using my blackberry with my bmw

One of the biggest joys of owning my new Blackberry 8830 World Edition is how it seamlessly interfaces with the telecommunications package on my 2005 BMW 325i.

My e46 3-series came with the BMW Assist package (among other things) which includes the Bluetooth capability to pair the car with a phone. Longtime readers know how displeased I was to find out my Verizon Treo 650 wouldn't work with the car because Verizon crippled the connection (kinda like they've crippled GPS on the 8830). So, prior to buying the 8830, I borrowed a friend's phone (exact model and carrier) to make sure it would work on my e46 bimmer. It paired and called easily, so I made the jump and got the phone.

After setting up email and contacts, the first big thing I did was pair my phone to my car (the pairing process was a piece of cake). After they paired, it took about a minute or so for the phone book contents to sync between Blackberry and bimmer, and now, whenever I hop in the car and need to take or make a call, I use the bimmer's built-in handsfree to do so.

Here's how it works:

INBOUND When there's an inbound call, the music (be it from radio or CD) stops and instead I hear the ringing of a phone through the car's sound system. The phone number of the inbound call displays on my stereo head unit and I press the "talking head" button on my car's steering wheel to accept the call. According to those I've spoken with via my car's telecom system, I come through loud and clear on their end with little outside noise bleeding through (the microphone for the system is in the reading lamp cluster, just above the rear view mirror). When I'm done talking, I simply push the "talking head" button again and the call is disconnected and the music comes back on.

OUTBOUND When I want to place a call, I use the Blackberry to scroll through contacts like I would if I were placing a normal call from the phone. When I tap the SEND button, however, the car intercepts the call, cuts the music (if needed) and handles the mic/speaker duties just like on an inbound call.

The super-double-bonus piece of this is that if I've left my cell phone in my bag (as I sometimes do) and want to initiate a call, I simply press the R/T button on my steering wheel and my contacts list shows up in my stereo's head unit and I can use the fwd/rev buttons on the steering wheel to scroll through the names until I find the one I want and initiate the call by tapping the "Talking Head" button on the steering wheel to start/stop the call. Sweet.

QUIRKS Since I've paired the phone to the car and enabled them to automatically connect whenever the car is in range, I have to be careful when Left Coast Mom borrows the car while I'm in the house. When she starts the car, my phone turns on and connects to it even when the phone is inside on the kitchen counter (about 30 feet away). Once she drives off, the phone and car disconnect, but I know one of these days the timing of an inbound call is going to be perfect so she hears the inbound ring as she drives off.

I've got over 800 contacts in my phone book, so it takes a long time to scroll one-at-a-time through the list via the steering wheel controls. I'd like to find a way to do this faster.

I have yet to deal with managing a call and a passenger at the same time since most of my driving is solo driving. Not quite sure how I'm going to handle it when it comes to taking a sensitive call with someone in the car, but I have a feeling I'll figure it out on the spot.

All in all, though, I couldn't be happier with my paired Blackberry and bimmer. Not sure why Verizon nor BMW touts the fact the phone and car work together... seems to be a HUGE selling point on both sides, imo.