New 3G Plus MMI in 2010 Retrofit

[DavidB8]

Ok, because 3 threads where merged the time line is a little screwy unitl you get about half way through. In order to give new comers an idea of whats going on I'm redoing the first post which is from an older thread. I'll delete some of the ramlings from previous threads as well so it's not as hard to figure out.

A brief history. I ordered a new MMI, controls and radio to attempt a retro fit. Now before the parts even shipped I got word that I may be ok with the current radio and AMP even though they are different part numbers.

Now I've had a spare MMI unit on my shelf for about 6 months now. I thought it was an original 3G plus unit from Europe that was released in small numbers when the 3G was first released. I believed it was the European holy grail that supported phone SIM and bluetooth.

Well I couldn't be more wrong. With my car in protection right now due to a glitch in the system I figured no harm in putting the European unit in for testing. At the very least see how the NAV would handle a different continent.

Well low and behold, this entire time my Hybrid Q5 European module was actually a US unit!!.. So whats with that SIM card slot and phone antenna aerial connection... GOOGLE MAPS!!

So beleive it or not, plug and play. A couple of my MMI control buttons are wrong but all in all it works. Not sure if rewiring would fix that but I doubt it.

So I was in awe... Couldn't believe it. Ran inside and grabbed a sim card and started capturing images. I managed to convert the unit to A4 instead of Hybrid Q5 and enabled a few things. I only spent 20 minutes on it so lots of settings to sort out but it seems to work perfect.

I do have protection going on in my car right now so my radio cuts out ever few seconds but that's expected just like my CD changer. So lots of testing and playing to go but my parking camera and on screen sensor display works no problem. I can adjust all the normal settings you would expect.. Here are some pics from the unit in my car with nothing more than swapping the head unit.

Secret menu worked with me enabling it. Odd.





















Cool huh :)
Edit:
OK so a little more playing before I get some sleep.

It seems you can use a SIM card with a data plan to get online. Problem is my phone antenna isn't hooked up yet so it gets no signal. Some neat finds though. With a SIM in the car you can share a data connection with other devices. The MMI had a built in wireless access point.

I was also able to stream Audio via bluetooth to the unit and actually play music without it cutting out due to the protection on my radio. All very cool. Slowly figuring this out.

More Pics.

You can enable and change the wireless access point. I left most default for testing and I could connect my ipod to the wireless connection.







Bluetooth Streaming:





Edit:
Here is a picture of the controls I managed to order for my retrofit. Can't wait to get them.