here's the link. click here

What do you guys think of it. This will be introduced in the new E class in fall 2002. First of all going with DVD is a great idea and the possibility of putting MP3 playback is a must! The end of the article also talks about COMAND III which will be introduced in 2005 and will be made by Nokia. I cant wait for that revision.

 

Not working! please check the link. thanks.

 

link works fine for me. check again

 

all week trying to access Mbspy....rudebouy if you could cut and paste the text of the artilce here that would be great, TIA,

 

here's the article from the website

As there have been quite a number of emails regarding "the" future COMAND system here is a compilation of the info available so far plus some comments by MBSPY:

COMAND is the abbreviation of "****pit Management and Data System".

Mercedes-Benz defines it as follows:
It is a car radio, navigation system and CD player in one, as well as acting as the command centre for all audio, telematics and telecommunications equipment.
The driver can either operate these functions directly from the COMAND unit in the centre console and read off the necessary operating information from the large colour display, or can enter instructions using the keys on the multi-function steering wheel. The central display in the instrument cluster and the COMAND display in the centre console are linked, but can also be used separately. The individual functions are selected by the driver by pressing the keys on the left of the COMAND system's colour display. More detailed instructions are given mainly by using the combined rotary/push-button on the right of the control panel. This button is used to highlight different menus on the display which can then be activated by pressing the button. The CD player is located above the colour display. It is used both for storing data from the CD-ROM for the navigation system as well as for playing audio CDs.
(End of MB definition)

Obviously a CD-based system is last-century technique, as the CD media was introduced in 1984. A CD per definition holds 650 MB = 0.65 GB of data, the equivalent of 74 minutes of audio - of course there are nowadays CDs holding more data, 700 MB = 0.7 GB is a very common size, and it even goes until 900 MB, but the drawback ist that not all CD players can read the bigger-size CDs.

With the ever-growing demand of bigger-and-bigger media in 1997 DVD was introduced. A DVD can at least hold 4700 MB = 4.7 GB of data. Double-layer DVDs which store data on one side but in two different layers can hold 9500 MB = 9.5 GB of data, holding 19000 MB = 19 GB for double-sided double-layer DVDs.

Also the COMAND system is not capable of playing MP3 music files - although a simple software update would enable it to do so as nothing has to be changed with the mechanical or optical components of a CD player being able to play "ordinary", non-MP3 music files.

So MBSPY thinks a state-of-the-art COMAND system in the year 2002 should of course have a DVD drive resp. a 10-disc DVD-changer plus the ability to read MP3 and MP3 pro music files - all systems with lower tech definitely are not adequate for a car manufacturer who on every occasion boasts with its technical capabilities.
Late, very, very late MB seems to have realized it is a shame for the marque to offer a sportscar like the SL 55 AMG for Euro 124.236 with stone-age CD-only technique - not to mention the COMAND system itself is another Euro 2.146...

So with the new E-Class W211 Mercedes does not offer the first-generation COMAND, customers either have to be satisfied with the APS 50 radio or to wait until autumn 2002 when COMAND II will become available with the E-Class, too.

Starting with the introduction of the face-lifted S-Class W220 in autumn 2002 a new COMAND system, COMAND II, will be introduced and then also be available for the other series like the new SL.
This will have an enhanced operation interface, a faster CPU and a DVD drive - but there is no info yet if it will be able to play MP3 or MP3 pro.
The supplier will change from Blaupunkt/Bosch to Becker/Harman (and VDO/Philips).

Three years later, in 2005, COMAND III is scheduled.
This system will not be developed by MB anymore, but by Finnish Nokia, well-known for its cellular phones.

As can be heard there had been strong internal MB opposition against this. But says Hans-Dieter Multhaupt responsible at MB for the big-car series: "Nokia goes a completely different way compared to us with the design of the operation surface."

Top priority for Nokia is the developers of the menue structure must have no clue of the complicated structural technical architecture behind, but has to approach from the point of view of the clueless customer.

Multhaupt adds "We on the other hand until now have follwed the contrary way and tried to transfer the complex software structures to the man-machine-interface." This would make operation for the unexperineced sometimes hardly understandable.

Nokia also in terms of market research works differently, concentrating on quality statements rather than on quantitative.

This for example means to concentrate on a very small number of carefully selected customers instead of hundreds of people passing through the so-called "clinics".

The results from these studies shall flow into the Comand-system of the next S-Class, for which Nokia will deliver the telecommunications device, too.
Only concern of the mercedes is that developers of cellular phone developers do not take reliability of software too seriously - with the reliability Nokia shall learn from Mercedes.
.


Article written by MBSPY - info about COMAND III based upon info from German car magazine "Auto Motor und Sport" written by Thomas Fischer

 

That system looks awesome. I didnt get the present COMAND system because I didnt like the funtionality and the technology on it seemed dated. This one looks much better especially since its DVD based. I was suprised that they didnt offer this one on the new C32 but such is life. I still love it.