Bluetooth/Nav

[inimitable]

I'm just wondering how anyone would rate their Bluetooth connection...

I've never been much of a fan of anything Bluetooth, as I've never had very stable success with any of the devices I've used, therefore, I've used it very little. However, it seems to be the most convenient way of playing the music I have stored on my phone. No cords required, and the data such as track title, album name, and artist name are transferred as well, which is a big bonus, as opposed to using the aux. input; I have yet to try the USB because it only supports up to 8gb, and the memory card is currently 16gb. The other thing I was considering doing, though I have to read about it in the manual, is possibly using the SD card slot, along with an adapter, and trying to play music and/or videos from there.

In any case, back to Bluetooth. I get frequent cut-outs, often multiple times while driving, even though, it typically does manage to reconnect. The phone is right in front of the display, blocked by nothing. I don't know where the actual BT receiver is, but I'd imagine that it's built into the display itself. Nonetheless, the signal strength is appearing as only 1/2 bars on the display.

I haven't had any other BT problems with my phone (Samsung Galaxy SII Skyrocket), connecting a keyboard or mouse, or to my computers.

Is anyone else having similar problems?

Does anyone know of a way to boost the BT signal?

[DantKR]

9/10. No cut outs so far. Sound quality is good. Can next/back from the touch screen which is a major plus.

[Shizuma]

I'd rate my bluetooth connection at god awful, worst device i've ever used for stable bluetooth connection, actually the only bluetooth device i've ever had that lost a connection at all, the Kenwood headunit I had in my Magnum connected and never onced disconnected.

I have found out a work around for the crappy bluetooth connection that I read on an Impreza forum since they have the same headunit, disable auto connect on the headunit and manually do it on the phone, it works, it hold connection pretty good and rarely drops, but it's a pain in the ass having to go into the settings on my phone everytime I get into the car to manually connect it.

Also I only have 1/2 bars for bluetooth connection strength, even if I hold my phone directly in front of the headunit.

[DantKR]

Mine auto connects 100% of the time within 10 seconds of the head unit being booted up. And stays connected. Maybe there are some issues with your head unit?

[feedbag]

For calls it's fine other than people sometimes not being able to hear me when I'm going 70 - 80, the bluetooth audio implementation sucks though. Immediately upon switching to Bluetooth Audio mode it'll try to start playing some random sound files from my android phone (in my case a bunch of notification noises) rather than simply sitting there and waiting for me to start playing stuff on my phone. In some cases if I do start playing music on the phone it'll make the head unit freak out and drop the bluetooth connection.

Voice recognition is alright, don't try to make it recognize the word 'Morgan' though or else it'll go crazy.

Also no Aha Radio support as far as I know, but their app sucks anyways so that's not a huge deal.

[DyoGTS]

My bluetooth connection, as far as auto connecting and audio quality, has been fantastic. Connects every time without issue.

I have found that if I am streaming Pandora from my phone over bluetooth, and I turn the car off without killing the stream, the next time it auto connects I only get 5% of the audio volume until I turn the car off and on again (is there a way to turn the head unit off entirely rather than just 'volume off'?)

[DookDookDGM]

Bluetooth works ok for me as long as I'm not using my PS Vita.

[inimitable]

Originally Posted by Shizuma

I'd rate my bluetooth connection at god awful, worst device i've ever used for stable bluetooth connection, actually the only bluetooth device i've ever had that lost a connection at all, the Kenwood headunit I had in my Magnum connected and never onced disconnected.

I have found out a work around for the crappy bluetooth connection that I read on an Impreza forum since they have the same headunit, disable auto connect on the headunit and manually do it on the phone, it works, it hold connection pretty good and rarely drops, but it's a pain in the ass having to go into the settings on my phone everytime I get into the car to manually connect it.

Also I only have 1/2 bars for bluetooth connection strength, even if I hold my phone directly in front of the headunit.

Thanks for the tip!

Mind giving me a shortcut on how to disable it? I'm out for most of the day and I don't have the manual with me. I will try and fool around with it and see whatI come up with though.

I will try it out today and give some feedback.

[Shizuma]

Originally Posted by inimitable

Thanks for the tip!

Mind giving me a shortcut on how to disable it? I'm out for most of the day and I don't have the manual with me. I will try and fool around with it and see whatI come up with though.

I will try it out today and give some feedback.

If I remember correctly when you're in bluetooth audio mode and and in phone mode there is a setting button and inside the settings is where you can turn off auto connect, you have to disable it in both of those modes for it to work.

Supposedly some phones will auto connect on their own and it's fine, but I've read that Samsung phones don't, something with the way Samsung programmed the bluetooth in their customized android OS, my phone doesn't initiate auto connect on it's on and it is a Samsung, the Galaxy Note.

[Tbxgz]

8/10. No dropped calls, connects immediately, and sound clarity is perfect. Only docked 2 points because the head unit failed to import my contacts. (Motorola Droid Bionic)

[Opie]

9/10 Mine setup easily, imported my contacts and connects quickly everytime I get in the car. No issues other than call volume, which I can fix by playing with the settings.

Samsung Behold II Droid

[inimitable]

Maybe I should've mentioned that my only experience so far has been with the audio; I haven't gotten around to setting up support for handling calls & texts or voice-dialing

In any case, with BT left on on my phone, typically, I'll get recognition and support/connection when I first get in and start the car. Everything will work fine for a little while, then it will start losing connection, albeit reconnecting some of the time. Furthermore, often when it reconnects, I lose the metadata displayed, and this seems to indicate to me a more unreliable "connection," as it will inevitably drop out again soon. Typically, at that point, I give up and go with the old faithful auxiliary input.

I'm wondering what kinds of phones/OS everyone is using, those with no issues, and those with issues? Please leave that information in your posts in this thread.

I Googled "Why does Bluetooth suck" and one of the first threads i came across was on androidforums where someone posted an issue with his phone and his BT earpiece; he said he has constant issues reconnecting once out of range of the device, which he attributes to what he believes could be poor Bluetooth implementation by Android since he didn't have problems with the same devices using his older windows phone. He didn't mention what version he was running, and the issue didn't get much discussion nor a resolution, but it still can help us in troubleshooting.

Samsung Galaxy SII (skyrocket) running Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread.

[inimitable]

Originally Posted by Shizuma

If I remember correctly when you're in bluetooth audio mode and and in phone mode there is a setting button and inside the settings is where you can turn off auto connect, you have to disable it in both of those modes for it to work.

Supposedly some phones will auto connect on their own and it's fine, but I've read that Samsung phones don't, something with the way Samsung programmed the bluetooth in their customized android OS, my phone doesn't initiate auto connect on it's on and it is a Samsung, the Galaxy Note.

Thanks.

Btw, I envy your phone. How is it? I was so disappointed when I saw the commercials because I had just gotten my phone like a month or two before. I'm happy with mine, but more screen real-estate was what I was after, and the stylus would have been ideal as well.

[Indestruct]

Originally Posted by Tbxgz

8/10. No dropped calls, connects immediately, and sound clarity is perfect. Only docked 2 points because the head unit failed to import my contacts. (Motorola Droid Bionic)

I may be wrong but you can import your contacts when you aren't driving. When you are driving it doesn't let you scroll through your contact list, you need to use the "handsfree" command. Or you can use Speed Dial or recent calls.

The Bluetooth function gets a 9/10. The NAV Function gets a 2/10, It has frozen on me and caused me so much heart ache!!! Pure crap.

[Shizuma]

That's exactly what happens to me with the head unit's auto connect being turned on, it's exclusively an issue with the BRZ head unit though, nothing else has ever had that issue.

My phone is a Samsung Galaxy Note with, Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread.

[Shizuma]

Originally Posted by inimitable

Thanks.

Btw, I envy your phone. How is it? I was so disappointed when I saw the commercials because I had just gotten my phone like a month or two before. I'm happy with mine, but more screen real-estate was what I was after, and the stylus would have been ideal as well.

I love it, actually I had the Skyrocket before the Note, but it slipped out of my jacket pocket 2 months after getting it and the screen cracked so when they Note came out I bit the bullet and bought that.

[jinrawke]

No issues here at all with iPhone 4. No drops at all while streaming music or talking on the phone.

[slizoth]

I've had 0 problems with the blue tooth and the phone can be located anywhere in the car. Often times I leave it in my sports bag which gets thrown in the trunk and it still gets connected automatically and starts playing where ever I left off in my music.

[Tbxgz]

Originally Posted by Indestruct

I may be wrong but you can import your contacts when you aren't driving. When you are driving it doesn't let you scroll through your contact list, you need to use the "handsfree" command. Or you can use Speed Dial or recent calls.

The Bluetooth function gets a 9/10. The NAV Function gets a 2/10, It has frozen on me and caused me so much heart ache!!! Pure crap.

I tried to load my contact list while in park and it said something like: failed to import contacts.

[Chauntalei]

My BT experience has been SHIT. It worked beautifully the day I got the car, imported contacts with no issues, stayed connected to the phone the whole time I was in the car. After that though, it's been nothing but dropping/reconnecting/dropping/reconnecting constantly. I just gave up and turned off BT on my phone and head unit altogether. My Nav has worked beautifully though, no complaints about that or the rest of the head unit functionality. USB works great.

I'm seriously debating if I should take the car back in to see if it's worth having it looked at. If it's an Android issue, I don't know what recourse we will have with Subaru.

Also, I too am running a Galaxy S II, Android 2.3.6.

[Kohlii]

Originally Posted by inimitable

I'm just wondering how anyone would rate their Bluetooth connection...

I've never been much of a fan of anything Bluetooth, as I've never had very stable success with any of the devices I've used, therefore, I've used it very little. However, it seems to be the most convenient way of playing the music I have stored on my phone. No cords required, and the data such as track title, album name, and artist name are transferred as well, which is a big bonus, as opposed to using the aux. input; I have yet to try the USB because it only supports up to 8gb, and the memory card is currently 16gb. The other thing I was considering doing, though I have to read about it in the manual, is possibly using the SD card slot, along with an adapter, and trying to play music and/or videos from there.

In any case, back to Bluetooth. I get frequent cut-outs, often multiple times while driving, even though, it typically does manage to reconnect. The phone is right in front of the display, blocked by nothing. I don't know where the actual BT receiver is, but I'd imagine that it's built into the display itself. Nonetheless, the signal strength is appearing as only 1/2 bars on the display.

I haven't had any other BT problems with my phone (Samsung Galaxy SII Skyrocket), connecting a keyboard or mouse, or to my computers.

Is anyone else having similar problems?

Does anyone know of a way to boost the BT signal?

Just to be clear, are you saying the head unit only supports 8 GB over USB? Because my 160GB iPod works fine. I can test the 32 GB Galaxy Nexus over USB (only used bluetooth so far with no issues), but I didn't think there was a restriction.

[Oriental Life]

Excellent, 10/10 Galaxy Nexus here. Connects fast every single time.