Android 7.1.1 Bluetooth issue

If you buy a smartphone other than an iPhone, you can buy one of the many brands that ship with a modified, bloated, and deprecated version of Android. Manufacturers are desperate to stand out in a busy market so they decide to “improve” the software, but them not being Google, they mess it up most of the time. Huawei P9 is a good example. The urge is too big for them to resist. Primum non nocere does not apply here. Expect 18 months of updates as per programmed obsolescence, after that your smartphone will be stuck in the past.

Or you can try one of the few smartphones that comes with a recent, unaltered version of Android. Like the excellent Nexus 5X. It shipped with Android 6.0 when I bought it, with an upgrade to Android 7.0 readilly available. But issues were reported so I preferred to delay the upgrade. Enter version 7.1.1. Should be stable and polished enough I thought. Indeed: the phone reacts better and the user interface has again been improved. But wait. I can’t seem to connect it to the car via bluetooth any longer. And I’m not alone. Probably thousands of people are stuck, trying to figure out what to do, following useless phone reset procedures and wasting time with tech assistance. What a mess! I managed to connect it after several attempts - the usual voodoo applies here, where you try every little and seemingly unrelated configuration variations until it works.

Now I feel like I’ve been somewhat beta-testing the phone all that time… although I bought it at tag price. I understand why some people pay top price for an iPhone and never want to hear about Android.