John Kane

Probably a long shot, but anybody here have the Essential Phone?

I've got it running the Oreo Beta. I didn't try with Nougat stock to see if that worked , because I needed to be at oreo to restore my data from my prior phone (also oreo). Everything works pretty well with android auto and bluetooth, with the exception that I can't get it to auto connect to bluetooth for the life of me. If I manually connect bluetooth from phone its fine. If I wire into a4 usb and connect to android auto, it auto starts and connects fine.

Once connected, its been flawless. I've seen some limited reports that the beta 'worked flawlessly with an 2017 Audi A4', but so far I can't get it to auto connect.

Yes, I've deleted all the pairings from both phone and MMI, and started over a few times. I made sure to also set the phone as 'favorite/primary' in the MMI. I've watched for all the prompts and permissions and made sure they were correct. I've tried various settings and even reduced the bluetooth device name on the phone since "Essential Phone" is pretty long, and I thought that might be tripping up the connection.

Protocol wise, I believe its the job of the MMI unit to initiate the request for auto connect to the phone. So I guess there is something it doesn't like. And again, manual connect via phone GUI connects nearly instantaneously, all profiles etc.

Roundwheel

I have read that there was issues with the Oreo beta and Bluetooth on the essential phone. Patch to come soon to sort this issue and battery life issues as well as other small bits.

scoopman

To connect any Android phone to your car with Android Auto, you do not need to manually pair the phone using Bluetooth. This is done automatically between the phone and the car when you plug in. Manually pairing Bluetooth and then futzing with Android Auto's "autolaunch" settings (for its car mode) might actually cause problems.

Outside of Bluetooth connecting automatically (I assume outside of plugging your phone in to the car to use AA), is Android Auto working properly with your phone/software combo?

John Kane

Yeah, I get that. But I don't always wire in to connect to Android Auto. Over a lot of shorter trip or normal commuting, I would just allow normal connection over bluetooth for the hands free support.

Also get the futzing comment, my trials were more along the lines of disabling any AA autolaunch stuff that might have been interfering.

I get that its beta, but hadn't seen this specific issue among the BT known items, and saw a few contrary posts that all was working will with the 2017 A4. No biggee, but was looking for a workaround.

wrecklesswun

Don't expect much with the oreo beta on any device... I can confirm Essential, Note 8, Mate 9, Nexus 6 all work flawlessly with S4 (B9)