[pgoelz]

I moved to the Moto X from a Nokia 820 (Windows Phone 8). One of the few things the Nokia 820 did that I liked was it offered to read incoming SMS to me over Bluetooth whenever I was connected in the car (2011 Toyota Highlander). I don't think it was a configurable option, it just did it from the first time I paired it. It was great.... the phone stayed in my pocket but an incoming SMS would trigger the handsfree and offer to read it. The system even offered to let me call the sender back (via voice phone) or reply with a canned SMS if I wanted. All hands free.

I see that Assist can read SMS to me, but that requires GPS and I need to leave location services on. I don't usually use GPS and don't want to sacrifice battery drain for this feature.

Does anyone know if there is a way to have the phone sense that BT is connected and read SMS over BT automatically without using location services?

TIA,
Paul

[tonymhoffman]

I see that Assist can read SMS to me, but that requires GPS and I need to leave location services on. I don't usually use GPS and don't want to sacrifice battery drain for this feature.

Does anyone know if there is a way to have the phone sense that BT is connected and read SMS over BT automatically without using location services?

TIA,
Paul

Paul,

Unfortunately assist (which reads your messages) can only be activated when the phone detects you are moving faster than a walking pace and for that to happen GPS must be turned on.

Check this app out https://forums.androidcentral.com/e?...token=esp51K-7

It looks pretty impressive and may do the trick you want.

Posted via Android Central App

[pgoelz]

Paul,

Unfortunately assist (which reads your messages) can only be activated when the phone detects you are moving faster than a walking pace and for that to happen GPS must be turned on.

Check this app out https://forums.androidcentral.com/e?...token=NDJGqV58

It looks pretty impressive and may do the trick you want.

Posted via Android Central App

Thanks, that is an interesting application and I may install it and play with it. However, for my use it I don't think it will work. First and foremost, I keep my phone in my pocket when I'm in the car. As such, I doubt that voice commands will work very well. And second, I doubt that it uses the hardware voice recognition hardware in the moto X, which means it will hit my battery life.

What I am looking for is a way for the phone to read SMS whenever BT is connected like the WP8 phones do. It is surprisingly useful. A dynamite app would combine that feature with automated BT on/off. I have seen a couple apps that claim to do that but I have never found any of them to work reliably.

Paul

[kenpbuck]

Just for the sake of argument, why not leave GPS on? I have gotten text messages and had them delivered as you described; very convenient indeed. I leave wifi, bluetooth, and GPS all burning all day and still get great battery life.

[planoman]

Thanks, that is an interesting application and I may install it and play with it. However, for my use it I don't think it will work. First and foremost, I keep my phone in my pocket when I'm in the car. As such, I doubt that voice commands will work very well. And second, I doubt that it uses the hardware voice recognition hardware in the moto X, which means it will hit my battery life.

What I am looking for is a way for the phone to read SMS whenever BT is connected like the WP8 phones do. It is surprisingly useful. A dynamite app would combine that feature with automated BT on/off. I have seen a couple apps that claim to do that but I have never found any of them to work reliably.

Paul

I must admit that was a cool feature of my Lumia 1020!

Sent from my Moto X!

[pgoelz]

Just for the sake of argument, why not leave GPS on? I have gotten text messages and had them delivered as you described; very convenient indeed. I leave wifi, bluetooth, and GPS all burning all day and still get great battery life.

Good question. Basically, I am trying to maximize my standby battery life, so I keep things turned off that I don't need. I'm kind of an odd duck, I guess.... I want a smart phone when the screen is on and I am using it, but I want a dumb phone when I turn the screen off and put it in my pocket. So I keep GPS and push notifications disabled.

That said, the Moto X was pretty good on Android 4.2 and seems even better on 4.4 / ART so I may well turn the GPS on and see how it impacts battery life. It seems to turn off when nothing is using it, but it seems like every app I have wants location access.

When Assist senses that you are driving and reads SMS to you, does it do it via BT Audio, or just the regular BT pairing? I don't have BT audio paired at this point because I use an iPod Mini that is permanently in the car for music.

Paul

[kenpbuck]

I had it paired to my car bluetooth, fm radio playing, with my phone in my pocket. Text came in, car speakers announced the message and asked me to say listen if I wanted it to play, which I did, and read the body of the message via car speakers. I was impressed.

[tripp3235]

You all are making me sad. I have the other issue. My car supports Bluetooth for calls but nothing else. So I want the Moto x to simply speak the text messages to me over speaker but when my bluetooth is connected, it wants to use that for the assist program. Anyone know how to change it?

[pgoelz]

You all are making me sad. I have the other issue. My car supports Bluetooth for calls but nothing else. So I want the Moto x to simply speak the text messages to me over speaker but when my bluetooth is connected, it wants to use that for the assist program. Anyone know how to change it?

Not sure I follow you. My car supports regular phone BT as well as BT audio. They are paired separately. When I had my Nokia 820, it read SMS over the car speakers WITHOUT pairing BT audio..... I just had the regular phone BT paired.

I have my Moto X set up the same.... the phone is paired but BT audio is not. With assist active and in driving mode, it reads texts to me but only over the phone speaker, not the car. I have not tried it with BT audio paired.

Paul

[tripp3235]

Not sure I follow you. My car supports regular phone BT as well as BT audio. They are paired separately. When I had my Nokia 820, it read SMS over the car speakers WITHOUT pairing BT audio..... I just had the regular phone BT paired.

I have my Moto X set up the same.... the phone is paired but BT audio is not. With assist active and in driving mode, it reads texts to me but only over the phone speaker, not the car. I have not tried it with BT audio paired.

Paul

Well, my car supports bluetooth for making phone calls. That works fine on the Moto. When a text comes in, before I had it paired, it performed just as it was supposed to. Now when hooked up to the bluetooth, it starts the speaker so I hear a little of what it's saying, I see the screen showing me the "text coming in" and "say listen" but after I say "Listen" no more audio comes from the phone's speaker, I hear my car's bluetooth pick up like it's receiving a call and then the bluetooth hang up noise. The phone continues playing the message (though by then I can't hear anything).

[pgoelz]

Well, my car supports bluetooth for making phone calls. That works fine on the Moto. When a text comes in, before I had it paired, it performed just as it was supposed to. Now when hooked up to the bluetooth, it starts the speaker so I hear a little of what it's saying, I see the screen showing me the "text coming in" and "say listen" but after I say "Listen" no more audio comes from the phone's speaker, I hear my car's bluetooth pick up like it's receiving a call and then the bluetooth hang up noise. The phone continues playing the message (though by then I can't hear anything).

I wonder if it is trying to use BT audio. I'll have to pair mine and see if it does. If your car doesn't support BT audio, that could explain why it turns off the speaker but looks like it is still playing.

Paul

[karmamule]

I had a lumia that did that too, and my fave thing was when one of my emoticon-happy friends sent me a text and they were spoken out loud, so

"That's great! :-p :-p :-p"

became

"That's great! Poking tongue poking tongue poking tongue"

The first time it did that I nearly drove off the road laughing....

[RitaKS]

I am interested in knowing whether, after having the text message read to you via bluetooth headset, an android phone will give you the option to reply and after so doing, will the phone read the message back to you before you send it? My Lumia does automatically. But the M8 I recently tried, would not. I still had to look down at the screen and read the text before sending it. When driving, that is a dangerous practice. I loved the M8, but returned it because of that feature. If there is a remedy to this problem on the M8, I would love to know what it is. I fell in love with the phone and really hated to return it.

[hallux]

In either 'car mode' or 'home mode' (if they're set up in Moto Assist) My Moto X prompts me to listen to the message after announcing I have one and who it's from. Once I've heard it, I can say 'reply' or 'cancel'. Reply does just that, it sets up to reply to the message and prompts me to speak my reply. Once it recognizes I've stopped speaking, it "reads back" my reply and asks me to confirm it's what I want, if it is the message gets sent.

[C0deM0nkey]

I am interested in knowing whether, after having the text message read to you via bluetooth headset, an android phone will give you the option to reply and after so doing, will the phone read the message back to you before you send it? My Lumia does automatically. But the M8 I recently tried, would not. I still had to look down at the screen and read the text before sending it. When driving, that is a dangerous practice. I loved the M8, but returned it because of that feature. If there is a remedy to this problem on the M8, I would love to know what it is. I fell in love with the phone and really hated to return it.

There are a number of apps that can do this on the Play store, e.g. https://forums.androidcentral.com/e?...token=SkwCzhx9 or you can roll your own solution with Tasker.
The most important thing to bear in mind is being able to select the output stream so that you can accommodate the abilities of your car bluetooth. The example app above permits this as does Tasker.

I used Tasker to read my SMS until I got my Moto X.

[Lisa6538]

You have to download an app to do this? It's not just a setting? I loved that feature about my windows phone and thought all smart phones had this feature. What apps do you recommend that do the same thing as the windows phone?

[C0deM0nkey]

You have to download an app to do this? It's not just a setting? I loved that feature about my windows phone and thought all smart phones had this feature. What apps do you recommend that do the same thing as the windows phone?

I've not encountered it as a setting but then I prefer a near vanilla Android experience (Moto / Nexus phones and Hangouts for SMS) - other manufacturers and / or messaging apps may have such a setting.
I now use the app Outloud which can be automatically switched on and off when you connect to your bluetooth in the car / headphones / etc. It also handles notifications from a variety of social media apps etc, and can handle them differently depending on what app the notifications are from, e.g.:
- My Hangouts messages are read aloud and then the notification is automatically dismissed.
- My WhatsApp messages are read aloud and the notification retained.

[tbears99]

I miss my windows phones (Lumia Icon and Nokia 820) for that feature, too. I can't believe Android with such a huge following can't do this.

I agree about the voice reading the emoticons. smiling face with winking eye... It got me every time.