Bluetooth between WP8 and Win8?

[michail71]

First of all, I've never really seen Bluetooth work well on any Windows system. It always winds up being a horrible, frustrating waist of time that ends in misery and frustration. Even Bluetooth mice will let you down.

Anyway, I now have a new WP8.1 laptop and a Nokia 1520. Surely, these should work together? But so far my attempts seem to have failed. They just keep connecting and then dropping.

I've found all the threads involving driver hacks, service settings, etc. but no luck.

Has anyone actually gotten a WP8 phone to pair with Win8.1?

 

[Kavu2]

Well, I have managed to pair my HTC8x w/ my Dell Venue 8 Pro a couple times and run Office Remote....but it was a struggle. Lots of removing the device and repair attempt. The wp8 keeps dropping the Bluetooth connection. And it's not on the Dv8P end of things as it pairs every time w/my keyboard when re-turned on. So not sure what the issue is. One thing that might help....have your wp8 app open and running, that might help the pairing to stick. Once I got paired w/the Office Remote app to my Dv8P it was solid and didn't drop. Just getting it paired until you can initiate some usage seems to be the weak point...at least in my case.

I'd be open to any fixes/work-arounds by others as well. Btw I did toggle 'Airplane' mode on and off but it didn't seem to help. One oddity....I did notice a couple times that my HTC8x was showing up in my Dv8P wireless list as a 'windows phone' w/full bars....along w/my internet wireless connection listed. Other times, not showing. I tried turning off both wireless on PC and wp8 but that didn't help the Bluetooth pairing either...so idunno.

 

[michail71]

When I last left it they would connect for a few seconds then the phone would drop. The laptop seemed to think that it was still connected but would error when trying to do anything.

It was just an exercise in curiosity for me.

I had friend get a bluetooth mouse when I cautioned him against it. Sure enough it drops at critical moments and goes through batteries like crazy.

 

[aximtreo]

I have a Dell Studio 17" laptop and a 928. I have tried numerous times and have never gotten it to connect once. Dagnabbit.

 

[Guzzler3]

I've gotten my Asus ZenBook (UX31E) laptop and my Surface RT to connect to my L810. Once they are paired, they drop off, which is normal.

You have to open the Bluetooth icon in the status tray in W8.x to initiate send/receive files.

The scary thing is when you send stuff to WP8, you never know where it's going on the phone. Example: I've sent PDF files to my phone, only to be opened by Adobe PDF reader. But it I connect my phone via a USB cable to my laptop and explore all storage... I can't find the files anywhere.

But if you send (share) files to the computer, it tells you that they usually go to c:\users\(username)\documents.

 

[Kavu2]

2.19.14
Update...
Ok, I have found some success in making Bluetooth work between W8 and WP8. There are idiosyncrasies on both sides of the Bluetooth hoop jumps.
I have successfully sent pics from the wp8 to the W8 PC, and remotely controlled a Power Point presentation and Office doc from the phone as well. I failed to get the wp8 app Pocket File manager to work tho.....might be a bug in the app tho. But 'Contacts' can be sent by BT from wp8 to w8PC.

Haven't tried the reverse direction(PC->wp8) ie sending pics from the PC to the wp8 yet....there may be an issue in finding the files on the phone, we'll see. The phone->PC doesn't seem to offer a BT option for music/video files.....nor docs since they are saved/synced to Skydrive/One Drive.

How it works....
- turn on Bluetooth on W8 PC and wp8. Don't worry about pairing yet.
- on W8 PC go to Desktop - 'Notification Area' (Taskbar rightside, upward arrow next to WiFi icon). Press arrow and select Bluetooth icon(note: the Bluetooth icon only shows if the PC Bluetooth is turned on). On menu select 'send file'/'receive file', depending on which way the file is going from PC. There are other choices there as well, but these work for a pic. If you're using another wp8 app that uses BT, then open your file in that app.
- on WP8 open the app that you want to use Bluetooth with. For example, 'Photo' app (select pic to share and choose Bluetooth)

The idea here is that apparently both ends of the BT connection need to be activated via an app or a program function. This is addition to both ends of the BT being turned on.

- initiate pairing on both PC and wp8 in BT settings and app if used. You should receive a popup confirmation of whether you wish to receive the file on that end w/option of save loc. to the computer (don't know if the wp8 allows/shows where the file goes)

In the case of the use of the w8 PC, Office Remote, within the app you have to select the 'Office remote' tab(rightside top toolbar) and also turn on 'Office Remote' icon (left side top toolbar) in order for the connection to activate.

So it remains to be seen how the w8PC to wp8 functioning works. Obviously there are other methods to send files seemingly much easier ie email or Skydrive etc. But if you can't physically connect your wp8 to your w8PC or some other scenario then the w8PC can work in this limited capacity w/the wp8. Office presentation usage might be the most useful at this point. Other usage between these two devices would seem onerous compared to other options.

Hope this helps

 

[michail71]

Thanks, I don't think I'll ever bother to go through that much trouble. But the concept of having it be app activated is interesting.