Arrie

Text reading is a function of the phone, not the car.

screw991le

Is a firmware update something they will do during a service for free?

thefisch

Are you talking about getting the phone to read your texts to you when in BT audio mode? I haven't tried that yet.

thefisch

Others have reported taking their 2010's in complaining about BT phone connection having issues under warranty. Dealer would then update software which gave them a better BT connection for audio. Not sure of the procedure myself, but they should be able to quote you an estimate ahead of time if you are out of warranty. I doubt they would do anything for free. Maybe if you are paying for other services you could ask.

Arrie

When connected to my car by BT my phone automatically tells me who sent a text and asks me if I want it read to me or ignore. If i say "read" then the phone reads the message and then asks if I want to reply. All this by speaking.

thefisch

Sounds like a good feature. Which OS do you have? Or is this an app?

drsaab

I think the text feature is from 2012 and onwards only.

Arrie

It is a Nokia 1020 windows phone but I think all Windows phones have this...?


It is not an app.

thefisch

I have Andriod 4.3 and figured out how to do it with that. Not sure I will use it much though.

If anyone is curious, Andriod has a hands-free mode which will uses a voice interactive service (like Siri for iphone but called google now or something else like S voice for Samsumgs). When in this mode and with comand switched to BT audio, the phone will read new texts out loud, let you reply, send new messages, and respond to a plethora of other commands related to calendar, contacts, weather, etc. If you are listening to song on BT audio, the phone will fade out from the song when you interact with the voice service.

The reason I may not use it is I don't keep comand on BT audio that much. I listen to my ipod and the radio most of the time. I have more music on the ipod and it is easier to find tracks using the comand menu compared to fumbling with my phone in the car to find a song. Also, BT audio streaming from my phone kills the battery after a little while which means I always have to plug it in. However, if you use BT audio all the time, I can see how this hands-free feature is an added convenience.

When reading about this, I did come across some pretty cool stuff about automating your phone using NFC or location based services with a little bit of work. For example, you could set it up so that when my phone connects to the car BT, the phone could automatically launches hands-free mode, pandora, waze or whatever apps you use the most when driving. Silly me, I mostly just put the phone in the cupholder or passenger seat in case someone calls and then just enjoy the drive. Good to know I can do it if I want though.

Arrie

My Windows phone does not need to be streaming BT music for it to read the text messages. As long as my phone is connected to the car via BT it mutes the radio regardless what I am listening to and tells me about the text message with options I listed earlier.

Are you sure you have to be streaming audio from your phone for this to work? Sounds silly is you have to...

thefisch

Yup, my Samsung GS3 running Android 4.3 only interacts with the comand system when receiving/making a call (and related call logs/contact transfer features) or when BT Audio is selected under the Media options (DISC 9). Other than an incoming or outcalling call, my phone does not affect comand with any notifications when I am listening to another source (i.e. RADIO FM, DISC 1-8).

Your setup sounds more convenient. I may try repairing my phone with the car since I upgraded to 4.3 recently and perhaps there are more features/updated BT profiles available that I can access.

jmatero

Is this a certain year model because iPhone 5 and 5S are working for me (bluetooth streaming and text messaging) in my 2013 E350 and 2014 C250

dudeitsmattx

Is there any audio settings for like volume? I Denver back when I had my 08 C300 non navi there was a post saying that with the navi setups you can remove the volume limiter. Is this true?

sraj49

Good morning. I own a 2009 E 350 and how do I enter the engineering mode and also would like to enable Bluetooth Audio.

Appreciate your kind assistance

Raj

Abrown3mtg

Check out the 211 forum. Good luck!

jahquan3

Very helpful tips here. I'm going to try as soon as I get off today. I use a Samsung Galaxy 3 so I assume I should be able to get most of this stuff to work.

killerE350AMG

WOW BT audio streaming works!!! So happy, but do I have to authorize everytime I use the BT audio, not connecting automatically today when I already sync it up yesterday? Now I feel like I'm driving a modern cal now that it has BT audio streaming, haha

killerE350AMG

iPhone 5s BTW...

killerE350AMG

dvd video in-motion hack would be great

aaacsdai

This applies to Android V-4.1-Jelly Bean to 5.0 Lollipop OS and most flavors of supported BT Phones, once phone is on and allowed to auto-connect to your MB (Comand turned on) it autosyncs and the phones description, for example (SMA-900 Samsung (my S5) will be shown and stay on the bottom of the Comand screen once connected. Pushing on the Voice Button on your Steering Wheel automatically connects to the Samsung S-Voice or other BT Voice activated phone and will provide full voice activated phone service using the MB Mic and Speakers-you can adjust the loudness using the steering wheel as well-it will also read text messages on screen because it is your phones OS interfacing with Comand-Comand is not in Command. This is one MB feature that I have taken for granted-it always worked for me.

For KillerE350: For the Video issue-Splitview-supported-so there is a way, you should not have to re-sync your phones audio stream with Comand every time-but your phone has to be streaming audio via BT for Comand to sync up-but I know little about I-Phones-I never had one-no pun intended and I will check this out with a I-phone earliest chance I get. BT support for true HD Audio and Video is not as good as using the onboard PCMCIA adapter, newer Type II PCMCIA Cards will also accept multiple types and sizes of SD and Micro SD chips, some PCMCIA type I cards will not support 8GB or higher data wise (I do not know why).

Vondra1948

Do you have this same info for a 2006 E350 4matic?

aaacsdai

Vondra1948, check your Command-Settings and let us know what is listed under settings please-to better assist you.

killerE350AMG

shoot, this BT streaming is weird... my bt telephone connects automatically but streaming I have to de-authorize then autorize again. Anyone else has this issues? Maybe this is why they didn't offer BT streaming because it was glitchy at the time??

aaacsdai

KillerE350AMG, not a glitch, remember that your Phone is a Phone first, a MP3 player second and HD video player somewhere in between. Enjoy always-and wait about 6 months-the new IP's and Droids are coming out with some new more powerful BT apps which will increase the quality and speed making for more HD sound and video. I have family that works with this stuff every day-so I listen up when they talk shop since they actually know what they are talking about-I just listen well.

jahquan3

After I tried this it work on the first shot and I never have to re-sync after that. Only thing is I wish I could control the music player direct from the command system instead of having to manually pick up phone and skip song or whatever. I guess I'm being greedy now but I do enjoy the BT audio quite a bit. Thx for the tip. Also I changed it to have the climate controls show on the screen now.