[Trisman]

I've searched the forum for answers and it seems that this *might* not be possible...
Which seems strange!

The usual response is 'why would you want to do this?', 'use WiFi' or.. No replys....
I'd be interested if anyone know why it can't be done.

Reason I ask: Using an Android Tablet as a car Media/Nav/Carputer. The audio-out from the tablet is fed into the car-stereo via. a 3.5mm plug.

Nav, video etc. all work fine, music stored on the tablet plays nicely through the car stereo, as you'd expect.

But: There seems to be no way on earth that I can pair a 'phone to this set-up to get either hands-free calls or music stored on my phone played through the car stereo via. A2DP Bluetooth profile to the tablet.

What is stranger is that I used to be able achieve all this with a Windows CE tablet plugged-into the car stereo as a Nav/Media device.
I could pair any 'phone to it, make & receive hands-free calls AND control the 'phones music from the CE tablet & (at the risk of repeating myself!), have it play through the car stereo.

(I stopped using the Win CE device & went to Android, as the CE device boot time for the Nav Software was ridiculous, the touch screen was hopeless, the display was pretty low resolution+ dim & it was impossible to have more than a couple of apps running because of memory & processor limitations).

So, if the bluetooth pairing I need could be done with Win CE, why can't it be done with Android?!

[sauce_a_poutine]

BlueTooth is typically a "slave" to the 3.5mm Jack, which has precedence. The idea is that if your BlueTooth dies, you can quickly hook-up with a corded ear-piece&Mic set to talk hands-free. I don't know whether or not this behavior can be changed, but I doubt it.

Typically, people using a ear-piece Bluetooth like mine, will disable it's "Media layer" and use that "Media layer" and connect it to the car radio to play music on the car radio. (I use my phone in that fashion on a Ford equipped with Sync). This allows to have "private" calls on the ear-piece, yet play music from the Android device on the car radio. (Radio goes mute when phone in use.)

For file transfers, just get a WiFi hotspot going and use that little ad-hoc network, or use NFC file transfer.

[Trisman]

Thanks.

I understand that, but for the life of me I can't see why a device that uses the Android operating system cannot (apparently anyway?) be configured to act as an A2DP bluetooth receiver (like your wireless headphones & car stereo), whereas a Win CE system, (Windows in general for that matter), a Mac etc. can be configured to work in the way I'm trying to achive with my car-mounted tablet! :lol:

Seems a trick is being missed? There are loads of (usually) Chinese-made car-audio systems that used Android in parallel with Win CE 6.0. The Win CE usually runs the thing, the Android add-on provides useful apps & the nav.

EDIT: The Android version in the Chinese Stereos usually seems to cap-out at v. 2.2.

[sauce_a_poutine]

Microsoft probably designed only one driver for BlueTooth, and since it was an early player with BlueTooth, that driver was written to support all of BlueTooth's features, for "real Windows",and instead of making a new driver for WinCE, they just used what they already had coded for Windows without any modifications or tweaking..

I'll submit this hypothesis: Android sort of grew at the same time as BlueTooth adoption for wireless earpieces and music streaming did, but Android, contrary to Microsoft's stuff, was developed for ultra minimalist hardware specs, so the driver is probably partial, and not capable of supporting everything Bt's specs allows for.

On top of that, BlueTooth is a work in progress, evolving rapidly, with new functionality we all take for granted today, but truth be told, much of that simply did not exist 3~4 years ago.

You might want to check out the chaps at XDA, they might have what you want, in form of hacked support for the functions, if your into tinkering with your gear.

[Trisman]

if your into tinkering with your gear....

Results of the tinkering to date!

My BMW efforts so far:



I think I'll be adding a parrot unit to the HU, at least for now!