John McGaw wrote:
On 7/8/2020 9:09 AM, Roger Mills wrote:
I've just acquired a bluetooth adapter for my W10 (1909) desktop PC and
have tried to set it up to provide hands-free control of my Moto G6+ phone
running Android 9. [The phone works fine in my car - where I can make and
receive calls using the car's speaker and microphone.]
I was expecting the PC to work the same way but it doesn't! The phone and
PC pair ok using BT, and I can see my texts, photos, address book and call
log on the PC. I can use the PC to dial calls - but I don't hear ringtone
or speech through the PC's speakers. I don't hear it at all unless I click
on 'use phone' - when I can then hear it on the phone, but that defeats the
whole object of the exercise. For incoming calls, both the phone *and* the
PC ring - compared with the car where only the car speaker rings.
Any clues as to what I'm doing wrong?
Never used it. Saw it when it first appeared but could not imagine anything
I might use it for (what the hell is it supposed to do for me anyhow?) so I
never bothered to explore its mysteries. If I want to talk on my phone why
can't I just pick up my phone and skip the middleman err middleprogram and
simplify my life?
I suppose from elsewhere you could remote into your PC to use the phone,
but you can do calls from online, so that solution is a Rube Goldberg
design.
I suppose you could easier do texting on your PC's keyboard than the
tiny virtual keyboard on the phone's screen. But the OP asked about
calls.
I suppose you could mirror the phone's screen on the PC, like for games,
but the Bluetooth connection is too slow and video and audio will get
out of sync. Mirroring the phone using USB connect, USB Debug Mode on
the phone, and the ADB driver on the PC would work better. You can also
run Android on your PC (e.g., Bluestacks) to run the game app on the PC
in the first place and not bother with the phone. But the OP asked
about calls. Some tablets have the radios and SIM card slot, so to get
a bigger screen you get a bigger device.
Not sure the PC's speakers and mic would surpass those in the phone, but
I suppose you could use a headset on the PC for the calls getting
initiated by the phone. Oh, you'd have to add a camera to the PC to do
the video voice calling possible on the phone. At that point, you'd
probably want better PC speakers and a far superior microphone, so you
could do the video calls without looking tacky with a headset on your
head.
You could get a bigger Android tablet that has the radios (cellular,
Bluetooth, and GPS), so the screen would be bigger hence also the
virtual keyboard eliminating the need to mirror to the PC.
I suppose you could set the sound volume way high for the Your Phone app
on the PC, so you could hear the ringtones from farther away. Better
not have the PC in your bedroom to jar you awake. For me, I defined an
event in Task Scheduler that fires on LockWorkstation to shut up the
computer to not bother when when it is locked.
Not sure how the Your Phone app is going to let you do calling when the
phone is locked. Maybe you have to allow it permissions to unlock the
phone's screen. I don't let any app unlock my phone, even for
notifications, just to show a note that an app issued a notification. I
don't want my phone unlocking when I'm not around.
I don't see the Your Phone desktop app is a handsfree app. That is,
does it let you dangle a BT headset from an ear (you don't really need
stereo for phone calls), and issue voice commands to do calling? There
are handsfree voice apps that let you answer and hangup with a handsfree
call app. BT from headset to phone, and use an app for handsfree
calling. The bundled Google Assistant app will let you answer ("OK
Google", "hello") and hangup ("OK Google", "hang up" or "end call"); see
https://www.the-ambient.com/guides/b...t-commands-382.
If Your Phone is not handsfree, when a call comes in, you're get
interrupted in whatever work you're doing on the PC and have to scramble
with the mouse or the keyboard to answer a call. However, if you're
going to Bluetooth to the phone, you can get BT headsets for handsfree
calling. If the PC is going to be within reliable range of a BT connect
to the PC, same for a BT headset. I've not played with using a BT
transceiver/booster to extend the range of BT. Hell, if you store your
phone on the desk with your PC, just use the phone's own speaker and mic
with "(OK|Hey) Google" to take and make calls. You'll probably want to
configure the phone so it doesn't lock when charging on the desk, so the
phone doesn't lock and can take commands.
The requirements for Your Phone are rather steep (Windows 10 May 2019 on
PC and Android 7.0 on phone, and only for Android phones). Debug mode,
ADB driver, and USB cable are more reliable, faster, and easier to setup
for phone mirroring on the PC. I played with that awhile back, and the
phone's sounds played through the PC speakers, used the PC's mic, and
the PC's keyboard was obviously a lot easier to use. However, it was
just easier to use the phone, even when I was at the computer. System
requirements for phone mirroring on the PC (which, by the way, has been
around a hell of lot longer than Microsoft's foray into a similar
function) are a lot lower. For example, Airdroid/Airmirror's desktop
client runs on Windows (don't know if they support discontinued Windows
versions, but I've seen some sites listing XP, Vista, 7, 8, and 10),
macOS, Android (device or an Android emulator running on PC), or even
through a web browser (so you could use Airdroid on, say, a Chromebook
or Linux host without using WINE), and their matching phone app runs on
Android 2.1, and later. To clarify, Airdroid is its own phone manager
on the PC versus AirMirror that shows your phone's screen on your PC.
Bluetooth has a short range. Rod mentioned the phone may not be handy
when at the computer, so the phone got left somewhere else, but it can't
be that far away for a reliable BT connection to the PC. If you're
going to interrupt whatever you're doing on the PC to take a call, geez,
get off your butt to pick up the phone. If you're too slow to get to
the phone, keep it with you. An easy solution is to use Google Voice
(free service only available in the USA, G Suite users in select
countries), and have it call *ALL* your phones: whatever number of
mobile phones you have with their own number, your home phone, your work
phone, etc. You can get an interface adapter (e.g., Obitalk, Ooma) at a
one-time cost that connects your router to your house's phone wiring, so
all phones on that wiring can use the VOIP service of Google Voice. If
you're at your computer a lot at home, you really should have a home
phone on the same desk. When someone calls my Google Voice number (the
only one that I publish when asked for my phone number, and I choose to
give it), it will ring my smartphones, my work phone, my desk phone on
my desk connected to half the house POTS wiring using the Obitalk
adapter to the router, and my home phone (from cable modem to other half
of house POTS wiring). You can port your phone's number to Google Voice
($10), or whichever one you consider your primary phone number (the one
you dole out to most others instead of having them remember every cell
phone number, home phone number, work phone number, yadda yadda). Or
just dole out your GV number when asked for a phone number, and update
your accounts to reflect a change to your GV number.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/yo...e/9nmpj99vjbwv
Release date: 10/2/2018
It hasn't been updated since 21 months ago?
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...oft.appmanager
Updated: 7/9/2020
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...ink-to-windows
Updated: 7/9/2020
Those have been updated recently, but no activity on the desktop app?