My hatred for Bluetooth is well documented, friends. Take a look at this article, and this one, and this one. The mid-2010s were not a good time for my relationship with this technology. Bluetooth itself was still a rapidly evolving thing and unfortunately that meant a lot of problems as it matured.
Things got a little better for me in the years after I wrote those articles, I got a new car, a new computer, a new phone, andthrew out responsibly recycled all my old Bluetooth stuff. Of course that was six years ago and now everything’s getting old again. Sadly, the same problems are starting to pop up.
I have to say, Bluetooth LE has been a win for me. It’s integrated into a few things I have now, including my car and a few tracking devices. I hardly ever have to worry about battery life for this stuff and it all just works. So that’s a big win when you consider how bad Bluetooth has been in the past when it comes to battery life.
But that’s pretty much the only nice thing I’ve got.
Sadly, Bluetooth and my computer never seem to get along. Bluetooth mice just drop out or require pairing every time I reboot. Bluetooth keyboards develop issues with repeating or with lag. And folks, I’m not buying cheap stuff here. This is top-of-the-line stuff from respected manufacturers. I have a mix of Apple and PC computers and honestly the Apple stuff works fine. It’s the PC stuff that’s a total mess.
So, I’ve gone back to the old system of having a little wireless dongle for everything I want to connect. It means I need large USB hubs but at least everything works now.
The latest debacle is Windows’ Phone Link software, which is now available for Android and iOS devices. Well sorta. The iOS integration is far far worse than the Android integration and there’s no good reason for that. Phone Link doesn’t work so well for me but that’s the next topic I want to talk about.
I have a phone. You have a phone. Your dog probably has a phone. And those phones have apps that notify you of things. This is life in the ’20s. The problem comes when you have other things attached to that phone, usually over Bluetooth. Here’s what I mean.
I have a watch that lets me see my texts and missed calls on the screen. I also have a car that is supposed to let me take calls and even do voice texting through the car. And now, I have Windows that says they can do the same thing. It all sounds great, except it doesn’t work.
I can’t pick where I want the notifications to go first. Like, I want to say, if the car is on then I want notifications to go to the car first. Then if the PC is on, send them there, and if neither is on then send them to the watch. Honestly, I never know where or if I’m going to get a notification unless I actively turn Bluetooth off on one or more devices. It’s ridiculous.
I feel like Bluetooth could have something built into it that would help automatically identify the priority of things, and it doesn’t.
Here’s another thing that’s not really limited to Bluetooth but it’s certainly more common with Bluetooth. Pretty much every Bluetooth device has a blindingly bright blue LED that lights up when it’s powered. It’s a little much. Honestly it’s a lot much. If I actually own the thing, I use a little bit of red nail polish over the light which dims it a lot.
The problem with Bluetooth as well as a lot of other computer standards is that they are all pretty old. USB, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi were all created around the end of the 1990s. There are a lot of older devices out there and legacy support is a problem if you’re going to try to move forward. As I said the way I dealt with my Bluetooth problems initially was to get rid of my old stuff. Not everyone wants to do that.
Apple guru Steve Jobs was famous for what some called the “eat-your-children” philosophy. Jobs wasn’t afraid to simply stop supporting a standard that didn’t work. He also wasn’t afraid to force people into a new standard. It was pretty annoying whenever he did it, but I also have to admit that without him, all computers today would probably still have floppy disk drives.
It’s time the computer industry just up and obsoletes everything from before a certain point in time. Pick 2013 or 2008, whatever, just say that we’re sorry but it’s not going to work and we’re not going to put any effort into making it work. If I still had my old Bluetooth phone from 2003 or even my car from 2009 I’d hate that. But I’d understand it, especially if it meant that anything I bought now would work better.
Oh well. There’s my rant. What’s the over/under on me writing another one like this in another five years?
The post It’s 2023 and I still hate Bluetooth. appeared first on The Solid Signal Blog.
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Things got a little better for me in the years after I wrote those articles, I got a new car, a new computer, a new phone, and
The one nice thing I’ll say
I have to say, Bluetooth LE has been a win for me. It’s integrated into a few things I have now, including my car and a few tracking devices. I hardly ever have to worry about battery life for this stuff and it all just works. So that’s a big win when you consider how bad Bluetooth has been in the past when it comes to battery life.
But that’s pretty much the only nice thing I’ve got.
I have given up on Bluetooth for my computer. I’ve just given up.
Sadly, Bluetooth and my computer never seem to get along. Bluetooth mice just drop out or require pairing every time I reboot. Bluetooth keyboards develop issues with repeating or with lag. And folks, I’m not buying cheap stuff here. This is top-of-the-line stuff from respected manufacturers. I have a mix of Apple and PC computers and honestly the Apple stuff works fine. It’s the PC stuff that’s a total mess.
So, I’ve gone back to the old system of having a little wireless dongle for everything I want to connect. It means I need large USB hubs but at least everything works now.
The latest debacle is Windows’ Phone Link software, which is now available for Android and iOS devices. Well sorta. The iOS integration is far far worse than the Android integration and there’s no good reason for that. Phone Link doesn’t work so well for me but that’s the next topic I want to talk about.
It’s not really Bluetooth’s fault but notifications are a mess too.
I have a phone. You have a phone. Your dog probably has a phone. And those phones have apps that notify you of things. This is life in the ’20s. The problem comes when you have other things attached to that phone, usually over Bluetooth. Here’s what I mean.
I have a watch that lets me see my texts and missed calls on the screen. I also have a car that is supposed to let me take calls and even do voice texting through the car. And now, I have Windows that says they can do the same thing. It all sounds great, except it doesn’t work.
I can’t pick where I want the notifications to go first. Like, I want to say, if the car is on then I want notifications to go to the car first. Then if the PC is on, send them there, and if neither is on then send them to the watch. Honestly, I never know where or if I’m going to get a notification unless I actively turn Bluetooth off on one or more devices. It’s ridiculous.
I feel like Bluetooth could have something built into it that would help automatically identify the priority of things, and it doesn’t.
BRIGHT BLUE LIGHTS
Here’s another thing that’s not really limited to Bluetooth but it’s certainly more common with Bluetooth. Pretty much every Bluetooth device has a blindingly bright blue LED that lights up when it’s powered. It’s a little much. Honestly it’s a lot much. If I actually own the thing, I use a little bit of red nail polish over the light which dims it a lot.
How do we get past all of this?
The problem with Bluetooth as well as a lot of other computer standards is that they are all pretty old. USB, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi were all created around the end of the 1990s. There are a lot of older devices out there and legacy support is a problem if you’re going to try to move forward. As I said the way I dealt with my Bluetooth problems initially was to get rid of my old stuff. Not everyone wants to do that.
Apple guru Steve Jobs was famous for what some called the “eat-your-children” philosophy. Jobs wasn’t afraid to simply stop supporting a standard that didn’t work. He also wasn’t afraid to force people into a new standard. It was pretty annoying whenever he did it, but I also have to admit that without him, all computers today would probably still have floppy disk drives.
It’s time the computer industry just up and obsoletes everything from before a certain point in time. Pick 2013 or 2008, whatever, just say that we’re sorry but it’s not going to work and we’re not going to put any effort into making it work. If I still had my old Bluetooth phone from 2003 or even my car from 2009 I’d hate that. But I’d understand it, especially if it meant that anything I bought now would work better.
Oh well. There’s my rant. What’s the over/under on me writing another one like this in another five years?
The post It’s 2023 and I still hate Bluetooth. appeared first on The Solid Signal Blog.
Continue reading...
