Samsung phone bluetooth compatibility with iDrive

[CleanAudi]

X-post from M3 Idrive forums

Guys,

I have a 2010 M3 and just got the new Samsung Droid Charge LTE phone. Unfortunately it's not compaitable with the iDrive on my car.

Initially the phone pairs, then after about 30seconds it tries loading the contact list, at that point it drops out and doesn't connect.

If I manually reconnect via the iDrive by selecting the phone and pushing the idrive knob in, the phone will successfully connect and all the contacts etc will appear.

THis is driving me nuts, I've tried contacting Samusng and I just get the runaround with offshored techsupport saying its BMW's fault. I tried contacting BMW NA customer service with no real help.

Anyone have any idea how this can be fixed? I really want to get this resolved. I did some research and it seems BMW doesn't really work well with Samsung devices. I found out that BMW Technology Group located in Palo Alto works on the iDrive but was unsuccessful in finding a contact number. Does anyone know a contact at BMW that I can explain this situation maybe we can get a fix down the road?

Thanks!

[Griz]

I don't have a solution for you, but I can confirm that I recently started having similar problems with my Samsung Epic.

[ex10psi]

i was in the same boat as you just recently got the charge and bluetooth kept droppimg after a min or 2. same behavior, something not right with syncing the contacts. I sat in the car for a good hour syncing, dropping, re-adding, turned the car on and off, rebooted the phone a few times, evaluating my contacts list and getting ride of any special characters.

and finally it connected and stayed connected to my surprise!

I'm not exactly certain what finally fixed it or combo of events... but so far its been about a week and all is well.

I've heard about the contacts being an issue but I don't know if I'm fully convinced. anyway sorry I don't have a definitive solution but my advice, stick with it and keep on trying!! because it appears the car will eventually downloads all contacts as long as you keep reconnecting and once its finally done, everything is just fine.

[Shaunt_Alpine]

This happened to me as well. You can simply un-pair the phone and re-pair it and it will work until you restart the vehicle. Then you will have to repeat the annoying procedure every time you start the vehicle.

Its frustrating because it used to work just fine (the only complaint was that it took a good 60 seconds or so until my nav even recognized the phone, thus leaving the bluetooth non functional until it was recognized) until I updated my phones firmware to the gingerbread operating system. Ever since I did that, my phone has been extremely slow to respond to simple menu browsing.

I'm not a certified technician but I think the correlation is that. I just hope Samsung updates this snail of a phone. Can't wait for the Samsung Galaxy S II to come out. I'm jumping ship as soon as its available.

[CleanAudi]

Guys,

Please chime in here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/show...3#post14228773

I am making a post were all complaints can go which I will eventually provide to Samsung engineer

[DocT]

Originally Posted by CleanAudi

X-post from M3 Idrive forums

Guys,

I have a 2010 M3 and just got the new Samsung Droid Charge LTE phone. Unfortunately it's not compaitable with the iDrive on my car.

Initially the phone pairs, then after about 30seconds it tries loading the contact list, at that point it drops out and doesn't connect.

If I manually reconnect via the iDrive by selecting the phone and pushing the idrive knob in, the phone will successfully connect and all the contacts etc will appear.

THis is driving me nuts, I've tried contacting Samusng and I just get the runaround with offshored techsupport saying its BMW's fault. I tried contacting BMW NA customer service with no real help.

Anyone have any idea how this can be fixed? I really want to get this resolved. I did some research and it seems BMW doesn't really work well with Samsung devices. I found out that BMW Technology Group located in Palo Alto works on the iDrive but was unsuccessful in finding a contact number. Does anyone know a contact at BMW that I can explain this situation maybe we can get a fix down the road?

Thanks!

Fix for this is counterintuitive. When you start your phone or restart bluetooth go to Settings>Applications>Running Services. Look for the Service "BluetoothPbapService". tap it, then hit stop. This removes it from the list. The phone pairs and uploads the phone book without problems until you either stop and restart bluetooth or turn your phone off. I am looking for a developer who can automate this process with an app without rooting the phone. Hope this helps.

[CleanAudi]

Originally Posted by DocT

Fix for this is counterintuitive. When you start your phone or restart bluetooth go to Settings>Applications>Running Services. Look for the Service "BluetoothPbapService". tap it, then hit stop. This removes it from the list. The phone pairs and uploads the phone book without problems until you either stop and restart bluetooth or turn your phone off. I am looking for a developer who can automate this process with an app without rooting the phone. Hope this helps.

Hi DocT.

Thanks for the response. I will try that after this post. I've been doing more research on this after you brought it up.
I searched google for "Change bluetooth PBAP service" and a lot of android posts came up. I wonder if the PBAP profile can be just swapped out on our phones?

I wish I was a programmer but I don't understand half the things on these websites. Where have you been looking for a developer?

[CleanAudi]

Originally Posted by DocT

Fix for this is counterintuitive. When you start your phone or restart bluetooth go to Settings>Applications>Running Services. Look for the Service "BluetoothPbapService". tap it, then hit stop. This removes it from the list. The phone pairs and uploads the phone book without problems until you either stop and restart bluetooth or turn your phone off. I am looking for a developer who can automate this process with an app without rooting the phone. Hope this helps.

Update: I first tried it with the service running and connection eventually failed. I then stopped BluetoothPbapService and tried again and the connection was successful! So yes indeed we need to find someone that can program something to automatically do this.

[DocT]

Originally Posted by CleanAudi

Update: I first tried it with the service running and connection eventually failed. I then stopped BluetoothPbapService and tried again and the connection was successful! So yes indeed we need to find someone that can program something to automatically do this.

I posted on a couple of developer web sites as well as on Verizon. Hopefully get a bite.

[CleanAudi]

Originally Posted by DocT

I posted on a couple of developer web sites as well as on Verizon. Hopefully get a bite.

Doc search for this program maybe it will do what we are looking for?

"Automatic Task Killer"

[DocT]

Originally Posted by CleanAudi

Doc search for this program maybe it will do what we are looking for?

"Automatic Task Killer"

None of the "Task Killers" can directly remove a running service. They just take you to the same setting menu manually stop it as above.

[Shaunt_Alpine]

Recently, I introduced my fiance' to an android phone and downloaded some fun apps for her including Pandora. After the installation of Pandora, she told me that she would get dropped calls and that her phone would respond slower then when she first got her phone. I uninstalled Pandora and sure enough her problems went away.

I then thought I too should uninstall Pandora to see if my snail of a phone would respond better. Low and behold, my android epic does respond better and I HAVE NOT had any issues with my car's bluetooth connectivity!!! Connects every time now. It kinda sucks not having Pandora but I choose my car's bluetooth over it. Hope that helps everybody who has been having problems. Tried to post as soon as I could since I know how frustrating this has been.

[Lodaka]

Just continued with this thread. I have Galaxy S2 and it seems that this problem continues. It came with Gingerbread, 2.3.3. and I wonder if this is the issue.

Anyway, not sure if it's the contact list or what but the phone would connect for about 10-30 sec's and then bluetooth would disconnect. Super duper annoying. Galaxy S2 may not out in the US yet and I suppose I won't have anyone complaining about this until then! Argh.

I will try the stopping service method. Maybe it will be a stop-gap until some permanent solution is out.

[Shaunt_Alpine]

Originally Posted by Lodaka

Just continued with this thread. I have Galaxy S2 and it seems that this problem continues. It came with Gingerbread, 2.3.3. and I wonder if this is the issue.

Anyway, not sure if it's the contact list or what but the phone would connect for about 10-30 sec's and then bluetooth would disconnect. Super duper annoying. Galaxy S2 may not out in the US yet and I suppose I won't have anyone complaining about this until then! Argh.

I will try the stopping service method. Maybe it will be a stop-gap until some permanent solution is out.

Do you have Pandora installed on your phone?

[Lodaka]

Originally Posted by Shaunt_Alpine

Do you have Pandora installed on your phone?

No, I do not.

[Shaunt_Alpine]

Originally Posted by Lodaka

No, I do not.

If I were you, I'd find out which apps use a function of bluetooth and try uninstalling it.

[808MGuy]

I've had similar problems with Samsung phones on bluetooth devices. Not on the BMW specifically but on an aftermarket Kenwood head unit. All my other phones worked fine but the Samsung just wouldn't work. Seems like whatever they are using for their bluetooth software doesn't play well with others.

[Lodaka]

I do have to say. This sucks. The bluetooth function pretty important. Stopping the service as above did not help. I am out of all ideas. Darn!

[rdvs-can]

Well, I had an older BB and it worked just fne all the time. I've "upgraded" to the Samsung Galaxy S2 LTE and poof, no more connection. It seems fromt eh little I've done so far that the issue is the samsung timeout/sleep mode. Once it enteres the bluetooth connection is lost, even though it is still there for eveything else under the sun. This is regardless of the number of times that you pair or unpair. Aarrgg..... Amazing new phone but can't keep a connection with the car. BMW/Samsung, what's up with that?

[rdvs-can]

Originally Posted by rdvs-can

Well, I had an older BB and it worked just fne all the time. I've "upgraded" to the Samsung Galaxy S2 LTE and poof, no more connection. It seems fromt eh little I've done so far that the issue is the samsung timeout/sleep mode. Once it enteres the bluetooth connection is lost, even though it is still there for eveything else under the sun. This is regardless of the number of times that you pair or unpair. Aarrgg..... Amazing new phone but can't keep a connection with the car. BMW/Samsung, what's up with that?

In fact, my really old TomTom GO 720 has no issues with it.

[rdvs-can]

A workaround but, highly inefficient is to take the SIM card out of the Samsung, put into the BB when I'm going to drive. Do the reverse when I get to where I'm going. This is far from a permanent solution but, it's a short term work around.

[NFAM3]

Have you tried getting a iPhone? Just saying.