One of my favorite articles on this blog is called, “I hate Bluetooth, because it hates me back.” A few months ago I revisited my old enemy with a new article on the subject. So why am I revisiting the topic yet again? Is it just a slow blog day or is there really something to say on the subject? Let’s find out together.
What brought this all on
I’ll admit that I still read engadget. It’s certainly not the must-read blog it was 15 years ago, but I do peruse it every other day or so. This morning I noticed an article I hadn’t seen when it posted a few weeks ago. It’s an article with the guy who is arguably the lord and master over Bluetooth. (Worth a quick scan, if you’re interested.)
Reading through this long article, I came to a surprising conclusion. I don’t hate Bluetooth anymore. You can see in the earlier article that my longstanding venom toward the standard had cooled somewhat, and at this point I have to concede that it’s “pretty good.” Of course you have to utterly ignore what Bluetooth does badly, but once you do that it’s not such a terrible standard.
Bluetooth for remotes and earbuds = genius
Audio over Bluetooth has absolutely gotten great over the last few years. The sound quality is much improved, and the latency that dogged early devices is pretty much gone. I use Bluetooth to listen to music through my phone and while I’m watching TV. It took a long long time but this part of the Bluetooth standard has finally gotten to the point of “just works.” Pairing is even easy enough to do anytime.
The same can be said for Bluetooth remotes, which are part of pretty much every streaming device based on Android TV. Pairing is insanely easy and Bluetooth allows for things like voice search. Bluetooth itself takes so little power than a set of batteries can last for a year or more, generally longer than infrared remotes.
Bluetooth for PCs = inexplicably still bad
My rank hatred for Bluetooth had a lot to do with my experience with Bluetooth keyboards and mice. I am amazed that I have to say this in 2024 but this is STILL a problem, so much so that I’ve given up on it. But, considering that Macs have used Bluetooth keyboards and mice for over a decade flawlessly, it’s beginning to look like the problem was never really Bluetooth.
As far as I can see, the biggest problem with Bluetooth on Windows PCs is that the Bluetooth stack loads way too late in the startup process and sometimes crashes. This means that you don’t get access to your keyboard and mouse when you want it, and sometimes it disappears altogether.
I generally tell people not to use Bluetooth on their computers except maybe for headsets which are less critical than keyboards and mice. Even then they still don’t work all the time.
Bluetooth for cars… getting there
My first experience with Bluetooth in a car was in 2009, and it shaped my hatred of Bluetooth for years to come. Bluetooth has come a long way, though, and while it’s still not perfect, it’s now capable of doing things we never expected it to do. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto give us wireless connections that include images and touch functionality. The sound experience is still not fantastic in most cars but it’s good enough.
Where Bluetooth is still struggling a little bit is in its use as a car key. Several vehicles have had Bluetooth key support for years now and it’s getting to be more popular. I’ll admit that it’s really great to be able to walk up to a car, unlock it, and even start it with nothing more than your phone. But it’s not a perfect system. Bluetooth is good for about 50 feet so the car has to try to figure out when you’re really close so it doesn’t unlock too soon. Then, sometimes, it doesn’t unlock at all. I’m not sure how that’s going to pan out for Bluetooth, honestly. Tesla, who pioneered this tech, is moving toward using the UWB sensor used for payments rather than Bluetooth. Clearly they understand the problems.
In the end…
When Bluetooth rolled out, it was thought of as a replacement for pretty much every form of connection including Wi-Fi. The original plan was that you would connect all your personal devices with it, and they would share data. Let’s be honest – that didn’t happen. But what Bluetooth does, it does well for the most part. Maybe I should have been hating Microsoft all along rather than Bluetooth, since it seems to be the culprit. Then again, I sometimes have to contort myself into weird shapes just to unlock my car door, so Bluetooth isn’t totally blameless.
