Audio on Bluetooth is horribly broken and unsafe

[Cant Miss]

Much like the original Moto X under early KitKat, this phone is almost unusable in the car over Bluetooth, and is far more "unsafe" than a ringer that does not start out in an attenuated state.

1.) Moto Voice prompts are at least 10-15dB below Google voice prompts and other notifications, making them unheard, and forcing the driver to take his eyes off the road.

2.) In call volume is often reset to much lower levels than when last used, forcing the driver to take a hand off the wheel to raise the volume on the handset.

3.) Numerous other intermittent issues including remote controls not pausing/resuming media playback, notifications pausing playback sometimes, and playing over it others.

The whole thing really is a mess and I can't tell you how frustrating it is to go through this all over again with a new Moto phone. If safety is really a concern for Moto, as evidenced by the stupid ringer "feature" previously discussed here, this should be of the utmost priority for Motorola developers and lawyers alike.

 

[AndroidIsMyThing]

If you are concerned about safety, I would recommend not using your phone in the car at all. Even taking to someone else or orally writing a text message can be distracting to a driver.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Cant Miss]

Hard to take your reply seriously. You're suggesting these issues not be addressed for the purpose of forcing me to not use the hands free features this phone is supposed to support?

Face it, folks are gonna use their phones in their cars; I see drivers with their phones to their heads daily.

You don't talk to passengers in your vehicle when driving? How is a speaker phone any less safe?

 

[itinj6]

Agree with the OP. Especially since "Driving Mode" is an advertised feature. Hopefully an update can fix the volume issue. Same thing with the Moto Hint. Everything coming into the Hint through Google is loud and crisp (navigation directions, music, general queries, etc). Any of the Moto Voice prompts has me adjusting the earpiece to be able to hear it (prompt beep, moto voice speech, etc).

I just downloaded an audio management app called Persist +. I'm still playing around with it but it let's you adjust the Bluetooth audio volume separately from everything else, including each of the other volume adjustments. Let's you do it in the notification drop down too. I know it won't let you raise the volume beyond the capabilities baked into the phone but at least it let's you adjust Bluetooth volume to max, independent of other volume settings.

 

[Citizen Coyote]

This is the exact opposite of my experience with using my Moto X with my car via bluetooth. Audio is crystal clear, and I have no problems with the volume acting strange. One thing I did do (a suggestion from another thread complaining about how Moto Voice's volume can be inconsistent) is to turn off the equalizer for the phone's speaker:

Settings -> Sound & notification -> Audio Effects -> swipe to speaker, turn equalizer off

 

[Cant Miss]

This is the exact opposite of my experience with using my Moto X with my car via bluetooth. Audio is crystal clear, and I have no problems with the volume acting strange. One thing I did do (a suggestion from another thread complaining about how Moto Voice's volume can be inconsistent) is to turn off the equalizer for the phone's speaker

Mine's been off. Are you on Lollipop or KitKat? Is your in-car bluetooth both Media and HF? Or just HF

 

[ShoelerDroid]

This is the exact opposite of my experience with using my Moto X with my car via bluetooth. Audio is crystal clear, and I have no problems with the volume acting strange. One thing I did do (a suggestion from another thread complaining about how Moto Voice's volume can be inconsistent) is to turn off the equalizer for the phone's speaker:

Settings -> Sound & notification -> Audio Effects -> swipe to speaker, turn equalizer off

Same here. The 2013 X was a disaster bluetooth-wise but my 2014 has been a huge breath of fresh air. I stopped using driving mode since my audio system isn't smart enough to enable the microphone for listening to bluetooth music, and my phone is typically in my pocket so I couldn't reply to things.

Also one of the first things I ever do on an Android phone is turn the stupid equalizer off - so maybe that's the key.

Edit: In Lolipop, there is no equalizer so I must be thinking I did this for sure on my 2013 X.

 

[Cant Miss]

Same here. The 2013 X was a disaster bluetooth-wise but my 2014 has been a huge breath of fresh air.

Mine started behaving perfectly with 4.4.4.

Edit: In Lolipop, there is no equalizer

Yes there is... Settings/Sound & notification/Audio Effects

 

[ShoelerDroid]

Mine started behaving perfectly with 4.4.4.

Yes there is... Settings/Sound & notification/Audio Effects

Oh gawd - I didn't even think that was a touchable link. Disabled! Thanks for the correction.

 

[itic]

Ok this may be a long shot but my moto voice interface improved a lot when i installed the NOVA launcher I also use the USB/MTP function in the car which produces a lot better audio than BT.

 

[Citizen Coyote]

Mine's been off. Are you on Lollipop or KitKat? Is your in-car bluetooth both Media and HF? Or just HF

Bummer that the equalizer trick didn't work for you. I'm on Lollipop, and the in-car bluetooth is both. I will say that my old phone (a Nexus 4) had terrible, horrible, awful BT reception in my car yet was fine elsewhere, so part of me believes it works by sorcery.

 

[cubetop]

Mine has been great use in the car. I have a cheap BOSS stereo that does streaming BT and my phone pairs up nicely and streams fine. I have had the "voice command" be real low but only once or twice. I'm still on KitKat. I've had multiple phone calls, use the GPS often, stream music always. It's worked great for me.

The music drops a little when there's an email or FB notification. The only time it's paused for me is when there is a call or text and it's worked fine. (Though my phone doesn't seem to always know when it's in drive mode.) I have had text conversations with a friend while in traffic and never had to look at the phone, it transposed everything fine. I have noticed however that the phone does NOT like to go into drive mode at highway speeds. It usually drops out of it around 65mph and will come back in at around 50mph. I've always found that odd.