I also have tried it and cannot get it to work. From the little that is documented, you need to say the address in town, street, numeric address order, but as much as I have tried, it has never worked.

Doh! I have the same issue in my '08 535. It really bugs me.
I love the new iDrive.

I wonder if the knob direction for zoom feels "right" to right hand drivers turning the knob with their left hand?

Well, as a passenger using my left hand for iDrive, it feels pretty natural.

I think it is more just that clockwise is normally how you screw something in, or make it move down, while counter-clockwise is how thing normally screw out, or up. I'm left-handed turning the know with my right hand and still feels backwards to me.

I got screwed up on the up and down shifting in manual mode and almost redlined the engine once. Since, I have given up trying to figure out why the designed everything to be opposite