The 750Li highlighted the surface streets of downtown San Francisco in green, yellow, or red, the traffic data indicating how fast I could get through.Īn oddity that I had not seen in BMWs before was that the navigation system said I had arrived at my destination when I was still a block away. In addition to these excellent navigation features, I was pleased to see the results of something BMW announced last year, better surface street coverage for traffic. I was pleased to see the little rerouting message pop up a few times while I had the car anything that can keep me out of stopped traffic deserves the highest praise.īMW's navigation system includes 3D-rendered buildings and traffic data for surface streets. Using traffic data, it proactively rerouted me when there was a traffic jam up ahead. It offered many different map views, and rendered city buildings in detailed 3D. The 750Li kept all the good things I like about BMW navigation. I found that impressive because the street name, Tehama, often proves difficult for voice command. I spoke the entire address string, with street, city, and state, for CNET's garage entrance, and the system got it right in one. Once I had the system figured out, I was impressed how easily I could, for example, enter a street address into navigation.
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BMW's voice command generally works on the principle that you can speak commands based on the current screen showing on the LCD. Asking the system for help, it explained that I needed to burrow down through a voice tree to find my play commands. I tried saying "Play Lana Del Rey" as I drove along, and the screen brought up the owner's manual.
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IDrive includes a fairly comprehensive voice command system, but it was not very easy to use. Why not begin playback when I first select the album? After selecting an album, artist, or genre, I then had to select Play from the top-level menu. I usually listen to music from my iPhone or a USB drive, and I have never liked BMW's music library screen. Some of the input screens use unnecessarily confusing paradigms. A lot of other manufacturers struggle to make their infotainment systems respond so promptly. There are a lot of menu items on the home screen, but the system reacts very quickly, loading each one with tablet speed.
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A new section appeared on the 750Li's menu called Applications, which let me add new apps, such as Fuel Prices and Yelp, from an app store. BMW Online relies on a data connection directly to the car, and previously only offered a few features, including Google local search, weather, and news. The ConnectedDrive app also offers a News feature, but so does the BMW Online service. I also posted canned tweets, such as "It's 46 degrees out but I'm keeping warm in my BMW." My photographer was particularly entranced by the Web radio feature, which let me tune in a station from Mali, where he served some time in the Peace Corps. With my phone plugged into the car's USB port, the only way ConnectedDrive works, I could view Twitter and Facebook updates on the 750Li's screen, and have them read out to me.
#Lxi series stereo system android
Sorry, Android users, no ConnectedDrive app for you. The 750Li included the smartphone-based ConnectedDrive app integration, which I was able to run from my iPhone 5. As for connected features, they live under three distinct interface areas, making it feel like BMW directed multiple groups to work on this technology and employed all their efforts.