So I have completed this install for the CIC model, here are a few general thoughts:
1) You need a dremel. The units were apparently designed for the E60's and the 5 series is known to have slightly different dimensions around the car, and you'll notice some options which only apply to the 5 series, such as 360 Camera. The 360 camera The cutting was really the only thing that disappointed me through the process, the screen is just too thick to fit PnP. Here is the difference:
You can't really tell, but the Avin unit on the left is slightly thicker in a couple of areas. The piece you have to trim is a plastic piece behind the screen which isn't visible, but it is trimming nonetheless.
Once you do a bit of trimming, the screen fits flush and even:
2) The screen looks really good, I'm pleased with the quality of the display, the Furious 7 trailer that comes pre-loaded made it seem like the car came that way. Ignore the lines the camera draws out in these photos, you can't see them in person:
3) You can flip between your CIC/CCC and the simulated NBT interface by holding the Menu button on your iDrive controller. And on some occasions, you'll return to the iDrive screen and the resolution is blown up, with fairly large portions of the screen cropped out. I have not identified what exactly causes this yet, but it is intermittent.
EDIT: If you go to More Settings, you can select the Factory settings and enter password: "1314" and you'll enter a new menu:
From here you can select the CAN TYPE which has something to do with the display sizes, for CIC you'll want to choose option #9
EDIT2: I was given an MCU update for CIC, if you don't have option #9 then you'll need to update your unit first.
4) The iDrive controls do work in most of the main NBT menu areas, like scrolling through the main options. You can also swipe left and right. But when it comes to the app specific interface options, it does not seem that this input is relayed to the apps, this includes the settings app.
5) Pairing of my phone with Bluetooth worked and so did A2DP Bluetooth audio streaming of Pandora. You'll actually have two devices paired to your phone, one for CIC/CCC and one for the NBT side as well.
6) You can use Google Maps or Waze for your navigation, it comes with an external GPS antenna and you may download your local maps so that you can use it even if you don't have an internet connection.
7) I was unable to locate an option to pair a Bluetooth keyboard or any external Bluetooth devices. I'll keep looking.
8) Netflix doesn't appear to be downloadable through the Play store, and DirecTV Now doesn't appear to approve of the device. Amazon Prime Video does work however.
9) xHP and MHD seem to work fine, including the gauges. The best option which fills the screen appears to be a 1x3 layout. The other option that would fill the screen is a 2x6 or 2x5 option, both which don't exist yet.
@jyamona. The resolution is 1280x480:
10) There is a Video and Music option. They are both for playing media off of a storage device, USB, SD, Internal NAND.
11) The option which says "DVR" is for a USB dash cam which is sold by Avin and is integrated into the rear view mirror housing. The camera has a slot for its own SD card and can operate independently and should also have a WiFi capability. The USB cable appears to be optional, though without the camera I cannot test its capabilities. You may switch this from a USB camera to an RCA camera within the settings, though this would tie up the only extra RCA cable.
12) Another option called "DVD" I'll have to investigate, but like the DVR option when I select it it just says No Device, even with a DVD inserted.
13) EasyConnect is listed as the PhoneLink option, though I wasn't able to figure out how it worked in the little amount of time I tried it. Judging by the instructions, you must enable USB Debugging and connect the MOB(Mobile) by USB the first time you connect.
14) The GPS antenna wire is long, but it seemed to get a signal from inside of the car, I'll try mounting it behind the glovebox and see how it works out.
15) The Aux wire is just the right length, although I'm still trying to figure out a stealth way to install it, perhaps using a Y cable and this may require pulling the center console out of the car. For now, I just route it through the center console and into the armrest area, then shutting the lid on the cable.
16) There are references to "ARM" and "Original" in various options menus, I believe this refers to the ARM Cortex A9 SoC powering the Android side which also has various media capabilities, on top of those available in the CIC/CCC.
17) It turns out that flashing with MHD and xHP does not work. It fails the moment you being to flash, it puts the device into programming mode and then the Android unit reboots. It is suspected that when entering programming mode, the CANBUS gets shut down and the unit sees this and incorrectly reboots. I am doing more digging on the matter, but don't expect to do any flashing. Logging and monitoring appears to work fine however.