N900: Bluetooth dropouts
 

I've noticed something kind of odd with my N900 (which I have only had a few weeks). I'm consolidating functionality from my Blackberry, and am slowly transferring function over to it.

Well, one thing I did was to pair my Motorola S9, which works great paired with the blackberry, to the N900. I was listening to an oggcast on MediaBox this morning, the phone was sitting on my desk and my head was stationary. I kept having the headphones drop out on me. I noticed it yesterday when I was on the phone, but I was walking with the device on my hip, so I wrote it off to breaking the connection with my body. (which still shouldn't happen...)

Today, however, the device was sitting on the desk to my immediate left, I was facing the computer (forward) with the headphones on, and the N900 was 18" - 2' from the headphones. It dropped out 3 or 4 times in the space of a minute. Each time, the display said "Motorola S9 Disconnected" and "Motorola S9 Connected"...

I don't know if there is any interference, since i don't have a spectrum analyzer, but I have done the same with the blackberry in the same place, and not experienced any problems.

Has anyone experienced similar problems? Is there some kind of bluetooth booster or something similar to the FM transmitter booster? (Not that I'm real hip about further irradiating my brain...:) )

Thanks,
--vr

Re: N900: Bluetooth dropouts
 

yes. and it is not just your motorola headset, it does the same with my jawbone, wep200, and my nokia bh-903

Re: N900: Bluetooth dropouts
 

I think I read on hear that the bluetooth and wifi use the same antenna? This can create some interference between the two.

I normally use bluetooth headphones when outside, and get spotty reception with my home wifi, so I use wifi-switcher to turn it off. All my data then comes through 3g instead. Far fewer drop-outs that way.

Re: N900: Bluetooth dropouts
 

Great. So its either use wifi or bluetooth. Since I am on AT&T who canceled their All You Can Eat data plans, I need the wifi. How does this interact if I connect a BT keyboard?

--vr

Re: N900: Bluetooth dropouts
 

I wouldn't think it would be a problem with a BT keyboard, as the transmission is intermittent with the keyboard instead of steady with music.

When I've used the headphones inside (not often or much), I did't notice many dropouts. It's only outside, where the wifi signal is weaker (which causes more traffic?) that I notice dropouts, generally in parts of the yard farther from the router.

Granted, I haven't tried streaming audio from my computer to the N900 and use BT headphones. Perhaps I'll try that tonight and see if it causes problems. I'd guess it should.

Re: N900: Bluetooth dropouts
 

I'm really not convinced that it is the wireless vs bluetooth issue, or at least not completely. I was in my local Costco, no wireless, and listening to a podcast. The headphones were fairly consistently breaking up or dropping out, though it did never completely disconnect.

I also noticed something else wierd with the phone. When it is in phone mode, it seems like the accelerometer goes wonky. I had apps changing from portrait to landscape and back, seemingly at random, as well as my mediabox session staying in portrait regardless of orientation.