N5 and car issues

[sheppy1]

Hi Guys,

So I am having a few car related issues with my new Nexus 5 and am wondering if anyone else sees these and could offer some input which may help resolve them.

The first bluetooth issue I have is one I hear is quite a common issue with KitKat and relates to the phonebook entries appearing on my cars screen. With my iPhone 5 I was able to connect with bluetooth and then all my contacts appeared on the cars screen and I could pick one, select call and it would ring that contact. I could even answer and hangup calls using the cars screen and console too. With the N5 this isn't possible, answering calls on the cars screen doesn't work and contacts don't appear either.

The second car related issue is with the USB port in my car and listening to podcasts via USB. With my iPhone 5 I could use the USB cable to connect to the car and then press play on the phone and the audio would come through the cars speakers. This doesn't work on the N5 though. The sound keeps coming through the phone and not the car. I have to connect the phone to the car using the AUX cable in order to get sound through the cars speakers.

Can anyone offer any advice or resolutions to these issues? For issue 1 I have already tried a few Bluetooth apps to fix it but none have worked.

Thanks

 

[jerrykur]

The first issue sounds like your car's BT does not support the phone book entries. The second issue sounds like your car's USB is not designed to work with the Nexus.

In either case I would check with a forum oriented to your car and see what sort of issues others are having.

In my case I have a BMW and they have specific iPhone apps. As expected, none of these work with my Android phone. In fact when I bought the car I told the dealer that I used Android and was not going to pay for the apps. The dealer did not know how to deinstall them so they left them and credited me the cost. In addition, from the car forums, I found out that my address book would not appear until I updated the firmware on the car's BT. Once I did that update I could see the address book.

 

[sheppy1]

Brilliant! Thanks for the reply, thats good to know that someone could be done with your car. Hopefully something can be done similar to that with mine. It is a brand new car so the dealer should be able to help me. Will post in the forums for my car and update here if they come back with any help

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[B. Diddy]

I've never had any problem uploading Contacts to my car via Bluetooth, and I have a BMW as well (2008 model year). When you pair, it should tell you you're connected, but then after 30 seconds or so, check the Notifications on your phone--there should be a notification asking you if it's ok for the car to upload your contacts, and of course, you have to Accept if you want the contacts to go to your car's database. Let us know if you see that. You probably should unpair your phone first, and then try the pairing again.

 

[jerrykur]

My issue was with a 2011 3 series with Nav, etc. I also have a 2013 3 series and it had no issues uploading the phonebook. But, an update to the firmware fixed the older car. These modern car systems have all of the compatibility issues of any computer.

 

[B. Diddy]

My issue was with a 2011 3 series with Nav, etc. I also have a 2013 3 series and it had no issues uploading the phonebook. But, an update to the firmware fixed the older car.

Interesting. I wonder if it was a problem with your newer version of iDrive. I've had firmware updates as well, but I don't recall any phonebook problems before the update. Of course, your advice about making sure the car's firmware is up to date remains valid!

 

[jerrykur]

I think they changed a lot of telematics system in the 2012 timeframe, so likely guess is the developers put off some compatibility changes in 2011 since by that time they would have been working on the new hardware. The newer iDrive system has larger memory, faster processors, 3d mapping, huge display, integrated suspension, engine, and transmission controls, etc.

 

[B. Diddy]

The newer iDrive system has larger memory, faster processors, 3d mapping, huge display, integrated suspension, engine, and transmission controls, etc.

Rub it in, why don't you? Now I want to buy a new car ...

 

[sheppy1]

How strange! I've been trying to get the Bluetooth working for my contacts and for answering/hanging up calls from the car dashboard for the last week. Nothing worked! All of a sudden today after hanging up a call, the phone said that my car was making a request to access my contacts and asked if I would accept this request. I did and my contacts appeared on my cars dash and I could also hang up and answer calls with the cars dash controls too! . Still having the USB issue though lol

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[anon(8410015)]

My car phone controls work but I only have 4 of my contacts even after allowing my car to access the phonebook, nothing I do has helped, oh well, was perfectly fine on my iPhone 4 and 5s.

 

[jerrykur]

My car phone controls work but I only have 4 of my contacts even after allowing my car to access the phonebook, nothing I do has helped, oh well, was perfectly fine on my iPhone 4 and 5s.

Apple definitely beat everyone, except Microsoft who fumbled the ball, to integration with car systems. I think this is why Google announced their new car initiative. Hopefully soon we will be able to point out a place on the Google maps on our Android phone and the Google self drive technology will takes use there. Or do we want this.........

 

[jerrykur]

Rub it in, why don't you? Now I want to buy a new car ...

It is not all light and goodness. The newer cars have electric power steering and a much softer ride that some have described as "Camry-like".:'( Fortunately (for BMW) you can pay several thousand to get a dynamic suspension option that will let you change that with a button push.

 

[Robin Barr]

Go to Settings/Bluetooth and uncheck the Multimediawork box. Leave the phone box checked. See if that helps.

 

[Robin Barr]

2014 Lexus- I finally watched their video about the Nav/phone and realized I had to 'update contacts' in the car. My 2011 Toyota picked up the contacts without extra steps.