Unusable, unworkable USELESS p.o.s. voice command

[sethchan]

The voice command on my week 11, 2008-build 135 is near useless. Ask for "telephone" and half the time it gives me maintenance. Get into telephone and ask it to dial a name and it will keep giving similar-sounding names but never the right one on the first try. I recently spent a 45-minute drive just seeing if I could get the system to dial a friend's name and no, not once. I tried saying normally, tried it this way, tried in that way, tried pronouncing the silent letters, no, no, no. Always it suggested another person's name.

I have no particular accent, just standard, mid-Atlantic. A bit midwestern, perhaps. The same basic accent as the late Johnny Carson.

My dealer, Novation, in Uppsala, replaced the microphone and updated the software a year-and-a-half ago, which meant it would then at least kind of recognize the command "telephone," which it didn't at all before. Now they claim that tech support in Sweden, when I live, says there's nothing more that can be done.

Apparently, I am the only person in the world that has this problem, since I've googled the heck out of the subject. That tells me that the system normally works at least OK for everyone else. I'm claiming that the second microphone is installed incorrectly, there is a problem with the wiring or there is a defective module or some combination of all three. So far, they are refusing to do another microphone replace, they are refusing to switch in another module and they are refusing to check the wiring. I believe that BMW has no business telling me that there is nothing they can do!

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to handle this dealer? I have now talked to the head of service for Sweden, but nothing has happened so far.

Does anyone know if the voice module from, say, a seven series can be put in? I rather doubt seven-series owners are people BMW wants to anger with crummy voice command. Can the whole 2009 system be put in at any price?

[993 911]

I have the same problems and just don't use the system at all.

[BrokenVert]

Its even worse in the vert. If you try getting to the dial a number menu thing with the top down at speed it registers the wind noise as an endless string of 1s.

[White1]

I agree, the voice command in these cars is CRAP, my dad has a C63 and his voice command understands everything clear as day even if you mumble slightly.
If i can even get mi 1er to recognize my commands, it does the same thing to me...usually with numbers (it tends to get numbers wrong, as well as adding extra numbers)
if i say dial 555-1212, it might say "525-1292", or my personal favorite, "555-1212477". And if that werent bad enough, i have names and numbers stored in the cars memory, and i cant even use them by name. When i say "dial name" the voice respond "phonebook is empty" yet lo and behold the names and number appear on the radio display when i do it manually.

[BMW-NC]

Originally Posted by White1

When i say "dial name" the voice respond "phonebook is empty" yet lo and behold the names and number appear on the radio display when i do it manually.

From my guess, you do not have the I-Drive, aka do not have the voice command.
What that function does is storing numbers but has nothuing to do with the phone book of your actual phone. See the old 7 Series....

[sethchan]

Originally Posted by 993 911

I have the same problems and just don't use the system at all.

But in this case, I was hoping my problem was rare because it would mean it was potentially curable.

[bradford]

Originally Posted by White1

I agree, the voice command in these cars is CRAP, my dad has a C63 and his voice command understands everything clear as day even if you mumble slightly.
If i can even get mi 1er to recognize my commands, it does the same thing to me...usually with numbers (it tends to get numbers wrong, as well as adding extra numbers)
if i say dial 555-1212, it might say "525-1292", or my personal favorite, "555-1212477". And if that werent bad enough, i have names and numbers stored in the cars memory, and i cant even use them by name. When i say "dial name" the voice respond "phonebook is empty" yet lo and behold the names and number appear on the radio display when i do it manually.

IIRC the manual says that the voice system is completely separate from the other systems. It strictly uses the audio waveforms for matching, so there's no way to associate it with the text data is has in your phone or the head unit. You'll need to record entries for each person you want to add.

I use it only for frequently dialed numbers (wife, home, friends, and hookers)

[White1]

Originally Posted by BMW-NC

From my guess, you do not have the I-Drive, aka do not have the voice command.
What that function does is storing numbers but has nothuing to do with the phone book of your actual phone. See the old 7 Series....

Well i dont have idrive, and do have voice command as far as the hands free is concerned. My voice commands for the phone worked just fine untill the last update my dealer did. It has only been since then that i cant use the names for my phone. The only way i get to make hands free calls is to call out the numbers, and that is when it tends to add its own numbers.
Since the last update also my cd player tends to give me CD ERROR messages all the time..even with brand new cd s. Also my MP3 player tends to loose connection with the head unit. I have mentioned the issues, but as usual they cant find any problems.

[SlickShift]

Mine works about 50% of the time. I usually end up cursing and yelling at it like it actually has feelings.

[BrokenVert]

I always laugh because my female feminine car has the souless voice of 40 year old cubical worker.

[bkochuk]

mine actually works ok, but it helps to have the windows closed.

[sethchan]

Originally Posted by bradford

IIRC the manual says that the voice system is completely separate from the other systems. It strictly uses the audio waveforms for matching, so there's no way to associate it with the text data is has in your phone or the head unit. You'll need to record entries for each person you want to add.

I use it only for frequently dialed numbers (wife, home, friends, and hookers)

I don't see how I would record anything. It seems to read what's written in the phone book, it just reads badly. Should I be recording something somewhere?

[sethchan]

Originally Posted by SlickShift

Mine works about 50% of the time. I usually end up cursing and yelling at it like it actually has feelings.

I do the same thing. I stopped even trying for about a year because it was so annoying. Just wanted to forget the whole experience.

[JimD]

I just added a Garmin 885t in place of the 760 I posted about before. It has voice commands and they work well, even with the top down. Now if I could figure out how to use the button in the wheel to wake up the Nuvi to let it know I want to give a command..... It has a little remote that mounts to the wheel for this but using the button that's already on the wheel would be nicer.

Jim

[spellbmw]

Mine works, but I don't use it a lot yet...would like a cheat sheet for the 1-series voice commands but have found only 5-series.

[sethchan]

Originally Posted by spellbmw

Mine works, but I don't use it a lot yet...would like a cheat sheet for the 1-series voice commands but have found only 5-series.

Or did I misunderstand you?

[spellbmw]

Yes, thanks, I am aware of the voice commands in the owners manual. A 'cheat sheet' is usually a small one-page sheet of paper for convenience.

[pcstuff]

My cheat sheet's a printout of the voice command appendix from the back of the manual. You can print out the manual using the PDF version.