Hi all Audi-Heads!
I took delivery of an Ibis white 2012 A7 right before christmas, came from a 08 A5. The car is absolutely incredible, and a dream to drive ( as you all well know)

Some initial impressions / feedback / questions:

1) the GOOGLE Earth / Internet connection is neat, but at $30 per month way, way to expensive. I was very disappointed that Audi did not allow owners to choose the connection they wish to make. I pay for tethering on my iPhone, and should have the choice to use it for data connection, instead of paying this outrageous price. I cannot justify renewing this beyond the complimentary period, unless they come down in price significantly.

2) I have a iPod classic plugged in to the car. About 70% of the time, it tells me that my iPod does not contain any playable files. Weird. Is this a cable problem, a car problem or an iPod problem (the iPod worked 100% with the A5)?

It is strange that the iPod interface does not show cover art, even though it does have a spot for it on the display. in 2012, I would have expected that to be part of an IOS interface.

Incidentally, can I import music from the iPod to the hard-drive? Or can you only import from memory chip or disc? If this is the case, then this seems odd and inconvenient..

3) Backup Camera. Coming from the A5, I immediately noticed how crappy and jagged the backup camera image is. I took it to the dealer to show them this issue. I expected that there was a problem with the lens or electronics. However, they compared it to other A7's and it was exactly the same. We finally figured out the large size of the A7 MMI screen basically forces the camera image to be blown up to a size that is beyond it's native resolution, cause this horrible image (think blowing up a SD image to HD on your TV). The image looked perfect on the A5, because the MMI screen was much smaller and displayed in native resolution for the camera.
This is pretty disappointing, Audi should have definitely fitted a camera that can handle the higher resolution. This is gonna bother me for years to come, but luckily it's only an issue when I back up, hehe.

Otherwise, the car is marvelous, and everyone seeing it and driving in it comes away impressed. Looking forward to your comments / feedback.

darreln

 

2) I have a iPod classic plugged in to the car. About 70% of the time, it tells me that my iPod does not contain any playable files. Weird. Is this a cable problem, a car problem or an iPod problem (the iPod worked 100% with the A5)?

I have this problem as well but have not investigated further since I imported all my music to the internal hard drive.

It is strange that the iPod interface does not show cover art, even though it does have a spot for it on the display. in 2012, I would have expected that to be part of an IOS interface.

This in Europe at least, works with an upgraded AMI Lead. Lots of discussion on this in another thread,

Incidentally, can I import music from the iPod to the hard-drive? Or can you only import from memory chip or disc? If this is the case, then this seems odd and inconvenient..

No, import only from SD Card as far as I can tell which is not convenient as you say but then iPod connection is only analog

3) Backup Camera. Coming from the A5, I immediately noticed how crappy and jagged the backup camera image is. I took it to the dealer to show them this issue. I expected that there was a problem with the lens or electronics. However, they compared it to other A7's and it was exactly the same. We finally figured out the large size of the A7 MMI screen basically forces the camera image to be blown up to a size that is beyond it's native resolution, cause this horrible image (think blowing up a SD image to HD on your TV). The image looked perfect on the A5, because the MMI screen was much smaller and displayed in native resolution for the camera.
This is pretty disappointing, Audi should have definitely fitted a camera that can handle the higher resolution. This is gonna bother me for years to come, but luckily it's only an issue when I back up, hehe.

Hmm I never had camera in my A5 so this is my first and I do think it not very good to the point I would not order it again. LIke you I think the above are small points in a great car

 

My opinion on the camera image is that it is not as good as the image I got in my 2009 A6 Avant. Seems blurrier and less useful when you're getting close to something.

 

About the backup camera. Yes, when the resolution of the lens is the same, if you blow it up on a bigger monitor, the images will not be as sharp. My 07 Q7 has sharper images because the screen is smaller. Audi obviously uses the same lens for all of their cars for a simple reason, cost.

 

I've got the same issue with my iPod classic. I'd say it's 40% of the time, maybe a bit more. Since I don't use it very often, I don't plan on taking up with the dealer until next time I'm in. It is a nuisance, but I've found un-plugging and plugging it back in works. If there's an upgraded cord that corrects this and shows album art, that should be standard.

 

I hope that Audi will continue to support its customers with software updates to fix issues such as this. If the iPod works 60% of the time, then it should work 100%..just saying' ;-)

 

Agreed, although it just looks like crap, and it makes Audi look cheap by not using a higher resolution lens. i mean, if you upgrade the display screen, then you should upgrade the lens, not just do half the job. Just weird decision-making on their part....

 

Well well...I just copied some iTunes albums to a DVD, and then proceeded to import them in to the A7 hard-drive. And guess what...? The album art now shows up!

So, perhaps the album art does not show up when streaming from an iPod, but does show up when importing the albums...nice!


Happy New Year!

 

Album art shows up playing off SD cards too.