BMW Labs Mobility IOS New App Signup

[tonydt1g3r]

I received this email 8/17

YOUR SMARTPHONE, YOUR FRIENDS, YOUR BMW: CONNECTED.
Please join us in the beta test for BMW Labs Mobility – a concept designed to seamlessly integrate your smartphone with your BMW. This new app allows you to:

Store and manage all your personal destinations in one place
Send destinations from your smartphone to your BMW
Easily navigate to your favorite places
Get an alert when it's time to leave
Receive songs from friends in your BMW and save your favorites
BMW Labs Mobility is an advanced way to stay connected, entertained, and moving in the right direction, every time you drive. Be one of the first to test drive this exciting new concept.


Finally got the invite today was wondering if anyone else signed up.

[derpimpkar]

I did. been using it for about a week now.

[rebirth24]

How useless/terrible is it?

[derpimpkar]

why are those the two choices?

[OneRib]

Originally Posted by derpimpkar

why are those the two choices?

Some of the features are underwhelming.

OR

It could be that he has an Android phone like me and is disgruntled that all these iOS apps keep coming out while we suffer with some of the crappiest app support possible. You would think we have Windows phones.

Shame on BMW. They should realize, many people are closer to changing their brand of car before the brand of phone.

[derpimpkar]

saying something is useless defeats the purpose of beta testing. it's not constructive feedback. underwhelming could apply and I've communicated the same on some features, at least as it applies to me. your post was constructive so I think you probably already know these things.

android wins as an open platform in some ways. it's easy to customize keyboards, skin, etc. but you get a heterogeneous market and it's difficult for other vendors to guarantee a level of "android" support. iOS is iOS. I wait for custom keyboards but BMW knows how a given version will communicate, regardless of hardware. most vendors will support that first.

[tonydt1g3r]

So from I can gather, it can let you do two things right now. Once installed you can add location points and interest directly from Map applications. So I can drop a pin somewhere IE work. name it work add it to the BMW app. So from now on when I am plugged in I can go to the bmw ios navi app from idrive and select the location i want to go to.

Second they have a social spotify app. This is a separate app located in the multimedia section. So basically you can send a text message to your friends or thru facebook and they can suggest songs you listen to from spotify. Its kinda cool since you can use multiple ios apps in idrive without have to switch the apps on the phone. However this version of spotify is limited. You cant play your own playlist or use any regular options that available in the spotify app. It plays random songs if no songs are suggested to you by your friends and there is no playlist ect....


I have only been using it for one day, but I was hoping that I would not need to be plugged in. IE I was hoping that it would work over bluetooth. I know it is a beta app, but I hope there will be more functionality in the future. I like the idea of connecting to one IOS app and using multiple apps in idrive.

[derpimpkar]

the spotify integration is paid so be careful. you may get a bill after the trial ends if you're not already a member. this was the part least interesting to me. I already have iTunes music and pandora. I don't need another music app.

I do like the single app for my destinations though. similar to a contact list for the phone. I also wish it was wireless. I think it's wired so the app can tell the car to start the nav system. I'd rather have wireless.

there's a way to send developers feedback through the test flight app. I suggest telling them what you feel and if enough people say the same thing maybe they'll do it.

[tonydt1g3r]

Originally Posted by derpimpkar

the spotify integration is paid so be careful. you may get a bill after the trial ends if you're not already a member. this was the part least interesting to me. I already have iTunes music and pandora. I don't need another music app.

I do like the single app for my destinations though. similar to a contact list for the phone. I also wish it was wireless. I think it's wired so the app can tell the car to start the nav system. I'd rather have wireless.

there's a way to send developers feedback through the test flight app. I suggest telling them what you feel and if enough people say the same thing maybe they'll do it.

I am currently a spotify premium member so it worked out well, and allows me to test those features. Granted I might switch to apple music in the future. The social spotify app is lacking. I will give them the feedback, I didnt know about that part. Thanks

[Capt Crunch]

Where can I find out more about this? Sounds very interesting!

[tonydt1g3r]

Originally Posted by Capt Crunch

Where can I find out more about this? Sounds very interesting!

I got an email that had me signup here

https://bmwlabs.bmwusa.com/signup/

[emfo]

I signed up, thanks.

[ssabripo]

Originally Posted by tonydt1g3r

I got an email that had me signup here

https://bmwlabs.bmwusa.com/signup/

ifl

[rebirth24]

Originally Posted by derpimpkar

why are those the two choices?

They have had YEARS to work on Connected as it sits today. Minimal to NO updates to it and I would only categorize it as one of those. From their track record you can only make the assumption that this is what we are dealing with here.

[OneRib]

Originally Posted by derpimpkar

saying something is useless defeats the purpose of beta testing. it's not constructive feedback. underwhelming could apply and I've communicated the same on some features, at least as it applies to me. your post was constructive so I think you probably already know these things.

android wins as an open platform in some ways. it's easy to customize keyboards, skin, etc. but you get a heterogeneous market and it's difficult for other vendors to guarantee a level of "android" support. iOS is iOS. I wait for custom keyboards but BMW knows how a given version will communicate, regardless of hardware. most vendors will support that first.

Sorry I missed your post.

There is a lot of truth in what you say. My problem with BMW is that it's not that hard to get an app for android up and running for a company of it's size and resources. Many other companies seem to manage it just fine. Even my small credit union has a working Android app. Just build it to the second to last version (right now Kit Kat) and you'll hit 50% of Android users. That's all you need because that should cover any decent Android phone within the last two years.

Maybe a programmer could chime in about this. My question is are the resources needed to have decent apps for both iOS and Android that prohibitive for a company the sire of BMW? I'm calling BS to the fragmentation argument, but maybe I'm mistaken.

[Balzz]

Manufacturers should concede and just fully support CarPlay and android auto.

[derpimpkar]

Originally Posted by OneRib

Sorry I missed your post.

There is a lot of truth in what you say. My problem with BMW is that it's not that hard to get an app for android up and running for a company of it's size and resources. Many other companies seem to manage it just fine. Even my small credit union has a working Android app. Just build it to the second to last version (right now Kit Kat) and you'll hit 50% of Android users. That's all you need because that should cover any decent Android phone within the last two years.

Maybe a programmer could chime in about this. My question is are the resources needed to have decent apps for both iOS and Android that prohibitive for a company the sire of BMW? I'm calling BS to the fragmentation argument, but maybe I'm mistaken.

I'm a computer programmer, I'll explain in more detail.

BMW is large but their main line of business is cars. They won't spend much money on something that isn't cars (even if it's a value add), which speaks to the second point.

Android is a platform so vendors can't say they support Android releases such as Kit Kat. Vendors will take that platform, change it, and use it in custom hardware. So BMW ends up with a support matrix that looks like this if they want to release on "Android":

(SUM((phone model a vendor has) x (versions of phone model a vendor has))) for every vendor

a Samsung Galaxy 3 is different than a Samsung Galaxy 4 is different than a Moto X. there are similarities but computer science is 0's and 1's. it's precise or it doesn't work. BMW has to hire developers who know each phone, buy the hardware to test each phone, hire the support staff to manage each phone, and plan what to do when the next versions come out. technically it's the same statement for Apple but the variance is much more limited because it's a closed system.

I hope this helps.

[tonydt1g3r]

Originally Posted by Balzz

Manufacturers should concede and just fully support CarPlay and android auto.

This would have been the smart thing to do.

[Capt Crunch]

Originally Posted by Balzz

Manufacturers should concede and just fully support CarPlay and android auto.

Completely agree. There is no way that a car company is going to catch up to Apple or Google in OS or ecosystem.

[OneRib]

Originally Posted by derpimpkar

I'm a computer programmer, I'll explain in more detail.

BMW is large but their main line of business is cars. They won't spend much money on something that isn't cars (even if it's a value add), which speaks to the second point.

Android is a platform so vendors can't say they support Android releases such as Kit Kat. Vendors will take that platform, change it, and use it in custom hardware. So BMW ends up with a support matrix that looks like this if they want to release on "Android":

(SUM((phone model a vendor has) x (versions of phone model a vendor has))) for every vendor

a Samsung Galaxy 3 is different than a Samsung Galaxy 4 is different than a Moto X. there are similarities but computer science is 0's and 1's. it's precise or it doesn't work. BMW has to hire developers who know each phone, buy the hardware to test each phone, hire the support staff to manage each phone, and plan what to do when the next versions come out. technically it's the same statement for Apple but the variance is much more limited because it's a closed system.

I hope this helps.

Yes that was a very good explanation. As an Android owner (various phones), it sounds like it will take a loss in a manufacturers bottom line before they put forth adequate resources to support Android fully. For now Samsung or Nexus is probably the best bet for support.

It does look like auto manufacturers will be dragged into supporting both eventually.

[Capt Crunch]

Just got an invite to to this app and started using it for a few days. To put it bluntly, this is the first time I've used the BMW navigation because before it was too much of a pain in the ass to enter in addresses. It works. It's great. The workflow is to google what I want, select it, plug it into my car and it immediately loads to navigation. The only things that could make it better is 1) if it was wireless 2) was clear about how it integrated into contacts and calendars.

Overall, really, really pleased.

[derpimpkar]

please send the developers feedback asking for the wireless functionality too. it would be so much easier to use.