A2DP bluetooth on iPhone 3G S works great, 3G not so much

by Justin Horn on Jun 21st, 2009 @ 6:42 pm

If you read my last post on A2DP you know that I got excited when 3.0 beta 5 seemed to fix the A2DP issues I was having on my iPhone 3G, but with further testing I found that it was only mostly fixed. When just walking around casually my S9-HDs sounded great, but when I tried to jogging the audio would start to cut out as it did before. Even though it still broke up beta 5 did make it happen a lot less often making it usable, but still quite annoying and far from a finished Apple solution. I speculated on a possible reason for the issue in the comments of this same post:

Also, my update on 5.16.09 still stands with the 3.0 GM. It works and sounds great, but when running with the iPhone in my pocket or hand it does break up every once in a while. My thinking is the CPU can barely handle the iPod and Bluetooth at the same time, so when you start moving the iPhone around it has to track the accelerometer movements and puts it over the top.

I just completed my “jog test” with my new iPhone 3G S an no matter what I did I was unable to get it to break up at all! So it seems my speculation might have been right as both the 3G and 3G S sport the same bluetooth 2.1 + EDR. The only other 3G S upgrade I could see affecting bluetooth would be the extra CPU power and possibly the extra RAM.  Glad my investment in the bluetooth headphones has not gone to waste. One small disappointment still stands though, even on the 3G S I was still only control pause/play with the S9-HDs (volume is controlled on the headsets themselves). So if you are planning on using A2DP headphones with an iPhone 3G on 3.0 I obviously cannot recommend the S9-HDs, but if you do find a pair that work nicely on the iPhone 3G please leaves us a comment or send us an email to let us know!

Also, up until this point I have been using the S9-HDs to test the iPhone A2DP functionality, but now that we are out of beta and they are working well on the 3G S I will be writing a proper review for them in the future.

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iPhone, iPhone Accessories

Comments

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  1. [...] UPDATE 6.21.09 A2DP bluetooth on iPhone 3G S works great, 3G not so much [...]

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  3. Seven Days review : Sony HBH-IS800Z | Feli.pe
    September 1st, 2009 11:07 am

    [...] The breaking up normally happens when my phone is on my pocket and I am walking. It happens every few seconds but it is not a regular interval. Picking up the phone and just holding it on my hand fixes this as long as I am not swinging my hands that much. After searching around I found this which is exactly what I thought was happening : My thinking is the CPU can barely handle the iPod and Bluetooth at the same time, so when you start moving the iPhone around it has to track the accelerometer movements and puts it over the top. (link) [...]

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  5. Annette
    September 3rd, 2009 12:35 am

    What is the best bluetooth earpiece or handsfree set to use with the iPhone 3Gs so that you can use the voice dialing feature? I have a BlueAnt ST3 but the reception with my iPhone 3G was terrible. Thanks

  6. 4.
  7. […] My thinking is the CPU can barely handle the iPod and Bluetooth at the same time, so when you start moving the iPhone around it has to track the accelerometer movements and puts it over the top. (link) […]

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