[Equilibrandt]

Originally Posted by tracer bullet

I've never, ever used mine. I'm not saying it's OK they are going away, I've just never used them. So I'm asking, out of genuine curiosity and because maybe I'll learn something cool - what do you guys actually use them for?

I'd bet they pre-save the shortcut to the //M HP/TQ gauges to Button 1.

[Onizukachan]

That’s actually #8 on my NBT, tire pressure is 7, ambient light color change is 6, 5 is internal HDD music, 4 is external sources menu (iPhone+ iPod+usb movies) 3 is Sirius + HDradio presets, 2 is dvd zoom, 1 is DVD.

I really do use them as shortcuts to stay out of needin* to look at menus or needing to look whilst cycling thru sources on wheel/ screen.

[Hegge]

Originally Posted by tracer bullet

I've never, ever used mine. I'm not saying it's OK they are going away, I've just never used them. So I'm asking, out of genuine curiosity and because maybe I'll learn something cool - what do you guys actually use them for?

Don’t you use the eight programmable buttons to store radio station presets? This is basic.

[snareman]

Radio presets. Home and work navigation locations. Climate control settings

[tracer bullet]

Originally Posted by Hegge

Don’t you use the eight programmable buttons to store radio station presets? This is basic.

I really don't listen to the radio. So, no I guess it never crossed my mind. But yeah - makes sense if you do.

[snareman]

Originally Posted by Equilibrandt

^this. People are speculating purely off of teasers of ID8 cars on YouTube. No one owns one yet.

We get it: lack of buttons suck, fingerprints, etc. I'd venture to say ID8 with voice commands will be a huge step up, software-wise (neglecting anything related to hardware). Not sure how long ID7 will get updates when ID8 becomes all you can get.

Well, although not iDrive8, I'm also somewhat basing my criticism on the system in my Jeep which also got rid of a lot of the buttons forcing me to go into the menus for things like seat and steering wheel heat and other climate control options. Hey BMW would have to get A LOT faster than it is in 7 which although not necessarily slow is a far cry from the instant gratification of a button press.

[Garth2079]

Originally Posted by tracer bullet

I've never, ever used mine. I'm not saying it's OK they are going away, I've just never used them. So I'm asking, out of genuine curiosity and because maybe I'll learn something cool - what do you guys actually use them for?

3 x radio stations, sports dials, map navi to home, phone number speed dials. So convenient and far less intrusive than talking to the car.

[LogicalApex]

Originally Posted by Garth2079

3 x radio stations, sports dials, map navi to home, phone number speed dials. So convenient and far less intrusive than talking to the car.

Talking to the car can be less distracting for functions you use less often. So you aren’t hunting for the right button.

The biggest challenge to voice commands reaching their full potential is answering the “what can I ask?” Barrier. Button you click it and it does what it does no ambiguity. Want the car to start guidance to a destination by voice? You first need to figure out “how to say it to the car”.

They really should publish or have a website with a full suite of commands. So help expose some of the stuff voice can do.

A good example for me is when I am driving in rural areas at night. I will usually use voice to disable all ambient lighting and to turn off the central display while I keep my eyes on the road scanning for deer…

[snareman]

Originally Posted by LogicalApex

Talking to the car can be less distracting for functions you use less often. So you aren’t hunting for the right button.

The biggest challenge to voice commands reaching their full potential is answering the “what can I ask?” Barrier. Button you click it and it does what it does no ambiguity. Want the car to start guidance to a destination by voice? You first need to figure out “how to say it to the car”.

They really should publish or have a website with a full suite of commands. So help expose some of the stuff voice can do.

A good example for me is when I am driving in rural areas at night. I will usually use voice to disable all ambient lighting and to turn off the central display while I keep my eyes on the road scanning for deer…

The problem with talking to the car is that it's not the instant gratification that a button is. Yes, its 5s, but in comparison to the button press it feels like an eternity. Now if they decide to force going into the menus then its probably an even trade of time to do an audio command vs finding the button.

[swagon]

I prefer iDrive 4 (NBT Touch with the vertical menu) to iDrive 7.

[G30M]

i will love my iDrive 7 until the end of the world, the last iDrive that doesn't lock you into paying BMW monthly ransom

[kjx]

Originally Posted by tracer bullet

I've never, ever used mine. I'm not saying it's OK they are going away, I've just never used them. So I'm asking, out of genuine curiosity and because maybe I'll learn something cool - what do you guys actually use them for?

1 - drive recorder (even though I have a separate front and rear always-on dash cams)
2 - shortcut to carplay
3 - sound settings
4 - mobile devices - if i quickly want to disable carplay to get my phone to connect to my dashcam wifi or home wifi and stay connected! (so irritating)
5 - sports displays
6 - phone number (to dial quickly)
7 - tire pressure monitor
8 - drive recorder (redundant)

I keep changing some of these but 2 is always Carplay in all my cars, and 1+8 are drive recorder.

[Westside Guy]

Originally Posted by kjx

1 - drive recorder (even though I have a separate front and rear always-on dash cams)
2 - shortcut to carplay
3 - sound settings
4 - mobile devices - if i quickly want to disable carplay to get my phone to connect to my dashcam wifi or home wifi and stay connected! (so irritating)
5 - sports displays
6 - phone number (to dial quickly)
7 - tire pressure monitor
8 - drive recorder (redundant)

I keep changing some of these but 2 is always Carplay in all my cars, and 1+8 are drive recorder.

Out of curiosity, why do you need 2 buttons for the drive recorder?

[kjx]

Originally Posted by Westside Guy

Out of curiosity, why do you need 2 buttons for the drive recorder?

Boring story but since you asked --

The general thought process with drive recorder is that I need to instinctively get it right if I need it suddenly, and I'm probably 99% primarily focused on what's going on on the road when I'd need it.

I started with '8' on one car. Then assigned '1' on one of the cars to make it even easier to remember. Eventually left it to both 1 and 8 on both (?) cars - it's definitely both on the M4; can't remember now if it's only 8 on the X5.

I'll probably just go with '1' on both cars in time, with 8 getting reassigned to something else.

In any case, the one time I really needed it (someone nearly T-boned me blowing through a stop sign), the damn thing started with the initialization process as though I'd never done it instead of being ready to record. Very disappointing.

I've Blackvues in both cars for front and rear that I rely on primarily. Hopefully I'll never need to trigger the driver recorder manually of additional footage.