"The" Bluetooth Thread

tomoqv · 28 Jun 2018, 08:52

@Marathon2422
I can't agree more! Bluetooth has been unreliable ever since the launch of Ubuntu Touch. BLE devices never worked well and last time I tested with a BLE keyboard I couldn't bring the OSK back after disconnecting the KB. Car kits, as I stated above, has not worked for me since my Bq E4.5. While it connects fine, there is no audio or mic routed through the phone app. My Pebble Round watch connects, but the BT connection is not recognized by the Rockwork app.

Many smartphone users today, rely on bluetooth for handsfree phone callls, external speakers, smart watches, mice and keyboards, so I believe it is essential this works flawlessly in Ubuntu Touch too.

L-00139 · 19 Aug 2018, 21:24

Using 16.04/rc installed yesterday on Nexus 5, no major Bluetooth problems for me. Sometimes takes a couple tries to connect but seems to use high fidelity profile by default and switches output as soon as connected. Music player works really well with my 20+ GB MP3 collection too. Shows album covers from folder.jpg rather than demanding every song have the same image embeded, for example.

UBports really breathed new life into this old phone. Looking forward to the official release!

tomoqv · 21 Aug 2018, 10:49

@crito What about phone calls, do you get any sound through bluetooth?

rocky58 · 22 Aug 2018, 05:44

@tomoqv I connected my OPO to the my Fiat 500L Uconnect bluetooth system, all is ok but no audio through the car speakers

tomoqv · 22 Aug 2018, 07:56

@rocky58 That is my problem too, Pro5 connects fine with car kit, but no audio.

Lindisfarne · 24 Aug 2018, 05:30

@crito said in "The" Bluetooth Thread:

Using 16.04/rc installed yesterday on Nexus 5, no major Bluetooth problems for me. Sometimes takes a couple tries to connect but seems to use high fidelity profile by default and switches output as soon as connected. Music player works really well with my 20+ GB MP3 collection too. Shows album covers from folder.jpg rather than demanding every song have the same image embeded, for example.

Funny - I am running the same, also on a nexus5 - but my Bluetooth can't seem to discover any devices at all... Tried it with my radio yesterday, and it didn't show up on the list. Even if both were on and no other devices were using Bluetoooth.

Grisen · 27 Aug 2018, 06:34

Sigh - my MX4 just died because of rain, so I have to switch to my OPO.
Nice phone, but Bluetooth doesn't work, and I need that for my car, as I spend a lot of time in my car.
Any news on progress of Bluetooth or do I have to bite the Linage apple? Any other UBports-compatible phone where Bluetooth works?

Regards Grisen

Lakotaubp · 27 Aug 2018, 06:56

@grisen Bluetooth works on my OPO 16.04 dev. Some devices it detects quickly, others take two or three attempts.Does it not connect at all or just no audio as others gave reported on different devices.

Grisen · 27 Aug 2018, 07:12

It's stuck at "Searching"
It never finds my car.

Regards
Grisen

tomoqv · 27 Aug 2018, 13:09

The problem is not just connecting to different bluetooth devices like car kits etc., which mostly works for me on my Pro 5 as it did with my OPO earlier. The real problem, when it comes to bluetooth handsfree calling, is that no audio is routed through the bluetooth connection. I don't know if that problem is with the bluetooth daemon or with the actual phone app.

Anyway, bluetooth functionality on Ubuntu Touch needs more developer love, but I have respect for the challenges with closed source drivers and such. Hopefully there will be a workaround for the most pressing bluetooth issues down the road.

Stefano · 27 Aug 2018, 13:37

@tomoqv Yes mate, that's always been a problem for Pro 5, it actually never worked as it was supposed to. Back in Canonical days, I have reported on this and the answer was, that "this one must have slipped through"
They apologized, but since then nothing. Without this particular bug, Pro 5 would be a perfect Ubuntu Touch phone.( or at least close to perfection)
Hopefully someone will fix this, one day

Grisen · 28 Aug 2018, 05:05

Strangely enough, the other way around sorta works. The car can find the phone, and most things work. I can control the phone through the steering wheel, but sound doesn't work. It worked for a couple of seconds, then no sound. The bluetooth icon on the phone never changed to connected, even though it obviously was connected.
A little unrelated - my MX4 can power on after two days submerged in rice. There is still hope

Regards

Grisen

Mika15 · 9 Mar 2018, 16:18

Hi,
With my BQ E5 under Utouch from OTA8 to 12 I hadn't problem with my car radio Pioneer DEH-6100BT, since OTA 13 and all UBports OTA, automatic connection is made but sound doesn't work, to make it work, I have to disconnect manually and reconnect, after that, everything is fine till next disconnection.

Regards.

tomoqv · 4 Sept 2018, 08:45

During the last Q&A, a question about how work is progressing with bluetooth was raised just at the end of the session, and it was therefore not addressed before the Q&A ended. The person asking said bluetooth issues appear to affect all devices in some way or another, so it should be rather critical for UBPorts and Ubuntu Touch.

I also want to know if there is any work done to improve bluetooth functionality, because as it stands now it is nearly unusable in Ubuntu Touch. If I am lucky, I can play music through bluetooth speakers (often with considerable stutter), and that is about it. Phone calls, Pebble smart watch won't work.

If the core team could shed some light on this, it would be appreciated.

Thanks

Stefano · 4 Sept 2018, 09:13

@tomoqv I have asked this question i last Q&A , but it was ignored...

tomoqv · 4 Sept 2018, 09:40

@stefano I forgot who it was, just wanted to make sure this question gets answered :-).

ThePossessor · 4 Sept 2018, 21:31

@tomoqv Thanks for taking the initiative to get a followup on this. I totally support your request.

dobey · 4 Sept 2018, 23:33

@tomoqv Ubuntu Touch is being maintained by a very small group of people, in their spare time, and is a work of passion. Also, third party devices that may be based on Bluetooth underneath, are often quite closed, and very difficult to support.

If you would like to assist with improving the situation with Bluetooth devices in general, I'm sure any bug reports, pull requests, or documentation you can provide about certain bluetooth devices, would got a long way to making things better.

Thank you for your concern.

tomoqv · 9 May 2018, 08:57

@dobey I respect the challenges and the limited developer resources in the project. Yes, I have filed bluetooth bugs (e.g. https://github.com/ubports/ubuntu-touch/issues/766) and I may very well file additional ones going forward.

I was merely requesting an update on where we stand with regards to bluetooth and Ubuntu Touch. To my knowledge, bluetooth works with Android on all the devices supported by UBPorts, while it mostly doesn't work in UT regardless of device. Bluetooth functionality is something that nearly everyone expects in a modern smartphone and therefore I would appreciate an update on the current status and potential roadmap to iron out the issues.

I am fully aware that there are other critical issues that need attention, and I don't even know if bluetooth is top 10 of issues that the core team is working on.

A little update is all I am asking at this point.

libremax · 5 Sept 2018, 09:26

@tomoqv You can see a kind of roadmap here : https://github.com/ubports/ubuntu-touch/milestones.

BT a priori does not seem to be in the main issues to be fixed for the next 4 OTAs.

It's also because BT is difficult to fix : it's divided in kernel modules (different for each device) and user space module (http://www.bluez.org/).

I believe it would take a lot of time for such a small team to achieve very random and possibly very low results.

So, as usual, contributions are welcomed.

(PS: not all smartphone users use BT, by far)