[Q] bluetooth audio issues - intermittent

[v0yeur]

Hey everyone. Gotta say, i love this phone its the android device i always wanted. However, im having issues with my car bluetooth which i have not experienced before... namely, that random phonecalls sound completely digitized.

Ive come from an htc desire and htc sensation on the same car without issue and am worried i got a bad BT antenna-or its software...

Anyone out there experiencing the same thing? Any advice (other than buying a new car)?

 

[ig88]

I am having the same issues on a Verizon Galaxy Nexus V4.02. If I turn bluetooth off mid-call the earpiece sounds fine. The static only happens during voice calls, streaming A2DP sounds fine. There are bluetooth improvements listed in the 4.03 changelog, hopefully this will be resolved.

 

[dlaciv12]

I had some problems with my BT speaker phone. I turned off the key press sounds and the screen off sounds and that pretty much fixed it.

 

[1454]

I have an off topic question for you guys that use bluetooth streaming. Can start the car and press play from the HU to start music? I can with my old D2, but not my TB. I have to actually start the music player on the thunderbolt, then I can control it from my HU. I would like to upgrade, but I don't see a huge advantage in upgrading if I still can't start my music without having to actually take the phone out of my pocket. (Yes, I know it's stupid, but I'm lazy.)

 

[]grimm[]

I have this same issue in one of my cars. I ran a number of tests and the issue only occurs on my vehicle when the phone is connected to both for telephony and a2dp music. The static occurs whether or not a2dp is actually being used to stream music or not. This particular vehicle has two separate devices for music and telephony. If I unpair or disconnect the music device, then telephony works without the audio distortion. As soon as I reconnect the music device, the static is re-introduced.

Hey everyone. Gotta say, i love this phone its the android device i always wanted. However, im having issues with my car bluetooth which i have not experienced before... namely, that random phonecalls sound completely digitized.

Ive come from an htc desire and htc sensation on the same car without issue and am worried i got a bad BT antenna-or its software...

Anyone out there experiencing the same thing? Any advice (other than buying a new car)?

 

[Stowegy]

I am experiencing this issue as well and have not been able to resolve it. I've tried disabling the touch sounds, screen off sounds, etc. but to no avail.

It pretty much makes handsfree unusable while driving. What have you guys done in the meantime? Have you been able to resolve the issue yet?

Here's my specific details:
Phone: Verizion LTE Galaxy Nexus v4.02 stock/unrooted
Handsfree Car System (phone audio): Stock 2007 Audi A4
Separate A2DP Module (media audio): Dension Gateway Five connected to factory Stereo

All of my previous phones (Thunderbolt, Droid X, Incredible, OG Droid) have fully supported this setup with no issues whatsoever.

On a sidenote, my A2DP streaming is also unreliable. It first has trouble connecting to the device. If/when it does, audio constantly cuts out when streaming Pandora, Slacker Radio, Google Music... pretty much any streaming over network connection. I have not tried locally stored music yet as I don't have any currently stored on my device. Are you guys experiencing this A2DP issue as well?

I wonder how widespread this is and if it warrants opening an official issue with Google.

 

[radi0chik]

I used to have a Blackberry Torch, and I have a Ford Mustang. When I would connect the BT to it, if the Wifi was on, it would "interfere" with the signal. Turning wifi off, fixed the issue. This was a widely known issue with the Torch. Granted that shouldn't have to be a fix, but can any of you verify whether your wifi is on? (regardless of if its connected to anything or not). I'm wondering if the Nexus is using the same BT/WIFI chip that the Torch used.

 

[Stowegy]

I used to have a Blackberry Torch, and I have a Ford Mustang. When I would connect the BT to it, if the Wifi was on, it would "interfere" with the signal. Turning wifi off, fixed the issue. This was a widely known issue with the Torch. Granted that shouldn't have to be a fix, but can any of you verify whether your wifi is on? (regardless of if its connected to anything or not). I'm wondering if the Nexus is using the same BT/WIFI chip that the Torch used.

I appreciate the suggestion but unfortunately, I have the issue even if WiFi is off (I never use WiFi).

I'm going to try and toggle a few of the sound and haptic feedback settings a little more to see if it's pertinent to a certain on/off configuration. It's a shot in the dark but I'll try anything at this point.

 

[radi0chik]

ok it was worth a shot. Maybe on a whim turn off 3g/data so basically its airplane mode except BT is on? Just to eliminate any RF interference. Other than that I dont know

 

[Stowegy]

Spent quite a bit of time in the car today to try and pinpoint a cause and I have had no luck.

Phone audio will sound great and then all of the sudden turn digitized and distorted for a random period of time, then revert back to sounding great. One thing to note is that the distortion is both ways - the person I'm talking to also hears it when I speak and cannot understand what I'm saying. It's very frustrating not being able to use this feature.

I am on my 2nd replacement phone and ALL of them have had this issue (returned two others to VZW due to this issue and the speaker clicking issue). I am still wondering if it is software/OS releated or if it's due to poor hardware.

 

[Stowegy]

Quick Update (kind of):
I messed around with more settings last night. I am happy to report that after I disabled NFC last night, I made several handsfree calls in my car with perfect clarity and no issues. Also, A2DP streaming Pandora worked flawlessly! I was happy that I thought I pinpointed the issue - NFC interference.

BUT this morning, I made a handfree call and it was immediately distorted. Frownie face! A2DP Streaming Pandora still worked great. I am now trying to determine if my success last night was a fluke or if something is different with the phone this morning. The only difference from last night to this morning, that I have been able to identify so far, is I now have the extended battery in the phone. Last night's success had the standard battery. I'll switch them back at lunch and re-test.

 

[vicn77]

Quick Update (kind of):
I messed around with more settings last night. I am happy to report that after I disabled NFC last night, I made several handsfree calls in my car with perfect clarity and no issues. Also, A2DP streaming Pandora worked flawlessly! I was happy that I thought I pinpointed the issue - NFC interference.

BUT this morning, I made a handfree call and it was immediately distorted. Frownie face! A2DP Streaming Pandora still worked great. I am now trying to determine if my success last night was a fluke or if something is different with the phone this morning. The only difference from last night to this morning, that I have been able to identify so far, is I now have the extended battery in the phone. Last night's success had the standard battery. I'll switch them back at lunch and re-test.

I've got the same issue. Even with NFC disabled. Makes listening to Pandora in the car unbearable. I've gone through the same steps as you, but hasn't exchanged the phone yet. I've had previous Androids and it was a hit/miss with the distortion, but with an iPhone or BB never had this issue. Go figure.

 

[v0yeur]

thanks to all the replies, will update to 4.0.3 and try out some more options.

- unplugging my music dongle had no effect on call quality
- NFC on or off had no effect

I also find that the music adapter never auto-connects and needs me to go in to the BT settings page and manually select it.

thanks all.

 

[v0yeur]

Hello again. So I have an update that adds to the flakiness ...

Updated to the Bugless Beast ROM and Franco's kernel. My intent was to completely reset the phone and hopefully get a new Bluetooth stack in the process.

Initially everything paired OK, but after a while my audio randomly disconnects after about 20minutes and then reconnects depending on its mood.

My phone connection is more controllable now: if the BT is enabled on my phone when I turn on the car, the sound quality is entirely digitized and unusable. If I turn on the car and THEN enable my phone, the sound quality is flawless every time.

Still not ideal, but manageable. For the music audio part, I lay the blame entirely on the Audi Music Interface BT adapter: the thing is crap and always in pair mode even with the car turned off! The telephone BT in the car head unit has seen several phones pair with it without any issues (I do mobile development so I get to play with many phones) so in that case, I can't blame anything but the Nexus.

I really hope someone at Google or Samsung reads these threads since it would be tough to troubleshoot, but there's no doubt an issue exists with general BT compatibility.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

 

[ig88]

Anyone have an update on this issue? Does anyone know of a ROM with a different Bluetooth stack than AOKP? I love everything else about AOKP. I have had the same garbled bluetooth audio from stock - 4.03 with franco and faux kernels with the same result. I had similar problems with Cyanogen 7 ROM I was using on my Incredible the week before I bought the Nexus.

 

[ig88]

Update - I experimented with a couple of additional devices, and the multiple connections problem with my Nexus is limited to A2DP only devices.
I am now using a Garmin BlueTrip with "phone audio" deselected in bluetooth options. As long as the additional bluetooth device is handsfree profile capable, the A2DP functions perfectly, calls are clear, and the device reconnects after a power cycle consistently. I'm glad this appears to be a software issue and not something we will have to live with for the life of the phone. I'm sure a future update will correct this issue.

 

[yutlin]

I'm also having a problem with Bluetooth calls sounding very digitized and/or choppy. It is bad enough that it can be extremely difficult to make out what the caller is saying. A2DP, on the other hand, has performed pretty flawlessly and the device consistently reconnects each time I get in the car (although it can take up to 30 seconds or so).

I'll have to do a little experimenting with some of the settings mentioned in this thread to see if they have any affect.

On a related note, I feel like sometimes calls made/recieved on the handset can sound digitized as well (although not nearly as bad as over bluetooth). Has anyone else experienced this?

My hardware is:
Verizon GNex (4.0.2)
Parrot MKi9000