HTC Magic, Android and the Sony DR-BT21G stereo bluetooth headphones.

Google fodder: Last week, I bought the Sony DR-BT21G stereo headset to use with my HTC Magic  because the phone uses the same port for the wired headphones and USB data connection and power adaptor. I could either listen to the phone or charge the battery, but not both. A Bluetooth media (as opposed to just the phone) headset seemed the obvious solution.

No matter what I did, I couldn't get the headphones to play any music. They worked fine with the phone, but that was it.

So instead, as of yesterday, I decided to use them to listen to music on my iPod Touch because v3.0 of the iPhone / iPod Touch OS added support for stereo bluetooth. They worked fine. The main difference was the Apple device asked for the "0000" PIN number, while the HTC Magic / android had not.

That got me thinking and I wonder if....having been initialised at least once....the headset might now work with my HTC Magic. So I tried it this morning.

Yes. They work perfectly.

Even better, though the default music app doesn't respect the AVRCP remote controls on the headset, the "Meridian" media player app does, provided it is in the foreground. I can either skip to the next song, the previous song or job the centre and then FF or REW the current song.

If you're looking for a stereo Bluetooth headset to use with the HTC Magic, the Sony DR-BT21G is a great choice. Just be aware you may have to use them the first time on some other device before they will work with the HTC Magic.

Android and A2DP bluetooth support

I've been watching "Mad Men", right from season one, episode one, via Jetflicks on my HTC Magic android phone and really enjoying it. The only problem I have is my phone uses the same USB port for the headphones as it uses to charge the battery. I can either listen to the phone via headset OR charge it. If I want to do both, I have to use the phone's external speaker and annoy other people nearby who may not share my taste in TV programs enough to want to listen to it without seeing it.

The HTC Magic supports A2DP bluetooth and there is no physical reason why I can't listen to whatever I want over a set of stereo bluetooth headphones. It seemed to be the ideal solution. I went out and bought a pair of Sony DR-BT21 headphones. They work fine with the phone, but I can't get them to play any music / video via any media player. If the phone's Bluetooth is set to media-only mode (the support to enable this is partially there), I can't connect the phone to the headset. But re-enabling the phone audio allows the headset to connect to the phone.

A bit of Googling revealed why. Android in v1.6 (Donut) only supports HFP (Hands Free Profile) and HSP and doesn't support the A2DP bluetooth profile required to use this stereo bluetooth device. The HTC Magic phone supports it, the headset can do it......but the stock Android ROM loaded on vendor phones can't do it and won't until they are updated with software than can support it.

It is possible to load alternative versions of Android (Like Cyanogen) that do include A2DP support, but then you risk cutting yourself off from the standard support path for future software updates and at the same time expose yourself to Android without the default Google 'love' included with almost all Android phones. You'd have to add that yourself, which can be done, but it's more messing around. Besides, future updates will almost certainly include the missing A2DP support.

At this point, I'm not sure "Mad Men" is the compelling event to drive me off the standard path. Even adding the ability to make my phone a Wi-Fi access point (Cyanogen again) isn't enough. If I had a second phone to play with.....I'd be in like a robber's dog. Maybe that's the way to go.

UPDATE - 2009-11-18:  After several more attempts, I gave up trying to get the Sony headset to do media audio with my HTC Magic, so I tried it with my iPod Touch. The headphones worked and sounded great. I was asked to enter the PIN number. The next day (today) I tried them again with the HTC Magic....and they now work! It's full stereo, too.  NO IDEA why they now work....but they now work. Maybe activating them with the iPod Touch was enough to enable them to work with my android phone.
UPDATE 2 - 2009-11-18: I've just discovered the Meridian media player app respects the (AVRCP) jog, FF and REW buttons on the Sony bluetooth headset provided the app is in the foreground. I have 100% functionality now! Awesome.

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