Bluetooth connection to car

[Coya]

I just went from the original Motorola Droid to the Incredible 2 yesterday.  I am happy so far except it does not seem to work anywhere near as well with my car as my Droid or my work blackberry.  I can pair and make calls, but the phone book does not come across.  I used to be able see my phone book on the dash, and incoming calls would be indentified by name if they were in my phone book.  It would also display the number of bars for signal strength.  None of that now works.  Just this morning as an experiment I paired a coworker's one year old Droid Incredible and all worked fine.   Any suggestions? Could the bluetooth have been downgraded?

The car is a 2007 BMW 335i.

Thanks,

Tim

[Speedy328]

I also had bluetooth issues (with my 2011 Buick Lacrosse).  After the DINC2 was upgraded to Gingerbread followed by the most recent VZW update things have been flawless. Does your phone have all of the updates?

[Coya]

Thanks for the response. 

Yes, I believe I have all the updates.  After receiving the phone yesterday it downloaded several updates and rebooted itself a few times.  Now if I do the software update check it says it is up to date.  The last update was at 7:41 pm 8/14.

Android2.3.3

HTC Sense version2.1

Software Number3.02.605.1

PRI1.92_002

PRL52341

ERI5

Tim

[shelleyb2]

I'm not sure this will help, but I have had much difficulty with pairing my DINC2 with my Lexus. It would pair fine, then after a few days, completely stop, no phone access and with no phonebook or contacts available.

I searched everywhere for an answer---at my local Verizon store, at the Lexus dealership, online and on the phone to Verizon. I never got an answer.

For now, it's paired properly and I have had no problems for a while. This was nothing I did!

So I'm thinking it must be some glitch in the Droid system, but I don't understand it.

[Wildman · Accepted solution]

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Coya wrote:

I just went from the original Motorola Droid to the Incredible 2 yesterday.  I am happy so far except it does not seem to work anywhere near as well with my car as my Droid or my work blackberry.  I can pair and make calls, but the phone book does not come across.  I used to be able see my phone book on the dash, and incoming calls would be indentified by name if they were in my phone book.  It would also display the number of bars for signal strength.  None of that now works.  Just this morning as an experiment I paired a coworker's one year old Droid Incredible and all worked fine.   Any suggestions? Could the bluetooth have been downgraded?

The car is a 2007 BMW 335i.

Thanks,

Tim

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I think you are viewing this revise, newer devices have habit of updateing the bluetooth stacks that make older devices not be able to dommunicate with because usually the change increases security access right..  Sometimes software uodates on device can resolve issues but this isnt always the case.   If it worked with a older device with older software I would believe this is due to the updated security configurations.

You are thinking of it as a device issue when in fact it could be the stereos issue, the software on the device in the car does not have the drivers to communicate witht he device for the data to be transferred.  

Thy contacting BMW and inquire if there is any software updates for the stereo, I do not know if they use writtable eproms in the unit the allow software update but I have dealt with this in some Jaguars...  After software update all was fine.

[Coya]

Thanks for the reponse.  I will check with BMW to see if there is an update.

[Coya]

Here's an update.  I have annoyed several friends by having them connect their phones to my car.  Every single one worked except for the DINC2.  This includes the iPhone 4, the Droid 3, and the Droid X2.  I even did a factory reset on my phone, that did not help.  If I knew someone else with a DINC2 I would try it to see if there is something wrong with my handset, but no luck there.  The rep at the Verizon store didn't think that would make a difference but you never know.

My car was in for service in April, at that time they did a software upgrade, I have all the latest and greatest.

I am happy with this phone and would like to keep it, but apparently this problem can't be fixed.  Since this seems to be the only phone that will not talk to my car, looks like it will have to go back.  Too bad.

[m3griff]

I have the same problem with my 06 Z4. Every other phone I have tried works fine, but not this one. Looks like I may be giving this one up. Please post if you find out how to make it work

[Coya]

Took one last trip to the Verizon store and worked with their techie.  He looked at the specs and said it should work.  We went out to my car where he tried connect and download my phone book.  No luck.  He pulled out his iPhone 4, we connected, and immediately the phonebook downloaded.

To check to see if the problem was that particular unit, he borrowed a co-workers DINC2, and we did the same experiment, with the same results as with my DINC2.  

Again, every other phone including the brand new Droid 3 does work with my car.  My car has the latest software from BMW.  At this point I think there is an issue with the phone, and it went back to the store.  My original Droid is now my phone again and all is working while I decide what to do next.  

I did get charged a $35 restocking fee, which I think sucks.  I would have kept the phone if it had worked as advertised.  Next time I will make sure what I choose works in my car before making a purchase.