All is clear, thank you.
First go with the Motorrad Connected app…..
- Thread starter Wapping
- Start date
I have dug out an old iPhone 5 with no SIM card. I fired it up, connected it to my home Wi-fi and downloaded the BMW Connected app, along with the map set for the UK. I had to chose an earlier version of the app as the iPhone’s operating system wasn’t up-to-date enough, though I don’t think that’ll matter too much.
As I don’t know one thing about all this new malarkey (though I do like what I have seen so far of the app and a TFT screen *) am I right in thinking that, without a SIM card, I can use this phone when out in Europe just as a simple positional device, sufficient to display the map and my position on the larger TFT screen?
Quite what the advantage of doing this over just using my perfectly good iPhone 12 (with a SIM card) is I am not sure, much beyond using the iPhone 5 as a possible back up. Above anything else, it’s the SIM card bit I am interested in. Do I need it, yes or no?
* and now I understand the Connected app better (thanks to help from this thread) and can tap on the screen to set shaping points, to create bespoke routes.
As I don’t know one thing about all this new malarkey (though I do like what I have seen so far of the app and a TFT screen *) am I right in thinking that, without a SIM card, I can use this phone when out in Europe just as a simple positional device, sufficient to display the map and my position on the larger TFT screen?
Quite what the advantage of doing this over just using my perfectly good iPhone 12 (with a SIM card) is I am not sure, much beyond using the iPhone 5 as a possible back up. Above anything else, it’s the SIM card bit I am interested in. Do I need it, yes or no?
* and now I understand the Connected app better (thanks to help from this thread) and can tap on the screen to set shaping points, to create bespoke routes.
Richard, how big is the file size of the app, and the maps ?
If it’s a large file, it may be worth keeping on the spare phone so you aren’t filling up you’re actual phone.
Thank you for the reply.
I have lots of spare space on my iPhone 12, despite having loaded the whole of Western Europe to it. That’s not my real concern.
Using the old iphone 5 as a back-up is my hope, providing it can function reasonably well and run the Connected app (with its map) through the latest TFT screens, without a SIM card installed.
Life was, I guess, easier when it was just me and my Garmin GPS units, with no thought of TFT screens, phones and apps from BMW. But I’m not so stuck in my ways, that I can’t see the possible benefits of moving forward with well designed and functioning devices.
I had (and still don’t have) any desire to use just a phone on its own as a GPS device, doing nothing more than taking me from A to B. Not least as I don’t want a phone clamped to my bike. If though it can be just tucked away in a tank bag or in my pocket (where it will sit anyway, even if it’s just a phone) and can function well with the Connected app, then I’ll give it a go.
I haven't read the entire thread (yet), but I've been beta testing the Connected App for BMW for the last year now and it's been improved alot in that time. But it does have it's issues, not least that the maps they use (TomTom I think) have alot of roads and addresses that just aren't on the map, yet Calimoto, Google and even Apple Maps do. I've asked them about this and they say they have no plans to change it any time soon, which I figured would be the response.
They seem to be forging ahead with it but I find sometimes it's a little sluggish in updating the instructions on the TFT and if I have my PackTalk on the instructions are often delayed or stuttery but hopefully they'll fix that. I've got a QuadLock with the anti vibration mount so I can actually use the Connected App to display a proper map which helps alot for a quick glance just to get the general gist of which way I need to be going.
I do enjoy that now you can import a GPX file into the app as I don't find it particularly smooth for creating routes within the app.
On a side note, regarding the no-SIM thing, I'll check it out next time I'm out but I would think even if it works, the GPS accuracy might be a little flaky. Most mobiles use assisted GPS which uses the cell info to narrow down a rough location before using GPS for accuracy, which you'd think once it has a lock thats it, but in the past I've had mega issues with apps only using GPS info
They seem to be forging ahead with it but I find sometimes it's a little sluggish in updating the instructions on the TFT and if I have my PackTalk on the instructions are often delayed or stuttery but hopefully they'll fix that. I've got a QuadLock with the anti vibration mount so I can actually use the Connected App to display a proper map which helps alot for a quick glance just to get the general gist of which way I need to be going.
I do enjoy that now you can import a GPX file into the app as I don't find it particularly smooth for creating routes within the app.
On a side note, regarding the no-SIM thing, I'll check it out next time I'm out but I would think even if it works, the GPS accuracy might be a little flaky. Most mobiles use assisted GPS which uses the cell info to narrow down a rough location before using GPS for accuracy, which you'd think once it has a lock thats it, but in the past I've had mega issues with apps only using GPS info
Got a 21 RT in my garage (Blood Bike). Phone connects via bluetooth for phone usage and music etc. You have to also connect via your phone wi fi, this dumps any other wi fi connection, and is used to use the mapping on the connected app (as long as you have previously downloaded the maps etc) The connected app uses your phones in built gps to track your position. One issue we have found is, the mapping is very battery hungry, we do not have the wireless charging cubby hole so if you do have the wireless charging you need a phone that wireless charges or can be charged. I did an hour and a half route and it took my battery from 100% to 40% by the time I arrived and that was an iPhone 12. There are still various issues with the TFT and connection. Once you switch off the bike, you have to get your phone our to reconnect to the wi fi, but I understand BMW are working on this.
It takes a 2 or 3 minutes to regain WiFi and so display maps after a petrol stop, where as on initial start up it may be 30 sec at a guess. At least that's how it worked for me today.
Thank you for the news.
I can understand that the app in full screen TFT and map mode, is probably fairly power hungry. This maybe explains why BMW have made the cubbyhole a contactless charging port AND added a fan.
I like the cubbyhole(s) on my 1600, which I use to keep assorted odds-and-ends. I’d probably just lob the phone into a powered tank bag (which I have got already) or lob it into the tank bag and use a charging brick (which I have got already, too).
I can also understand that the app is still a bit ‘Work in progress’…. But that’s the world of IT, where things sometimes don’t work straight out of the box, after millions or more are spent. If in doubt, ask CrossRail, the capital’s ongoing white elephant.
I can understand that the app in full screen TFT and map mode, is probably fairly power hungry. This maybe explains why BMW have made the cubbyhole a contactless charging port AND added a fan.
I like the cubbyhole(s) on my 1600, which I use to keep assorted odds-and-ends. I’d probably just lob the phone into a powered tank bag (which I have got already) or lob it into the tank bag and use a charging brick (which I have got already, too).
I can also understand that the app is still a bit ‘Work in progress’…. But that’s the world of IT, where things sometimes don’t work straight out of the box, after millions or more are spent. If in doubt, ask CrossRail, the capital’s ongoing white elephant.
Ahead of a long-weekend jaunt to La Roche en Ardenne at the weekend, I created a bunch of routes in BaseCamp, which I then saved to my Dropbox account. There were in all five separate routes in one file, each with multiple shaping points and about seven or eight fixed via points spread between the five routes.
I then went to my iPhone, found the file in Dropbox and asked the BMW Connected app to open it. This it did perfectly, importing the five routes in a flash.
As a rule I always number my routes, give them a date and a distinctive name. The Connected app displayed the five separate routes, in order and with the correct names. The routes are reasonably complex, one nearly 290 miles long, sometimes involving some quite small roads (but no pure goat tracks) so it’s a reasonable test of the app. As far as I can tell, the Connected app is displaying each route perfectly.
I
I also have the same five routes loaded onto my Nav VI.
As I can run my Nav VI and the Connected app simultaneously on my bike, I’ll be interested to see how the app gets on with things, particularly if I go ‘off route’ at some point, as I am wondering how the app recalculates and how (if it does) it returns me to my bespoke route.
I then went to my iPhone, found the file in Dropbox and asked the BMW Connected app to open it. This it did perfectly, importing the five routes in a flash.
As a rule I always number my routes, give them a date and a distinctive name. The Connected app displayed the five separate routes, in order and with the correct names. The routes are reasonably complex, one nearly 290 miles long, sometimes involving some quite small roads (but no pure goat tracks) so it’s a reasonable test of the app. As far as I can tell, the Connected app is displaying each route perfectly.
I
I also have the same five routes loaded onto my Nav VI.
As I can run my Nav VI and the Connected app simultaneously on my bike, I’ll be interested to see how the app gets on with things, particularly if I go ‘off route’ at some point, as I am wondering how the app recalculates and how (if it does) it returns me to my bespoke route.
Sounds a positive experience, Richard. The big advantage of the BMW app over the myriad of phone apps, many of which are very good, is the ability to display them on bike’s screen.
For bikes like the Honda AT with car play, you may achieve the same result as BMW Connected app with any CarPlay compatible app.
A good test of the would be to see if it works without a phone signal. I found all of the phone apps, even when I’d downloaded both maps and where possible routing engines, failed when the device couldn’t access data.
I suspect the BMW app uses an online search and also an online router, so it would be worth checking by putting it in aeroplane mode or turning data off, before consigning the Garmin to the bin.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
For bikes like the Honda AT with car play, you may achieve the same result as BMW Connected app with any CarPlay compatible app.
A good test of the would be to see if it works without a phone signal. I found all of the phone apps, even when I’d downloaded both maps and where possible routing engines, failed when the device couldn’t access data.
I suspect the BMW app uses an online search and also an online router, so it would be worth checking by putting it in aeroplane mode or turning data off, before consigning the Garmin to the bin.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Nice one Richard! I'd be keen to hear how you get on, I've had very mixed experience with the recalculation of routes. Everytime I do the beta testing one thing I have to do is skip a waypoint and occasionally I've missed a turn for some reason and I find it almost never takes me on anything that resembles the original route, but to be fair all my routes are local and sub-50miles.
Indeed, so far, so good.
At the moment I only have an 850 GSA to try it out on, which only has the small screen and the basic turn-by-turn instructions. A better test would have been using an RT with its big split screen, capable of displaying the map and route, as at least then I could see how the route altered (if at all) after any recalculation.
The 850’s basic instructions are OK but are maybe a bit wanting in big cities, with multiple roads and sometimes strange road layouts. Last Saturday evening I rode the 850 from central London’s Park Lane to Morden, in South West London, some way away. I know the way but I wanted to see how easy to follow the basic turn-by-turn would be if you had no idea where you were or where you were going.
The problem of not having a map became obvious as the arrow is only a general indication. Similarly, the naming of the road is not much help if the local council hasn’t put up street names. I cannot imagine it would be much fun in the middle of Frankfurt in the rush hour. It’s only saving grace is that the app will continuously recalculate, so you’ll get to where you are going eventually.
At the moment I only have an 850 GSA to try it out on, which only has the small screen and the basic turn-by-turn instructions. A better test would have been using an RT with its big split screen, capable of displaying the map and route, as at least then I could see how the route altered (if at all) after any recalculation.
The 850’s basic instructions are OK but are maybe a bit wanting in big cities, with multiple roads and sometimes strange road layouts. Last Saturday evening I rode the 850 from central London’s Park Lane to Morden, in South West London, some way away. I know the way but I wanted to see how easy to follow the basic turn-by-turn would be if you had no idea where you were or where you were going.
The problem of not having a map became obvious as the arrow is only a general indication. Similarly, the naming of the road is not much help if the local council hasn’t put up street names. I cannot imagine it would be much fun in the middle of Frankfurt in the rush hour. It’s only saving grace is that the app will continuously recalculate, so you’ll get to where you are going eventually.
Morden. Now there’s a place. I had my best kebab ever there, whilst craning in the steel for an extension to the biggest mosque in a Europe. Odd people though. They always looked a bit nervous.
I am wondering if the app would work best with lots of fixed via points (points you have told the dumb app you must go through) in order to force any recalculation back onto the roads that were originally intended? The only via points I have put in are cafes that I know I will stop at. Having the Nav VI, which I have set not to recalculate if I go off route, will help me to hopefully see what the app gets up to. There again, if it’s pouring all the way to La Roche and back I won’t be spending time mucking about in experiments.
After riding London to Cap Gris Nez and on to La Roche en Ardenne all on bespoke routes created in BaseCamp, I am quite impressed with the Connected app.
What’s good?
A. It reproduces the bespoke route exactly.
B. If you go off route, it recalculates very quickly. I haven’t learned yet as to whether it is possible to turn auto-recalculation off or set it to prompted.
C. If you go off route, it seems to pick up the bespoke route again, just as soon as it is able to. I haven’t yet managed to work out how it does it exactly.
D. If you go off route, it initially does its best to turn you around (U-turn) or at least it does if you miss out a via point (a point you have created in BaseCamp that you have said you must pass through). Once to don’t U-turn it picks up the bespoke route again.
F. The app’s ability to accept photographs loaded into a jaunt’s record.
What’s not so good?
A. As pointed out elsewhere in this thread, it does not announce via points ie. You don’t know you have arrived at the point you’d say you’d meet your mates. There again I don’t have sound on but there is no visual signal that you’ve arrived. I guess a work around would be to end the route there.
B. The small TFT screen lacks a map screen, even a very basic one. I assume BMW assume you’ll have your phone mounted and will use that? The basic instruction arrows are pretty good but can be very imprecise on complicated junctions, where you are trying to negotiate busy traffic.
C. The roundabout symbol is clear but the reliance on numbering the exit is a bit silly. Garmin’s screen instruction to take the third exit and it’s simple drawing of the roundabout to show the exit’s o’clock position is good. I get around this by looking at the usually very clear street furniture signs on the approach to a roundabout, to work out what the app means by ‘Exit 3’.
D. Garmin wins over by displaying the next turn coming up, in the top left of the screen, so you know what to expect.
Both C and D would be much better if the TFT screen displayed a map, as it does on the RT.
E. The phone gets pretty warm and it can eat the battery. Keep it powered or you’ll lose your only means of navigation.
No wonder BMW are putting in fan cooled, wireless charging cubbyholes.
Are these alone bad enough to make it a bad app / navigation device? No. Those who do not plot their own routes will not give too many hoots as to how it recalculates, I guess.
What’s good?
A. It reproduces the bespoke route exactly.
B. If you go off route, it recalculates very quickly. I haven’t learned yet as to whether it is possible to turn auto-recalculation off or set it to prompted.
C. If you go off route, it seems to pick up the bespoke route again, just as soon as it is able to. I haven’t yet managed to work out how it does it exactly.
D. If you go off route, it initially does its best to turn you around (U-turn) or at least it does if you miss out a via point (a point you have created in BaseCamp that you have said you must pass through). Once to don’t U-turn it picks up the bespoke route again.
F. The app’s ability to accept photographs loaded into a jaunt’s record.
What’s not so good?
A. As pointed out elsewhere in this thread, it does not announce via points ie. You don’t know you have arrived at the point you’d say you’d meet your mates. There again I don’t have sound on but there is no visual signal that you’ve arrived. I guess a work around would be to end the route there.
B. The small TFT screen lacks a map screen, even a very basic one. I assume BMW assume you’ll have your phone mounted and will use that? The basic instruction arrows are pretty good but can be very imprecise on complicated junctions, where you are trying to negotiate busy traffic.
C. The roundabout symbol is clear but the reliance on numbering the exit is a bit silly. Garmin’s screen instruction to take the third exit and it’s simple drawing of the roundabout to show the exit’s o’clock position is good. I get around this by looking at the usually very clear street furniture signs on the approach to a roundabout, to work out what the app means by ‘Exit 3’.
D. Garmin wins over by displaying the next turn coming up, in the top left of the screen, so you know what to expect.
Both C and D would be much better if the TFT screen displayed a map, as it does on the RT.
E. The phone gets pretty warm and it can eat the battery. Keep it powered or you’ll lose your only means of navigation.
No wonder BMW are putting in fan cooled, wireless charging cubbyholes.
Are these alone bad enough to make it a bad app / navigation device? No. Those who do not plot their own routes will not give too many hoots as to how it recalculates, I guess.
Good info in this thread. I’ll give it a run tomorrow
Thanks lads
Thanks lads
Thank you.
I am trying the app out again today, around the smaller roads in the Ardenne.
What I haven’t done yet and won’t have an opportunity to try on this jaunt, is to try the app on:
A. A truly circular route, where the start and end points are identical.
B. On a route that is a figure of eight, ie. one which crosses over within itself.
It took Garmin devices many years to perfect their devices / software to be able to cope with both.
I am trying the app out again today, around the smaller roads in the Ardenne.
What I haven’t done yet and won’t have an opportunity to try on this jaunt, is to try the app on:
A. A truly circular route, where the start and end points are identical.
B. On a route that is a figure of eight, ie. one which crosses over within itself.
It took Garmin devices many years to perfect their devices / software to be able to cope with both.
The app performed well on the quite complicated, almost circular, 150 mile loop around the Belgian Ardenne yesterday, shown in post #69.
It did freeze up once. I only noticed because the instruction to ride straight ahead for eight miles did not alter, whilst my Navi VI (I was running both at once) was showing that I should turn right in 200 yards. I think the freeze occurred when I had to go off-route, due to a road closure in a town but I’m not exactly sure. Maybe my iPhone just froze of its own accord? All other recalculations seemed to work just fine, always bringing me back onto the bespoke route I created. I am still not quite sure how the app deals with recalculations but so far at least, they seem to be OK and reliable. Whether I’d go the whole hog and drop my trusted Garmin device entirely, I am not yet entirely convinced but that is maybe just a matter of a bit more confidence in using what is a newly developed app and my virgin experience of a TFT screen. The truth is, I still like a route map displayed on a screen.
I had my iPhone 11X connected to power, in my tank bag all day. This worked fine, though I think using the BMW Connected cradle would be better, assuming it doesn’t shake the phone to pieces. I did, briefly, put the phone into the map carrier on my tank bag, just to see what the route displayed like on the screen. It looked OK, nice and clear.
In the picture, you can see that the routes on the phone and on the Nav VI both match, as does the more basic instruction on the TFT screen. Each show, straight ahead and then fork left. It was a bit of a lash-up, just to see what it looked like. I put the phone back into the tank bag as it kept sliding around, annoying me.
The advantage of then being able to use a BMW Connected cradle, along with the whirly wheel thing to zoom in and out is obvious. I have a spare decent iPhone which I use for work, which I am due to replace, so I’ll maybe strip that down to just basic apps to use in the cradle.
Marks out of 10? I’ll give it nine, dropping one point only because of the freeze-up mentioned above.
PS If anyone is wondering what the twin knob thing, velcroed to the top of my brake reservoir is, it’s the remote heat controller for my heated jacket. I had it plugged into the power socket on the left of the bike’s cockpit screen. The red lead is power from the USB feed, running into my tank bag and into my iPhone.
It did freeze up once. I only noticed because the instruction to ride straight ahead for eight miles did not alter, whilst my Navi VI (I was running both at once) was showing that I should turn right in 200 yards. I think the freeze occurred when I had to go off-route, due to a road closure in a town but I’m not exactly sure. Maybe my iPhone just froze of its own accord? All other recalculations seemed to work just fine, always bringing me back onto the bespoke route I created. I am still not quite sure how the app deals with recalculations but so far at least, they seem to be OK and reliable. Whether I’d go the whole hog and drop my trusted Garmin device entirely, I am not yet entirely convinced but that is maybe just a matter of a bit more confidence in using what is a newly developed app and my virgin experience of a TFT screen. The truth is, I still like a route map displayed on a screen.
I had my iPhone 11X connected to power, in my tank bag all day. This worked fine, though I think using the BMW Connected cradle would be better, assuming it doesn’t shake the phone to pieces. I did, briefly, put the phone into the map carrier on my tank bag, just to see what the route displayed like on the screen. It looked OK, nice and clear.
In the picture, you can see that the routes on the phone and on the Nav VI both match, as does the more basic instruction on the TFT screen. Each show, straight ahead and then fork left. It was a bit of a lash-up, just to see what it looked like. I put the phone back into the tank bag as it kept sliding around, annoying me.
The advantage of then being able to use a BMW Connected cradle, along with the whirly wheel thing to zoom in and out is obvious. I have a spare decent iPhone which I use for work, which I am due to replace, so I’ll maybe strip that down to just basic apps to use in the cradle.
Marks out of 10? I’ll give it nine, dropping one point only because of the freeze-up mentioned above.
PS If anyone is wondering what the twin knob thing, velcroed to the top of my brake reservoir is, it’s the remote heat controller for my heated jacket. I had it plugged into the power socket on the left of the bike’s cockpit screen. The red lead is power from the USB feed, running into my tank bag and into my iPhone.
Brilliant wapping, agreed on the shaking of the phone. I hope bmw were thinking ahead, although like you say handy to have a spare stripped down phone for this use.
Thanks again very well put together
Thanks again very well put together
I’ve had the same “freeze” on numerous occasions.
Have sent the logs to Testbirds as an a beta tester for the newer versions.
As yet they’ve not come back with a reason as to why it occurs but it’s often enough to be a reason not to ditch other apps as yet.
Have sent the logs to Testbirds as an a beta tester for the newer versions.
As yet they’ve not come back with a reason as to why it occurs but it’s often enough to be a reason not to ditch other apps as yet.
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