Iphone compatibility with Comand/SMS

[RTaylor]

I'll be interested on the out come of this as I think I have he same issue; SMS is illuminated on the Comand unit but it says no messages and when one comes in it doesn't appear on it.

PS when this SMS does work is it possible to send messages with Comand (when the car is parked of course!)?

Well, still no joy I am afraid, popped into local MB Dealer and spoke to them about it, car handover girl was very nice and had just been on a 'telematics' course so was eager to help, 10 minutes later after going over it all in car with her and still no joy, when she saw the SMS highlighted she seemed surprised as she has an iPhone 4 that didnt even do that, anyways she said she would email a Telematics guru in Milton Keynes and get back to me, got an email yesterday basically saying it probably wont work. Probably !!!!! Not impressed

I get the distinct impression they know even less about bluetooth than I do.

Apparently when the car connects to the phone it goes through the following steps

1. Call list is downloaded
2. SMS are downloaded
3. Phone book downloaded

Its interesting that they say it downloads messages on connection as I was under impression it only showed new ones coming in while you are connected, mine gets call list and contacts without issue.

My car has an Audio 20 so not sure re your question on comand but I can send a text from phone while its connected via bluetooth without issue.

For info I have tried all sorts including

Deleting bluetooth connection on both car and phone
Complete restore of iPhone 4s
After pairing waiting till phone locks itself i.e. not locking myself (saw this on bmw site)
Ios 6.0.1 and now 6.1
Turning off iMessage
Enabling the extra setting in Bluetooth for pairing 'show notifications'

I would have to say that MB manuals for car and audio are pretty pointless all in all, mind you the Becker one is a clear winner in pointless user manuals

Back to the MAP issue, I found info on and went into engineering mode on audio 20 and noted that profiles HFP, aPBAP & AVP (A2DP+AVRCP) are enabled on car radio and it also tells me my phone has following profiles

HFP, SPP,PBAP, A2DP, AVRCP &..... MAP !!!!

So it would appear car doesn't have the MAP profile so thats looking like the culprit unless someone else can confirm otherwise

By the way, to get into engineering mode on audio 20 press 1, # and red 'hang up' but for about 10 seconds

Hope someone else with an Audio 20 (without a bluetooth cradle) that has an iPhone working can confirm if they see map listed as an active bluetooth profile in car.

HELP.

Will be interesting to see what MB say about the BT Profiles anyway, working in tech support I can smell bull**** a mile off when it comes to stuff like this, maybe they just dont want to upgrade the software in car, I have only had it 2 weeks although it was registered june 2012 so no doubt there will be later software available

Ps sorry for length of this, hope it helps some else or at least saves them some time

Sent from my iPad using MBClub UK

 

[sjmaxwell]

Got SMS to work but it seems pretty pointless unless I’ve missed something!

Had a friend send me a text while I was in the car which went off on the phone but didn't sound through Comand nor did anything change on screen (I was on audio).

Selected the phone menu and then SMS and hey pesto the message was there!

All pointless as I would have expected to hear something through the system (I’m thinking if I have the phone on silent) and for it to appear on the screen over whatever I have on (radio, TV, audio etc.) unless someone can tell me what I am doing wrong?

 

[RTaylor]

Got SMS to work but it seems pretty pointless unless I’ve missed something!

Had a friend send me a text while I was in the car which went off on the phone but didn't sound through Comand nor did anything change on screen (I was on audio).

Selected the phone menu and then SMS and hey pesto the message was there!

All pointless as I would have expected to hear something through the system (I’m thinking if I have the phone on silent) and for it to appear on the screen over whatever I have on (radio, TV, audio etc.) unless someone can tell me what I am doing wrong?

Have you set up Siri ? To be honest I find that far superior anyway, press home button on phone and ask it to read messages, it does seemlessly and even asks if you want to reply and will even send the message, and only 1 button press on iPhone. Can do all sorts in phone with it too.

I am just peeved that the car audio doesnt work as it should, if the SMS feature wasnt there I wouldnt mind but knowing it should leaves me wondering what else they overlook.

I have issues with muting of audio with becker too but they clearly dont care about it

Sent from my iPad using MBClub UK

 

[sjmaxwell]

Have you set up Siri ? To be honest I find that far superior anyway, press home button on phone and ask it to read messages, it does seemlessly and even asks if you want to reply and will even send the message, and only 1 button press on iPhone. Can do all sorts in phone with it too.

I am just peeved that the car audio doesnt work as it should, if the SMS feature wasnt there I wouldnt mind but knowing it should leaves me wondering what else they overlook.

I have issues with muting of audio with becker too but they clearly dont care about it

Sent from my iPad using MBClub UK

Got all that set up but legally you can't do that while driving!

I just thought that if a text came in it would appear on the screen and you could then pull over and reply if required so disappointed that you have to know the text has arrived, select phone and then SMS; all a bit pointless if you are driving not to mention potentially dangerous !!

 

[RTaylor]

Got all that set up but legally you can't do that while driving!

!

Not sure on the legalities of pressing the home button of phone once as I dont see how its any more of a hassle than pressing the controller to read/hear a text, if it were illegal I would of thought they would barr it while car is moving like they do with dvd's etc

I just wonder how much time we are all collectively spending on this sort of thing because MB clearly didn't think it was worth spending much money on getting proper doc/manuals. Its pretty crappy to say that sms feature may not work depending on car model when you choose model of car, year etc to get to the page of what phones are supported.

I work in tech support for database/mobile field and if I was to tell one of our Customers their phone might work with that being the final solution I am sure I would get strung up, it doesnt help that the dealership staff dont know about their own products. Surely someone at MB must have a list of audio devices, software versions, which phones work etc and god forbid a troubleshooting guide for if there are problems with BT

Too much I guess

 

[nigel cross]

How did BT get involved

 

[RTaylor]

How did BT get involved

Bluetooth !

 

[sjmaxwell]

Not sure on the legalities of pressing the home button of phone once as I dont see how its any more of a hassle than pressing the controller to read/hear a text, if it were illegal I would of thought they would barr it while car is moving like they do with dvd's etc

I just wonder how much time we are all collectively spending on this sort of thing because MB clearly didn't think it was worth spending much money on getting proper doc/manuals. Its pretty crappy to say that sms feature may not work depending on car model when you choose model of car, year etc to get to the page of what phones are supported.

I work in tech support for database/mobile field and if I was to tell one of our Customers their phone might work with that being the final solution I am sure I would get strung up, it doesnt help that the dealership staff dont know about their own products. Surely someone at MB must have a list of audio devices, software versions, which phones work etc and god forbid a troubleshooting guide for if there are problems with BT

Too much I guess

My understanding is that if you operate the phone then it isn't allowed, so one button push is a no no.

I'm not sure it's all Mercedes fault as Apple don't implement the full BT protocols and it was only when IOS 6.1 came out that it started working for iPhone; difficult to write a manual for something that you aren't informed about!

 

[RTaylor]

I'm not sure it's all Mercedes fault as Apple don't implement the full BT protocols and it was only when IOS 6.1 came out that it started working for iPhone; difficult to write a manual for something that you aren't informed about!

I am not suggesting its all MB either and I am quite realistic if a particular phone isn't supported etc and thats why I have spent literally hours trying out different combinations and setups on the iPhone this week when I saw the Sms button enabled, i was delighted that it streams BT Audio, its just frustrating that the SMS button gets enabled if the car cant actually do the job.What has got my goat is the way MB seem to deal with these sorts of issues i.e. if they don't know an answer then it cant be done or might work. Hopefully I will get a straight answer out of the 'guru' in Milton Keynes when the dealer passes on my query next week.

What I find even more curious is the fact I was told in the dealership that Blackberries work without issue but on checking the audio 20 it doesn't have an active map profile. Its very easy to say things do/don't/might work but when your customer MAY go and spend up to £600 on a new sim free phone it would be wise to have facts rather than assumptions

 

[sjmaxwell]

I am not suggesting its all MB either and I am quite realistic if a particular phone isn't supported etc and thats why I have spent literally hours trying out different combinations and setups on the iPhone this week when I saw the Sms button enabled, i was delighted that it streams BT Audio, its just frustrating that the SMS button gets enabled if the car cant actually do the job.What has got my goat is the way MB seem to deal with these sorts of issues i.e. if they don't know an answer then it cant be done or might work. Hopefully I will get a straight answer out of the 'guru' in Milton Keynes when the dealer passes on my query next week.

What I find even more curious is the fact I was told in the dealership that Blackberries work without issue but on checking the audio 20 it doesn't have an active map profile. Its very easy to say things do/don't/might work but when your customer MAY go and spend up to £600 on a new sim free phone it would be wise to have facts rather than assumptions

Or just be honest and say "don't know"!

I'm sure it's not just Mercedes dealers, it must happen with many other manufacturers dealerships with the speed of technology changing all the time and the manufacturers tweaking the next model to include the latest. You only have to look at the facelift E Class debate where many things have become extras but DAB radio is standard, something that I gather has hit and miss reception in the UK! I wonder how long before the manual for that is correct and complete

My own experience with m CLK is another example where I have a digital TV Tuner in it , factory fitted but the Comand manual tells me nothing about it. Someone on a forum said it must have been added to my car later and one dealer said the same but the simple fact is that my CLK was one of he first to have it and the manual wasn't updated until the next model year but by then BT had been dropped in the way it was on my car (cant remember what it is - perhaps a menu change) so was still not relevant completely to my car. Mercs didn't even bother to produce a supplementary manual!

But as I say I bet this is true of other manufacturers unless as they have with my wife's Ford Fiesta, gone the route of the thinnest manual they can and let the customer work it all out!!

 

[RTaylor]

But as I say I bet this is true of other manufacturers unless as they have with my wife's Ford Fiesta, gone the route of the thinnest manual they can and let the customer work it all out!!

My last car ( BMW 330 Conv ) had BT but only for handsfree & phonebook profiles so Audio streaming seems great as it avoids any leads etc.

It shouldn't be that difficult to keep their online docs/manuals up to date really. It would probably save them a lot of time and customer queries in long run.

 

[bropa09]

Got SMS to work but it seems pretty pointless unless I’ve missed something!

Had a friend send me a text while I was in the car which went off on the phone but didn't sound through Comand nor did anything change on screen (I was on audio).

Selected the phone menu and then SMS and hey pesto the message was there!

All pointless as I would have expected to hear something through the system (I’m thinking if I have the phone on silent) and for it to appear on the screen over whatever I have on (radio, TV, audio etc.) unless someone can tell me what I am doing wrong?

I get a beep on mine, it's not very loud or long, but there's a definite beep. I have Comand NTG 4.5, iPhone 4 and iOS6.0.1.