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

Jul 2, 2009 1:08 AM in response to Thanar

Re: PS3 BT Headset. Not a good start at the first call;
"-What did you say? Sorry can you say the last digits again? Your fading in and out..."

Hmm, headset number 8 ! not working? I'll keep on trying this headset today and tomorrow, because SolidSwede was so happy about it. But I fear this is not working either.

Apple: Any BT-fixes on the way? It's clearly not the BT-headsets.

Jul 2, 2009 4:01 AM in response to Thanar

@SolidSwede
Sony PS3 BT Headset testlog:
Charged it first time over night before using it. Testresults below;

2009-07-02:
Call 1: "- What did you say? Sorry can you say the last digits again? Your fading in and out..."
Call 2: ok
Call 3: ok
Call 4: ok
Call 5: Starts loosing sounds etc ...
Call 6: ok (between 2 cellphones, one with bad connection...)
Call 7: Never asked, but a lots of "what?"
Call 8: Shops of sounds "don't sound good".
Call 9: "Don't hear you, very faint.".
Recharging headset. More reports will come on this headset later.

@Thanar
+"By the way... You, as a developer... Have you ever seen any additional options in the BT stack of the SDK? I mean, any options such as "noise reduction", "echo cancelation" and so on?"+

Can't comment on that due to the NDA (non-disclosure-agreement), but I don't work with BT on the iPhone apps and will not do so either until this BT-issue is fully resolved by Apple.

Jul 2, 2009 12:03 PM in response to _Mac

How did you test it?
Where do you test it?
How far is the phone from you?
On what side is the phone on your body compared to headset?
Do you have any 2.4 Ghz stuff nearby?

If people start hearing me less than before, I just shut the headset off and on again and things improve. I do have some people complaining (2 of 10) that my voice might be low...

Jul 2, 2009 1:15 PM in response to SolidSwede

SolidSwede,

I suggest you do a reading of my posts from the beggining of the thread. A WORKING headset would be a headset that works EVERYTIME, and not for 8 out of 10 times! I bet the 2 people still complaining that they can't hear you, are in a noisy environment. THIS IS THE BUG. Duplex doesn't work right on the iPhone when talking through bluetooth.

Jul 2, 2009 3:35 PM in response to Thanar

I have read the entire thread.
Everything we are talking about is related to eachother...
However I hope that this is a software only "bug" but I suspect that the BT chip in some or all iPhones could be cheap ones with too low power to sustain full duplex or connectivity...

BT Headsets don't work flawlessly on other phones either, it's still wireless on 2.4 Ghz, many things can disturb the signal.

I hope everyone here have written to Apple about this so that they might take a look on this for the upcoming 3.1 Update

Also

These BT problems with the the iphone 3G has been going on since it's launch... as you noted as well... could it really be just software/ firmware then?

Jul 5, 2009 3:23 PM in response to Thanar

Upon searching the globe for more info on this, many many many forums have threads like this one... they have the same problems as we have...

Hopefully someone with a BT 2.1 3GS will compare with the 3G. That way we may see if it is firmware or hardware...

Many more people seem to have these problems with any iPhone 3G ONLY running any software/firmware up to 3.0...

Jul 6, 2009 1:51 AM in response to Thanar

SolidSwede, since you've done your search on the net and found many similar threads, why don't you post this thread over to the other forums, so as more people post their thoughts and experiences on this here thread.

Regading the software/hardware question, it is definitelly a software issue IMHO, since this came up sometime when iPhone OS 2.2 was released. I am suspecting it was a "feature" put by Apple to face echo issues with their Bluetooth headset. That said, I would like to repeat that my Jabra BT530 was working PERFECTLY since I updated to OS 3.0, but this issue came up again yesterday and I can't have a normal bluetooth conversation once again.

Jul 6, 2009 12:05 PM in response to Thanar

Yes this is actually what I have done on many of them... we'll see what happens... i'm sad to say that my headset has now started degrading in quality as well... still works better than my others but getting worse as I have seen with the iPhone since launch...

As soon as I go near any active WiFi or cordless or whatever related, the headset or rather the iphone and the BT signal decreases with the duplex issue as a result...

Best Smartphone ever with the worst flaw ever... 😉

Jul 6, 2009 12:19 PM in response to SolidSwede

I would also like to add that -under OS 2.2- I had notice that when my iPhone was freshly-restored and my headset freshly-paired, the effect would go away for a few days. Haven't tried restoring yet, under OS 3.0 to see if that does the trick for a while, yet.
This is another reason I believe this effect has mainly to do with iPhone's software.

The inability to work in full-duplex mode (*see note), has NOTHING to do with the bluetooth signal strength, IMO. For me, I am getting the effect EVERY time there's noise on the other end of the line, no matter the distance between iPhone and headset or the EM interference.

* The issue we are facing is NOT exactly lack of full-duplex; it's just that the outgoing volume is lowered THAT low, that the other end has trouble hearing when he's talking or moves in a noisy environment. Just a note, to clarify things a bit and -hopefuly- try to give some extra hints.

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Bluetooth audio quality concerns

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