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Bluetooth audio quality concerns

OK, I'm opening a new thread with this one, since I would really like to gather opinions of people who are also facing bluetooth audio quality issues.

Since I got my iPhone 3G, and paired it with my bluetooth headsets, people have been complaining that the couldn't hear me well. My voice would crack up, or even not make it at all to the other side. I got a couple of new bluetooth headsets, only to find out that it wasn't the headsets' fault. That said, I would like to add, that all the headsets that seem to misbehave when paired to the iPhone, work great when in use with my older SE mobile phone.

I did some testing and found out that, the issue of my side cracking up or not sounding at all would only arise when the OTHER party was in a noisy environment (usually trying to talk to somebody in a Mall would do the trick). That said, I would also like to add that when talking through the iPhone itself (even on speakerphone), would work fine!

I am suspecting that there is an echo cancelation feature build-into the iPhone that revs up when talking through a bluetooth headset and seems to cut-off my headset's input level when strong noise it detected from the other side, presumably to avoid echo. Seems like this feature is badly tuned, in a way that communication can no longer work in an syncronous way.

What seems strange to me is that, after updating to v2.2 of iPhone software, the issue seemed to have gone away; however, it looks like it's back!

This whole situation could also be connected to various bluetooth quality issues many people are facing when using bluetooth car kits. I would suggest you try and connect such issues with the NOISE on the OTHER END.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

P.S. I will try and put together a Skype call that would hopefully demostrate what I am trying to say.

iPhone 3G v2.2

Posted on Nov 26, 2008 4:23 AM

Reply
359 replies

Sep 17, 2010 3:29 AM in response to Thanar

OK, I am officially having the same issues again, even with iOS 4.1 installed. It was better for a week or so, but we're back to "I can't hear you, man", when there's noise on the other side of the line.

Sending feedback to Apple through iPhone's [feedback page|http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html]. If you have access to the ADC program, I guess you would have access in the [bug report portal|https://bugreport.apple.com> on Apple.

You can use "Bluetooth quality issue: Headset mic muting bug" as a Subject and portions (or all) of the following text:

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Dear Apple,

A growing number of people have been facing issues with iPhone's bluetooth quality when making calls, for over two years now. Seems like iPhone fails to work in full-duplex mode when talking through a bluetooth headset.

You could easily replicate the bug by calling yourself on a land line and talking loudly and longly at the same time on both devices. You'll notice that -on most cases- you cannot hear yourself through the land line, meaning that the headset's mic is being muted while there is output through the headset's speaker. Talking through the iPhone itself cancels the effect. This issue does not occur when using any other phone/headset combination apart from the iPhone.

As of note, this effect is getting worse by the usage time of the bluetooth headset, meaning that when firstly paired it will most probably be unnoticed. Thus, try keeping a headset paired with an iPhone for a couple of days while using it regularly for calls and then try the above test.

As a matter of fact, there's a thread in Apple Discussions regarding the issue, dating back to 26-Nov-2008, here: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1804116&tstart=0

Here is another, more recent thread in Apple Discussions focused mainly on iPhone 4, however I believe the cause of both the problems is poor echo cancellation software: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2481487&tstart=0

Following your iOS 4.1 update, there seems to be fewer complaints, however they're again starting to ramp up. Please take a look at this, since it has been puzzling a growing part of the iPhone users community for some time now. Thank you.
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Oct 25, 2010 3:15 AM in response to Thanar

Hi again Thanar & Co
I can just confirm the above (again).

Bought a new iPhone 4 (my 4rd) this summer and also a new BT headset (my 11th!), upgraded to iOS 4.1 and it work fine for a while. But then got the same trouble again, as with all the other phones & BT-headsets. It's the iPhone.

FYI: Spook with a distributor of Jawbone BT headsets, and they also have a lot of trouble with this. And when checking "faulty" BT headsets, they work just fine with other mobiles...

Keep up the good work here Thanar & Co! Apples upgrade iOS 4.1 was just the first attempt at this! I believe Apple will fix this problem soon.

Bluetooth audio quality concerns

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