

- BMW IDRIVE 7 HIDDEN FEATURE HOW TO
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The screen is close enough to the driver’s line of sight that it doesn’t take your attention totally away from the road, either. You can twist, rock and press while keeping your arm in a comfortable position cruising down the road - no awkward leaning or reaching toward a touchscreen as with Audi, or dealing with the added dexterity needed for MBUX's touchpad. Its ability to be controlled via the rotary controller is a huge plus in BMW’s favor, too. In the hierarchy of luxury infotainment systems, iDrive 7.0 is right there on the same plane as MBUX and Audi’s MMI. Watch the video above to see us walk through some of the screens and get a sense of what it’s like to use. Basically, don't expect it to be as good as the Google Assistant or Siri.
BMW IDRIVE 7 HIDDEN FEATURE SOFTWARE
Its voice recognition software is verging on above average, but it still mistakes our commands from time to time. Its abilities are miles deep, and it doesn’t force you to weave through a maze of commands to get important functions rolling like navigation or song selection. You can activate it with a simple, “hello BMW.” But a touch of the voice button on the steering wheel is even quicker and easier.
BMW IDRIVE 7 HIDDEN FEATURE HOW TO
It works when your phrasing is right, but owners should read up on how to talk to it before setting off to avoid frustration.

The BMW Personal Assistant is also onboard. BMW’s gesture controls are exactly that, and while there isn’t much new, they do work better and with greater accuracy and speed.

BMW IDRIVE 7 HIDDEN FEATURE FULL
And yes, these modes are somewhat gimmicky, but this system is full of party tricks to impress your friends. Waiting for a friend you’re picking up has never been more relaxing. We enjoyed the “Relax” mode that plays sleep-inducing music, closes all the shades, sets the temperature warmer and serves up a consistent fan speed. The Caring Car modes are even more intrusive. For example, the “Executive” mode closes all the shades, turns on the ventilated seats and adjusts the ambient lighting. One of them is called “Experience Modes,” and the other is called “Caring Car.” Experience Modes offer up three preset modes to set the interior mood. There was no freezing or glitching going on throughout my week of testing it, and I’ll genuinely miss using this infotainment system.Ī couple new modes were introduced for the system. Swapping through menus and swiping around the screens is a pleasant and stress-free experience. It also displays CarPlay across the full widescreen display, which I prefer since it takes advantage of all the available screen real estate (you cannot split the screen to show CarPlay with an iDrive display such as navigation or radio info).īMW has also managed to optimize its hardware and software to work just as quickly as our super-powerful cell phones do these days. The software loaded up quickly and seamlessly each time we turned the car on after the initial annoying connection process. We’ve had huge functionality issues with BMW’s wireless Apple CarPlay in the past, but experienced none this time around. I like the default tiles with the map, phone status and current media playing, but you can throw the trip, fuel economy and plenty of other data up there, too. The home screen consists of customizable tiles that let you choose what you’d like to display. Right now, the iDrive 7.0 software is available in the 2 Series Gran Coupe, 3 Series, 5 Series, 7 Series, 8 Series, X3, X4, X5, X6, X7 and Z4. I can’t say that about every infotainment system out there. The combination of a 12.3-inch touchscreen and rotary dial controls that are intuitive and easy to use makes for an enjoyable digital experience.
BMW IDRIVE 7 HIDDEN FEATURE FOR ANDROID
Well, except for Android phone users (like myself), but that’s going to be fixed soon. BMW’s iDrive 7.0 interface is one of the best infotainment systems out there right now.
