<p>The other cell phone thread got me thinking about a problem I have been having.
I have a BMW X3 with built in bluetooth. When I got the car I paired it with my Nokia phone. It worked well for about 6 months. Suddenly it would not work anymore also several other features of the car stopped working. I took the car into BMW and they were able to fix the bluetooth but said it failed due to my using a phone that was not on the approved device list. I got the list and it has few phones that are with AT %T my provider. It is limited to a few Razrs and one Blackberry the 8700C. I was not eligible for an upgrade on my phone at the time so I just didn’t use the bluetooth through the car. I don’t make many calls from my car. Mainly to my kid to tell her I am on my way so it hasn’t really been a priority. Ca is requiring hands free in July. I am thinking I should replace my phone or get some sort of wireless device for the car.
Another option is the re paired my present phone with the car and hope it works. Supposedly BMW has the right to void your warranty if you use unapproved devices. I wonder if the failure of the computer system was a result of the Nokia phone or just a freak occurance.
Anyone else have experience using built in bluetooth?</p>
<p>My Audi A6 works flawlessly with both my previous Nokia and my present iPhone. It checks for a bluetooth device automatically–I don’t need to do anything except leave the in my pocket with Bluetooth enabled.</p>
<p>mom60: this is a very common problem with many bluetooth capable cars…My H has been trying to work out the kinks in his Infiniti for two years (and that was with an "approved phone’)…My advice would be to forget the car connection and go to AT&T and get a bluetooth headset to use in the car (and out of the car as well…)…I doubt that the mis-link could have possibly screwed up the whole computer, but you never know…and I have never heard of a warranty being voided because of a mislinked bluetooth; sounds a little harsh, unless you signed something up front…</p>
<p>Unless BMW really screwed up the software of its system, I can’t imagine a Bluetooth device harming anything. Bluetooth has certain profiles that are needed to support various functions. My guess is that the functions that you would be using are in the Handsfree Profile. Theoretically, any two devices that support the Handsfree Profile are supposed to work together. If BMW did its job right, they would have tested their car with a wide range of phones to make sure that everything was OK. My guess is that the list of phones that they say are compatible are the only ones that they tested with their car. This does not mean (and should not mean) that other phones that support the Handsfree Profile don’t work with it. The fact that yours worked with it initially makes it sound like they are indeed compatible. </p>
<p>Since there is no electrical connection between the phone and the car, the worst thing that should happen is that the two devices will fail to communicate properly, but there should be no harm to the car itself. The only way that I can see this happening is if their software is so bad that when it tries to communicate with an incompatible device that it causes the software to enter a state that it can’t get out of. This would be a horrendously bad job of design and should in no way void your warranty. Besides, if it were a software problem, they should be able to just reboot the system rather than having to replace anything.</p>
<p>My guess is that your phone works fine with the car and that it just stopped working as a result of a bigger problem with your car’s computer. In other words, it was a symptom of the problem and not the cause of it.</p>
<p>wow I didn’t even know cars had Bluetooth- so cool!</p>
<p>but I am not sure what the point would be to connect with your phone?</p>
<p>“but I am not sure what the point would be to connect with your phone?”</p>
<p>emerald: You connect it to your phone to create a “hands-free” communication…there are a number of states where you are no longer permitted to talk on a cell phone while driving, unless it is a hands-free connection (although driving around the highways of New Jersey it would appear that many, many have not gotten the “memo”!!..and that goes for texting while driving as well…just my rant…)</p>