BMW Navigator 5 and not supporting phone calls on a connected iPhone

An odd problem, yesterday evening. My BMW Navigator 5 was nicely giving me riding instructions on my Sena SMH-10 headset, but I was unable to call my wife to let her know what time I’d arrive on our meeting point. Odd, because Garmin’s SmartPhone Link icon was visible in the title bar, as was the bluetooth icon. So my phone was connected and transmitting information to the Navigator 5, but the Navigator 5 didn’t know it was a phone?

I went to check the Bluetooth setings on the Navigator. My phone was connected through Bluetooth, but the phone call functionality was unavailable. Retrying the connection would immediately fail on me.

After removing and re-establishing all Bluetooth pairings on my phone, the Navigator V and my Sena SMH-10, and even rebooting my phone and switching my SMH-10 with another SMH-10 I had laying around, I did the only other thing possible: reboot the Navigator 5.

Well, it turns out this solved the problem. Pairings were restored, and my Navigator 5 remembered again an iPhone is also for initiating and receiving voice calls.

 

How to get AutoFill to work on Wifi logins in iOS 5

I noticed that when I replaced my iPhone 3GS with a 4S, it forgot my logon usernames and passwords when it came to Wifi logins. I’d get the popup screen, but the account name and password were not available under the AutoFill button.

The problem is that AutoFill will only ask to remember account information if it is enabled in Settings -> Safari, and if you visit the login site in Safari itself instead of the logon screen (which is obviously also Safari, but not advertised as such).

The trick is then to trick your Wifi in not triggering in showing the logon form, but have the Wifi connected and surf to any site to get the logon screen working. Skyoam WiFi hotspot keeps you connected around the world without the worry of roaming fees, unsecured connections or configuring SIMs.

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iPhone 4S, Siri and the Garmin Zumo 660

So I just received my iPhone 4S. I love it.

One of the new features is Siri, an AI assistant which uses voice to interact with me as an user, and the backend of what is my iPhone: reminders, my calendar, my contacts, and the internet.

Now, interacting with voice is not something entirely new. My car’s hifi and satnav system supports a basic level of voice commands to call people from my contact list, and even my Garmin Zumo 660 which I use on my motorcycle supports it.

Whereas in my car the voice commands are processed by the car, however, Garmin’s Zumo 660 uses the voice support of my phone. So if I had a phone which did not support voice commands, I’d be out of luck. But Garmin’s Zumo 660 specifies in the documentation that this voice is only limited to calling people: you shout their name in the microphone, and your phone should know what to do: call the contact who’s name you shouted.

It all goes a bit haywire on the iPhone 4S though: instead of simple voice commands, the speech button on the Garmin Zumo 660 starts up Siri on the iPhone and Siri will accept voice commands.

That’s the good bit. The bad bit is that if you’re not quick enough giving your voice command and receiving an answer from Siri, the Zumo will end the voice dialing phase with an error saying that the phone does not support it, breaking off your dialogue with Siri.

So the basic premise is: Yes, Siri can work for you on your motorcycle, but Garmin needs to modify their firmware to recognize and treat Siri differently than any other voice dialer system.

 
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