Samsung Galaxy S4 Bluetooth audio & sync erratic w/ Gen4 (2004 Prius) Nav

Does anyone else have a Galaxy S4 and paired it to their 04 - 06 or whatever uses Gen4 or perhaps even Gen5 NAV handsfree devices?

I've disabled the Pandora Bluetooth for automotive feature to see if that's the issue and I'll retest again later this afternoon.

I get my phone to pair okay, but after subsequent power-cycles of the NAV hardware when I place a call, the audio is not transferred to the car speakers, even though the phone its paired. It sometimes does not respond to the on-screen hangup/dialpad/etc commands. I have also noticed that it does lose sync completely (i.e. no signal display) on NAV screen for a few seconds and then comes back, but it's hard to get it to get the audio back to the handsfree part if I can even do it at all via repairing/off/on of both cell phone and NAV unit.

My Galaxy S3 phone did not exhibit that issue. Wondering if others are affected too, or if it's perhaps some app on my phone or the phone's bluetooth stack itself that is causing the issue.

 

So far all I can say is that it was not Pandora related. I will try with another Verizon Galaxy S4 when I get a chance to see if the same issue is present.

 

Well, the issue is present on a different Verizon Galaxy S4, so I'm attempting to have Samsung log a support ticket....

 

Wanted to update this... basically I've been stonewalled by Samsung because they refuse to log this as a bug, saying that they only guarantee compatibility with Samsung branded Bluetooth accessories.

I've gone through many troubleshooting steps I detail in the thread below. Does anyone else have an S4 and can test with their Gen4 NAV/Bluetooth? It would be great if so! Heck, I'll even send some spare change via either Google Wallet's new Send Money feature or PayPal for some confirmation and bug reporting to both Samsung and Verizon!

So far, I've eliminated bloat apps as the cause, and even went back to the v5.1 disc and reloaded the firmware, thinking that maybe the newer 11.1/12.1 (same) firmware was causing the problem -- no resolution. The same problem is present in both firmware versions.

Here are further details:
[Q] Bluetooth sync issues with Gen4 NAV (2004 Toyota Prius and other Lexus cars) - xda-developers

 

Further update. At least one more user in XDA is affected. He has a 2010 Prius that also has a Denso NAV/BT unit, and the company that manufactures the Bluetooth module is called Alps, matched by both of our BT MAC addresses -- Bluetooth(R) All In One Module with Antenna for Automotive Use UGZZC-G Series

Check the xda-developers thread above for more details. I am going to try some apps on the Google market that supposedly can help with pairing devices to see at least one of them can serve as a workaround until the issue is addressed.

 

Thanks for the reply. I haven't tried to be honest, because I narrowed down the issue to a (presumable) incompatibility between the car and phone's Bluetooth Stack. I've tried an S4 on US Cellular, one on Sprint, my Verizon one, and another Verizon one paired to my 2004 Prius. All of them fail in the same way, as I've updated over in the XDA thread. I've also used previous NAV ECU firmware (v5.1 disc) and the updated (v11.1/12.1) firmware and the same issue is present.

Do you have a Denso-based Navigation? On newer Toyota models that is what is labeled as a Premium HDD 7" Navigation. I'd be curious to see what are the first 3 octects (e.g. AA:BB:CC) of your car's BT address. It may be that even if it is a Denso-based Nav, they could have switched to a different Bluetooth module manufacturer.

I went to a Toyota dealer 2 days ago and tested a NAV system on a 2013 Toyota Camry. That one, however, is not made by Denso -- its Bluetooth MAC address started with:

Code:

9C:DF:03

According to Hardware Address (MAC Address) Lookup :: Search by hardware address, devices from

Code:

9C:DF:03:00:00:00

to

Code:

9C:DF:03:FF:FF:FF

correspond to Harman/Becker Automotive Systems GmbH -- Harman Becker MapPilot That particular NAV system is not affected by the bug I'm experiencing.

(As you can see I've done extensive research on this, even past when Samsung stonewalled me, not wanting to log a problem)

While I have not found a solution, there is a workaround, if you can call it that. First, I'll describe the issue further:

The problem is experienced after the initial pairing, after powering down/powering on the car/NAV. Upon turning car back on, the car reports a successful pairing. However, if I pay attention to the car's Phone/dialer screen, the Bluetooth connection will be lost for 10-20 seconds anywhere from 40-50 seconds after pairing. It may or may not repeat this cycle one more time. If it does not keep disconnecting, a call made after this period will be fine -- the audio will be transferred to the car's hands-free system. However, if a call is made anytime after the initial pairing, and up to anytime before the connection is due to be lost, the audio will stay in the phone's earpiece. In addition to that, (not totally sure yet) it seems like the only way to get the audio to transfer to the hands-free system is to delete the pairing, restart car/restart phone, and re-make pairing.

The workaround... is to wait at least 2 minutes before placing a call, but sometimes there is no telling whether it will keep disconnecting, except to actually watch that the connection hasn't dropped within the last minute to 1 min 15 secs.

Edit: The other poster's BT MAC address that also had issues starts with: 00:1E:3D
Mine starts with 00:02:C7. Both of these are Alps Bluetooth modules according to hwaddress.com

The only other thing I can think of is that your S4 could be one with the Exynos octa processor vs Snapdragon, and thus the hardware/software could be different and not affected. Sadly I do not know anyone with an S4 that has that configuration.

To avoid repeating myself, my latest post in response to another user experiencing an issue is here:

xda-developers - View Single Post - [Q] Bluetooth sync issues with Gen4 NAV (2004 Toyota Prius and other Lexus cars)