Yep, BT sucks
Soapbox:
As much as I want BT to be the PAN technology, IT SUCKS.
I had these exact same problems. Zero configuration my ass.
I don't see why authentication has to be such an in-your-face issue, and I don't see why a device can "connect" yet still be unable to use a service. These should be atomic. You should either be discovering or connected. There should be no in-between that leaves us feeling confused and cheated.
Or perhaps the problem isn't BT but AS instead. The other day, my friend and I connected his Sony/Ericsson phone to my iPaq 1945 flawlessly. We transferred files and it was painless. He took photos on his phone and I copied them to the iPaq to view the picture. So in my experience, device-to-device seems to work well (though configuration is still not zero-config).
Here is how I would improve the user experience for BT:
1. A device should always be discovering when it is on. Any device within 6' (with LOS) should be discovered within 5 seconds. I shouldn't have to go through a wizard to discover the cell phone in my pocket. The devices should just know each other exist without my interference.
2. Always encrypt communications. This should not be configurable, and the user shouldn't have to see the words "encrypted" "authentication" etc. The user should just know it's already secure and not have to toggle combinations of checkboxes to get things to work.
3. Get rid of per-service PIN codes. No one cares. One PIN code per device makes things simpler.
4. Either use hardware switch or one-tap BT toggle. Having to go through menus is killing the UE.
5. Automatic profile negotiation. If device A exposes a profile that device B knows how to use, the device should ask the user if he wants to do that activity. The query should have a "don't show me this again" feature for power users.
I hate the fact that two people have to punch a whole lot of buttons and fiddle with settings to exchange some simple data. It shows how much the BT teams have really thought about how Joe Sixpack will use the technology.
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