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I'm not sure we are talking about the same bluetooth here. I have yet to see a bluetooth device that just works (I am a non apple user, so I can't speak for IOS

I'm not sure we are talking about the same bluetooth here. I have yet to see a bluetooth device that just works (I am a non apple user, so I can't speak for IOS devices). The worst example are my wireless headphones. When I get into the car the car radio tries to connect to my phone, so it stops the wireless headphone output. I then have to scroll through the menu and disconnect the car radio, which tries to reconnect after a while. But that is not even the worst. If I have an audiobook playing while I connect the headphones the audio switches immediately to the headphones as soon as they are connected (which is the expected behavior). But if I start the audiobook after the headphones are connected it takes several minutes until I can actually hear something and I have not figured out a way to speed this up apart from disconnecting and reconnecting after I hit play. I for one love my wired headsets, they just work. But I have to buy some new ones every other month because I regulary rip them when they get caught up in something.

gumby 9y ago
> I have yet to see a bluetooth device that just works (I am a non apple user, so I can't speak for IOS devices). Indeed, if you go all-in on Apple they really do "just work", and come pretty close when you use a non-Apple BT headset with Apple gear. I can't say if this is because the standards are inadequate and Apple does some extra work, or if the BT implementations on cheap hardware are simply terrible. I kinda lean to the latter, but really either could be true. > When I get into the car the car radio tries to connect to my phone, so it stops the wireless headphone output. BTW if you are in California it's a crime to have an earbud in both ears or cup headset covering both ears. You're unlikely to be stopped for that specifically, but if you get stopped for erratic driving, speeding, or have an accident the cops are quite willing to load that one on too, and in the case of an accident your insurance company may not cover you. So your car may have a crappy implementation (see my comment above) or it might be attempting to do the right thing.
- srcmap 9y ago
  "earbud in both ears" One of my co-worker got a ticket just for that alone. I seems to remember it was $400 ticket.
- nsxwolf 9y ago
  Apple's Bluetooth products "just work" because they don't use Bluetooth for the pairing part.
  - gumby 9y ago
    Sounds like a data point in favor of the "the standards are inadequate and Apple does some extra work" hypothesis. Let's hope Apple can feed some of this back into the standards organization. Apple's efforts with standards committees has historically been so-so -- neither bad nor good, seemingly mostly reflecting the interests of technical managers unless there was a specific strategic need (e.g. USB committee, Qi), and never with a coherent commitment.
  - ninju 9y ago
    Do you have a citation for this?
    - khedoros1 9y ago
      https://appletoolbox.com/2016/12/airpods-not-auto-pairing-sync-problems-fix/ https://appletoolbox.com/2016/12/airpods-not-auto-pairing-sy... This page mentions it in the "Setting your Airpods up" section.
toomuchtodo 9y ago
> I'm not sure we are talking about the same bluetooth here. I have yet to see a bluetooth device that just works (I am a non apple user, so I can't speak for IOS devices). I have a 2008 Toyota Tundra pickup with no bluetooth. I bought a $20 bluetooth adapter [1]. It has worked flawlessly with my iPhone 5S/6/7 phones; I step into the vehicle, and as soon as the cigarette power adapters are powered up, it pairs without any intervention on my part (after the initial pairing). I consume vast quantities of Spotify while driving around Central Florida with this setup. I still rely on the Apple corded headphones, as I prefer their UX to wireless headphones. It is regretful if it does not work for your specific use case, but it does seem to work in certain scenarios without issue. [1] https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GJFGE3W/ https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GJFGE3W/
kentt 9y ago
I'm just so baffled by this. I've been using bluetooth happily for over a decade. With some minor hiccups, I'd say it works near flawlessly every time. However, everyone seems to hate bt, it never works for anyone, manufacturers put it in everything, people continually switch to bt devices. Nothing adds up.
- smsm42 9y ago
  Yes, you are lucky. My experience with BT is similar to described above - it's unreliable, flaky and prone to random failure. For example, in my car, most of the phones connect most of the time, but at random times they just refuse until the phone is rebooted. Or connect but refuse to dial. Or, alternatively, randomly switch to in-car audio when you stand outside the car and are in mid-call. One of my phones topped it all - connecting it by BT to my car crashes the whole system (thankfully nothing related to actual driving uses the same system, it just makes all audio/radio/maps/etc. unavailable). For a car, there's not a lot of choice there. For headphones, after trying to find a good BT headset for years and failing, I gave up and got RF wireless set. Seems to work fine so far, but of course requires special gadget and only useable with that gadget.
- khedoros1 9y ago
  I hear horrible things about wired headphones too. I think everyone has their own sets of pet peeves that drastically change how they perceive the relative costs and benefits of the available technologies.
sp332 9y ago
If you don't want it to connect to your car, why did you pair them?
- blensor 9y ago
  If I am playing streaming music and have other people in the car who want to listen as well. I could unpair them and then pair it again when needed, but I hope that is not how it should be done.
hbbio 9y ago
I have UE Boom 2 speakers that I use with a wide range of devices (the speaker supports up to 8 registered devices simultaneously). My main mobile devices are not Apples and everything works perfectly.
angryasian 9y ago
You shouldn't be driving and wearing wireless headphones
- blensor 9y ago
  Point taken :) In the car they are used as a hands free kit. My car radio can be used to do calls as well but the headphones, only in one ear while driving, do have much better call quality
- baldfat 9y ago
  How is that less safe then playing the car's stereo? I have one in my ear at a reasonable volume when driving with others so they don't have to listen to my Geeky podcast or music.
  - khedoros1 9y ago
    Many of them also act as partial earplugs, and block out more external sound.
lostmsu 9y ago
You had some terribly bad luck. I had minor BT problems on some Android phones, but everything else works flawlessly.
baldfat 9y ago
My bluetooth is pretty flawless with my $18 in ear bluetooth Gonovate G10. Best $18 I ever spent on a device that lets me get away with listening to podcast and people don't notice. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MAWZ5XE/ref=twister_B072Q9K4YZ?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MAWZ5XE/ref=twister_B072Q9K4YZ?... They are paired with my linux laptop, phone, and desktop computer. Only issue is my car will still try to takeover media on my phone and my car is for phone calls only with bluetooth.

gumby 9y ago

> I have yet to see a bluetooth device that just works (I am a non apple user, so I can't speak for IOS devices). Indeed, if you go all-in on Apple they really do "just work", and come pretty close when you use a non-Apple BT headset with Apple gear. I can't say if this is because the standards are inadequate and Apple does some extra work, or if the BT implementations on cheap hardware are simply terrible. I kinda lean to the latter, but really either could be true. > When I get into the car the car radio tries to connect to my phone, so it stops the wireless headphone output. BTW if you are in California it's a crime to have an earbud in both ears or cup headset covering both ears. You're unlikely to be stopped for that specifically, but if you get stopped for erratic driving, speeding, or have an accident the cops are quite willing to load that one on too, and in the case of an accident your insurance company may not cover you. So your car may have a crappy implementation (see my comment above) or it might be attempting to do the right thing.

srcmap 9y ago
"earbud in both ears" One of my co-worker got a ticket just for that alone. I seems to remember it was $400 ticket.
nsxwolf 9y ago
Apple's Bluetooth products "just work" because they don't use Bluetooth for the pairing part.
- gumby 9y ago
  Sounds like a data point in favor of the "the standards are inadequate and Apple does some extra work" hypothesis. Let's hope Apple can feed some of this back into the standards organization. Apple's efforts with standards committees has historically been so-so -- neither bad nor good, seemingly mostly reflecting the interests of technical managers unless there was a specific strategic need (e.g. USB committee, Qi), and never with a coherent commitment.
- ninju 9y ago
  Do you have a citation for this?
  - khedoros1 9y ago
    https://appletoolbox.com/2016/12/airpods-not-auto-pairing-sync-problems-fix/ https://appletoolbox.com/2016/12/airpods-not-auto-pairing-sy... This page mentions it in the "Setting your Airpods up" section.

toomuchtodo 9y ago

> I'm not sure we are talking about the same bluetooth here. I have yet to see a bluetooth device that just works (I am a non apple user, so I can't speak for IOS devices). I have a 2008 Toyota Tundra pickup with no bluetooth. I bought a $20 bluetooth adapter [1]. It has worked flawlessly with my iPhone 5S/6/7 phones; I step into the vehicle, and as soon as the cigarette power adapters are powered up, it pairs without any intervention on my part (after the initial pairing). I consume vast quantities of Spotify while driving around Central Florida with this setup. I still rely on the Apple corded headphones, as I prefer their UX to wireless headphones. It is regretful if it does not work for your specific use case, but it does seem to work in certain scenarios without issue. [1] https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GJFGE3W/ https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GJFGE3W/

kentt 9y ago

I'm just so baffled by this. I've been using bluetooth happily for over a decade. With some minor hiccups, I'd say it works near flawlessly every time. However, everyone seems to hate bt, it never works for anyone, manufacturers put it in everything, people continually switch to bt devices. Nothing adds up.

smsm42 9y ago
Yes, you are lucky. My experience with BT is similar to described above - it's unreliable, flaky and prone to random failure. For example, in my car, most of the phones connect most of the time, but at random times they just refuse until the phone is rebooted. Or connect but refuse to dial. Or, alternatively, randomly switch to in-car audio when you stand outside the car and are in mid-call. One of my phones topped it all - connecting it by BT to my car crashes the whole system (thankfully nothing related to actual driving uses the same system, it just makes all audio/radio/maps/etc. unavailable). For a car, there's not a lot of choice there. For headphones, after trying to find a good BT headset for years and failing, I gave up and got RF wireless set. Seems to work fine so far, but of course requires special gadget and only useable with that gadget.
khedoros1 9y ago
I hear horrible things about wired headphones too. I think everyone has their own sets of pet peeves that drastically change how they perceive the relative costs and benefits of the available technologies.

sp332 9y ago

If you don't want it to connect to your car, why did you pair them?

blensor 9y ago
If I am playing streaming music and have other people in the car who want to listen as well. I could unpair them and then pair it again when needed, but I hope that is not how it should be done.

hbbio 9y ago

I have UE Boom 2 speakers that I use with a wide range of devices (the speaker supports up to 8 registered devices simultaneously). My main mobile devices are not Apples and everything works perfectly.

angryasian 9y ago

You shouldn't be driving and wearing wireless headphones

blensor 9y ago
Point taken :) In the car they are used as a hands free kit. My car radio can be used to do calls as well but the headphones, only in one ear while driving, do have much better call quality
baldfat 9y ago
How is that less safe then playing the car's stereo? I have one in my ear at a reasonable volume when driving with others so they don't have to listen to my Geeky podcast or music.
- khedoros1 9y ago
  Many of them also act as partial earplugs, and block out more external sound.

lostmsu 9y ago

You had some terribly bad luck. I had minor BT problems on some Android phones, but everything else works flawlessly.

baldfat 9y ago

My bluetooth is pretty flawless with my $18 in ear bluetooth Gonovate G10. Best $18 I ever spent on a device that lets me get away with listening to podcast and people don't notice. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MAWZ5XE/ref=twister_B072Q9K4YZ?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MAWZ5XE/ref=twister_B072Q9K4YZ?... They are paired with my linux laptop, phone, and desktop computer. Only issue is my car will still try to takeover media on my phone and my car is for phone calls only with bluetooth.