d99

[Fatman]

Hi,

I'll be looking to order a DD at the end of July and had a few questions if anyone could oblige

1) Which is best Android or win CE (from the perspective of radio reception, Sat Nav, Look and feel etc )

2) Has there been any movement on the D99 platform (The front end looks better to me)

3) Are there many if any reliability issues?

4) What sort of delivery time would I be looking at if I ordered last week of July

Thanks

David

[Parker]

There are quite a few on the market, Radioguy a trader here can offer you advice and check out seller Blacksilvertech on eBay, they are part of Xtrons, there are many models and several members here have fitted them. I have a TD695G, delivery was next day by courier supplied within the UK so no fear of being caught on import duty and vat.

[Fatman]

Sorry to clarify I was looking at getting one of Seans and was just after a bit of info while people had had them for a while.

[Radioguy]

The longest time user of the D99 is CDTi on here if you want to ask .

Cheers

Sean

[bryanfury75]

I asked him for a review but till there, no luck : http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/foru...&highlight=d99

[Fatman]

Originally Posted by bryanfury75

I asked him for a review but till there, no luck : http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/foru...&highlight=d99

cdti pm'd me with his experience of the unit which I found usefull, I think im going to go for the D99 begining of august

[Shuntis]

I would appreciate knowing what he said if that's at all possible. I'm looking into this but it's a fair chunk of money for something I might end up disappointed with, and I'm having a hard time finding any good detailed reviews, particularly from a technically minded user (I like my gadgets and I like customising them).

For instance, I have an android phone and would like to know what connectivity options I have since it's not iPod compatible.

[CDTi]

Originally Posted by Shuntis

I would appreciate knowing what he said if that's at all possible.

Happy to oblige

If you are going for a Dynavin, then you have a choice of 4 units i.e. D95 WinCE/Android and D99 WinCE/Android.

I suppose the WinCE/Android choice is really down to what you want the Nav side to do and how competent you are with gadgets like mobile phones. WinCE 5 is now 8 years old and while WinCE 6 is a little newer, its more or less the same. Its very stable but very limited. Any programs available will look really old, although the sat nav progs are OK. You can get various patches and interfaces but in terms of computing, its a dinosaur.

Android is a modern OS although the version on the Dynavins is not the most current. There is a wealth of apps available for Android to really customise it as you wish. The downsides are that it is not as stable as WinCE and you need to be prepared to fiddle with it to get the best from the system.

You also need to be willing to tether your phone to the Dynavin which may cost you on data usage, depending on what plan you are on. I have unlimited data so its not a worry for me.

The same version of both Android and WinCE is on D95 and D99 but everything on the multimedia side is different. The D99 is a big improvement over the D95 IMHO, particularly the radio. The UIs are a big improvement also. There is an OBC screen although I have not been able to get it functioning properly, but I'm still trying.

Let me know if you have anymore queries.

[Shuntis]

Thanks for that CDTi Very much appreciated.

I too have a "unlimited" data contract so I'm not worried about that. I am pretty technical and have a fair bit of experience with Android at a more technical level than most users so again I'm not too worried there either.

Do you (or anyone else) know if the Android versions will be updated (having Android 4 would be cool)?

I'm a little concerned with UI performance in some places as I have watched a few videos and things like the main menu screen scrolling between pages seemed really quite slow considering, but in other places the UI seems nice a quick.

I think the Android version will be more future proof really. I just still need to decide if it's worth the money or not. I can't really find anything else out there at the moment that will do the trick.

I get the impression that it's not necessarily a straight forward installation either is it? Although I'm technically minded when it comes to software, I'm not so good with electronics and wiring.

[CDTi]

Originally Posted by Shuntis

Do you (or anyone else) know if the Android versions will be updated (having Android 4 would be cool)?

There are non-official ROMS available on the BMW Forums but they are still the same version. One of the guys over there is reputed to be working on a newer version and IIRC has also said that ICS is possible. IMHO, though, I really think ICS would be pushing it with the hardware on the board.

Originally Posted by Shuntis

I'm a little concerned with UI performance in some places as I have watched a few videos and things like the main menu screen scrolling between pages seemed really quite slow considering, but in other places the UI seems nice a quick.

I don't really find the scrolling slow TBH.

Originally Posted by Shuntis

I get the impression that it's not necessarily a straight forward installation either is it? Although I'm technically minded when it comes to software, I'm not so good with electronics and wiring.

It all depends on the age of you car and how much the radio wiring has been butchered. If its a later model with virginal wiring then its a 5 minute job.