Last month we gave you our own walk through of MINI Connected. Today we bring you MINI’s own look at the new technology. We start with the video above which features MINI USA VP talking about MINI Connected and introducing the technology at a high level. But for those of you who know about Connected (likely most readers of MF) the video after the break is likely the one you’re after. It features Rob Passaro (Senior Engineer, BMW Group Technology Office, Palo Alto) demonstrating select features of the system during the recent LA Auto Show – most notably iPod-out.
<p>Mini USA’s president tells on video how most Mini owners also own an iPhone and is proud they developed such an feature as Mini Connected.</p>
<p>Well, whooptiedoo,I have Mini Connected on my 2011 JCW Cabrio, let me put my iPhone 4 in the snap-in adapter to make use of it…. Oh wait, the adapter is not compatible with the iPhone 4 and I can not buy an adapter as there isn’t any yet on the market :’)
Such a fail…</p>
<p>The link to the second video with the demo is broken. Here it is:
<strong><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDWKLIn8iJ4" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDWKLIn8iJ4</a></strong></p>
<p>When’s the Android support coming?</p>
<p>Why no touch screen?</p>
<p>Will a non-phone ipod (Classic) work with ipod out?</p>
<p>Where is Pandora?</p>
<p>Will an ipod touch work, for those of us with unsupported phones?</p>
<p>Can you have multiple ipod out devices? ie: ipod Classic in the glove box for music and iphone for connected? Or, does one preempt the other?</p>
<blockquote>Well, whooptiedoo,I have Mini Connected on my 2011 JCW Cabrio, let me put my iPhone 4 in the snap-in adapter to make use of it…. Oh wait, the adapter is not compatible with the iPhone 4 and I can not buy an adapter as there isn’t any yet on the market :’) Such a fail…</blockquote>
<p>You can connect to the system via BT as noted here: <a href="URL" rel="nofollow">https://www.motoringfile.com/2010/09/21/mini-connected-official-pdf-guide/</a></p>
<blockquote>Why no touch screen?</blockquote>
<p>Because BMW/MINI doesn’t want your eyes focused inside the cabin & off the road for unsafe amounts of time while you should be driving.</p>
<p>Can the navigation be updated thru MINI Connected?</p>
<blockquote>Will a non-phone ipod (Classic) work with ipod out?</blockquote>
<p>iPod Classic won’t work. iPod Out is an iOS 4 feature. That means iPhone 3G or higher, and iTouch 2nd gen or higher.</p>
<blockquote>Where is Pandora?</blockquote>
<p>It probably wasn’t a high priority for the first version of the app.</p>
<p>@Mark: I know, but the thing is, I want to be able to charge my iPhone 4 using the snap-in adapter</p>
<p>Nice demo.
However we can read that the Mini Connected Application should include lots of cool stuffs like the Minimalism Analyzer, the Mini Mission Control, Dynamic music, facebook connection, Google send to Car, Google search, etc and still no news on when this is gonna go live…
Any idea when this should be available? I would have expected from a guy such as Rob Passaro to give us more info about it and even a sneak preview of these new features rather than what we all know about yet (twitter, RSS & iPod capabilities).</p>
<blockquote>Any idea when this should be available?</blockquote>
<p>It’s already available in Europe. The first ones for the US should arrive in the next couple of weeks.</p>
<p>The app is in the Apple iTunes store.<strong><a href="http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/mini-connected/id376699654" rel="nofollow">http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/mini-connected/id376699654</a></strong></p>
<p>Cool, but for $1k…. No thank you!</p>
<p>It’s already available in Europe.</p>
<p>I have downloaded the MINI App on the AppStore but in this version I can only see 3 options: RSS, Twitter & Webradio. I agree that $1K for just that is quite expensive…</p>
<p>Do you have any idea on how I can find the other ones (Minimalism Analyzer, the Mini Mission Control, Dynamic music, facebook connection, Google send to Car, Google search, etc)? I don’t even see any comment about these features on the user guide on Mini Connected web site.
For that reason I thought this would be available in a rev 2 of the MINI Connected App… Maybe when the US version will go live, all features will be included then.
Thank you in advance for your help.</p>
<p>As I demonstrated with Jim M.,….</p>
<p>the older version of the MINI bluetooth adapter for full bluetooth works very well with a iphone 4 snap in, well they are not available for a snap in yet but that did not stop me. You can modify a iphone BMW 2G snap in since it has more space to fit the iphone 4 (tight fit but works , also wiring is a little different then 3 G). Will not work with iphone 3 G adapter due to the slim back phone The adapter is the same across all MINI models and BMW models , in fact the snaps are available to BMW first, then MINI second.</p>
<p>I was able to show some owners at MTTS 2010, and they were happy to see this.</p>
<p>With the case of the newest snap-in when release, the iphone safe guards itself sometimes and does not allow adapters. People found the same problems with stereo units for home use (ihome) , older ihomes and new ipods and iphone pop up an “this accessory will not work display”.</p>
<p>Mine personally has popped up once then never again.
The manufacture of the snap-in has a problem, due to the base connection being different on transferring data, not your power turn on or constant voltage (maybe in some cases), if they are off a little bit on voltage or information, this will pop up that ” accessories do not work with this device”.
I find the problem is this.</p>
<p>As one who has torn apart snap in BMW adapters for the original Iphone 2G to work on this platform I can see the problem happing before they maybe had MINI connect on the table. Since I had this when the 2G phone first came out.</p>
<p>This when working without problem is the best system yet (for both MINI Full bluetooth and MINI connect). The integrations with apple/BMW in Palo Alto is necessary for further “firsts” in the MINI Brand as both brands grow.</p>
<p>Remember when BMW was first to fully integrate the ipod. Falls into the same relationship.</p>
<p>Great to see the Palo Alto gang show up and Jim M. Usually its Vinne who does these things.</p>
<p>“Bringing useful technology to your car” Huh? There is no useful need to have or see news reader and twitter (and facebook) plus other junk while driving. A car is to drive and get from point a to point b, in a safe dependable vehicle. I have a mini, but wouldn’t want, don’t need (and don’t think it should be offered)all that 20 something yr old gotta be connected 24/7 nonsense tweet, newsfeed, facebook, etc, etc “useless” distractions. Radio, CD and music ok – otherwise just drive the darn car and pay attention to the road and traffic.</p>
<p>Just picked up my CountryMan S with MINI Connected this weekend. Very pleased with it but can´t test out the MINI Connected since it is not available from iTunes in the US. Has anyone found a workaround to this?</p>