Blue & Me - Fiat and Microsoft Collaboration
The Fiat Linea, which was presented in Istanbul last October, now makes its market. Some models of Fiat Linea is equipped with a system called Blue & Me powered by Microsoft Windows Mobile. The car has Windows Logo on its steering wheel and dashboard.
Blue&Me, the result of the collaboration between Fiat Auto and Microsoft, is changing the way people communicate and listen to music on the move.Using a series of voice commands, without taking your hands off the wheel you can telephone and listen to incoming SMS messages, interpreted on your Bluetooth Blue&Me mobile phone, consult your phonebook and listen to MP3s. Blue&Me supports most mobile phones with Bluetooth technology.
The car was developed by Tofas A.S., the 50-50 joint venture between Fiat Auto and Koç Holding which is listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange. Manufacturing of Linea is in the plant in Bursa, Turkey (fully operative, output will reach 60,000 units per year) and is marketed in a number of European and non-European countries: Spain, Germany, Morocco and Finland. At a later date, the Fiat Linea will also be manufactured in Brazil, India, China and Russia.
About Blue & Me
Instead of costly and rigid hardware, Fiat Auto and Microsoft is offering a platform that can be adapted to most mobile phones, digital media players and other mobile devices. The customer is free to change them with new models without compromising compatibility with the car.
Blue&Me guarantees maximum security levels and user-friendliness. The voice-activated system, the complete integration of steering wheel control buttons and information on the dashboard display will allow users to utilize any Bluetooth-based mobile phone - even if it is in a pocket or handbag - without removing hands from the steering wheel.
Thanks to a modern voice-recognition system, no preliminary voice training is needed, and even incoming SMS messages are read aloud to the driver. And even in Turkish in the local Language .
Among audio functions, it is possible to listen to music stored on a mobile phone, in the newest smart phones, and in MP3 readers or USB removable sticks. All this thanks to a USB port, in the glove box, which enables the connection to any digital device with the correspondent port.
The collaboration between Fiat and Microsoft allows Blue&Me to be based on an open platform, compatible with the largest number of devices such as mobile phones, Palms and MP3 players, with the real benefit of continuously catching up with market innovations, thus maintaining the perfect integration with the car at an entry-level price.
Here are the some of details of Blue & Me :
The hands-free system
The Blue&MeTM hands-free system uses exclusive universal voice-recognition technology: regardless of who is speaking, the system does not need time to learn the voice.
After pairing your Bluetooth mobile phone with the system, which you only need to do once, and by downloading your phone’s phonebook, you can make and receive phone calls simply by speaking: all the commands can be given without taking your hands off the wheel or your eyes off the road.
Up to 5 different mobile phones can be paired with the system: should more than one paired phone be present in the car at the same time, Blue&MeTM connects with the last phone used.
You can call a number by dictating the number, digit by digit, or simply by saying the name of the person you want to call, provided they are in your phone’s phonebook. Alternatively, you can use the steering wheel controls to scroll through the phone book on the display on the instrument panel.
SMS Reader
If you receive an SMS, you can have the system read the message for you out loud! It can even interpret abbreviations and smilies! What could be easier or safer?
Musical entertainment
With Blue&Me you can listen to all your favourite music in the car, in MP3/WMA/WAV digital format.
All you have to do is connect your Media Player to the USB port in a handy position in the centre of the dashboard: a USB pen-drive, an MP3-player or a smart phone, or even an I-pod. The only requirement is that the files downloaded are not covered by music copyright, such as iTunes files.
When you connect the device to the USB port, the words ‘MEDIA PLAYER’ immediately appear on the radio display, indicating the music source you are listening to.
Using the voice or steering wheel commands, you can select the music track you want to listen to by browsing through the various folders and files shown on the instrument panel display: in an instant, you will hear your selected track
Comments
Anonymous
July 08, 2007
Microsoft Software is showing up in some pretty exciting places, like fully embedded in production cars.Anonymous
May 02, 2008
There is hope for it to spread further!Anonymous
June 26, 2010
regrt to inform that Bluetooth is not working in my New FIAT LINEA EMOTION PACK within a week from the date of purchase, and on complainig no proper service was given, and still it is not working.Anonymous
June 26, 2010
Thanks for attending and solving the complaint of "Bluetooth not working in our New Fiat Linea Emotion Pack " .Anonymous
July 18, 2010
The comment has been removedAnonymous
August 03, 2010
- Folders/songs can be changed only through the steering wheel controls . ITS A PAIN for the passenger/ disturbance for the driver to change a track every time.
- Proxy Aligning issues/ Media Player issues MUST BE SORTED out. Un acceptable to have a media player crashing aroung always in a car.
- To access a "folder inside folder", we need a better interface.
Anonymous
August 25, 2010
Why is it not possible to connect phone to B&M like external speaker? Then you could use any player already installed into phone. Spotify player, internet radio and so on.Anonymous
November 21, 2010
I saw the B&M Sticker and got the idea from here............ Please include the same in other cars....Anonymous
February 27, 2011
The comment has been removedAnonymous
April 14, 2011
Where does one find updates etc for the Blue & Me? Fiat India does not have any updates/ fixes for the software.Anonymous
April 17, 2011
I have made a "BluMeUSB" optimizer program that solves the issues with MP3 tags and folders. Google for BluMeUSB and you can download it for free. There is a EURO 5 registration for added functionality.Anonymous
May 18, 2011
the USB thing doesnt work as expected.. it is a big failure because no service center or dealer know how to repair it.. if it fails they can only replace the entire unit.. if it again fails they have no idea what to do! I have replaced mine 3 times, still I cannot play mp3 from USB pen drive.. blumenhause "at" yahoo.comAnonymous
June 11, 2011
Why can't music be streamed to the radio via bluetooth?Anonymous
June 13, 2011
Just bought a 500. Dealer had difficulty pairing and connecting bluetooth device. It kept disconnecting. Finally got it connected, but by the time I got home, device had again disconnected. Any advise?Anonymous
August 07, 2011
I have a 2012 fiat 500c with blue & me and an I phone 4. I call my home message machine frequently and after the mci message machine answers it asks for the home phone number and password. Since the fiat does not have a key pad, is it possible to program the blue & me to accept additional info after the message system has answered/ Thank youAnonymous
September 28, 2011
I have a 2012 500 C Fiat and a verizon Samsung Intensity II phone, which will not pair. Can anyone help?Anonymous
September 28, 2011
My iPhone4 doesn't work either. I tried to update to 5.5 of Blue&Me and now I get "config error" Fail! Having buyer's remorse for my Fiat 500.Anonymous
October 02, 2011
i am not able to connect with the b&m software. please give the steps to do soAnonymous
November 09, 2011
i tried to connect my phone to blue&me and asked me a password:((Anonymous
June 06, 2012
Most of the problems of Blue&Me unit are resolved if you disconnect the car battery for 10-15 minutes... It flushes the system....Anonymous
June 10, 2013
Cn I play songs using Bluetooth through my Mobile ???Anonymous
November 15, 2013
does any body know if there is a media software as mine as lost it so i can not play any mediaAnonymous
December 06, 2013
My linea is paired with my phone but it shows there is no bluetooth phone connectedAnonymous
March 20, 2014
One day it worked for me to play the songs in moblie via blu and meAnonymous
January 11, 2015
The worst product ever, list of issues:
- If USB stick is left in the it is always the default, not the last used input
- No blue tooth streaming - te exact reason I wanted Blue & Me was for this feature, dealer told me it could.
- If you plug your phone in via USB, it is not recognised as an MP3 player either
- When USB stick is inserted, the large digital display just shows Blue & Me Media Player, not the artist and title of the song playing
- Everytime a new track starts it is displayed in trip computer for 5-10 seconds and cannot cancelled or re-diplayed, really annoying.
- I hate audio interfaces as they simply never work correctly, but blue & me gives you no useful alternative to it.
- Why is there not an LCD display?
- Why am I stuch with a tiny TomTom that was 2 years out of date when I bought the car, surely for the money they could have integrated a much better TomTom with a decent screen size
- Why not give a choice of TomTom models? It is by far the worst stereo I have ever owned, considering changing the header unit as it is that bad.
- Anonymous
July 08, 2015
I Own a Fiat Linea. Nothing impressive...it doesn't play on..each time I have to press next. When connected to phone my BB, It picks up the videos first and navigation is so hard ...