Wireless phone charger 2nd Gen.

[Corrado]

Hi,
I’ve only just purchased a few weeks ago a 2021 sport and I’m still trying to sort out the mobile phone holder/charger situation.

Ideally I was looking for a wireless charger to put in the GPS cradle as I use googlemaps as my gps. In a perfect world I’d love for that to have also a usb port so I can charge also devices that do not have wireless charging capability (but that’s a nice to have).

I’ve noticed that on many websites (ebay, Aliexpress, etc…) there are many of these devices but there seem to be a difference in fitment between 1st gen and 2nd gen.
Has something actually changed in the GPS holder between the two generations?

Does anyone have a link to suggest me that they know for sure will fit a 2021 mode?

Thanks in advance!

[BobT]

The new BMW connected cradle does wireless charging and allows the phone to be controlled via the wheel on the left.
If you want cheap aliexpress then some do wireless charging, but there is no phone control.
You get what you pay for.

[Corrado]

Thanks Bob,
That's useful info, I was not aware of that.

I looked into it and it seems very neat.
I do have a couple of questions, when you are riding and your trip is set up in your Connected up, what can you actually control from the wheel?
Also, the group I normally ride with plans the trip on the computer on Google Maps. I read that it is possible to export the route from Google Maps in GPX and then import it in Connected, but after exporting as GPX everytime I tried to import in Connected it fails. Have you ever tried?

[BobT]

I do all of my routes on calimoto.com or similar and then import the .gpx into the BMW connected app. My GF does the same on her phone for her bike. We have been doing that for about 18 months now and have found it to be great on European tours.
You have to use it to see how much you can control from the wheel, it has been invaluable pre the new cradle, with the moving map on the phone and the big arrows on the TFT. There is far too much to explain here.

[Corrado]

Thanks for the tip on Calimoto, I'll look into that.
Last question,
I understand that with the cradle you can control only the Connected app and that the touch operations are disabled. 
My question is, if I have the cradle and I decide to have Google Maps on screen, I know I cant use the wheel, but can I still use the touch screen of my phone or touch operation is totally disabled when is in the cradle no matter which app I'm looking at?

Btw, if you ever decide to make a little review of the cradle with a video of the controls that would be awesome.

Thanks,
Corrado

[Corrado]

Thanks man, that was a good read.
I have been using the connected app for the last few weeks and I like it.
I just like to keep my options open in terms of the app I use depending on the group I ride with.
So even if I can’t control other apps from the wheel with cradle I don’t mind, as long as I can still use the touch screen.