Google Now + Bluetooth = complete fail. Should I give up and get an iPhone?

[antef]

I use a Nexus device and am typically pretty happy with it. It's not always as smooth or fast as an iPhone, but Android works the way I want it to, and it's always felt right. Sometimes though it just falls flat on its face so hard that I wonder why I stick with it.

Case in point: I wanted to be able to do snazzy voice actions like "call someone" or "play song" via Bluetooth. Google Now's voice actions can do all these things, my phone supports Bluetooth, so you'd think it'd be a no brainer. Nope. The Bluetooth button doesn't even pull up voice search, it pulls up a voice dialer. Most of the time Bluetooth itself won't work with it and it'll just use the handset speaker. There are more general problems with Bluetooth itself in 4.2 that I think most people are aware of.

I'd like to ask Google if they tested any of this even once, and how useful they think this feature really is if it doesn't work over Bluetooth. If I can pick up my phone I might as well just use the regular interface to do this stuff. For kicks, I tried pairing this same Bluetooth device to an iPhone 4S running iOS6. Right off the bat, with no further configuration, the Bluetooth call button pulls up Siri, it works over Bluetooth, and does everything I need.

Again - I'm an Android fan, but sometimes it's so bad I start to rethink my opinion. Maybe I should see what Apple's next device and OS revision will bring this year...

 

[poofyhairguy]

Google is including a Bluetooth stack in Android 4.3 for the first time. The reason it doesn't work is that Bluetooth on every current Android phone is third party.

 

[antef]

Google is including a Bluetooth stack in Android 4.3 for the first time. The reason it doesn't work is that Bluetooth on every current Android phone is third party.

Can you provide a source? This page states a new Bluetooth stack developed with Broadcom was already introduced in 4.2. Are you referring to this or are you saying yet another new stack is coming?

Even in the event that the current Bluetooth stack situation is murky, it should at the very least work well with their own Nexus devices.

 

[Commodus]

Google is including a Bluetooth stack in Android 4.3 for the first time. The reason it doesn't work is that Bluetooth on every current Android phone is third party.

Pretty much bang on. That said, we don't know how well Google's stack will actually work. It still surprises me how Google can do so many things well with its interface and yet flub some basics. Bluetooth is one, but Android *still* can't mix audio from multiple apps properly. A Nexus 4 still triggers a jolting audio break if you dare to do something else while playing music or a game (iOS gracefully ducks your main audio for a brief moment).

 

[Tsaar]

I had an iPhone 4 and a iPhone 5. I sold the iPhone 5 and bought a GN2. While, at this point, I would never go back to iOS (too many good things about Android). The one area that kills me is Bluetooth.

My car is a few years old and has Bluetooth capabilities, but no media playing ability (A2DP). With the iPhone I would hold down the home button and Siri would come over my speakers just like a phone call (it interrupts anything). I could then talk to Siri through Bluetooth and send text, check messages, do a reminder, etc.

With my Android (I keep my phone locked), there is no capabilities while the phone is locked (arguably safer, but this should be a setting), but there is not an easy way to get to Google Now without looking at the screen that I can find, and even I do, it doesn't work over Bluetooth.

The great thing about Siri is she was always there (I know that sounded lame) even when the phone was locked. I could ask most basic questions and perform many basic task without unlocking my phone. I really miss that part of iOS. If anyone knows a way to get Google Now to work over the "phone" capabilities of Bluetooth, please let me know.

I would also like Google to allow certain "safe" tasks to be performed on a locked phone (with a setting of course to make sure everyone is happy). Another example is the lock screen phone on iOS. I could take pictures, but had no access to over photos. If I could hold down my home button while locked to use Google Now to check sports scores, set reminders, etc...I would be really happy. If I asked to open a web site, or open an app, it would then prompt me for my PIN.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Here is a link about 4.3's Bluetooth upgrade:

http://mobile.theverge.com/2013/5/1...-smart-hints-android-update-within-two-months

 

[antef]

Here is a link about 4.3's Bluetooth upgrade:

http://mobile.theverge.com/2013/5/1...-smart-hints-android-update-within-two-months

All that link talks about is one specific feature, Bluetooth LE. The new stack has already been introduced with 4.2, as per that link I posted earlier. So all these problems I describe are WITH the new stack. We have to hope they do a hell of a lot of bug fixing in 4.3.

Tsaar: My experience trying this with an iPhone was the same - it just all worked through Siri. On a Nexus device, you CAN access Google Now without unlocking - just swipe up from the lock screen. So all we really need is for Google Now voice actions to work reliably over Bluetooth, and to be able to activate it with the Bluetooth button. You can try to get that part to work with this app. Even with that though, just plain giving voice actions over Bluetooth is not reliable.

 

[cronos]

I use a Nexus device and am typically pretty happy with it. It's not always as smooth or fast as an iPhone, but Android works the way I want it to, and it's always felt right. Sometimes though it just falls flat on its face so hard that I wonder why I stick with it.

It's always a trade-off between systems. How important is this for you?

If you have one specific need that is really important to you, that only works well with one system and not the other (in this case it works with iPhones and not on Android), I'd just commit to the system that works and forget about the other. There's no reason to waste time looking for work around or wait until Android will (probably eventually) get it right for this particular thing.

If you really have been wondering why you are 'sticking with it', then just move on. Why torture yourself?

 

[tHa ShIzNiT]

Things like this are why I would very closely consider going back to IOS if they introduced a non-puny-screen-sized phone.

 

[Tsaar]

Things like this are why I would very closely consider going back to IOS if they introduced a non-puny-screen-sized phone.

If the iPhone ever had a large screen and WIDGETS I would consider going back (also good battery life).

Like I mentioned earlier in this thread, I had an iPhone 5, and bought a GN2. My battery life sucked on the I5 and has been awesome on the GN2.

I use widgets for everything. I hardly ever launch apps from app icons, because I love the fingertip information, and then opening the actual app if I need it. iOS is a joke in this regard. I can barely use my wife's iPhone 5 it seems so terrible in comparison after getting used to the GN2.

Oh...one more thing...Swype-style keyboards. I never thought I would like these, but holy crap, it has completely changed the mobile keyboard experience for me.

 

[tHa ShIzNiT]

Yeah, the new google keyboard is extremely functional for me too. I find it ridiculously annoying typing on my girl's iphone.

 

[pm]

This was one of my top 3 issues with my Nexus 4. I wanted to hit the bluetooth button and get full access to all of Google's Voice Actions and I was stuck with the really lame Voice Dialer. I never did find a solution that I liked to solve it - the best that I came up with was Samsung S-Voice - and I'm glad to hear that they are fixing it.

There was a lot that I loved about Android but I got hung up on just two or three little things that I really valued that I could never get working... and this bluetooth functionality was one of them.

 

[antef]

It's always a trade-off between systems. How important is this for you?

If you have one specific need that is really important to you, that only works well with one system and not the other (in this case it works with iPhones and not on Android), I'd just commit to the system that works and forget about the other. There's no reason to waste time looking for work around or wait until Android will (probably eventually) get it right for this particular thing.

If you really have been wondering why you are 'sticking with it', then just move on. Why torture yourself?

You're right, I've learned to just keep things simple and use what works for you. In this case, if this is important to me, then it's a strong motivator. However, there are reasons I use a Nexus device, and those play into it too. Like others have said, I like the widgets, I like the screen size. I also like prepaid and almost completely refuse on principle to pay the insanely high bills that Verizon or AT&T require.

At the end of the day, you have to look at all of these things and decide which ones are most important. I guess I will see what new hardware both companies release this year and go from there.

 

[UNCjigga]

Pretty much bang on. That said, we don't know how well Google's stack will actually work. It still surprises me how Google can do so many things well with its interface and yet flub some basics. Bluetooth is one, but Android *still* can't mix audio from multiple apps properly. A Nexus 4 still triggers a jolting audio break if you dare to do something else while playing music or a game (iOS gracefully ducks your main audio for a brief moment).

I noticed on the HTC Droid DNA that whenever I'm playing music and it's interrupted by a notification/navigation instructions/etc. the music slightly dims so I can hear the alert and then picks right back up. It's so much smoother, and I wonder why other device OEMs don't do the same thing.