Razer phone with Bluetooth car audio | Razer Insider
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Hey all, I hope this is the right place to post, if not a little nudge in the right direction would be great.



So I got the razer phone for Christmas but I've been unable to get audio to play through my car stereo. I can sync the phone to the radio, and I'm sure to receive calls and talk through the system, but it absolutely refuses to play music through the car, instead opting to use the phone speakers.



I've set the Bluetooth to play audio through selected device, but that's about all I can think of.



Has anyone had a similar problem?



Thanks
Rsgc90
I'm pretty sure even a replacement won't help. This has only been happening since the latest update with protrait mode etc




Yep, I'm not 100% confident either because as I understand it the new phones are issued with 8.1 pre-installed and that's a big worry if it's a fundamental OS problem. However, I know of two friends with the same phone & same OTA update who claim not to have the issue. And anecdotally there must be plenty of others because whilst it's not hard to find an "Oreo 8.1 & BT Issue thread" across differing handsets I'm not seeing forums especially spammed about it either.



Bottom line for me is that I had stock Three 7.1 OS on with no issues and after updating to a delayed (to fix these issues) Three 8.1 roll out as advised the BT does not work correctly. I'm perfectly happy to roll back to 7.1 (or run a version of 8.1) where the functions work as intended but not at the cost of voiding my warranty. Especially when it looks like I may need to fall back on it as currently it's their problem (contracturally) not mine.



So for me, if it comes to it, I'd rather try the RMA route a few times and hopefully get one that works than void the warranty. The only alternative I can see is to wait and hope that a further update is released to fix this but who knows when or even if that's going to happen.



Anyway before that I'll try the reset (then factory reset as a last resort) and report back.
FritzCT
Yep, I'm not 100% confident either because as I understand it the new phones are issued with 8.1 pre-installed and that's a big worry if it's a fundamental OS problem. However, I know of two friends with the same phone & same OTA update who claim not to have the issue. And anecdotally there must be plenty of others because whilst it's not hard to find an "Oreo 8.1 & BT Issue thread" across differing handsets I'm not seeing forums especially spammed about it either.



Bottom line for me is that I had stock Three 7.1 OS on with no issues and after updating to a delayed (to fix these issues) Three 8.1 roll out as advised the BT does not work correctly. I'm perfectly happy to roll back to 7.1 (or run a version of 8.1) where the functions work as intended but not at the cost of voiding my warranty. Especially when it looks like I may need to fall back on it as currently it's their problem (contracturally) not mine.



So for me, if it comes to it, I'd rather try the RMA route a few times and hopefully get one that works than void the warranty. The only alternative I can see is to wait and hope that a further update is released to fix this but who knows when or even if that's going to happen.



Anyway before that I'll try the reset (then factory reset as a last resort) and report back.


I had the same, 8.1 worked fine until razer released their latest update.
Yeah just to be clear 8.1 worked fine. Only the 300mb bugfix broke BT.



BT worked great on 8.1
Same here. No problems with 8.1 till that update yesterday.
I've spoken to support on twitter seems to be the only way to get a response.

First attempt was the reset power button and volume button. Still didn't work.

Second attempt factory reset, now this will work providing the phone isn't updated but as soon as you update goes back to square one.
Yep and as with Darksteel and probably most people I'm really not keen on factory resetting unless absolutely necessary. At this point I think that's the only viable option available though (reset did nothing of use) and then ignore the repetitive update message. The downside might be that they think the problem's gone away and then it may never get fixed.
The only "fix" is another update from Razer and revoking this bad update.

No matter how you restart your phone its not going to fix it.

Clearly a software issue with recent bugfix patch.
8.1 Build Number ending in 4054 worked beautifully with BT.

8.1 Build Number ending in 5038 broke BT.



If you had 4054 and BT didn't work then either, you might want to check with support.

But if BT worked for you on the previous, everyone needs to contact support and let them know there is an issue.

Maybe they will see it here, maybe not. But the only thing we can do is wait for another OS update.
I am contacting support daily to "remind" them to fix it.
Anyone had any further progression with this and razer support?
Support said the engineering team still hasn't started working on it /updating it. Very poor support will never buy another expensive Razer product again (I have been buying Razer for years) you can't have this kind of bad support for cell phones in this day and age. Should of got a Google Pixel instead.
Same issue here. Pairs with my 2012 Acura TSX, but only media audio only. Razer Phone Bluetooth shows "connected (no phone)".



I unchecked the MEDIA and CONTACT SHARING, leaving only the PHONE CALLS. It never connects, even when manually telling the phone to connect via Bluetooth. I do have OS 8.1 build ending in 5038.



I'm guessing this will never get fixed.
I'm still pursuing this with support and currently waiting on a reply from them.



As far as I'm concerned they either need to urgently roll out a hot fix or allow us to flash 7.1.1 MR3 or 8.1 MR0 without voiding the warranty.



EDIT: I'd missed their reply e-mail. They have basically said that they'll forward on my comments to the correct dept. but believe that they are already on it so maybe a hot fix is on the way. They've also offered me a replacement but I'm not sure that's going to help unless it ships with 7.1 MR3 as Three seemed to have skipped 8.1 MR0 because that didn't work either. I'll ask the question and let you know.
If this doesn't get fixed soon I will force them to give me a refund for breaking my phone. They released an update that broke a hardware item.

Make sure you keep contacting support as they are saying it is an isolated incident the last time I chatted with with last night which is crap.



I contact support daily or every other day because it NEEDS to get fixed.



Doesn't work with any cars ive tested with Chevy, GM, and Kia all same thing.



Its officially been a month since they released a bad update that broke our phones and they have no update when I contact them and tell me to pound sand too bad for buying our phone.
Darksteel165
If this doesn't get fixed soon I will force them to give me a refund for breaking my phone. They released an update that broke a hardware item.

Make sure you keep contacting support as they are saying it is an isolated incident the last time I chatted with with last night which is crap.



I contact support daily or every other day because it NEEDS to get fixed.



Doesn't work with any cars ive tested with Chevy, GM, and Kia all same thing.



Its officially been a month since they released a bad update that broke our phones and they have no update when I contact them and tell me to pound sand too bad for buying our phone.




I am frustrated by it not connecting to my car too. I don't think their update actually did anything wrong. It just advanced the BT software beyond what is in the cars. Every other BT connection still works just fine. We just have to wait for them to figure out how to give us the advancement but still dumb it down for non smart car radios.
Non smart car radios? Do you have any idea what you are talking about?

I own a 2018 Silverado with a Bose stereo system and a GM head unit that has Android and apple carplay along with BT and nav.



BT worked fine pre update (on 8.1) they did an update labeled as a bugfix with the only new feature being the some worthless camera filter and now BT doesn't work.

So yes. They did something wrong.

I want some of whatever you're smoking
VerdankG
Hey all, I hope this is the right place to post, if not a little nudge in the right direction would be great.



So I got the razer phone for Christmas but I've been unable to get audio to play through my car stereo. I can sync the phone to the radio, and I'm sure to receive calls and talk through the system, but it absolutely refuses to play music through the car, instead opting to use the phone speakers.



I've set the Bluetooth to play audio through selected device, but that's about all I can think of.



Has anyone had a similar problem?



Thanks




Hey there @VerdankG ! I sent you a PM so I can help you with this. Check your inbox and get back to me if you still need help.
Darksteel165
Non smart car radios? Do you have any idea what you are talking about?

I own a 2018 Silverado with a Bose stereo system and a GM head unit that has Android and apple carplay along with BT and nav.



BT worked fine pre update (on 8.1) they did an update labeled as a bugfix with the only new feature being the some worthless camera filter and now BT doesn't work.

So yes. They did something wrong.

I want some of whatever you're smoking




Cool you want to be insulting, then your first problem is that you have a Chevy. When you want to be a civilized person and discuss this properly maybe we can find a fix or figure out how to work with Razer and get the issue resolved. But complaining and throwing a fit isn't going to fix anything. It was a software update. No hardware was broken. They will fix it. Just have to be patient. It really is not that complicated. Plug your phone into the aux port and wait.
Since I started the thread in January, I have had almost no problems with connecting my Razer phone to my BT radio system in my car. After roughly 4 days or so it just started working.



I have no idea why, I literally can not give any answer to you other than it started working. I have had all of the current Razer phone updates installed and have ran into absolutely ZERO problems with them. I'm sorry to see that this thread has gotten out of hand recently.



I would like to say thank you to RedPanda, who has contacted my personally about this asking if I had resolved the issue or was still having problems. There's no need for these posts to turn hostile, you're all in the same boat or are trying to help in some way, and I'm sure the staff are looking into this.



I'll do my best to give you all any information I have on how mine suddenly started working, please just reply and I'll be sure to keep my eye on the thread from now on.
On my 2015 Nissan, I started to hit this that it is near unusable in the car now. Steering wheel or dash controls no longer work even when I get it to connect so this became a safety hazard. I have to manually force a connect now as others have already mentioned too. Before 8.1, this worked without issues. It autopaired and had full functionality. I have yet to reset Bluetooth via the System stuff nor a factory reset but really? This should be working with a reboot if anything.
VerdankG
Since I started the thread in January, I have had almost no problems with connecting my Razer phone to my BT radio system in my car. After roughly 4 days or so it just started working.



I have no idea why, I literally can not give any answer to you other than it started working. I have had all of the current Razer phone updates installed and have ran into absolutely ZERO problems with them. I'm sorry to see that this thread has gotten out of hand recently.



I would like to say thank you to RedPanda, who has contacted my personally about this asking if I had resolved the issue or was still having problems. There's no need for these posts to turn hostile, you're all in the same boat or are trying to help in some way, and I'm sure the staff are looking into this.



I'll do my best to give you all any information I have on how mine suddenly started working, please just reply and I'll be sure to keep my eye on the thread from now on.




Well said Verdan…And just to add my penny worth, whilst they don't yet seem to have a fix I've found the support to be very responsive.



TBH I think this may be two different issues (or maybe a hardware issue after all). It seems it's the 8.1 MR1 update that's caused this for many but your original post pre-dates that. In fact in Jan 2018 you would have been running 7.1.1. Could I ask if you are now running the recent May update (8.1 MR1 Build 5037 or 5038)?



Personally I'd be happy to simply flash back to 7.1.1 (Razer developers site has the image files to do so) but I'm not going to do that at the expense of my warranty.



Anyway Razer support are clearly looking into this so whether it's a hardware or a software issue I'm sure they'll find a resolution. We just have to hang in there for while I guess.
Whelp, took me a fair old while but coming from the latest software and back flashing the OPM1.171019.011-RZR-180329.4054 factory image (without factory resetting) and then clearing the bluetooth service apps data / cache I am now able to successfully pair and playback music in my van. :wink_:



Still.. I was intending to keep this phone 100% stock to avoid issues exactly like this from custom firmware / kernels. Having to unlock the bootloader and plow through hours worth of tech documents and forum posts in order to fix something broken by an official update isn't how I like to spend my free time.o_O



I could write up a guide on how to revert to the previous version of Oreo without factory resetting but encouraging users to void their warranties (in some countries) and potentially turn their phones into bricks in order to fix an issue caused by an official update is ludicrous.



Hopefully Razer releases a fix soon!
@Nerruza Glad it worked out...and it's another indicator that the issue is with 8.1 MR1 so hopefully Razer support can hone in on that.



I know what you mean about the tech documents and stuff. I've had a read up (just in case) and whilst it looks do-able it's not exactly entry grade stuff. Seems there's a real risk of bricking if it goes wrong and, of course, then the warranty is probably void.



My latest response from support is that they have confirmed that they are aware of the issue and that a fix should take no longer than a month. I know that's longer than we all want to hear but even as open source there must still be some QA/ approval needed, even if only from Three in my case.
VerdankG
Hey all, I hope this is the right place to post, if not a little nudge in the right direction would be great.



So I got the razer phone for Christmas but I've been unable to get audio to play through my car stereo. I can sync the phone to the radio, and I'm sure to receive calls and talk through the system, but it absolutely refuses to play music through the car, instead opting to use the phone speakers.



I've set the Bluetooth to play audio through selected device, but that's about all I can think of.



Has anyone had a similar problem?



Thanks


so, i was having an issue where the music would play, but it came through really choppy. so, i updated the firmware on my car stereo and it fixed my problem.

mine ended up not being a phone issue at all....
VerdankG
Hey all, I hope this is the right place to post, if not a little nudge in the right direction would be great.



So I got the razer phone for Christmas but I've been unable to get audio to play through my car stereo. I can sync the phone to the radio, and I'm sure to receive calls and talk through the system, but it absolutely refuses to play music through the car, instead opting to use the phone speakers.



I've set the Bluetooth to play audio through selected device, but that's about all I can think of.



Has anyone had a similar problem?



Thanks


:c