Develop Bugs

HS-12W:My preferred BT-Stereo Headset has no more warranty.

because in order to get it, I had to cut the original earbuds off...
How did I get to do this? (either read the story or jump to the end.... )
I had first tried out the Sony Ericsson HBH-DS970 and found out that it was not enough compatible with the HTC Universal (e.g.: after a call it would not continue to tranmit the music stream)
I then tried the HS-12W. All important features are supported, just ID-Tags are not transmitted nore is the name of the caller (but the number is).
On top of it it has a RDS-FM radio built-in...and looks good too...I decided I wanted to keep it.
Only problem: I could hardly understand anything....the original earbuds had a shape/size that just sat so strangely in my ear that the front was not exposed to the inner ear but rather covered so that the sound level was just too low.
Since I am one of these guys who do not give up easily when they are convinced of an idea, I was looking for a solution to the problem.
I remembered an enhancement item for the original ipod earbuds: I bought a couple of Griffin Ear Jams. I cut them in a shape to fit the Nokia buds and glued them to the rubberborder of the ear buds. Not bad at all. It was loud and had much more bass than before.
It did not maybe look supergreat with these white add ons, and frankly, the more I was listening, I found the sound to be lacking treble and somewhat sounded like from under a pillow. My personal belief is that the original earbuds are lacking treble in order to reduce the transmission of some white noise caused by the BT connection...and with the Ear Jams in place that enhanced the bass the pillow sound was perfect. It was really not bad at all, but as I said, with the time I noticed it more and more...
Before buying the Nokia, I had used Sennheiser CX-300 headphones when listening to music. An excellent value for money, it rivals easily headsets of double the price.
Now, all of a sudden. with the Nokia, I had no use for the Sennheiser anymore.... It was just laying there, on the board, getting dusty.....
should I never ever be using it anymore? Such a good pair of headphones...if only the Nokia had better earbuds...
Do you guess the rest?
Yes, i did it: I cut the original earbuds from the Nokia, freed the Sennheisers from it's cables...and transplanted them onto the Nokia HS-12W....
Yes, it worked. And it sounds just soooo good.

where did you cut it? just near to the earbuds or at the connection to the neck? (the other end of the cable)?
My problem is with the Universal + HS12W combo is that its SOOOOOO stuttering :evil: . If its on me, the Uni is in my hand, it can stutter... it can always stutter... I ask: why?? Maybe it's not because of the reception quality because at home I can move to the other room and it doesn't loose the connection just the stuttering factor rises... Is it the bandwidth or lacking CPU?
I'm starting to think about throwing it to the wall...
other con: radio sensitivity is very BAD.

I cut them somewhere in beteen the earbud and the microphone so i did not lose the speaking function. (sennheiser is only headphone).
i agree with the suttering issue. i tend to believe that it is more the pda side..bad antenna construction..but at the end who cares if it does not work...i must say the way i am using the combo i can live with the shortcomings. i also feel the stuttering increases with the transferred bitrate.
as far as the fm reception is concerned: i am not unhappy with the quality, obviously it is n ot noise free most of the time, but i get my main stations in a reasonable manner, i find. (and then most of the time i am listening to internet radio streams..i am on a 5GB plan...
cheers,
Andy.

AndyME said:
I cut them somewhere in beteen the earbud and the microphone so i did not lose the speaking function. (sennheiser is only headphone).
i agree with the suttering issue. i tend to believe that it is more the pda side..bad antenna construction..but at the end who cares if it does not work...i must say the way i am using the combo i can live with the shortcomings. i also feel the stuttering increases with the transferred bitrate.
as far as the fm reception is concerned: i am not unhappy with the quality, obviously it is n ot noise free most of the time, but i get my main stations in a reasonable manner, i find. (and then most of the time i am listening to internet radio streams..i am on a 5GB plan...
cheers,
Andy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can agree with the bad radio construction on the uni side.. This was mentioned in an other topic too I think . It's good you have 5GB plan.. we have only 200MB for a reasonable price.
How do you control the bitrate between the devices? Does the mentioned registry setting (hklm\sw\ms\bluetooth\a2db\setting) working? I've started to play with it, but originally, this key hasn't existed.
i was thinking about the lifetime of this device, because of the battery (not replaceable)by user, and the fixed headphones... looking ath the price of that headset i don't want to throw it away after just one year..

Hi kchris,
sorry for late reply, I did not get a notification.
re. bitrate control I cannot comment. I just meant to notice that with higher bitrate e.g. different quality of radio streams, the connection is more sensitive since the buffer holds less seconds of sounds.
I only have a problem if i use the universal in the rear pocket of my pants. the body is a real obstacle for bluetooth waves, it seems. not very elegant, but it works: if you hang the display over your shoulder so it hangs down on your back, there is no stuttering if the htc is in the rear pocket....(at least in my case).
There is a screw at the back of the device...no I have not opened it yet...lol...but I would guess one can have access to the battery easily, the question is only where to get a new one from... :?
(Between you and me: gadget freek that I am, I would be surprised if I still have it in one year....but who knows...I really like it...)
Exchanging against the Sennheisers for me was a great solution, the sound has improved so much, I did not expect it, I must say.
I have to admit: I love to adapt things to my needs....
There are headsets where you can use the headphones of your choice, but I think in this case the mic must be in the device itself, so it will be quite far away from your mouth..or maybe it could have a mic on a cable that you have to clip somewhere high on the shirt..I don't know how good this is supposed to work or how convenient it can be...

Netlink Bluespoon AX2

Hi, I just wanted to let you you know about a new Bluetooth headset I bought. As you have probably discovered, once you set your BT headset down, ANYWHERE, it just "disappears". "grr" Anyway, the last headset I had was a Jabra 500, which I really liked because it fit well and didn't stick out really far and make me look like a borg. <smile> Anyway...I have a fairly soft, midrange voice, so people were always complaining regardless of what I did. So after my latest Jabra "went for a walk", I decided to do some research and see waht I could come up with....besides, $80 to $120 adds up pretty quick---even on the company's budget....lol.
Well, much to my surprise, I found some pretty good reviews on the Netlink Bluespoon AX2. It actually has a little spring so that it sits inside your ear and it is probably only slightly larger than one of those old time hearing age---even the "tech support" guys who work for me thought I was talking to myself...lol. It does sound a little staticy at times to me, on my end, if I get to far away, but people can hear me REALLY clearly. With my voice, that is AMAZYING. I got mine on ebay for about $35. It also uses a watch battery that you can replace easily and a standard usb charger cable.
For me, for the price and the fact that people can hear me, I give it two thumbs up!
Plxiell

Suggestions on a Sport Stereo Bluetooth that WORKS with the s3

looking for a little input from people who have (or have tested) any stereo bluetooth headset on the s3.
Background: I had a LG tone+ which i actually loved and it worked perfectly on my One S. Then i decided to get the s3 and this thing cannot stay connected for ANYTHING. i have tried kernels, roms, hacks, pretty much everything. It would stay connected for a little while, but always would lose connection and not reconnect even after i delete and re-add the headset.
Here are my list of thing i would like to have in the headset:
Decent sound (amazing sound would be prefered but i am realistic here )
sweat-proof (at least to some extent)
connects to the s3 consistently
Would prefer $100 or less but would pay more if its THE headset (not sure THE one exists yet though)
BTW, i could care less what call quality is. I may take an occasional cal when working out, but not often enough to care what my voice sounds like to the caller.
If anyone has any thought or experience, i have been eyeing the following ones, but always open to other suggestions:
Jaybird freedom
motorola SF600
plantronics 903+
Thanks for any help!

frettfreak said:
looking for a little input from people who have (or have tested) any stereo bluetooth headset on the s3.
Background: I had a LG tone+ which i actually loved and it worked perfectly on my One S. Then i decided to get the s3 and this thing cannot stay connected for ANYTHING. i have tried kernels, roms, hacks, pretty much everything. It would stay connected for a little while, but always would lose connection and not reconnect even after i delete and re-add the headset.
Here are my list of thing i would like to have in the headset:
Decent sound (amazing sound would be prefered but i am realistic here )
sweat-proof (at least to some extent)
connects to the s3 consistently
Would prefer $100 or less but would pay more if its THE headset (not sure THE one exists yet though)
BTW, i could care less what call quality is. I may take an occasional cal when working out, but not often enough to care what my voice sounds like to the caller.
If anyone has any thought or experience, i have been eyeing the following ones, but always open to other suggestions:
Jaybird freedom
motorola SF600
plantronics 903+
Thanks for any help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How about the LG Tone? From reviews, the sound quality isn't quite as good as with the Tone+, but the range is vastly better and it cuts out far less frequently (if at all).
In fact, I've been using the LG Tone headset for 4+ months now. Mostly I use it at the gym while lifting, but have also used it for running, cycling, and making phone calls around the house (phone is 20+ feet away when I'm talking on the phone). Sometimes I make phone calls while at the gym too (but phone is in my pocket).
I don't think there has been a single time where they have cut out. The sound isn't what I would call "stellar", but it's not majorly worse than the headphone port on the S3. And my comparison point is a wired Sennheiser earbud set.

MetalMan2 said:
How about the LG Tone? From reviews, the sound quality isn't quite as good as with the Tone+, but the range is vastly better and it cuts out far less frequently (if at all).
In fact, I've been using the LG Tone headset for 4+ months now. Mostly I use it at the gym while lifting, but have also used it for running, cycling, and making phone calls around the house (phone is 20+ feet away when I'm talking on the phone). Sometimes I make phone calls while at the gym too (but phone is in my pocket).
I don't think there has been a single time where they have cut out. The sound isn't what I would call "stellar", but it's not majorly worse than the headphone port on the S3. And my comparison point is a wired Sennheiser earbud set.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I second this. I had my LG Tone for over a year before I broke it. I listened to it for at least 10 hours a day while at work. Never disconnected and battery life was great.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

Huh.. i know this is a dumb question, but you are using this on your s3 right?? lol the strage thing about the tone+ is it works on my wifes one s almost flawlessly.
How is the sound quality? Sufficient? Not severely lacking in any area? The tone+ had really great sound was actually pretty impressed.
Thanks!! :good:

frettfreak said:
Huh.. i know this is a dumb question, but you are using this on your s3 right?? lol the strage thing about the tone+ is it works on my wifes one s almost flawlessly.
How is the sound quality? Sufficient? Not severely lacking in any area? The tone+ had really great sound was actually pretty impressed.
Thanks!! :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you read through the reviews on Amazon, there is at least one review between the Tone and Tone+. One guy said that although the Tone+ sounded a little better, the Tone+ eventually got shelved in favor of the Tone because of the poor connectivity of his Tone+.
The Tone sounds good enough to me, though the bass is be a bit lacking. When I'm working out I could care less if the audio is superb.
If you consider yourself an audiophile you shouldn't even consider BT headphones (IMO).

You might consider using a standalone bluetooth receiver (like this or this) and a pair of regular earphones/headphones.
I personally have the Antec one and use it with my Sennheiser CX270 earphones, which works well at the gym.

I have the Motorola S-11HD
Awesome sound, 80 bucks APT-X Codec, 5 minutes to charge, will connect every time and has a range of over 50 feet.

I have the Jaybird and I'd say it's a good choice. Never had any problems connecting to my S3 though some reviews claim the blue tooth is "weak" because of the small antenna size. I wear it on my right arm (for running) or in my pocket. It's worked fine for 4 months of running 3 times a week so far. It has a lifetime warranty for sweat so I'm not too worried about that. The on/off button is less than ideal to push because of it's stiffness and the geometry of the ear bud but I don't use it for calls so that isn't very important to me It has a lot of options for getting the correct fit which is nice. I'm guessing I get about 5-6 hours of play time from each charge (I charge weekly so I rarely run into this).
Overall I'd say the Jaybird is a good option.

REVIEW of Sentey B-Trek H9 Bluetooth Headphones

Sentey has outdone themselves. This is an amazing product for a decent price!
In the box, you get the headphones themselves, the really nice travel case, an auxiliary cable, a USB to aux charging cable, and an instruction manual.
First Impressions: These are pretty nice! The unit which I received does have some scratches upon arrival, which is unfortunate. I have uploaded a picture of the product with the scratches with my review. However, I quickly turn this on by holding down the power button, connect to it on my phone with Bluetooth (it shows up as B-Trek H9), and put them on. They feel VERY nice and comfortable. Music sounds pretty good too. The carrying case, at my first glance, looks very nice. Let’s see how these are after using these for some time.
After using this for a while, I can say that these are really nice headphones! I would like to mention that once you cross a certain limit in volume, people around you will be able to hear your music. So if you are on a plane ride and using these, I recommend to keep the volume low. The headphones do a decent job with blocking out sound. They also have nice bass, but you obviously cannot compare these to Beats headphones. However, in the price range that these headphones are in, the sound quality is superb! I have had a blast wearing and listening to music with these headphones. They feel very comfortable, and not at all irritating. I must note that they do jut out a good amount on either side of your head, but that isn’t something you can exactly control. These headphones fit my head nice and snug (after I adjusted them). The carrying case is really nice and durable. If I were to drop the case, I have a really good feeling that my headphones and contents would be completely fine. They do a great job at carrying the headphones and its accessories around safely and easily. I would like to mention that making calls with these headphones is also great! The quality of the call was great on both ends and both people could hear each other perfectly. When talking with the headphones, background noise can be heard. I do not recommend using these to talk to someone while in a public area around other people or around the TV. While using the headphones, I noticed that the buttons labeled “skip forward” and “skip backward” do the opposite of what they are labeled as. Trying to skip forward will take me backward, and trying to skip backward will take me forward. This was a small annoyance, but nothing I couldn’t get used to. Another weird thing was one of the voice outputs the headphones would say after disconnecting. It would say, “Your device is disconnect.” It should be saying disconnected, but that is another small issue. Because the amazing performance and quality outshines these small annoyances, I could not let it affect my rating for this product. It is simply remarkable. When you plug in the USB to aux cable to charge your headphones, the middle button will light up red. It will become green when it is fully charged. One big complaint that I have is the method with which it is charged. It is charged with a USB to aux cable. This is the first time I have seen a cable like this, and I think it would be easier for everyone if the product could be charged with a micro-USB cable.
Overall, this is a nice product that I would recommend to someone who wants a nice set of headphones for a price that isn’t too expensive.
I was provided a unit for testing purposes and I promised to provide a completely honest and fair review.
Unfortunately, I cannot post the link to this product on Amazon because posting commercial links is forbidden, but you can find it on Amazon by searching for the product's name that is in the title of this thread. Thanks!

IMPORTANT: Avoid buying these headphones!
They are terrible headphones with thousands of failures.
To begin with, the bluetooth link is very bad. It takes a long time to connect and many times it fails. And do not even think about wearing the headphones when you make the connection, because at the moment it connects you will hear the phrase "YOUR DEVICE IS CONNECTED" in a very loud volume that destroys your ear. So also when you turn it on and turn it off, the same thing happens.
Another point that seems totally disastrous is the fact that anyone can connect to your headphones, so you can be in a library, on a subway or in any public place, and people can detect your bluetooth connection and connect to it, even though you already have it connected to a device (to your notebook or your cell phone). And the worst part is that when you connect to another device, it repeats the phrase "YOUR DEVICE IS CONNECTED" with an atrocious volume.
So also when the battery is low you start to hear an extremely unpleasant sound at a very high volume, something like a horns.
I set the volume to the minimum, nevertheless it makes heads explode, I do not even want to imagine what it would be like at a medium or high volume level.
The sound is good but not so much. However, when you are not listening to any sound or music you hear a very unpleasant cutting sound to supposedly save battery. I sincerely consider it lousy, because I usually use them to watch videos or similar, and every time I change the video that terrible cutting sound is heard.
They are the worst headphones I have bought. I do not understand how people can make such bad headphones, I feel really cheated!
I can not reach words to criticize this **** of headphones, if they could be called headphones. I feel very disappointed and my score is 0/10. I will not even give it a point, because the mistakes they have committed are unforgivable.

Headphone audio quality

Hi.
The headphone audio is noisy on my Gemini. Lots of electronic noise and chirrups when typing etc. Sounds like a Raspberry Pi rather than a $500 device.
Seems to stop when actually playing audio, but quite annoying. I guess there's no output filter.
Anyone else getting this?
Pretty awesome device otherwise!

Yes. I have exactly the same issue
I'm beginning to be less and less impressed with this little gadget. I also have a screen protector that looks like it's been slapped on by a five year old. Possibly I'm lucky as I suspect earlier releases didn't come with a screen protector.
I appreciate that it's new and there are some quirks to be ironed out but something as basic as sound interference should have been resolved right at the start.

jez3652 said:
Yes. I have exactly the same issue
I also have a screen protector that looks like it's been slapped on by a five year old. Possibly I'm lucky as I suspect earlier releases didn't come with a screen protector.
I appreciate that it's new and there are some quirks to be ironed out but something as basic as sound interference should have been resolved right at the start.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've suggested they come up with a firmware mod to mute the channel when it's not being used. It's very distracting when you've got headphones in without music or video playing.
I don't think the screen protector is supposed to be kept on. I would think it's just there as protection during shipping. I had a right job getting it off though - it should have a little tab.
I've other little niggles. Initially it wouldn't turn on reliably. I was advised to disassemble the ESC key (very easy) and when I did, I found a brown substance (most likely flux) gumming it up. Same with my E and A keys. QC does seem to be lacking. I absolutely detest on-screen keyboards, so the Gemini is the answer to my prayers on this front. So I'm glad my keyboard issues were easily sorted.
Planet's support has been good. Very fast responses so far. Although, I guess not many people have received theirs yet!
One other thing I'm finding is the poor landscape testing applied to Android apps. Even some well established apps misbehave quite badly in landscape mode. I've been quite shocked! Hopefully they'll get an Ubuntu port out soon so I can ditch Android.

You've raised some interesting points. I agree on build quality but am happy to give a fair amount of latitude to this as it's new and British and being a Brit I am walking that fine line between putting up with the quirks and disappointments of an otherwise excellent device or returning it and then probably having to do battle with the returns department for what is possibly relatively minor issues in the great scheme of things. But we do like our toys to be all shiny and new and perfect don't we.
On the screen protector front, I sent them an email at the end of last week not asking to return it but just for some more screen protectors so that I can replace the one that was slapped on. Got a reply essentially telling me to go forth and multiply but the reference did appear to be to a screen protector rather than packaging. But you're making me wonder now! Is it a packaging protector or something for longer term use. I tried to pick a corner of it off but just as you say it didn't want to shift so I left it.

I'm of the Sinclair era (just!), so very forgiving with British tech
I really want this to work and be a success. I've already had a number of admiring "Wow, cool. What the heck is that?" comments.

Oh yes! Remember those. Still got a ZX81 but cut my teeth on a BBC Micro. Now freshly retired I owe a huge debt of thanks to that machine. My Psions through the years were also excellent. But on that point it will be interesting to see how cable joining the screen and keyboard holds up after a year or two on our Geminis. My Psion 3 died with a busted cable (fatigue) after two years. I replaced it (cos my eyesight was up to it then ) and that one also lasted two years. I'm wondering how our Gemins will fare. As a phone as well as a PDA it's going to get a lot more use opening and shutting.
But with the help of a good pair of glasses I'll give it a go. Like you I really want this to succeed. Sure, I have selfish reasons. I can buy v2 when it comes out but wouldn't it be nice to see this tried and tested design come back. Maybe it's niche, maybe it's just for the techies among us (forgive me, making assumptions here ) but I voted with my wallet and I really hope it works out for them.

I've had a response from Planet:
"I am happy to hear you addressed the issue with keys, that's a rather strange one I've never observed before. As for the static noise from the audio jack, I will be escalating this to an engineer later today and I hope there will be a fix available soon."
Let's see what happens.

Just received my (WIFI only) device and the same problem.
Even left a message at Indiegogo.
Has there been any progress with this issue?

Has anybody tried a ground loop noise isolator to fix that issue?
I have ordered one from Amazon to try and see if it solves the problem.
Will report back when I get it.

matrix200200 said:
Has anybody tried a ground loop noise isolator to fix that issue?
I have ordered one from Amazon to try and see if it solves the problem.
Will report back when I get it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fingers crossed, but I suspect it won't as (for me at any rate) the interference goes away completely when music is being played. No interference at all even in quiet bits. Also don't have a difference if the device is plugged in to charge or not. I'm hoping it will be a software fix. Worried it's a firmware issue...

Well, that didn't help at all.
I also tried two different usb c to 3.5mm adapters with disappointing results.
Tried db Magix ac3 (lots of crackling popping, caused Gemini to freeze and restart once, a cheap noname 10$ converter (no sound coming out of it at all).
I wonder whether there is such a thing as bluetooth device that acts as headphones, but instead just has 3.5 jack so I can plug headphones of my own.

Is anyone using this with good headphones? The noise is worrying. Does it completely disappear during playback? E.g. when playing a track of silence, can anyone detect any noise on sensitive heaphones?

Evidence is the headphone output is just poor, and noisy both when audio is playing and when it is not.
See https://github.com/evadne/gemini-notes
A combination of hardware (usb dac) and software alterations are needed to get acceptable audio on the Gemini PDA.
Unfortunate that they used a poor headphone output chip.

I have just tried listening to Amazon Music via two different headphones and when songs start or end quietly the hiss (and slight crackle) is not evident. As the song stops and before the next one starts the noise returns. This would indicate a fixable driver or software issue, it looks like the output does not output silence when no audio is playing, making the audio headphone amp "floating" and therefore noisy.