Google, Why is Android Bluetooth still so lousy?

For literally years now, people have been asking for Bluetooth functionality in Android which is not there. One notable example is audio-to-headset, to permit listening to music on a headset device which does not support the bluetooth stereo audio profile. My pet issue is pinless trust, which is needed for devices like the Sony BD Remote and many Logitech mice which use no pin code. This has been a known issue at least since Gingerbread. Why is it still a problem?

How to launch an Android app from adb - And toggle bluetooth

Have you ever wanted to launch an Android app from the shell, but you were confused as to how to go about it? Me too, but after a bit of searching about I found a couple of posts that explain how to do it. Short short form, you use aapt to find the activity you want to execute, and then you can use the am command (on the device) to launch the program.

Manually pairing keyboard and mouse on Ubuntu Lucid

Recently I decided to give XBMC Live a try as the alternative to making my own Ubuntu install. I figured they might have it worked out to go a little faster. It looks as though I was right, and it's a great install so far as I can see, but I also discovered that they left out bluetooth. As probably the best cheap option for a good remote is a used Playstation 3 remote available at a gamestop near you for thirty bucks or less, this seems like an unfortunate omission. As I want to use a Logitech MX5000 keyboard hooked up to an MX900's USB Bluetooth dongle/mouse charging cradle, it was especially annoying.

Motorola H350 Bluetooth Headset

In a move that annoyed the annoying and brought the promise of relief to the sane, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a law banning holding your cellphone up to your head while driving back in September, 2006. While any conversation is distracting (whether it's with a person in the car, or a person on the phone) a cellphone conversation while holding your phone is much worse for reasons which should be obvious. Anyone who wants to talk on the phone in the car from July of this year is going to need a headset like Motorola's H350.

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GoPass GPT-600/GPT-800 Bluetooth GPS Receiver

I purchased this unit from, who had it on sale. While continually sold as a "generic" module, it's actually made by GoPass (a taiwanese hardware manufacturer.) GoPass also makes a handful of other neat GPS items, including some cheaper/lower-quality GPS units, and some GPS tracking units for cars that have GSM/SMS/GPRS functionality so you can ask them where they are.

This is, bar none, the best value in a Bluetooth GPS. It has support for WAAS and EGNOS, it has twenty channels, and it has an external antenna jack. The unit is tiny, smaller than my motorola flip phone, and it has a Li-Ion battery that the manufacturer claims gives ten hours of runtime.

Bluetooth and Windows XP SP2

If you have a Bluetooth device which is not supported directly in Windows XP and which was not designed explicitly for Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2) then you are likely having problems. One such is the ISSC IS1002N "Horus" bluetooth module, one of the smallest bluetooth reference designs around and thus a fairly popular candidate for super-cheap bluetooth dongles.

Unfortunately, installing a unit based on the reference design (and driver) results in a failure to install the Microsoft bluetooth stack, and necessitating the use of a third-party stack. This is a highly unsatisfactory solution as many third-party stacks will not work properly with third-party applications. A little creative googling allowed me to find a working solution.

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