Galaxy Note 8 users reporting Bluetooth issues, Samsung says update devices you're pairing phone with

As you may already know, Bluetooth 5.0 made its debut in the smartphone market earlier this year on Samsung’s flagship devices Galaxy S8/S8+. However, sadly, the company’s ride with the new technology hasn’t been smooth. First, it was Galaxy S8/S8+ users that complained about Bluetooth connectivity issues plaguing the devices. And now, the problem has made way to the Note 8 as well.

To quickly refresh, back in May, Galaxy S8/S8+ users complained of Bluetooth-related connection failures, skipped audio, and stability issues in different situations, with most popular being in-car usage.

And now Note 8 users are also complaining about the same, with varying use-cases. While some are reporting trouble with media (connecting their car’s headunits and other devices – smartwatch, headphones, speakers – with their Note 8), others encounter Bluetooth call failures as well.

While Bluetooth issues in smartphones aren’t exactly rare, what’s a bit weird in this case is the tech giant is suggesting Note 8 users that its the other device – their vehicle’s headunit, speakers, headphones, and whatever other gadgets they are connecting their phone with – that needs to have its Bluetooth version updated to solve the problem.

It is the newer models of phones, the S8, S8+ and the Note 8. This is because they all use Bluetooth 5, when phone models before that used an older Bluetooth. That’s why I mentioned that the car needs the update, to be compatible with the newest Bluetooth 5

That’s kinda silly on Samsung’s part, as it’s pointless to ask people to get their stuff updated. I mean, who would make that much effort, especially when other phones (even the company’s own previous high end devices) are working just fine. Plus, not every gadget is upgradeable, right?

Unsurprisingly, users aren’t happy to hear that (to put it mildly). See for yourself:

If you remember, the company addressed the Bluetooth issues on Galaxy S8/S8+ by pushing out software updates.

So it’s difficult to understand why can’t they do the same in the case of Note8 as well.

For the record, the official Bluetooth SIG documentation itself says that Bluetooth 5 is backwards compatible. And talking of competitors, the new Google Pixel 2 phones also feature Bluetooth 5.0, but the search giant clearly says their phones are backwards compatible.

Ouch!!

Agreed, the Pixel 2 is also plagued with Bluetooth problems, but the point here is that at-least Google isn’t washing its hands off these issues like Samsung. If you ask us, we think Samsung’s implementation of Bluetooth 5 is likely buggy. And even if that’s not the case, sitting silent isn’t helping the company’s image anyway.

To conclude, everything boils down to the fact that no body purchased a $1,000 phone only to shell out more money on upgrading their other gadgets (if at all that’s doable). We are sure Samsung will act responsibly, and make the required efforts to resolve the issue at the earliest.

Samsung Community 1 2