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BMW tests M Lap Timer App with M4 Coupe at Brands Hatch

The 2015 BMW M4 looks to include all the necessary ingredients to offer dynamite driving experience. It's an M car after all. But in today's constantly connected world, the experience of hurtling a car around a track isn't always enough.
We want data, and while there are some solid telemetry apps available for smartphones (notably Harry's GPS LapTimer), manufacturers have been a bit slower to develop their own dedicated mobile telemetry trackers for their performance cars. With the new M4, though, BMW is taking the plunge, allowing drivers to track their lap progress through a new app, creatively called the M Lap Timer.
To show off the program, BMW has recruited touring car racer Andy Priaulx to perform a fast lap in an M4 at the UK's Brands Hatch circuit. The accompanying video doesn't do much to show off the app in action. Rather, it give us a stylized look at the metrics as Priaulx hustles BMW's hottest 4 Series coupe around the circuit.

Next-gen BMW 5 Series sedan spotted with production body, possible PHEV

The current BMW 5 Series is just a few years old since its 2009 debut, but the Bavarians are already preparing to put the model out to pasture. Here's our first glimpse at the production bodywork for the next-gen sedan after spotting the wagon version during testing – twice. While the cladding and swirling camouflage make specific details difficult to discern, it doesn't look like we should expect any massive changes in design language from the new model. The nose appears to dip a bit more at the tip of the front end, but otherwise there's no way to mistake this as anything other than a 5 Series. Squint hard enough at the front left fender and you can notice what seems to be a small door. Our spies think that this might be hiding the charging port for a plug-in hybrid version. While the styling doesn't appear to be changing much, the next 5er reportedly has a new platform underneath the skin that supposedly will help it shed around 220 pounds. The debut for this lighter but likely similar looking BMW is expected sometime in 2016.

BMW and Samsung team up with Galaxy Gear smartwatch that talks to your i3

Without a doubt, the most impressive thing that BMW showed at CES this year was a driverless M235i drifting flawlessly around a wet track at Las Vegas Speedway. However, that bit of robotic helmsmanship wasn't the only trick the German company had up its sleeve. Or, more to the point, on its wrist.
Taking a page from rival Mercedes-Benz, BMW demonstrated how a "smartwatch," in this case the Samsung Galaxy Gear, could be made to function usefully with a vehicle, in this case the BMW i3. Calling it a "research application," BMW showed off its BMW i Remote App on the Galaxy Gear; the app gives information about state of battery charge, available range and whether or not all the doors and windows are closed or open. Perhaps more useful still, the watch can be used to send a destination to the i3's navigation unit, adjust the climate control in preparation for a trip and can recognize voice commands. Nifty stuff, if not world-shaking, that could help tech-obsessed luxury buyers take a second look at the upcoming BMW EV.
Take a closer look at the watch in action below, or read thru the BMW press release.