The P900's Fatal Flaw — Sony Ericsson P800, P900 and P910

airactivist 25 Nov 2003, 17:01

Of all the features inherent with this fashionably cool and quite feature laden device, the engineers at SE unconscionably ommitted the "Hands Free Profile" from the Bluetooth connectivity protocol.

Why?

The P800, T610 and T616 all have it, so it's curiously mystifying to discover that with a shoulder shrug and a blank sort of response, SE Service and Support can't come up with an explanation as to why.

Do any of you technologically savvy and advanced posters have any theories as to the reasoning behind all of this?

Without the Bluetooth HFP, you cannot connect to an after-market or factory hands-free device, which in turn marries you to the speakerphone, or a separate headset.

I wonder if the firmware/hardware/software would be user-upgradable in the future to enable the sleek and quite sophisticated P900 to utilize the Bluetooth Hands-Free Profile?

It's a fatal flaw, considering that SE engineered the far less sophisticated T610/616 with the "hands-free" profile, and curiously neglected to include the hands-free profile with their marquee phone, the P900.

Consider this: Some automobile manufacturers, including Honda, have integrated the "hands-free" (not "headset"...there is a difference) Bluetooth profile into their GPS Touch Screen and Voice Activated Navigation systems, enabling a consumer with a mobile phone with the hands-free profile to seamlessly handshake with those massive DVD databases. That means if you have a T610 or Nokia 3650, for example, you just hop into your car, start it up, hit the road, and vocalize "find the nearest Mexican restaurant", verbally scrolling the CRT display in the vehicle to the one of your choice, by voice saying a command such as "send", and then you're connected to the restaurant, without ever having to have manipulate the phone itself.

The P900 can't do this, simply because SE didn't engineer the hands free profile into the unit, as they did with the T610.

This is a fatal flaw for me, at least. Not being able to access and telephonically connect to over 4,000,000 points of interest via simple voice command while in my car with the P900, as opposed to effortlessly being able to do so with say the Nokia 3650, is a non-starter.

I just hope SE can engineer the hands-free profile into the P900 at some point in the future.

Raven 25 Nov 2003, 17:43

Originally posted by airactivist

Why?
The P800, T610 and T616 all have it

The P800 and P900 have the same BT profiles. The reason for the "handsfree profile" lacking is due to the OS (Symbian) AFAIK. You can't compare the Px00 to the T610 etc., because in the case of the Px00 it's a matter of incorporating these things into an actual operating system. AFAIK the Series 60 Symbian phones don't have the "handsfree profile" either.

I'm not entirely sure about this, but I would imagine it is an OS thing. The first Series 60 Symbian phone (Nokia 7650) didn't even have BT audio, only data support.

airactivist 25 Nov 2003, 18:08

Thank you, Raven.

That makes a lot of sense.

I wonder just how difficult it would be to upgrade the OS to make it BT HFP inclusive, or if it is in theory, possible at all?

naivri 25 Nov 2003, 20:29

thats a damn shame

with the new laws about using your phone kicking in 1st decmeber in th UK I was planning to get one of these phones and a bluetooth headset for hands-free action while driving

: \

pwhite8314 25 Nov 2003, 23:47

Any recent bluetooth headset will work fine (i.e. the HBH 200 which I use) - the issue is with the handsfree profile which is not supported on any Symbian 60 phone (as pointed out by Raven). This also rules out some of the earlier BT headsets, but all the recent ones are fine.

Raven 26 Nov 2003, 02:45

Originally posted by airactivist
I wonder just how difficult it would be to upgrade the OS to make it BT HFP inclusive, or if it is in theory, possible at all?

Everything is possible in theory 😉

Originally posted by naivri
thats a damn shame
with the new laws about using your phone kicking in 1st decmeber in th UK I was planning to get one of these phones and a bluetooth headset for hands-free action while driving
: \

Well, you have the HCB-30 BT car handsfree kit from SE, which is compatible with the Px00:

Originally posted on sonyericsson.com
HCB-30
The Bluetooth� Car Handsfree HCB-30 lets you make and take calls easily and safely while driving. You have full handsfree freedom because you can keep your phone in a case or purse getting into the car and while driving. It connects to your Bluetooth Car Handsfree without a cable or phone holder and lets you control your calls without touching the phone. Driving with Bluetooth� is pure comfort. Conveniently placed is a five button control panel for you to activate your phone, control volume, and answer or reject calls. The Bluetooth� Car Handsfree HCB-30 works with Sony Ericsson mobile phones with built-in Bluetooth� and it also works with mobile phones with built-in Bluetooth� made by other manufacturers.
Features:

Bluetooth� wireless technology
Convenient in-car call handling
Handsfree
Cablefree

Available colors:

Silver/Black