the headsup dash display, steering controls, and the fact that i have a thousand quids worth of amps and speakers attached to my current comand unit. :(

It would be something of a shame to feed them with something tat even though it looks wicked and the 16:9 would be a really cool upgrade to my 4:3 system. That and having redundant steering controls and dash display would suck balls although i guess i could just leave the dash display showing OBC stuff rather than comand stuff.
 
This one DOES work with the BMW steering controls apparently and even lets you map the controls to different functions, so you can have a button on the steering wheel for nav etc which is far better than OEM functionality.
 
Thats damn cool. Just needs someone to test it all. TBH i'd have thought that using an amp the audio quality will be more than acceptable.
 
paradigm said:
And where do you propose manufacturers to put it? Extend the dashboard so its the height of my head? Oh wait, then I can't see.
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my audi has the sat nav instructions comeup on the clocks between the speedo and rev counter. works quite well imo.
 
D'oh! Ah well minors 'cause of the mp3 ability. That's another question, this iPod compatabilty is just refering to the functionality to cope with the iPods storage methods right? It doesn't mean it only exclusively works with iPods does it, I guess my question is would normaly mp3 players/phones work with it?
 
My concern at the moment with the Ipod connectivity is where the cable goes on. There appears to be confusion - some people think it uses the front USB. That would be utterly fail as I do not want a cable hanging out of my head unit constantly.
 
[TW]Fox;15682947 said:
My concern at the moment with the Ipod connectivity is where the cable goes on. There appears to be confusion - some people think it uses the front USB. That would be utterly fail as I do not want a cable hanging out of my head unit constantly.
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Not looked into it, only googled the model because of this thread, looks like a nice product in principle - assuming it lives up to expectations and doesn't have quality issues.

http://bbs.dynavin.com/redirect.php?tid=121&goto=lastpost

That seems to indicate a pair of rear usb cables, one principally for a Windows CE USB hub (can you then attach things to the hub :confused: ) and another for multimedia - I guess ipod, usb stick etc
 
The Mad Rapper said:
Funny how taste differs isn't it? I thought the menus looked really nice :)
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I think they look foul, like a home-brew CarPC interface where someone has tried sooooo hard to get it to look good, but every change they make has made it less and less attractive.

The only way it could be worse was if there was a BMW roundel in the middle of the menu.
 
paradigm said:
I think they look foul, like a home-brew CarPC interface where someone has tried sooooo hard to get it to look good, but every change they make has made it less and less attractive.

The only way it could be worse was if there was a BMW roundel in the middle of the menu.
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Could be worse, could be an interface designed in the year 2000 accessible only by twirling some knobs?
 
[TW]Fox;15685674 said:
Could be worse, could be an interface designed in the year 2000 accessible only by twirling some knobs?
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Accessible only by twirling a knob... where has that been used since the year 2000. Oh yeah, Idrive.

I prefer minimalistic anyway, which the interface of the OEM unit is. I know it has its shortcomings, but at least it isn't tarted up in a vein attempt to make it appeal to the owners of a 6 owner 1999 318i SE, with spinners.
 
iDrive is nothing like E46/E39 OEM NAV, iDrive is way more usable and quicker to navigate, you do realise the iDrive dial has a multitude of control instead of just clicking and twirling?

They just don't compare.

This unit discussed in the op looks perfectly fine, it appears to sound perfectly fine and according to a review by someone who has it it is built perfectly fine as well and performs beyond the OEM nav while costing a bit less.

What more could you want?

I bet if it was made by BMW and left from a BMW factory you'd say it was amazing, but the fact that it isn't a OEM unit it's instantly crap like most things with many people on this forum.
 
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Until I see one in the flesh obviously I cannot be sure, but certainly from every photograph, the unit looks like it has been constructed using the cheapest plastics known to mankind, and the metalwork on the back looks completely shoddy at best.

Like I say however, this is only speculation based on their own photographs of their own product. But nothing so far has made me think "wow, this looks good quality".

I also don't expect many owners of said £600 purchase to then go online and start mouthing off about how awfully built they are, of course they will be singing praises to make their purchase look as good as it possibly can be.

Also, Windows CE sucks, hard.
 
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