My phone is a Google Android Pixel 3 XL. Pixels run pure, unadulterated Android. Some phone makers, Samsung comes to mind, modify the Android OS extensively. Perhaps that could account for why my experience is excellent and some people experience just the opposite.
Iām pretty tech savvy, a fairly early adopter of new technologies over the years. This being my first pair of hearing aids I did want to get something as advanced as I could afford. I did end up with Phonak Audeo Marvelās. I made the switch from Android to Apple about a year ago, a whole other story of pros / cons.
To me the bluetooth is a bit underwhelming on the hearing aids. On a pair of consumer earbuds the technology seems to be lightyears ahead whether they are apple airpods, bose noise cancelling, or a Jabra headset. At this point itās a nice to have, and nice not to have to have an external device to use bluetooth, but I think there is still a good amount of room to develop, enhance what hearing aid wearers want as far as connectivity. I hope, and am guessing in 3-5 years the technology will have jumped enough that I will look forward to added functionality on my next pair.
Currently I have very little issues actually streaming from my iphone for calls. The biggest pain point I see when Iām connected to my phone is that my sound will cut in and out while I am in a web browser, depending if there is embedded sound / video to the point I end up disconnecting bluetooth, or holding down a button on my HA to switch out of BT streaming. From my computer, sometimes if I connect via bluetooth and am watching a video on youtube, that will randomly cut in and out, especially if I have walked away and come back to my desk a min later. I end up having to disconnect from windows and re-connect.
My wish list for my next pair is growing and probably will continue to do so. Maybe some can be fixed in the app / firmware to the device So far:
More reliable bluetooth connections to PC
A way to control / toggle what device the HA is pairing via BT to via the app, thinking it could be done because the controls are being done via BT LE. It would be great to lock onto one device but be able to pivot without going into the streaming device, disconnecting and then going to another device and connecting.
An iphone app and an android wear app. I get it the Phonaks are some of the first to be able to directly to an android phone, thatās great Iām still a huge fan of android devices. I also understand that the BT LE is paired to the phone and wouldnāt be paired to your watch, but if you could at least have a watch app to fire up to basically relay commands to the phone app to make adjustments, like volume EQ, program, paired device etc, that would be super nice. Less conspicous than pulling my phone out at a restaurant.
Connectivity to digital assistants. Iām not really the paranoid type that worries about an Amazon, Google or Apple listening to my conversations. Besides some sort of physical wakeup command could be utilized, like a double click on the hearing aid to activate. Would be nice to be able to ask a simple question or since I have Alexa and Google Assistant tied into my home automation, would be great to open the garage door, set my alarm, turn on and off lights etc.