Bluetooth connection with Galaxy Note 3 and 2004 Prius

I purchased the SoundAbout app in the hopes that it could help me to get my new Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 3 working with my 2004 Prius. As of now, I'm at a loss... I used to have a Samsung Galaxy Nexus and it worked like a dream with my car... But since I've "upgraded" to the Note 3 I've had nothing but problems.

When I first pair the Note 3 (stock, android 4.3) and the car, I can make a call with no problem... Then, every call after that won't work. If I dial from the car screen, it will make the phone actually place the call, but the sound won't come out of the car speakers, only the phone's earpiece. Also, after each call, it will disconnect the bluetooth for 30 seconds or so, then reconnect again.

I installed SoundAbout, and again, when I first set it up, I can get it to make a call correctly and get the sound out of the car speakers (incoming or outgoing calls both work.) But, once I turn off the car and come back later -- SoundAbout does the same thing: It will connnect and make the phone dial out -- but no sound comes out of the speakers, only the phone earpiece. Also, I have to put SoundAbout into "ON-Foreground" or the app keeps getting shut down. It also seems to help if I set "Phone call audio..." to "Bluetooth (mono)" -- I don't know why.

Sometimes, if I open up the SoundAbout app and fiddle with it a bit, it starts to work again... Only to fail the next time I get in the car.

I have no other bluetooth devices that I pair with this phone. I don't plug any wired mic/headphones/whatever into it either. The car has no music streaming capabilities (when I check the pairing on the phone, the only choice is "Use for phone audio".)

I have found a thread over on XDA where there were people with similar problems with the Galaxy S4 and my car, no one seemed to be able to solve the issue there. There are apparently several cars with my same nav/radio system. (Here is a link to that thread, if it helps: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2304828)

Any help, suggestions for proper settings -- or anything really -- greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Anthony

I'm wondering if the car is trying to sync the phone's address book over Bluetooth using PBAP, while you are making a call.

Can you try the latest Beta version:
1] Go into phone settings and click on Manage apps
2] Scroll to SoundAbout and click it.
3] Click on Clear cache, clear data, force stop, then un-install
4] Install latest Beta from here:  https://soundabout.forumotion.com/f8-download-beta-versions
5] Restart the phone
6] Open SoundAbout
7] Click on "Connectable devices"
8] Click on "Bluetooth settings"
9] Click on "Phone call behavior"
10] Check the PBAP Client

See if that helps at all.

You may be able to following these directions and check the "Don't ask again" check box.
http://www.wikihow.com/Transfer-Your-Cellphone-Phone-Book-to-Your-Prius

Google Thread:
https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=41625

Another Thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1099603

Thanks for the reply.

SoundAbout wrote:I'm wondering if the car is trying to sync the phone's address book over Bluetooth using PBAP, while you are making a call.

Can you try the latest Beta version:
1] Go into phone settings and click on Manage apps
2] Scroll to SoundAbout and click it.
3] Click on Clear cache, clear data, force stop, then un-install
4] Install latest Beta from here:  https://soundabout.forumotion.com/f8-download-beta-versions
5] Restart the phone
6] Open SoundAbout
7] Click on "Connectable devices"
8] Click on "Bluetooth settings"
9] Click on "Phone call behavior"
10] Check the PBAP Client

See if that helps at all.

I actually did all this on my own (install the lastest beta, check the pbap client.)... But I really only did it on a lark, because the 2004 Prius has no "automatic" address book sync function -- if you want to transfer an address book, you can only do it through a series of menu items, manually... In other words, if you sync a new phone, it never asks to transfer the address book.

I have also tried turning off Wifi and NFC on the phone. And played around (I'm really not sure what I'm doing) with the SoundAbout settings. All to no avail.

I have discovered that if I delete the phone out of the car and re-pair the two from scratch, I can get the bluetooth to work flawlessly, both sending and receiving calls... until I turn the car off. Then the next time I start the car, it will "sync" with the phone immediately... But if I make a call, the sound will only come out of the phone. Even though the "place call" and "hang up" buttons on my car still control the phone, it just refuses to push audio through bluetooth. Then, once it messes up that first time, all bets are off and it starts to cycle and be generally maddening.

Seems like -- from those links you provided -- there's a large world of people having trouble with Android JB and bluetooth!

Any other thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for taking the time.

Yes, there have been a lot of issues. Android updates will fix one person's issue and hose another. Bluetooth, HDMI, and USB can be especially troublesome because there are many vendors/phones with different hardware specs. In the case of HDMI, there were manufacturers doing their own "thing" outside of the Android API.

Example, at one time we had this:
http://developer.sonymobile.com/2012/05/29/how-to-use-the-hidden-hdmi-api-tutorial/

SoundAbout wrote:Yes, there have been a lot of issues.   Android updates will fix one person's issue and hose another.   Bluetooth, HDMI, and USB can be especially troublesome because there are many vendors/phones with different hardware specs.   In the case of HDMI, there were manufacturers doing their own "thing" outside of the Android API.

Example, at one time we had this:
http://developer.sonymobile.com/2012/05/29/how-to-use-the-hidden-hdmi-api-tutorial/

What  I'm getting from this (and LOTS of research on other boards) is that I should pretty much give up any hope of getting this phone to work with my car, correct?

I found a guy with the EXACT same problem as me, only he was on Android 4.4.2 with a Nexus phone. (http://priuschat.com/threads/phone-rings-no-sound.137313/) His only fix was to install Cyanogenmod 11. Apparently, those guys have tweaked the android bluetooth code to make it actually work... Unfortunately, the Verizon Note 3 looks like it's not going to be well supported by CyanogenMod 11... So I'm out of luck there, too.

Any other possible suggestions welcome. Thanks again.

Yes, a rooted ROM/Kernel is usually the best way to fix issues like this. As you noticed with CyanogenMod11, there has to be a separate build for each phone, so I can't do anything like that with SoundAbout. It would also limit the number of users as a lot of people don't want to root their phones.