This went reasonably well in my 2014 BMW X3.
Connecting was fairly straightforward. In the spirit of “Keep It Stupidly Simple,” the documentation
doesn’t describe how the connections work.
First, you pair the Echo Auto ("the device") to your phone with Bluetooth. Easy with my Galaxy Note 9.
First, you pair the Echo Auto ("the device") to your phone with Bluetooth. Easy with my Galaxy Note 9.
Next, you connect the device to the car. More on that in a moment.
What's happening here is that the device is using the Alexa app on your phone to do the searching via your phone's Internet services. It then uses the car's audio system to give you the results.
Effectively, the device is a microphone for getting voice commands to the phone and a Bluetoooth bridge for connecting the results from the phone to the car audio. You could do the same thing by speaking direcctly to the phone; and if your phone was connected to the car's audio you could hear it through the built-in speakers vs. from the phone. The advantages of this setup are that you don't have the awkwardness and danger of holding the phone and manipulating the app. It's also likely that the device gives you a superior microphone, one that's better at discerning speech in the car's noisy environment than the unit built into the phone.
My BMW did not see the device in Bluetooth, unsurprising since Bluetooth 4.0, which is required, wasn’t widely available until about 2014 when my car was manufactured. Likely, you won’t see it in vehicles older than 2016 since manufacturers design at least three years in advance and are very conservative.*
What's happening here is that the device is using the Alexa app on your phone to do the searching via your phone's Internet services. It then uses the car's audio system to give you the results.
Effectively, the device is a microphone for getting voice commands to the phone and a Bluetoooth bridge for connecting the results from the phone to the car audio. You could do the same thing by speaking direcctly to the phone; and if your phone was connected to the car's audio you could hear it through the built-in speakers vs. from the phone. The advantages of this setup are that you don't have the awkwardness and danger of holding the phone and manipulating the app. It's also likely that the device gives you a superior microphone, one that's better at discerning speech in the car's noisy environment than the unit built into the phone.
My BMW did not see the device in Bluetooth, unsurprising since Bluetooth 4.0, which is required, wasn’t widely available until about 2014 when my car was manufactured. Likely, you won’t see it in vehicles older than 2016 since manufacturers design at least three years in advance and are very conservative.*
I found the Aux jack in the console next to a USB port and
connected it easily to the device using the supplied cable. I then had to go into
BMW’s system settings to make sure it knew Aux was active; it did. At this
point, all I had to do was remember to turn the “entertainment” volume up and
everything worked fine (I've since learned that the volume resets every time you turn the car off, so you have to do this each time).
The air vent mount, sold separately, is very nice. It
attaches well and its ability to manage cords is a thoughtful touch.
I did find the included cigarette lighter connection for USB to be a
bit wobbly and lost the link a couple of times. I think that’s a BMW issue,
though.
My phone was previously connected to the car via Bluetooth for making and receiving phone calls. I left that active so that I can both use the device and access the phone. There are no problems with the car or the phone in allowing both connections to be active at the same time. Sometimes, though, I get two voices when I first start up; one of them is hard to distinguish but I think it's saying that I'm connected to two audio devices. There's a "dual audio" setting in Android; turning it off silenced the ghost voice but didn't allow me to connect to the car. I'm still trying to figure this out.
The device is very good at accurately recognizing speech.
Using the app while driving is very nice, allowing you to do all of the usual Alexa Q and A. One thing that's fun is to ask, "Alexa, where am I?" You get remarkably precise answers to this. For example, I get not only the city but the region of the city: "You are in North Old Town, Alexandria, Virginia."
My phone was previously connected to the car via Bluetooth for making and receiving phone calls. I left that active so that I can both use the device and access the phone. There are no problems with the car or the phone in allowing both connections to be active at the same time. Sometimes, though, I get two voices when I first start up; one of them is hard to distinguish but I think it's saying that I'm connected to two audio devices. There's a "dual audio" setting in Android; turning it off silenced the ghost voice but didn't allow me to connect to the car. I'm still trying to figure this out.
The device is very good at accurately recognizing speech.
Using the app while driving is very nice, allowing you to do all of the usual Alexa Q and A. One thing that's fun is to ask, "Alexa, where am I?" You get remarkably precise answers to this. For example, I get not only the city but the region of the city: "You are in North Old Town, Alexandria, Virginia."
All in all, looking good.
- BMW has taken conservative
to moronic. This car’s console has a built-in iPhone holder/connector. The
problem is, Apple had already stopped using that connector when the car
was made. The connector is bulky and, of course, unremovable. I’ll bet BMW’s
design people are the last ones chosen for soccer teams at the company
picnic.
