Hi,

I'm looking to get a Grande Punto and one of the things that has attracted me is the Blue & Me. However on reading this forum it seems to have a few problems (I guess with Microsoft software and Italian hardware that is not a big shock ).

But I also know that on forums like this you tend to only get posts from people having problems which can distort the viewpoint.

So my question is - are people generally pleased or disappointed with B&M? I would be using it with 2 Nokia 6233s phones (and occasionally a 6230) plus a USB stick for MP3s. Is there a limit on the size of memory stick it can cope with BTW?

Thanks

Geoff

Think you generally answered your own question Geoff infact I have never had a problem with a non-working blue & me system...but do get alot of customers who are unfamiliar with the workings etc.Alot of complaints are with non-compatible phones.......if you look on the fiat website it gives you a list of compatible phones & loads other info

www.fiat.com

(bottom left corner)

Thanks for the link. I have looked at the list and the Nokia 6233 is not on it. However a few posters have the same phone and it seems to work OK - you just have to manually transfer the phonebook entries - which I can live with.

GeoffT said:

Thanks for the link. I have looked at the list and the Nokia 6233 is not on it. However a few posters have the same phone and it seems to work OK - you just have to manually transfer the phonebook entries - which I can live with.

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i tried to manually transfer my names and numbers from old samsung phone what a nightmare gave up eventually.have a sony ericsson 850i now all the numbers are automatically loaded onto the blue&me even the network i am with vodafone that name comes up when the ignition is on.better getting a compatible phone mate

Blue & Me is a great piece of technology and as T says the main issues appear to be with people either not understanding it or non-compatible phones. I work in a phone shop so if people need help in finding out whether their handsets are compatible and to what extent i will always try my best to try them on mine before hand. I have used a 6233 on mine for a few days and its fine. All you have to do is go into your phonebook, options, mark all, send, via bluetooth and it will search for Blue & Me, select that and they will all go down. This is dependant on the phones software version though. Hope this helps.

Rich

And as for your USB stick question I use a 4GB one without any problems.

Personally I think it is fantastic. I have used it with a 4gb ipod nano, a 2gb sandisk memory stick, a 2gb texet memory stick, a SE w550i mobile, and a motorola V525 mobile all with no problems at all. People at work also love it as they send me weird and wonderful texts as they know that when read out in the car, I'll be chuckling away. Very useful and fun gadget.

Thanks for the replies.

RichC - Thanks for the tip about sending all of the contacts at once from the 6233. That will save me a lot of time.

Jim-Armao - 4Gb should be enough for me. How quick/slow is it to read a USB stick with 4Gb of music on? On my current Blaupunkt Headunit it takes it quite a while (I'm guessing 15 seconds or so) to read a 1GB SD card when you select it as a source.

Geoff

Thats ok mate, happy to help.

I also use a 4GB memory stick and it reads straight away, no issues at all. The only thing that is a little annoying is if you put your music in folders like i do it can take a while to scroll through them. This isnt because of the stick though its because of the kit itself.

Rich

Hi Geoff,

The B&M BT functionality is pretty good but not great. The Parrot CKD-3100 (had it in my previous car ~£200 fitted) works better than the B&M with two phones (I use two one for business and the other for personal use, N70 and 6280). So you'll save yourself a couple of hundred quid.
B&M will only connect to the previously connected phone if it is present, there is no way to switch between the two once the ignition is on. If it is not present it will try other paired phones. You need to switch BT off on the one you don't want to connect, if it's the one last connected. I have been known to switch the engine off when crawling in traffic to switch phones!

Sorry guys I disagree with you about it B&M and media player working perfectly (unless I have a problem??). Occasionally it gets it's knickers in a twist and either will not connect the call correctly. Usually at the same time the media player will only find 3 of the 80or so albums on my Samsung 4GB USB memory. At some indeterminate point (~days) it seems ot correct itself both with the phone and media player.
Other minus points/things to consider for the media player
- Takes about 1-2 mins to build the media library (4GB)
- no fast forward/reverse. Especially unhelpful with long podcasts
- No resume (though strangely it does do this when it gets into the 'funny mode')
- You need to make sure your ID3 tags are in order to navigate you music efficiently
- Does not play music with DRM'd music (digital rights management)

It's not all doom and gloom, as I said it works resonably well, not perfect!

how do you get the B&M set up to read out the text messages???? PS got my car back tonight what lovely job they have done even supergaurded it all again.

There's a message reader update - I downloaded it from the Fiat website, then uploaded it onto the car via my USB stick. It reads out text messages with pretty good accuracy.

Going back to the original question...yes, B&M is brilliant, works really well most of the time. I think there have been a few teething problems (well, it is Microsoft!), but on the whole, it's good. Mine has problems understanding 'YES' for some reason when I want to confirm a call to someone, but otherwise speech recognition is fantastic.

No problems playing MP3s, except it doesn't seem to play the next track in order when you skip to the next one via the steering wheel controls!

I personally think Parrot are the best kits on the market so i would say its slightly unfair to compare it with Blue & Me considering what else it does. The Parrot gives you the option to manually switch the phones which i do think is a good thing.

I can honestly say i have not experienced a single problem with the phone side of Blue & Me other than not being compatible.

In all the time i have been using my 4GB memory stick not once have i had to wait for it to build the library, as soon as its in its playing.

The only niggle i have had is when ive updated it but it has not detected the new songs first time round, when i have unplugged it and plugged it back in again everything is fine.

All of the other points i agree with though. DRM is just one of those things, i personally dont download any music that is encrypted.

What we all have to remember is that this is a first for Fiat and although there are the odd couple of "bugs" it is very very good for a first attempt.

Rich

cant find the b&m download on the new site

jassyo said:

cant find the b&m download on the new site

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Are you refering to the SMS Reader mate?

Rich

If you are then this is the thread you want,

https://www.fiatforum.com/grande-punto-technical/75638-blue-me-tech-info-questions-answers.html

Check the second post in it, has all the stuff you will need including user guides.

Rich

My 4gb memory stick is full but as soon as it's plugged in it plays, no waiting for up to a minute, so maybe a problem with others B & M who have to wait a while?

Reading others comments, I would agree that it is a pain not having a fast forward/rewind on the media player.

I was impressed with the message reader - the first message I got from my wife, she had put a 'x' at the end, but the nice woman read out 'kisses'! Nice touch!

I did sometimes have the problem with the B & M recognising 'yes', for example when confirming whether to dial a number, but now I just press the confirm button the steering wheel, and no other commands have this problem - perhaps it's an accent issue with a small word?

I use a 8GB memory stick and a 5GB 1.8" hdd from seagate both work great, but when swapping between them the blue and me always indexes the mp3s again. (doesnt happen when unpluggin and plugging back in the same one)

The Bluetooth is brilliant and works faultlessly with my SE k750i - message reader is cool but the voice makes me PMSL

But overall am very happy with the B&M

Thanks for all of the info everyone.

BigAde said:

Other minus points/things to consider for the media player
- Takes about 1-2 mins to build the media library (4GB)
- no fast forward/reverse. Especially unhelpful with long podcasts
- No resume (though strangely it does do this when it gets into the 'funny mode')
- You need to make sure your ID3 tags are in order to navigate you music efficiently
- Does not play music with DRM'd music (digital rights management)

It's not all doom and gloom, as I said it works resonably well, not perfect!

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BigaAde - when you say "No resume" do you mean that the system doesn't pick up from the part of the track it was playing when last switched off? if so that seems to be a pretty serious shortcoming. Can you confirm what you mean by that?

Geoff

GeoffT said:

Thanks for all of the info everyone.




BigaAde - when you say "No resume" do you mean that the system doesn't pick up from the part of the track it was playing when last switched off? if so that seems to be a pretty serious shortcoming. Can you confirm what you mean by that?

Geoff

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Hi Geoff

I don't know what problems he was having with resume, but normally (as mine does) the system will always start playing exactly from where left off when engine/stereo/mute button switched off/on. So no shortcomings there. I think his resume feature is kaput, but by the sound of it, so is his whole B & M system!