It's probably me but I'm struggling with 'Connected' in my new Cooper SD. Got Media, Nav and Chili pack, so all the toys, and an iPhone 4s with the proper Mini Y-cable. Car is brand new so I'd expect the latest software but until I updated the software (upd1006?) I couldn't get anything in 'Connected' other than the phones music. Having updated the software I can now occasionally get to the Connected screens but it doesn't seem consistent and seems to take an age to get there - I can always get directly to the music though.
Can anyone offer any tips to get this working reliably?
Am I expecting too much to be able to fire up the app on the phone, plug it in, start the car and select Mini Connected on the display and get it to work without seemingly having to 'Activate Plug-in' every time for it to work. I guess thats the process though. Doesn't really explain why I can't get to the Apps reliably though.
I really hope I'm missing something as it's not been the experience I was expecting!
My Cooper D has all the toys including Nav,Media and Chilli pack and was built a couple of weeks before yours.
I also have Iphone 4S with correct media Y cable and another Iphone 4S with correct armrest SnapIn media adapter.
Mini Connected works in exactly the same way it did on my old LCI Cooper D(other than the feature I psoted about on a previous thread).
I get in the car start up Mini Connected on the Iphone if it is not running and the system connects within about 30 seconds. I always use Mini Connected to access web radio. I never have to activate the Plug-IN as that just allows you to display an Ipod like control screen on your Nav screen and is only used when accessing the Iphone as a music device. You can access the Iphone as a music device much quicker by going into External Devices from the Top Level menu on the Media Screen.
I have not updated my car software so it is on whatever the factory installed.
I have updated my Mini Connected to the latest version which came out at the beginning of March but that made no difference to how it works.
The operation of Mini Connected seems more tolerant of ignition off now - I can leave Mini Connected App permanently running on the Iphone and when I get back in the car on an evening not have to do anything and Mini Connected will automatically start playing again. In my case this is always web radio.
OK, thanks for speedy response - let me get a quick question in before reading deeply! - so, start connected on phone if it's not running? I know it multitasks so is it OK to just unplug phone and use normally, then when getting back in car just plug it in? No need to restart app?
Looks like you answer my question at the end! - So, leave it running on phone and simply re-connect when getting back in car. No need to 'activate' the wretched plug-in then either.
Any way to have it show 'journey computer' by default. I seem to have to select it each time.
I tend to leave the Iphone 4S I use for Mini Connected permanently in the car and plugged into the armrest snapin adapter. In the past with previous versions of Mini Connected (i.e. versions prior to the version released at beginning of march 2013) i would always stop the Mini Connected app when leaving the Iphone in the car for a period. I did this because on occasions i would get back into the car on Monday morning and find the Iphone battery flat because Mini Connected had been running all weekend.
The latest version seems more reliable and tolerant of car ignition switch off.
So now I just get back in the car, switch on and most times it just autoconnects. It is does not them I remove the Iphone from the snapin, make sure Mini Connected is the active app by switching to it and put it back in the armest adapter. This works more or less every time.
I do not have to do anything else such as activate plugin or enter the Mini Connected controls on the main nav screen.
Must admit I was thinking of buying a second hand iPhone 4 and leaving that in the car with some sort of bargain sim - but not sure what sim to get, let alone source a second hand iPhone 4!
I use a 3 pay as you go sim and for £15 per month I get unlimited all I can eat data, plus 3000 texts plus 300 minutes. I never use the texts or minutes but I do go through lots of data as I stream at 64k or 128K. When choosing the sim provider I got pay as you go sims from all the network providers and tried them out on my journey. The best were Orange, T Mobile (these are now EE) and Three. The £15 deal from Three is unmatched by the other network providers and I am really pleased with the perfromance I get. My other Iphone 4S is on Vodafone (contract) and the 3G perfromance is awful compared to Three.
Mini Connected currently will not work via Bluetooth.
You can connect your Iphone via bluetooth and play audio through it i.e play the tracks stored on it but you loose track info and album art.
Thanks scillyisles for the advice - it worked better today, certainly Connected seemed to work as described when coming home tonight, although I did manually start the app on the phone despite it probably already running in the background. It does seems to take up to a minute to start it seems.
Minor update - struggling with the bluetooth audio and iPhone 4S - can get audio but it seems stuck playing a particular batch of podcasts (David Mitchell if you must know!) and I can't seem to find a way of navigating to any of my music - am I missing something obvious?
Connect itself seems OK, although despite leaving the App running it seems to want me to start it on the phone each time I get in the car, yet it's there in the background. Otherwise it's fine.
Send to Car works - surprised to see it integrate with the factory Nav. Minimalism is fun although it needs some info in the manual to explain it all. Driving Excitement keeps accusing me of cornering dangerously - never once felt out of control or anywhere near the limit of grip - what's wrong with the wussy thing!
Also, I'll withhold my thoughts on Mission Control (clue: it's dire!)
In my experience with the iPhone and mini connected in my 2012 Countryman Cooper S with all the bits including the full arm rest snap in using the iPhone 4S with latest iOS;
1 My car was delivered without the latest software for the car, updatable via USB port. So it looks like the factories both in the UK and Austria (I think that is where the CM is put together) do not install the latest software.
2 The mini connected iPhone app needs to stay in the foreground it does not work properly in the background on the iPhone.
3 I find that iPhone alerts, text and email messages caused the app to disconnect with the car.
4 when receiving an incoming call or making a call the app goes to the background and disconnects from the mini connected, BT phone appears to run from a separate area of software/ hardware in the car.
5 I thought the mini connected plug in was for non apple music storage devices and provided an Apple iPod like interface.
6 I find the app and or connectivity between the phone and car a bit hit and miss. For example sometimes the connected voices ie climate, engine etc are quiet, not a bad thing if you are not in the right frame of mind to be told the roads are slippery when wet or that all the rain is good for the climate etc.
7 I gave up using the minimal analyser, you have to drive like a saint and be in possession of a crystal ball to predict the idiot pulling out in front of you or the unforeseen hazard etc. How on earth did people get to the top of the analyser league table? Maybe driving on empty roads in the USA?
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