Bluetooth phone standard

Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP)

also, Audio/Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP)
this last is the control aspect, which seems to only have limited support so far (at least on iphone).

From wikipedia:
Bluetooth profile - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A2DP -

This profile defines how high quality audio (stereo or mono) can be streamed from one device to another over a Bluetooth connection.[1] For example, music can be streamed from a mobile phone to a wireless headset or car audio or from a laptop/desktop to a wireless headset.
A2DP was initially used in conjunction with an intermediate Bluetooth transceiver that connects to a standard audio output jack, encodes the incoming audio to a Bluetooth-friendly format, and sends the signal wirelessly to Bluetooth headphones that decode and play the audio. Bluetooth headphones, especially the more advanced models, often come with a microphone and support for the Headset (HSP), Hands-Free (HFP) and Audio/Video Remote Control (AVRCP) profiles.
A2DP is designed to transfer a uni-directional 2-channel stereo audio stream, like music from an MP3 player, to a headset or car radio.[2] This profile relies on AVDTP and GAVDP. It includes mandatory support for the low complexity SBC codec (not to be confused with Bluetooth's voice-signal codecs such as CVSDM), and supports optionally: MPEG-1 , MPEG-2, MPEG-4, AAC, and ATRAC, and is extensible to support manufacturer-defined codecs, such as apt-X. Most Bluetooth stacks implement the SCMS-T digital rights management (DRM) scheme. In these cases, it is possible to connect the A2DP headphones for high quality audio.

AVRCP -

This profile is designed to provide a standard interface to control TVs, Hi-fi equipment, etc. to allow a single remote control (or other device) to control all of the A/V equipment to which a user has access. It may be used in concert with A2DP or VDP.
It has the possibility for vendor-dependent extensions.
AVRCP has several versions with significantly increasing functionality:
1.0—Basic remote control commands (play/pause/stop, etc)
1.3—all of 1.0 plus metadata and media-player state support
The status of the music source (playing, stopped, etc)
Metadata information on the track itself (artist, track name, etc).
1.4—all of 1.0, 1.3, plus media browsing capabilities for multiple media players
Browsing and manipulation of multiple players
Browsing of media metadata per media player, including a "Now Playing" list
Basic search capabilities

 

You can go to toyota.letstalk.com and find out what phones with your service provider are compatible with your bluetooth. You enter your car information, then select your service provider. This will bring up a list of phones that have been tested with your car. If you pick a particular phone, it will bring up a list of bluetooth features and tell you how each one of these features works with your car's system.

 

Note that the bluetooth interface to automobiles in the Android operating system was broken in the second version and hasn't been fixed (yet). It is A2DP.

I have two Nokias and two LG phones that connect without trouble to Pearl, but they are older models, and only the LG160 is still available (Virgin Mobile in Canada).

 

Is that why my HTC Hero/Sprint with the android platform will pair and connect briefly, then disconnect?

 

That's probably it. Because it's an open operating system, I would expect a fix soon, now that the phones are becoming common. The Linux community is HUGE and most of the software gurus wouldn't put up with this, like some of the cell companies do. There is a fixed hack available online already, and the cell companies have already tried to shut him down (without luck, thankfully).

They -talk- "competition is good", but try to shut it down whenever possible!

 

Does anyone know of any phones or phone OSs that have really good AVRCP support? (as opposed to simple start and stop, like the iphone)

 

Haven't had any problems connecting with my Droid (Android 2.0).