Back on the iPhone 7 Plus until Samsung releases a Bluetooth fix

[Nakrohtap]

There is a known issue with Bluetooth connectivity with this phone. Just because some aren't experiencing this issue, it doesn't mean these issues don't exist. I've used this phone with the same devices ASAP my S7E. No issues with with that phone. This one has reduced range android-browser&q drops out randomly. It may be for like a tenth of a second or a second or so.

 

[dejanh]

A guy is driving his car and phones his local radio station. The radio station answers and the guy yells out in a panicked voice "I'm on the highway and everyone is going the wrong way! I can see them coming at me! Have they all gone crazy?!"

If you don't understand the analogy, let me break it down in very simple terms. It doesn't matter whether old chips get installed in cars or how other Bluetooth devices are implemented. Samsung is the only one that is having these problems in fairly large numbers and it is the only one that chose to go with a different chip to support Bluetooth 5. It is Samsung that is "driving down the wrong side of the road" and needs to fix the issue.

 

[doggy2965]

A guy is driving his car and phones his local radio station. The radio station answers and the guy yells out in a panicked voice "I'm on the highway and everyone is going the wrong way! I can see them coming at me! Have they all gone crazy?!"

If you don't understand the analogy, let me break it down in very simple terms. It doesn't matter whether old chips get installed in cars or how other Bluetooth devices are implemented. Samsung is the only one that is having these problems in fairly large numbers and it is the only one that chose to go with a different chip to support Bluetooth 5. It is Samsung that is "driving down the wrong side of the road" and needs to fix the issue.

Every phone has bluetooth issues I upgrade every year and have had every kind of phone and have used all types bluetooth devices none of them have been flawless. I have G8 plus because of bluetooth issue with droid force.

 

[dejanh]

Every phone has bluetooth issues I upgrade every year and have had every kind of phone and have used all types bluetooth devices none of them have been flawless. I have G8 plus because of bluetooth issue with droid force.

In 13 years of using dozens of smartphones not one has had as many or as much problems with Bluetooth as the Galaxy S8 series. Samsung messed up something and messed it up bad. Having said that, since I’ve been on the 1AQEJ update, and having now used it for a number of days, I have had much better Bluetooth performance. Range is still not as good as other devices but it is now up to ~20 feet, which is closer to spec. Not good, but better. Also, I have noticed that the phone reconnects to my car and stays consistently connected more often than before. I continue to test and observe this, but at least the change has allowed me some latitude in using this phone again as my primary device.

 

[Almeuit]

In 13 years of using dozens of smartphones not one has had as many or as much problems with Bluetooth as the Galaxy S8 series. Samsung messed up something and messed it up bad. Having said that, since I’ve been on the 1AQEJ update, and having now used it for a number of days, I have had much better Bluetooth performance. Range is still not as good as other devices but it is now up to ~20 feet, which is closer to spec. Not good, but better. Also, I have noticed that the phone reconnects to my car and stays consistently connected more often than before. I continue to test and observe this, but at least the change has allowed me some latitude in using this phone again as my primary device.

And the weird part is .. this phone functions the same for me as my other phones. I usually always have the phone near me so range isn't a huge thing that I personally run into... It works with my headset for work and within my truck without skipping a beat.

 

[torbach1]

Keep in mind that this phone is the first to use the Bluetooth 5.0 standard. It wouldn't be unusual for devices that are first to market with a new technology to also be the first to run up against unexpected problems. Hopefully Samsung will patch this since even though it's not impacting most people, that thread on Samsung support shows its impacting many, not just the OP. For me, the only thing I'm seeing is it not automatically connecting to my car as consistently as previous Samsung phones did when I'm already connected to my LG Tone headset. This is not a big deal for me. It's also not something the iPhone 7 Plus was able to do at all in my case, or for that matter the OnePlus 3t or LG V20. The only two recent phones that did this well for me were the S7 Edge, and the Pixel XL. But that again doesn't mean the issue isn't real for many people.

 

[flyingkytez]

I had to switch back to my 7 Plus because of iMessage. Getting my friends/family to download another app for photos/video transfer is very very difficult.

If apple ever releases iMessage for android then I'll pick up the s8 again because it's my favorite phone ever

That's how Apple gets you. Limited connectivity with not Apple.

 

[erasat]

Keep in mind that this phone is the first to use the Bluetooth 5.0 standard. It wouldn't be unusual for devices that are first to market with a new technology to also be the first to run up against unexpected problems. Hopefully Samsung will patch this since even though it's not impacting most people, that thread on Samsung support shows its impacting many, not just the OP. For me, the only thing I'm seeing is it not automatically connecting to my car as consistently as previous Samsung phones did when I'm already connected to my LG Tone headset. This is not a big deal for me. It's also not something the iPhone 7 Plus was able to do at all in my case, or for that matter the OnePlus 3t or LG V20. The only two recent phones that did this well for me were the S7 Edge, and the Pixel XL. But that again doesn't mean the issue isn't real for many people.

Yep, that's exactly what I've been thinking since this thread began and heard about others with BT issues. New chip + New technology= New issues. Samsung being the first one with this will only mean that we are going to be the beneficiaries of this new tech but also means that we may easily be the Guinea Pigs of it.

For me everything has been great since the beginning, all my BT devices have worked even better than before with all my previous phones and it wasn't until yesterday that I experimented for the first time what it seems to be a glitch.

I was at the beach all day, and I left a bag with all my things on it, including the phone. I took with me to the water just my Gear S3 and I was still at reach with my phone so I kept receiving notifications and everything else, but when I began moving around and swimming and using my swim goggles I understandably got disconnected and reconnecting a lot, at one point I thought that it was going to be easier just to put my watch on Airplane mode as the sound/vibration of it every time it lost and got connection again got very annoying, but I never did it and then when I got out of the water and went my back to my things I noticed that the watch was on Standalone mode and never again reconnected.

After some watch and phone reboots and no changes I decided to go to the Gear App and I noticed that it was asking me to pair a phone, just like the initial settings, so when I went to my Bluetooth settings I noticed that there was no BT devices connected or remembered, so in a summary somehow it deleted all my BT connections.

No big deal for me as I just did all connections again including the watch but nevertheless a weird experience, so what could have caused this? I don't know, maybe just the amount of times connecting and disconnecting triggered some weird glitch causing it, but definitely it remembered me what I just mentioned at the beginning of this post, new tech means just new issues. At least in my case it was not that big of a deal, but I sure do understand if people with more serious BT issues complain about it.

 

[gingeraman]

This is very frustrating. Telstra, Australia here. Bluetooth stutters and the FitBit battery drains incredibly quickly with the FitBit app installed. Uninstall the FitBit app and it's fine. All other devices work fine with FitBit though, so this is a device issue. When is a fix coming???

 

[scorpiodsu]

Well I'm just chiming in to say that I am just like the OP. I went back to my 7 plus until the Bluetooth fix is out. I didn't have any problems with my vehicle (2016 Infiniti Q50S) but mine was with my LG platinum ear phones and a jabra Bluetooth speaker. Move some distance away from them and the connection would start getting choppy. And by some I mean short distances, 5-10 feet. No issues with my iPhone and never had these issues with my S7 edge or note 7 or anything other device for that matter. So as soon as this update is out and I verify Bluetooth is way better then I will happily switch the SIM cards back.

 

[TylerLV76]

Has anyone heard of any updates coming anytime soon for the bluetooth issues?

I don't have a problem connecting to anything but this range is just God awful. With my Level U pros on my neck and phone in my pocket I get constant drops and stutters while playing music. I'm 6 foot so the 2 are less than 3 feet apart. It doesn't make any sense why I would get audio dropouts at that distance.

At first I was trying to ignore it but it's become pretty aggravating at this point.

 

[Jd1244]

This forum dates around May. I bought my S8 at the end of June about 5 days ago is when I started noticing blutooth connecting issues with my car it drops connection or sounds like a scratched CD, I thought maybe there's something wrong with my car but then my jbl headphone connection started going bad, then my bose speaker and now it keeps dropping connection with my fitbit. This is extremely disappointing and frustrating, I've now owned the phone for 18 days and I can barely use bluetoothe at all. The return policy at the store is 14 days but I think they will make an exception since this phone is deffective. I received two updates one the day I got it June 25 then another one on July 10, I was hopeful that it would fix the issue, it did not. My S6 never gave me this issue or any issues at all and I had it for over two years, good thing I kept it.

 

[torbach1]

FWIW, while I don't currently have BT issues at all with my S8+, when I've had BT issues with Samsung phones in the past (S6 and S7), they usually occured when I was using an Android Wear device concurrently. Resetting that fixed it for me. Best of luck either way.

 

[TylerLV76]

This forum dates around May. I bought my S8 at the end of June about 5 days ago is when I started noticing blutooth connecting issues with my car it drops connection or sounds like a scratched CD, I thought maybe there's something wrong with my car but then my jbl headphone connection started going bad, then my bose speaker and now it keeps dropping connection with my fitbit. This is extremely disappointing and frustrating, I've now owned the phone for 18 days and I can barely use bluetoothe at all. The return policy at the store is 14 days but I think they will make an exception since this phone is deffective. I received two updates one the day I got it June 25 then another one on July 10, I was hopeful that it would fix the issue, it did not. My S6 never gave me this issue or any issues at all and I had it for over two years, good thing I kept it.

Its a disaster. I tried using a new pair of headphones yesterday to make sure my Level U's werent faulty. I sat the phone on my desk and started to walk away from it while maintaining line of sight. I got 7 feet away and it cut out. Ive had 1 S8+, 1 S8 unlocked version and 2 S8 T-Mobile versions. They have all had horrible Bluetooth range.

I saw yesterday on reddit that a Samsung rep on Samsungs forums has stated that BT 5 is not as backwards compatible as we were led to believe.

 

[ABOSWORTH007]

I use Bluetooth every single day on my AT&T S8+ and have no issues. I use it in my car (2012 Mazda Speed3) and on my wireless headphones without issue every day.

 

[TylerLV76]

I use Bluetooth every single day on my AT&T S8+ and have no issues. I use it in my car (2012 Mazda Speed3) and on my wireless headphones without issue every day.

What kind and how far can you walk away from your headphones? I dont have any issues in my car, mainly just headphones and bluetooth speakers.

 

[djepperson1]

What kind and how far can you walk away from your headphones? I dont have any issues in my car, mainly just headphones and bluetooth speakers.

I have also 2012 Mazda 3 I can walk about 20 feet away from my phone and not loose any connection with my headphones if it is line of sight a little farther I have sony Bluetooth headphones. Speaker about the same

 

[TylerLV76]

I have also 2012 Mazda 3 I can walk about 20 feet away from my phone and not loose any connection with my headphones if it is line of sight a little farther I have sony Bluetooth headphones. Speaker about the same

The problem seems to be finding the right combo. Theres so many people complaining with so many various devices, its hard to pin down what ones work better than others. I can pair my headphones to my coworkers s7 edge and walk 30+feet and never get an interruption. On the S8, I cant get 10 feet.

They need to do something to fix it because it is the worst part of the phone.

 

[ABOSWORTH007]

What kind and how far can you walk away from your headphones? I dont have any issues in my car, mainly just headphones and bluetooth speakers.

I had a pair of Jaybird Bluebud X headphones and I used them at the gym. No issues in my pocket or if I leave it on a bench next to where I'm lifting and walk around to get plates to load or pick up dumbbells. Those finally died so I bought a pair of Jaybird X3's and they were trash and kept cutting out so I returned them and bought a cheap pair of Phaiser BHS-750's for $35.99 and they are great. No skipping or cutting while I'm at the gym. I often leave my phone out of my pocket when doing dumbbell presses, etc. and I have no issues.

That would have been a deal breaker for me and something I would have noticed within the 14 day period and I would have returned the phone. I definitely get the frustration people are having. I just am not experiencing any issues with my device.

 

[TylerLV76]

I had a pair of Jaybird Bluebud X headphones and I used them at the gym. No issues in my pocket or if I leave it on a bench next to where I'm lifting and walk around to get plates to load or pick up dumbbells. Those finally died so I bought a pair of Jaybird X3's and they were trash and kept cutting out so I returned them and bought a cheap pair of Phaiser BHS-750's for $35.99 and they are great. No skipping or cutting while I'm at the gym. I often leave my phone out of my pocket when doing dumbbell presses, etc. and I have no issues.

That would have been a deal breaker for me and something I would have noticed within the 14 day period and I would have returned the phone. I definitely get the frustration people are having. I just am not experiencing any issues with my device.

That kind of leads me to believe what the Samsung rep stated. BT 5 does not play well with all BT devices. Now Ive got to buy a few different ones and see if any of them can maintain a connection outside of a few feet.