[maxhigh]

My 2008 335i did not come with nav or iPhone interface, but its bluetooth does pair nicely with my iPhone. I'd like to use my iPhone for nav, and for audio through the car's audio system. Looks to me like the least cumbersome way to do this is to clip the phone to a vent, and use a multipin connector with a split cable that hooks the phone to the car's power and and aux audio input in the center bin. Not elegant, but maybe workable, and the iPhone power won't quickly drain because it will have power. (I also considered propping the phone lengthwise in the open ash tray, which is less obtrusive and fits nicely, but for nav it's too far from the line of sight to the road ahead.)

What I'm wondering about:
1) Will the audio out from the iPhone's connector hooked into the car's aux audio input cause any sort of interference or delay to the bluetooth phone operation?
2) Has anyone come up with a better way to do this?
3) If this has been covered, please point me to where I can find it.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[torifile]

1. No problems should result from using the AUX and BT at the same time.
2. Nope. I believe that short of making some significant changes to your HU, this is the only way to do it.

You didn't ask, but make sure the cable you get actually charges the phone. I have a long Y cable that seems like it would work for this type of thing but for some reason, the iPhone does not charge when using it. The only downside, and it could be a big one, is that you have to have the audio source set to AUX in order to hear the voice nav. That means no radio or CD use if you want to hear the prompts. I don't find it to be a problem because 90% of the time, I'm using my iPhone but just thought I'd point that out.

[fdriller9]

Get a blackberry stereo gateway. It's only like $50 and I use mine every day.

You plug the gateway into the aux port and it will stream music over bluetooth from your phone to the aux port.

It will also simultaneously pair with the car's bluetooth and when calls come in, music pauses/fades away and the car rings. Music fades back in after ending the call.

Also most iPhone nav apps will voice over the music or pause it to give you voice prompts so it will work perfectly.

Just get a mount and possibly a charger since I'm guessing the display will need to be on while you use the nav app.

[maxhigh]

Originally Posted by *********

Get a blackberry stereo gateway. It's only like $50 and I use mine every day.

You plug the gateway into the aux port and it will stream music over bluetooth from your phone to the aux port.

It will also simultaneously pair with the car's bluetooth and when calls come in, music pauses/fades away and the car rings. Music fades back in after ending the call.

Also most iPhone nav apps will voice over the music or pause it to give you voice prompts so it will work perfectly.

Just get a mount and possibly a charger since I'm guessing the display will need to be on while you use the nav app.

Thank you. If I understand correctly, the gateway essentially takes the place of the audio wire off the Y-cable, wirelessly bringing the iPhone's audio into the aux system. The upside is this could keep one wire from traveling along the center console from the phone to the aux input inside the console. The downside is it means another piece of gear, and that piece also needs a power plug into the the cig lighter socket in the console (the iPHone can plug into the one in the ashtray closer by). It seems like an iffy tradeoff. Am I missing your point?

[fdriller9]

Originally Posted by maxhigh

Thank you. If I understand correctly, the gateway essentially takes the place of the audio wire off the Y-cable, wirelessly bringing the iPhone's audio into the aux system. The upside is this could keep one wire from traveling along the center console from the phone to the aux input inside the console. The downside is it means another piece of gear, and that piece also needs a power plug into the the cig lighter socket in the console (the iPHone can plug into the one in the ashtray closer by). It seems like an iffy tradeoff. Am I missing your point?

Well I have my BB stereo gateway plugged into a micro usb charger in the armrest area. It's connected by a 2 in cable and a short 4in or so 3.5 male to male cable.

I also keep a micro usb charger in the ashtray area at all time. When I need to charger my phone, I just pull out the iPhone usb cable and plug it into the ashtray charger and my phone.

When you're not charging the phone, it's completely wireless. And it sounds better than the headphone jack because the BB stereo gateway uses the digital signal instead of the analog signal from the headphone jack.

[torifile]

That last statement is untrue. A2DP audio sounds worse than line-out audio (which is what the AUX is pulling and what he'd bettering if he used a Y cable*). The best you can hope for with A2DP is hearing your audio. You're not looking for quality if you go this route - obviously, that's fine if audio quality is not your priority, but don't expect *better* quality audio this route.

* Never run audio out through the headphone jack of the iPod/iPhone if you're putting it into a powered source if you can avoid it. It's sounds like crap.

[fdriller9]

Originally Posted by torifile

That last statement is untrue. A2DP audio sounds worse than line-out audio (which is what the AUX is pulling and what he'd bettering if he used a Y cable*). The best you can hope for with A2DP is hearing your audio. You're not looking for quality if you go this route - obviously, that's fine if audio quality is not your priority, but don't expect *better* quality audio this route.

* Never run audio out through the headphone jack of the iPod/iPhone if you're putting it into a powered source if you can avoid it. It's sounds like crap.

Hmm well there's a noticeable difference when I use the headphone jack vs the blackberry stereo gateway...the gateway sounds much better.

The blackberry stereo gateway and using the dock connector both are digital outputs...line out in your terms.

I've used both a y cable and the blackberry stereo gateway...I can't tell the difference between the two.