Samsung Galaxy S Series

[ecophon]

Hi

Just got the S2 tied to the car's bluetooth system.

The buttons on the steering wheel work fine to answer the phone and get the voice dial etc working (although the recognition doesn't seem as good as the old Nokia....) BUT.... the phone doesn't want to use the cars speakers, it only wants to usethe phone speaker?

Any tips?

Cheers

[frostfree]

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ecophon wrote:

Hi

Just got the S2 tied to the car's bluetooth system.

The buttons on the steering wheel work fine to answer the phone and get the voice dial etc working (although the recognition doesn't seem as good as the old Nokia....) BUT.... the phone doesn't want to use the cars speakers, it only wants to usethe phone speaker?

Any tips?

Cheers

---

At long last another person with my bluetooth bugbear!!!! This is an under reported problem since the original Galaxy S and carried over (with less severity) to the S2. Try playing an MP3 file first thru the car as that connects the audio side properly and then try the phone functions. Below is what I posted previously, but sadly there's NO fix unless Samsung releases a patch or firmware upgrade. If you can't live with it then replace it asap, don't let anyone tell you it's anything but the phone.

The bluetooth performance has somewhat degraded and I'm getting the occassional behaviour of the SGS where it doesn't respond to in-car controls to dial numbers and pick calls. Occassionally it fails to load the phonebook properly and call logs isn't there half of the time. It's still a huge improvement on the SGS but this isn't much of an achievement considering how poor that was. This morning turning the car radio off and back on corrected the problem but yesterday I had to unpair and reconnect the phone to get it working properly.

Other phones I have access to and test this against such as the n95 8GB, HTC Magic, Palm Pre, Nokia N8, Blackberry Bold 9000 etc work perfectly, so I doubt it's the cars I'm using. It's disappointing that something as basic as this which works perfectly on almost every other bluetooth enabled phone in the last few years has been problematic on two successive Samsung flagship handsets. Very very poor from Samsung

FF

[Malcolm142]

Which way are you trying to connect

1. Just using the phone as the transmitterand reciever (Bluetooth HFP(hands free protocol)) and BT connects to car's speakers

2. Using the car's full in built phone kit and connecting to phone via Bluetooth rSAP (remote SIM Acess Protocol). Basically the phone becomes redundant and the car kit 'interrogates' the phone for its SIM number and mobile number.

I have not got a SGS2  yet but intend to do so. Spec sheet lists SAP under Bluetooth.

I currently have a Nokia 5800 and it connects perfectly to car using rSAP

[frostfree]

Malcolm,

Yes it's on the spec sheet with impressive bluetooth 1.3, but it's flaky. I have 2 cars with built in bluetooth and neither works 100%, yet the list of other phones in my post work flawlessly. It's not a new problem either so I'm not hopeful for a fix anytime soon.

FF

[Northern-dj]

OHHHHH this old bug 

Been her Before so yes this has come over and is also present in most Samsung  phones with the faster Bluetooth 1.3

Now the problem you get is compatibility, Most Bluetooth spec products as of two years ago have to be compatible with Bluetooth 1.3 such as Handsfree kits head sets and phones, now to work the other way all phones will work sending and receiving data to and from the phone, But some older headsets will not as there set to send and receive a slower Bluetooth data signal, some headsets do not work at all, this is why your car Half works the phone knows what the car bluetooth is capable to do and what signal the car can handle so it sets up the phone to work the best it can.

The other problem is Bluetooth systems in cars are made for a price and can be a second thought !!

so getting to see the specs of the Bluetooth system is impossible. But off the shelf systems are  no problem

Most manufactured cars are Bluetooth 1.0 this is so they can work with all phones that are about, The only manufactures system that works with the 1.3 at the moment are most of the mercedes benz range and top spec VW cars Not the golf!!!

it boils down to who makes the kit they fit, The problem is that its on most a extra feature.

Development in Bluetooth has slowed The main fault of that is Apple as there bluetooth is a pain and works in its own way, But as more android phones and windows phone dominate bluetooth will improve, In the USA there more advanced on streeming audio, And this is why Samsung use Bluetooth 1.3 as its transfer rate is faster 

Nokia tend to use Bluetooth 1.0 but they have had streaming audio problems

To compare Bluetooth 1.0 is like a old Dial up connection webpages work but youtube will not

were as Bluetooth 1.3 is like Broadband, As we crave faster speeds then tec needs to keep up

Hope this has helped But i'm not saying get a new car over this but it is somthing to try before you buy  

[frostfree]

NDJ, your diagnosis of the issue may have some foundation but I'm afraid this is another Samsung botched job every way I look at it, I simply can't accept the fault lies elsewhere.

To correct my original post, the Galaxy S2 uses Bluetooth 3.0 not 1.3, and as you pointed out the main difference is a massive speed difference where 3.0 supports speeds of up to 24mbps between compatible (both 3.0) devices, whereas earlier standards run at 1.2mbps or even less.

Regardless, all Bluetooth standards are 'fully' compatible with each other as long as the same 'profiles' are supported. So in essence a Bluetooth 4.0 device should work with a 1.1 phone if both support the Hands free, and remote sim profiles - the only issue is that data transfer speed will be limited to the maximum speed supported by the slower BT 1.1 device.

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) stated on their webpage for fast access BT (3.0 & 4.0) that -

"It (ie fast BT introduced with 3.0 & 4.0) also removes the user from new paradigms and supports existing Bluetooth use cases"

and Samsung are a member of SIG!

So it's nothing to do with the cars or quality of BT systems installed in them, Samsung are meant to release to the market a product that meets accepted standards including compatibility with existing Bluetooth protocols and profiles, something they have clearly failed to do. Earlier devices are not meant to ensure they are compatible with new 3.0 standards, they just have to meet standards agreed by SIG. The onus is on newer devices to comply with SIG standards which will ensure backward compatibility with earlier standards.

All I know as a consumer is that my Samsung phone fails to work properly with my cars while all others work perfectly, so it's their fault!

FF 

Ps... Just confirmed from Manufacturers both my cars use bluetooth 2.1, the standard b4 3.0 

[Northern-dj]

 we have had this before on the SGS

Car manufactures are not members of SIG.

It is only Manufactures Built in Bluetooth that has problems,

One problem is getting infor mation on the Bluetooth that is in the car, Its not just Samsung that has this Even the HTC Desire crew have had this.

Looking at the problem it does seam to be the streaming of the audio on a call and streaming music, I can see this coming up more my car Radio will stream via bluetooth on my phone, But not the wifes Htc Desire HD, 

What make of car are you trying to talk to

This may help us find out what Bluetooth there using  

[frostfree]

NDJ,

Very interesting post - I give you some kudos. I hadn't taken into account that car maufacturers are not members of SIG, and having done some searching on HTC Desire Series phones which use BT 2.1, there are a number of reported cases with identical problems!

Could the way Android aggregates contacts be a factor because I have several other phones in the household (Pre 2, Blackberry & nokia) which all work perfectly? It seems the use of BT 3.0 on the SGS/S2 isn't a factor at all.

Fortunately I have a fairly reliable workaround connecting the S2 to my car, but I'll still keep an eye out for developments on this issue.

FF