We just received delivery of our new LandRover LR4. It is our second LandRover and has a few new bells and whistles that weren't available on the LR3 that we had for a few years. I love the ease to which one can connect their iPhone(s) via bluetooth and the new touch audio system that allows for access of music from my iPod or iPhone.
The LandRover LR4 allows mulitiple iPhone connection via bluetooth. I believe that they allow up to 6 or 8 iPhones to be connected via the bluetooth. One merely turns on their bluetooth feature on their iPhone, select 'Phone' on the dashboard or from the Main Menu on the dash display. It takes a few seconds and once you see LandRover in the list of devices that you can connect to on your iPhone, select that LandRover. Once it is connected the name of your network (AT&T) and your iPhone name will appear on the dash display. It automatically downloads your contacts from your Address book into the memory of the LandRover. In fact, all the contacts from each of the iPhones that you choose to connect via bluetooth will have their own PhoneBook available on the dash display.
You can answer a call by touching the green phone icon on the dash display or on your steering wheel. You can type in a phone number on the keypad on the display screen or access a phone number by scrolling the Phonebook on the dash display and then clicking on the green phone icon. To hang up you merely touch the red phone icon on the dash or steering wheel.
The LandRover will automatically display the last phone connected if it is still within range. Once you get out of range, it will then recognize another phone that has been connected via bluetooth in the car and load in the Phonebook that corresponds to that phone. This is a great improvement over the bluetooth system that was present with the LR3 model. This allows both my husband and I to use our phones when the other one is not in range. So when I am out and about my phone is connected and vice versa. There is no need to turn off bluetooth and reconnect the iPhones each time we enter the car. It remembers each iPhone.
The LandRover LR4 also has an audio touch system and special connectors in the center console. One of the connectors is made by LandRover and with the special LandRover cable we can directly connect an iPod or iPhone. This connection shows up in the Auxillary Audio Section of the Main Menu as an option for audio. The really neat thing is that it automatically loads your entire iPod music library of mp3's into the LandRover dash display. You can browse your iPod/iPhone music library by playlist, artist, song and play in various modes with functions like: random, repeat, etc. The name of the song that is playing is displayed on the audio screen. Next the song is a right arrow key and you can touch this to display - artist, album title, genre, etc. Below is a photo of the songlist display on the dash:
Another connector in the center console is for a direct connection for a memory stick. We have one on order and I will let you know in a future blog or comment on this blog how that works out for storing music and using with the dash display.
I also tested the ability to use my iPhone while connected to the audio connector. It worked great - I was able to play songs, make phone calls using the dash display Phonebook and buttons to call out and to also receive a call. The song mutes while you are on the phone and then once you hang up or disconnect then the song is resumed. If you want to run another app or browse the internet with your iPhone while music is being played through your car speakers, you can do that too!
Additionally - The iPhone also charges while it is connected via the audio connector cable!
The car has some other cool features like auto dimming 'your bright' headlights when other cars approach on highway, a pretty good navigation system, HD radio, satellite radio capability, single CD player and front/rear and side cameras for aids in parking and backing up.
Overall, I am pleased with the improvements and the noticeably more stable ride. Looking forward to a journey to test all the features. My husband is anxious to take it into rock climbing mode. Tweet
6 comments:
Hello Granny J, I am a Mac Mama of a Mac Family as you are and live in SA, TX! Maybe you can help me and many others figure out a problem! I have been on umpteen forums to try to find a way to play Pandora Radio through my 2010 LR4 HSE with no success at finding a solution! HELP!
Mac Mama,
While on a trip to grocery store, I tried playing Pandora Radio from my iPhone 3GS, connected to the 2011 LR4 special cable. Upon, connecting the iPhone to the cable in center console, it loaded in my iTunes library and displayed on audio display. It preceded to play the first song that I had selected in my iPod app library. I used the iPhone to select the Pandora app and selected a radio channel from my Pandora list and pushed the play button on the Pandora screen on my iPhone. It played for approximately 3 or 4 seconds and then jumped back to my iPod songs. I am thinking that if I set up a playlist with a very short segment of a song or even a silent audio track of a few seconds, and call that playlist Pandora for convenience, I might try next time to play that short playlist and then switch to Pandora and see if it will continue to play Pandora due to the fact that there are no further songs to play in the playlist selected from the iPod app on my iPhone. I am thinking this would be a possible solution, but I have not verified it. If I get it to work by this solution I will post here.
The easiest way to use pandora with your Landrover is to use a 1/8 inch stereo audio cable connected in the earphone jack of your iPhone and plug other end into the aux jack located in the back of the center console on the second row of vehicle. Select "auxiliary" on the display unit. Select pandora app on iPhone, log In and pick one of your radio channels you set up in your pandora account. The audio will come out the Landrover speakers and can be controlled by volume on iPhone and Landrover volume controls on display unit or steering wheel. Remember streaming Pandora by using 3G or 4G connection will use a lot of your data download and be billed by your service provider (AT&T).
My name is Jon and I work for Land Rover in Texas. Here are some audio upgrade details ahead for the 2012 LR4 available in the Fall of 2011.
"All models are equipped with Bluetooth as well as Bluetooth
o LR4 and HSE - Hi-ICE (Base Audio) – harmon/kardon® system gets upgraded from 240
watt 9-speaker system to a 380 watt 11 speaker system.
o Option on HSE / Standard on HSE LUX - Premium ICE (Upgraded Audio) –
harmon/kardon® system gets upgraded from 480 watt 14 speaker system to an astonishing
825 watt 17 speaker system.
o Full control of Audio system available through revised color touchscreen, which is now
standard on LR4.
audio streaming where music
can be played through the audio system via Bluetooth connection.
Vehicles with Navigation will include the Virtual CD Auto Changer which allows you to save
10 albums (in uncompressed format) onto the hard-disc drive and is equipped with
Gracenote for track information."
Hi Granny Joan,
how do I set the auto dimming for the headlights on the LR4?
Thanks, and I love your blog,most helpful!
Malinda
To Jon from Land Rover Texas- I have a new 2012 RR Sport w/Navigation. However, when I insert a CD I do not see the 'Upload' button on the Nav screen which would allow me to upload my cd's to the Virtual CD player. Any thoughts/ideas? Thank you.
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