Bluetooth quality

[jwattam]

I am getting stuttering with my XA2 (basic model). It's the kind of stuttering you expect if you move the phone too far from the BT speaker, but I am not moving the phone! It is within 6 feet of the speaker, which has worked flawlessly with at least two other Android phones.

The BT quality is fine a lot of the time, but will suddenly have a 'fit'. The stuttering can start for no obvious reason, but sometimes seems to be triggered by me putting my body between the phone and speaker. It's ridiculous.

Surely the phone should be better at compensating for interference. I can see some options in developer mode but hesitate to try them without advice. I see others have indicated that BT performance has been negatively affected by updates but all the updates went onto my phone before I used the BT much so don't know if it was ever ok.

Help would be appreciated as I only have a limited time to return the phone to Amazon and would rather avoid the hassle of setting up yet another phone.

[IamNic]

Hello @jwattam,

which quality do you have the BT transmission set to? If it is LDAC with up to 990 kbit/s, even the slightest interference in the same frequency-region (neighbours WiFi router, microwave, DECT phone...) might trigger dropouts like you describe.

In that case I would set the quality to "reliable" in the settings for the speaker you are connected to.

- Nic

[EMS_MO72]

Hey @ jwattam

Mainly you can try the basic steps to reset the Bluetooth connection on your device by clearing cache and data and force stop for the Bluetooth app, you will find it under system apps.

For the point that you mentioned when you put your body between the 2 devices when they're connected, I believe this normal due to the nature of the connection itself as the BT waves start to stutter when they're interrupted by solid matters including the human body.

Anyways, try the instructions above and check if it will improve the connection.

[jwattam]

The problem seems to be BT5, as I've tried another BT phone and get exactly the same issue, yet if I switch to a BT4 phone, there is no problem. I disagree that putting any object between the phone and the speaker is an acceptable reason for BT5 stuttering.

BT5 is supposed to be so much better than BT4 in many ways, including range. So how come in my experience the BT5 range is so terrible and prone to interference sometimes at the slightest 'blockage'? Without obstruction, BT5 starts stuttering at about 15 feet, while with BT4 I got to 30 feet and it was still fine (I'd have to leave the building to test further).

Is there any way to get the BT5 hardware to emulate BT4? Maybe it's a frequency issue or the specific communication protocols BT5 uses, though trying various tweaks in the developer menu seem to have no effect - maybe there's a secret combination that makes BT5 live up to promise.

Or maybe the problem is my speaker. Clearly it's only BT4 but a BT5 phone just dumbs down to what the other device uses, right?

[Strampke]

I agree with @EMS_MO72 reset BT.

BT has been and always will be a bit fragile.

It's a marvelous invention but it has always had its flaws connecting.

[jwattam]

Not sure why you experts like to characterise abnormal behaviour as normal. The fact is my BT4 phones have never given me this problem.

Do you think I wouldn't have tried various options to reset the BT5 connection already? But the fact is this shouldn't be necessary on a regular basis, which is what I would have to do every time this problem occurs (which is almost every time I connect to the speaker).

The interference of my body or other electronics with BT5 is an entirely new experience for me as a long-term BT4 user. Does BT5 use different frequencies? Can I change this? It would be good to see some suggestions for a permanent solution rather than just constantly resetting in the hope it provides a temporary improvement.

[EMS_MO72]

Try to perform FDR to the device or SWR and test if that will enhance the BT connection or not?

If not, maybe an update for BT will solve these issues in the future.

[jwattam]

Should I do a factory reset of the phone every time BT5 plays up? Ridiculous!

I won't be holding my breath for an update from Sony, as you don't admit there's any issue to be addressed.

If you don't have any practical suggestions, please don't respond again.