Questions from an Android newbie coming from iOS

[dbash1]

Hello,

I received my Nexus 5 last week, and it's taken the place of my 3-year old iPhone4. I'm mostly happy with it, but there are a few niggles I thought I would ask about here with the hope that somebody can help me out!

Firstly, the bluetooth doesn't seem to be working 100%. I have a car that's less than a year old and came with built-in bluetooth compatibility. After I linked my iPhone one time, the car always remembered it, and within 15 seconds of turning on the engine, the phone would be synced (audio and phone) and ready to play. With the Nexus 5 the process isn't so smooth. I removed all other phones from the car's bluetooth memory and synced the Nexus 5 to it. However, the phone does not connect automatically to the car when I enter it. I can sit in the driver's set and wait for five minutes, but it never works. Instead, I have to go in to the bluetooth settings every time I get in the car and manually connect the phone to the car. I looked through the phone's settings menu, tried erasing and re-syncing the phone to the car, etc, and I couldn't find anything to fix this. Any thoughts?

Secondly, I've been using Google Play for music stored locally on the phone, and a separate podcast app for listening to podcasts. Google Play is fine for music (now that I've turned on the equalizer with 'flat' settings), but a minor frustration is that I have to repeatedly 'remind' Google Play only to look through locally-stored files and ignore everything I have in the cloud. The bigger question is one of customization. On the iPhone, I was able to fast-forward podcasts in 15-second intervals from the lock screen, which was incredibly useful as many podcasts contain advertisements. Is there an easy way to change the lock screen on the Nexus 5 so that I can skip forward on my podcasts without having to unlock the phone each time? The iPhone's built-in podcast app was smart enough to offer this option when podcasts were playing, and then remove it when I was listening to music through the built-in music app.

Lastly, the battery life issue. I know everyone's asking about this, and I've read some posts offering advice on how to maximize battery life. I turn off wifi except when I'm at home, I have my screen set to turn off after five seconds of inactivity (which is annoying, but helps), I've turned off the 'OK, Google' listening feature of Google Now, I've turned off push notifications for Gmail and Facebook...any other big things I'm missing? I knew going in the battery life wouldn't be as good on the Nexus as what I was used to on the iPhone, but I didn't expect it to be as bad as it is.

The Nexus 5 is super-smooth, the screen is great, the camera is more than good enough for me, and the integration with Google's apps is really slick. If I can get the bluetooth and the audio apps working the way I want, hopefully I can ignore the issue of battery life. Any help you guys here can offer would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much!

 

[Golfdriver97]

Hello,

I received my Nexus 5 last week, and it's taken the place of my 3-year old iPhone4. I'm mostly happy with it, but there are a few niggles I thought I would ask about here with the hope that somebody can help me out!

Firstly, the bluetooth doesn't seem to be working 100%. I have a car that's less than a year old and came with built-in bluetooth compatibility. After I linked my iPhone one time, the car always remembered it, and within 15 seconds of turning on the engine, the phone would be synced (audio and phone) and ready to play. With the Nexus 5 the process isn't so smooth. I removed all other phones from the car's bluetooth memory and synced the Nexus 5 to it. However, the phone does not connect automatically to the car when I enter it. I can sit in the driver's set and wait for five minutes, but it never works. Instead, I have to go in to the bluetooth settings every time I get in the car and manually connect the phone to the car. I looked through the phone's settings menu, tried erasing and re-syncing the phone to the car, etc, and I couldn't find anything to fix this. Any thoughts?

Secondly, I've been using Google Play for music stored locally on the phone, and a separate podcast app for listening to podcasts. Google Play is fine for music (now that I've turned on the equalizer with 'flat' settings), but a minor frustration is that I have to repeatedly 'remind' Google Play only to look through locally-stored files and ignore everything I have in the cloud. The bigger question is one of customization. On the iPhone, I was able to fast-forward podcasts in 15-second intervals from the lock screen, which was incredibly useful as many podcasts contain advertisements. Is there an easy way to change the lock screen on the Nexus 5 so that I can skip forward on my podcasts without having to unlock the phone each time? The iPhone's built-in podcast app was smart enough to offer this option when podcasts were playing, and then remove it when I was listening to music through the built-in music app.

Lastly, the battery life issue. I know everyone's asking about this, and I've read some posts offering advice on how to maximize battery life. I turn off wifi except when I'm at home, I have my screen set to turn off after five seconds of inactivity (which is annoying, but helps), I've turned off the 'OK, Google' listening feature of Google Now, I've turned off push notifications for Gmail and Facebook...any other big things I'm missing? I knew going in the battery life wouldn't be as good on the Nexus as what I was used to on the iPhone, but I didn't expect it to be as bad as it is.

The Nexus 5 is super-smooth, the screen is great, the camera is more than good enough for me, and the integration with Google's apps is really slick. If I can get the bluetooth and the audio apps working the way I want, hopefully I can ignore the issue of battery life. Any help you guys here can offer would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much!

Welcome to the forums.
I think most of your problems may be solved by the fact that the OS is only a week and a half old. There may be a patch being worked on as we speak. But have you tried clicking menu in bluetooth settings?

 

[dbash1]

Thank you for the warm welcome! There aren't really any options in the bluetooth settings menu - I already have it paired with my car, and paired for both audio and for phone calls. If bluetooth is on, it's paired to my car, and it doesn't connect to my car, I don't know what else to do about it.

 

[Golfdriver97]

Thank you for the warm welcome! There aren't really any options in the bluetooth settings menu - I already have it paired with my car, and paired for both audio and for phone calls. If bluetooth is on, it's paired to my car, and it doesn't connect to my car, I don't know what else to do about it.

When you see the paired devices, do you see a gear or a set of lines next to it? If so, see what is under that.

From a Sprint Moto X using AC forums app

 

[anon(847090)]

if u r rooted i recommend using greenify which saves battery.

my N4 without greenify use to stand only for 2 days with very minimal use

with greenify its 3 and half days. again minimal use

 

[Chex313]

Since my N5,N4 and GNexus work perfectly....connect instantly to radios in 3 different vehicles its not the phone. My radio's are a Clarion CZ501, xtera(Dual,I forget the name.)XDMA7800, and my wife's 2012 Rav4 stock radio basic model.

That leaves (In my mind) 2 possibilities. Either the phone is not paired correctly or the radio doesn't properly support A2DP. Since your iPhone worked correctly ...I lean toward the pairing. Sometimes pairing occurs without the pairing code(0000,1234 or even 01234.)

When your phone paired did it require the code? If not try removing it and pairing it again. See if it will ask for the code.

If you did enter the code, than that leaves the radio. Can you list the make and model #. I'll check its specs.

The podcast controls will be available through the the lock screen as well as the radio controls including any steering wheel controls....by just getting a podcast app. I use Dogcatcher.

You can set rewind and forward buttons to various times 15 to 300 in Dogcatcher.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[bhkjunk]

Regarding the podcast player, I believe you're looking for lock screen controls, which would be a setting native to the podcast player. Android 4.4 allows it, but you would have to enable it through the player itself, not through the general android settings.
I use BeyondPod, and this is the case with them.
Not sure I understand the other problem related to Google Play Music - you only want to play the music that is stored locally? There should be a choice for you to play music "On Device".
Hope this helps.

 

[dbash1]

Hey Everyone,

Thanks for the suggestions/recommendations. I can't remember if I had to key in a code when I was pairing my phone to the car. I'll try it again. And I will look in to BeyondPod, if it has skip controls from the lock screen. I'll report back after my drive home.

 

[dbash1]

So I already had BeyondPod downloaded as my podcasting app. Duh. I enabled the lock screen controls, and it's not exactly what I was looking for (just adding the skip buttons to the top of the lock screen next to the other control, rather than a different screen that requires you to back out of it to unlock) but it'll do. Now I just gotta try to fix the bluetooth when I'm in my car again.

 

[dbash1]

OK, I really tried, guys. I spent twenty minutes in my car trying to get the bluetooth to automatically sync, and it never worked. Erased settings on the phone and the car multiple times, paired with a code multiple times, and the phone never automatically paired when I turned the car on. Even when I manually forced it to pair, it didn't always pair the phone, just the audio. Sometimes it did both. The bluetooth settings on the phone are set so that the phone is always visible.

For a sanity check, I cleared the car's settings one last time and paired my old iPhone. Turned the car off and on again, and the iPhone immediately paired with the stereo.

Should I return this phone? I'm new to Android, but I'm not a -complete- dummy, and I feel like I've tried everything I can. I need automatic bluetooth pairing to work with this Nexus. Any other suggestions?

 

[JeffDenver]

This seems weird to me...I never have pairing issues with my Nexus 5. It has always found the device immediately and connected.

Only thing I can think of is that the standards are incompatible. If it is an older (or even too new) stereo or whatever.

 

[Golfdriver97]

Perhaps not the proper version of Bluetooth?

From a Sprint Moto X using AC forums app

 

[dbash1]

According to subaru's bluetooth resource center (www.subaru.com/owners/resource-center/electronics-audio/bluetooth/index.html) my car can pair with pretty much everything - iPhones, Samsung Galaxy, and even the Nexus 4. I'm sure in a few weeks it'll be updated to include the Nexus 5 as well. I paired it with a friend's new iPhone 5s this morning, and a colleague's Note3. Both of those phones are brand new, and both of them were found automatically when I turned on the car. Subaru even has an official youtube video where they walk you through pairing a phone to the stereo, and the phone they use is an original Nexus Galaxy!

I don't know what bluetooth protocol my stereo supports, but it clearly works with other phones. And it works manually with the Nexus 5, but not automatically. I got the phone last Thursday - should I try for a few more days and then RMA it?


(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YXYQ60tFH8)

 

[dbash1]

Finally got it working - I reinitialized the entire stereo rather than just clearing the bluetooth settings, and now the phone pairs when the car turns on. Don't know why that did it when it was already working with other phones, but who cares! I've got bluetooth working, I figured out a few of the tricks to improve battery life without rooting, and I've got podcast controls on my lock screen. Looks like I'm keeping my Nexus 5!