What a journey you’ve had with the BMW connected app, fair play to you for your persistence. I do really have to question BMW Motorrad’s wisdom and even their customer satisfaction approach, as to why they didn’t just go directly to wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto? Surely it ultimately would’ve been a more stable platform and it would’ve allowed the customers more choice in navigation apps, as well as the various others apps available on Apple CarPlay and Android auto. I’d be gob smacked if the future 1300RT doesn’t go down this route, it works so well on my Africa twin 1100.
Thanks for the great comment. I don't know how mature the CarPlay and Auto systems were back in 2021, but then it seems the BMW tech wasn't brilliant either. (That said, I feel all these systems feed into the "it's ok to rely in your customer's phone for a premium feature" mindset - and I don't like that at all). I suspect the reason BMW made this decision has a few factors. When they were designing the bike it would have been at least a couple of years before '21. At that point maybe they weren't sure how good the Apple and Android systems would be, and opted for the safety of something that they had full control over. It should be mentioned I have had better success when using a newer phone, but it still has problems. The general principle of a premium bike's navigation relying on a phone that could be of any number of wildly different specs has always been deeply flawed in my opinion. My car nav doesn't do this (it is also BMW) and it is far better. You mention the Africa Twin. I believe the Goldwing's system is similarly better. I have a feeling the 1300GS still relies on the (not)Connected App, so I won't hold my breath for the RT.
Fair play, I am impressed with your perseverance! I would have given up and bolted a Garmin ZUMO XT on long ago 🤣. Great video, keep up the good work :)
I’m trawling through RT posts as I’ve just ordered one so on my test ride 5hrs it worked great and more to the point my iPhone 12 Pro Max fitted with the case off yippee lol I’ve subscribed as your two vids have been helpful and you must be local you was within a mile of my place on this ride ( do you use Reiten in Glemsford?) looking forward to seeing what comes next 🏍🎉👍👍
I'm glad the videos have been helpful. Thanks for the kind words. Yes, it's Reiten in Glemsford I use. They're about an hour's ride for me, but the roads are great. It's been a while since I posted a video, but there are a couple in the works. Editing takes more time than I ever expected when I started the channel.
I also am on the Apple platform, using a iPhone 12 Pro, and after the latest BMW software update the map mode would drop every few minutes and rarely reconnect. However, once I tried leaving my Apple Watch at home the connectivity issues went away completely and the system has worked flawlessly ever since. The watch was useful for text alerts which do not appear on the TFT display, but I can do without the alerts. And the advantage to using my primary phone for all connections to the RT is that I can listen to music (the entire library plus streaming) through my headset and take and send phone calls. It has been a frustrating experience, and BMW probably should know by now that the Apple Watch will override the TFT connections. I had to learn this by trial and error.
I bluetooth my 'real' phone directly to the Cardo for music, and do without the BMW satnav voice instructions. Although supposedly the Cardo can deal with two bluetooth devices...
Came across your channel today having recently had a new K16 delivered. I was interested in the TFT operation. You deliver great informative stuff - but Im now off to learn about Wi-Fi A having no idea what that is 😂 -Cheers
Motorcycle connected apps from BMW, KTM and Ducati were not ready for prime time. Taking a page from Apple, in lieu of proper long term development and testing, they have relied on the purchasers of their expensive products for beta testing and troubleshooting.
There is one point I would make here: Apple are in complete control of the hardware their software runs on. However, that could be turned around by arguing that the bike manufacturers also have hardware they control, i.e. the bike. Why are these systems not running purely on the bike? Especially since we know the bikes have their own connectivity and GPS, because the SOS systems need to work without a smartphone connected. I suspect they save money by using the owner's smartphone connectivity, and there's probably a revenue stream in data harvesting, too. All speculation on my part, of course.
