We plan on supporting this feature for Symbian and Windows Mobile phones. Support is not possible for other types of phones.
Hands-Free closes the standard Bluetooth connection when a call is answered in order to improve the audio quality of the connection.
Many phones do not provide SMS access on the Bluetooth Hands-Free connection. On these phones, text message features will not be available until the call has ended and the standard connection is re-established.
Nokia S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1
Follow the Reset your phone's Bluetooth pairing instructions to ensure that your device is configured correctly.
It may also help to upgrade your phone's firmware from Nokia's web site. (PC may be required. Firmware versions vary by location.)
Sony Ericsson UIQ 3rd Edition
Open the Bluetooth settings on your phone and set the Enable Power Save option to Off.
All other devices
Contact customer support through Additional Support Options.
Check your Bluetooth USB adapter compatibility.
If you are using a Bluetooth USB adapter instead of Apple's built-in Bluetooth, the adapter may not support the Bluetooth Hands-Free profile. Check with the adapter's manufacturer for compatibility information. Some manufacturers offer firmware updates that you can download to fix this issue.
Check your phone's Bluetooth settings.
Open the Bluetooth settings on your phone and check that this computer is configured as an Audio Device (also called Hands-Free or Headset). This option is typically available by selecting the computer's name from the phone's Bluetooth devices list. Some phones have Headset/Hands-Free list that you add your computer to instead.
Remove any unused devices from the Bluetooth device list on your phone.
Turn off any Bluetooth headsets; they may prevent Hands-Free from connecting to your phone.
Some phones may need to be restarted occasionally. To do this, power your phone off, wait 3 seconds and then power it back on.
Check your computer's Bluetooth pairing.
Open the Bluetooth panel of the System Preferences and select your phone. Then select Show More Info from the pop-up menu under the Bluetooth device list. The services list should show Handsfree Voice Gateway.
Restart your phone and computer.
Contact customer support
If you are still encountering problems, contact customer support through Additional Support Options.
Does the device's menu icon show that Hands-Free is connected to your device during calls?
If not, see Hands-Free does not connect.
Do the audio meters in the status bar of the call window move during a call?
If yes, click the meters to open the audio controls and raise the volume level.
Check the Sound panel of the System Preferences to confirm that your computer's volume is turned up and the correct Input and Output devices are selected.
Contact customer support
If you are still encountering problems, contact customer support through Additional Support Options.
Known issue with OS X 10.5.
Upgrade to OS X 10.5.6 or newer.
Bluetooth pairing has become corrupted.
Device driver conflict.
Remove any 3rd party peripherals from your computer. It may also help to uninstall any 3rd party drivers or software that customizes other applications.
Contact customer support
If you are still encountering problems, contact customer support.
Echo cancellation and noise reduction has been added as of BluePhoneElite 2.1.2. This option is available in the Advanced Options Panel of the Bluetooth Phone preferences.
Distortion
Bluetooth audio is compressed before it is transmitted. This compression causes the audio signal to become distorted. Many people attribute this distortion to their Bluetooth headset and are surprised to find that the audio quality does not improve when using their computer's microphone and speakers. BluePhoneElite does not have any control over the quality of the Bluetooth audio; the compression used is determined by the Bluetooth devices.
Choppy
Stuttering sound or 'broken-up' sound is caused when pieces of the audio stream are not played at the right time. This typically happens when there is interference to the Bluetooth audio connection, but it can also happen if the computer is heavily tasked. Bluetooth interference can be caused by other Bluetooth connections (Bluetooth mice, Bluetooth file transfers, etc.), surrounding 2.4GHz appliances (Wi-Fi and Airport networks, cordless phones, etc.) or excessive movement of the Bluetooth devices.
Echos
On many Mac laptops, the microphone is placed next to the left speaker. When both the mic and speaker are active, all of the audio that the speaker plays is sent back into the microphone, creating echoes. To help combat this, the left speaker is disabled when using Hands-Free on a laptop.