BMW 5 Series E39 7 inch Android Head Unit with Wireless CarPlay, Android Auto and 4G | UAH7539BL

Your iPhone connects over Wi-Fi without a cable, so maps, calls and music are on the dashboard screen as soon as the unit is running. The phone can stay in a pocket or a door bin.

If you'd rather charge while you drive, CarPlay also works plugged in over USB.

Android Auto works the same way, wireless or through a USB cable. Google Maps, calls and music apps appear on the 7 inch screen with big buttons that are easy to hit while driving.

The 7 inch Grade-A HD QLED screen runs at 1280×720. Colours are vivid, which makes maps and album art easy to read at a glance.

As an IPS panel, the screen keeps its colours when seen from an angle, so the driver and front passenger both get a clear view.

The built-in DQ7603 DSP lets you shape the sound to suit the car and the way you listen, rather than settling for a flat factory setting.

An STMicroelectronics TCB001HQ amplifier rated at 4x45W drives the speakers directly, so you don't need a separate amplifier to get decent volume from the factory speakers.

Optical, coaxial and RCA outputs make the unit a good base for a bigger system. You can feed an external amplifier or a separate DSP from them.

Insert a nano SIM card and the unit has its own internet connection, so there's no need to run a hotspot from your phone. Maps, streaming and apps then work wherever there's mobile signal.

Dual-band Wi-Fi on 2.4GHz and 5GHz gives a faster, steadier connection when you join a hotspot or your home network for updates and downloads.

Bluetooth 5.4 handles hands-free calls and music streaming. A microphone is supplied so you can mount it close to you for clearer calls.

The unit uses GPS, Galileo, GLONASS and BEIDOU satellites to work out where you are, and a GPS antenna is in the box. Install the maps app you like and it runs on the 7 inch screen.

With a wired connection you can also mirror your phone's screen to the head unit, handy for apps that don't run in CarPlay or Android Auto.

There's an RDS-FM/AM tuner built in. The unit is DAB+ ready: add an external DAB tuner if you want digital radio stations.

The unit works with 720P/1080P AHD cameras and shows the reversing picture as soon as you select reverse. A camera cable comes in the box; the camera itself is extra.

An ASR8662 octa-core CPU runs Android 15 with 6GB DDR4 RAM and 128GB UFS 2.2 storage, so apps open quickly and there's plenty of room for music and maps.

From cold it starts in 50 seconds, and from a warm start it's ready in 1 second. A cooling system keeps performance steady on long drives.