Using BT headset with U2LTE

[FitzAusTex]

I have the U2LTE from last November updated to AW vsn 1.5.0.2655648, Play Services vsn 8.7.01, and Android 6.0.1 using a Nexus 5 phone. I have Cellular disabled, as I'm not subscribing to separate service via a SIM.

I'm hoping that I can now use my BT headset to answer or make calls and also have the U2LTE notify me of incoming calls. Last November, my general problem was that I seemed unable to have both my headset connected and also the U2LTE connected simultaneously. If I connected the U2LTE via BT, my headset would disconnect. Conversely, if I connected my headset, my U2LTE would disconnect from BT.

So from the reading I've done here on this topic, I have Number Sync turned off, as I do have the option under Bluetooth settings on U2LTE "Play phone audio on watch", and also have my headset paired under Devices under Bluetooth settings on U2LTE. If I don't have "Play phone audio on watch" checked off, my U2LTE doesn't ring. If I do have it checked off and U2LTE does ring, calls get routed to the U2LTE speaker phone, rather than my headset.

So, is there actually a way to have my U2LTE ring, but have the call audio route to my Bluetooth headset instead of routing to the U2LTE speaker phone? I got the impression this was now possible. Thanks!

 

[foxbat121]

It isn't possible to relay BT audio from phone to another headset via watch. Pair your headset to phone instead since you don't use cell functions of the watch.

 

[FitzAusTex]

It isn't possible to relay BT audio from phone to another headset via watch. Pair your headset to phone instead since you don't use cell functions of the watch.

That way doesn't seem to work either. I normally keep my headset connected to my phone which allows me to answer and make calls via my headset. Problem is with my headset paired and connected to phone, how do I get U2LTE to ring/notify me of incoming call?

 

[foxbat121]

You can't. The new firmware made it impossible. In my Nov edition running old firmware, you can still get ring notification on the watch even if the phone is paired with another BT device. The new firmware added NumberSync (or Message+ for Verizon) support and down-graded this BT feature.

 

[FitzAusTex]

You can't. The new firmware made it impossible. In my Nov edition running old firmware, you can still get ring notification on the watch even if the phone is paired with another BT device. The new firmware added NumberSync (or Message+ for Verizon) support and down-graded this BT feature.

ok, that totally sucks then. I wonder if LG should stop treating the U2LTE as a headset. My Gear Live, Gear Fit, and Samsung S2 have just a regular BT icon in BT settings on my phone, but my U2LTE has a headset icon, and apparently you can't have two BT headsets "Connected" at the same time to one phone.

 

[xendula]

You can't. The new firmware made it impossible. In my Nov edition running old firmware, you can still get ring notification on the watch even if the phone is paired with another BT device. The new firmware added NumberSync (or Message+ for Verizon) support and down-graded this BT feature.

I've been meaning to find out how to get this done since the latest "update" and kept forgetting. I totally miss seeing the caller id on my watch and answering from either the watch or the headset, which would in both cases send call audio to the headset. Too bad they toook away this feature

 

[foxbat121]

ok, that totally sucks then. I wonder if LG should stop treating the U2LTE as a headset. My Gear Live, Gear Fit, and Samsung S2 have just a regular BT icon in BT settings on my phone, but my U2LTE has a headset icon, and apparently you can't have two BT headsets "Connected" at the same time to one phone.

I think that part is the limitation on AW OS. Google needs to get its act together.

 

[FitzAusTex]

I think that part is the limitation on AW OS. Google needs to get its act together.

Not so about that, since my Gear Live (AW) handles it properly. If I answer a call on the Gear Live, as long as my headset is "Connected" to my phone, I can answer the call on the headset. I obviously can't answer the call on the Live, since it doesn't have a speaker. I think it is because the U2LTE is being recognized as a headset, and probably because it has cellular, and probably because of NumberSync/Message+. I do agree that Google needs to get its act together. There should totally be a better way to handle this.

 

[foxbat121]

On my Samsung Gear S, if you answer on the watch, it auto routes the audio to the watch without me need to do anything. So, when I'm at home or driving, I usually have my phone paired to either Home BT gateway (on my cordless phone) or car audio. I can decide to either pick up the call on those BT devices or on watch speaker depending which device I pick up. With U2, my first AW watch, it never worked that way.

 

[FitzAusTex]

On my Samsung Gear S, if you answer on the watch, it auto routes the audio to the watch without me need to do anything. So, when I'm at home or driving, I usually have my phone paired to either Home BT gateway (on my cordless phone) or car audio. I can decide to either pick up the call on those BT devices or on watch speaker depending which device I pick up. With U2, my first AW watch, it never worked that way.

yeah my Samsung S2 handles it just fine, I get notification of incoming call, and the S2 doesn't prevent me from answering the call with my headset. Guess Google doesn't realize some people with an lte AW device might want to answer a call on their phone with a headset.

 

[FitzAusTex]

So my extensive testing has confirmed that it is not possible to receive phone call notifications on my U2LTE with my Bluetooth headset connected to my phone. It is either/or, and that makes it difficult/impossible to easily answer a phone call with my headset and also get call notification on U2LTE simultaneously. I want to see that I have a call on my watch, but utilize my headset for the phone call. On only rare occasions would I ever want to use the speaker phone on the watch for a call. This really is a bummer, since it works correctly on my AW Gear Live.

 

[xendula]

So my extensive testing has confirmed that it is not possible to receive phone call notifications on my U2LTE with my Bluetooth headset connected to my phone. It is either/or, and that makes it difficult/impossible to easily answer a phone call with my headset and also get call notification on U2LTE simultaneously. I want to see that I have a call on my watch, but utilize my headset for the phone call. On only rare occasions would I ever want to use the speaker phone on the watch for a call. This really is a bummer, since it works correctly on my AW Gear Live.

Is your AW Gear live on the previous version of AW? Because with the previous version, i could do this on my LGW2LTE as well. I am seriously thinking about downgrading again if i can figure out how.

 

[FitzAusTex]

Is your AW Gear live on the previous version of AW? Because with the previous version, i could do this on my LGW2LTE as well. I am seriously thinking about downgrading again if i can figure out how.

yeah, my Live is on 1.3, and I definitely want to figure out how to downgrade my U2LTE, too. I use a Mac, and have never messed with ADB (or whatever you use on a mac to flash firmware). I'd pay someone local who knows how to do this. That said, even on the previous firmware, I don't think my U2LTE consistently rang when my Blueant headset was paired with my Nexus 5. It often rang, but not always. And I was mainly using my S2 these past 6 months, rather than my U2LTE, so I'm not 100% sure on that.

 

[muzzy996]

Wow that sucks, I could see a lot of people who would want to have the ability to have the phone streaming audio to a Bluetooth device and not miss a notification/call on the watch.

 

[FitzAusTex]

Wow that sucks, I could see a lot of people who would want to have the ability to have the phone streaming audio to a Bluetooth device and not miss a notification/call on the watch.

I think it can still do that, but you can't have both the U2LTE and a Bluetooth phone headset connected (not talking about being paired, but rather actively connected) simultaneously. Right now my U2LTE is connected, and I'm about to get a call from my friend on his commute home from work,and I'm going to have to jump through hoops to get my headset connected and the U2LTE disconnected. Not to mention having to manually reconnect my U2LTE after the call. Sigh...

 

[muzzy996]

Thats what I'm trying to say . . if I have my phone sitting on my charger lets say and the phone is bluetooth streaming to a sound system (or i'm driving in my car and the phone is in my pocket while streaming music to the stereo) when a call comes in am I going to get a notification on the watch that I can then accept/reject the call with? Which device the audio/mic for the call ends up going through I'm not to concerned with just yet but if my only clue about a call coming in is the ringing on the sound system and I have to frantically get to the phone anyway then it negates a potential use for the watch.


Have another question related to BT headsets and the watch - is it possible to leave everything behind but the watch (LTE or otherwise) and a BT headset and listen to Google Play Music on a run? If so what are the limitations - I'm an All Access user, my preference would be downloading playlists to the watch but if I'm limited to downloading only those songs that I own then that's another issue . .

 

[foxbat121]

There is no streaming music. So you have to pre-download the songs to the watch in order to listen to them.

 

[json405]

With that scenario where you want to listen to music and still get call notifications, the answer is yes.

I am able to use my phone to stream media to a Bluetooth speaker or receiver and still get call notifications on my watch.

Settings on my watch in Bluetooth is play watch audio on watch is on.

On my phone, when I go into Bluetooth settings, I see my watch and my Bluetooth speaker. My watch defaults to call audio only I do not have an option for media. On my Bluetooth speaker or receiver, I see that calls and media are turned on. I can leave it on and it'll work but when I try to answer a call it gets pretty buggy. The caller usually says they can't hear me or I can't hear them. So what I did was, I turned off call audio from my Bluetooth receiver and only turned on media audio. So my phone routes calls to my watch and music to my Bluetooth receiver.

This way I can still listen to my music streaming from my phone to my car and still get call notifications on my watch.

 

[muzzy996]

There is no streaming music. So you have to pre-download the songs to the watch in order to listen to them.

By pre-download, are you saying basically MP3's as opposed to curated music that you don't own but otherwise would be able to download temporarily to a device for offline use? That's what I'm trying to figure out. On Play Music if one has All Access subscription they can create playlists of songs that aren't purchased/owned and download the playlist to a device for offline listening. Wondering if that works on wear too.

Thanks!

 

[foxbat121]

In Play Music, You have to download the songs to the phone first. Then you can sync those downloaded to the watch. The watch can only pay those synced music. It is not capable of go online to stream anything.