Parrot - Auto-Answer not working

[davesony]

I wonder if anyone can help me please:

My old Galaxy Ace Plus was paired to a Parrot system and when an incoming call came in, it rang a couple of times and was automatically answered - all I had to do was start speaking.

I replaced it with a Sony Xperia M2 and it paired up on the first try and worked in exactly the same way - a couple of buzzes and I was talking to the caller. But last week I found calls are not put through and I have to accept the call on the handset (swipe across the Answer button) which defeats the object of a hands free phone system!

I have installed two apps: Speed Dial: which allows contact numbers to be called by pressing their ID from an on screen display (works perfectly) and Voice Dialler which allows you to say "Call John Smith" etc (a bit hit and miss and I am probably going to bin it). But these are for outgoing calls and I wouldn't expect them to affect answering - though anything is possible of course. I will try deleting these one at at time but I don't really expect any difference.

I have looked at every setting on every option (spent ages on it!) and I cannot find any Auto Answer settings so now I'm completely stumped.

I will be very grateful if anyone can give me a pointer please - or suggest an app that will fix it?

 - Thanks - I hope someone can offer some help!

[Phy]

Try booting the phone on safe mode. And check again , if the problem persist then it could be a problem with an app.

http://talk.sonymobile.com/t5/FAQ/How-to-boot-your-phone-into-safe-mode/m-p/348008#U348008

[Uliwooly]

Trial and error, just keep testing different apps

[Phy]

You should also take a look at this link, it could be useful.
http://support.sonymobile.com/global-en/xperiam2/userguide/Receiving-calls/

[davesony]

Hi Phy

Thanks for a very quick response.  fyi I just spent an hour on the 150/789 support line with Virgin - no luck - I was guided through just about every setting there is (which I've already tried) and he even had me go to Settings/Apps/All/Reset.  In the end, he tried to put throught on their line to Sony support - I waited until the phone went dead and when I called back they checked that their office is now closaed until Jan 2.  Nice of company specialising in communications to not have an automatic answerphone!

The Virgin Consultant's technical colleahues confirmed that my outgoing apps Speed Dial and Voice Dial have no bearing on this. although to be sure, I will probably now delete them and try again.

Unfortunately, there is no way I can find to reboot in "safe" mode on this phone?  I can't do a hard reset because the battery is built in.  

I have taken the support guy's ID to qoute to Virgion because if I cannot get it fixed within a week or so I will ask them for an exchange device.

[davesony]

Thanks uliwooly...

I wanted to buy a phone - not a new hobby!

 - You cans see some of my trial and error with Virgin Support above!

 - Many thanks for such a swift response.

[davesony]

Hi Phy

Thanks again for lookiong at my problem.  Been right through that.  The only control for "number of rings" etc relates to the Sony Answering Machine which is an inbuilt alternative to Voicemail.

The Virgin Consultant told me it won't have any effect for my Parrot device and I have not caused any change (if you m#remember I mentioned that it worked when I got the phone 2/3 weekas ago and just stopped working correctly.  I realise now that recently there was an automatic software update so I'm wondering if Sony caused the problems.

As I said earlier, if I can't get it sorted in a week or so I will go back to Virgen and ask them to exchange it, even if I have to go back to a Samsung (my last phone was a Galaxy Ace Plus which was "okay" but I didn't really like it, although I had no issues like this.

I might try a Factory reset next... 

btw: 

Happy New Year to all and thanks for trying to help me!

[Phy]

Your welcome. If you think the software update could be the issue, try to reinstall the update with Sony PC Companion and see if that resolves the problem.

http://support.sonymobile.com/us/tools/pc-companion/

[davesony]

Well now the saga may be over... (for me, anyway...)

Sony Support said they could not comment/do not test for computability and Parrot told me to go to Sony Support.. .

Sony support asked if I had made any changes and denied any liability for compatability... so I told them that the only changes applied had been the update they sent automatically for their software taking it up to the latest Build and repeated the comment the Virgin consultant made that perhaps Sony had removed this functionality in the update.   They completely ignored that and sent me a page long instruction on applying a software update...

>>>

I emailed back telling them firmly:

The only software update in this area is yours i.e.: around 3 January the phone automatically downloaded the update to take it to Build 18.3.1.C.0.21 (full details from "About Phone" listed below).  I think it is reasonable to conclude that your software changed and somehow disabled this function.  No doubt you react according to the number oc customer complaints for erroneous changes - please can you confirm that a PTF is in progress to correct this?

<<<

They responded:

>>>

...cannot confirm there is a PTF in place to address this issue as this is not an issue that has been raised at our end or been reported by a volume of customers, it would seem this is to some extent an isolated incident, subject to further findings. If you believe this a fault related to the subsequent update of the device then the best course of action at this stage would be to conduct a software repair to ensure there is no corruption or errors within the android system. 

<<<

This was followed by lengthy instructions on how to reinstall the operating software (possibly losing my user data along the way).   Understandably, this made me feel particularly uncomfortable - can you imagine being told to reinstall and set up the engine management system on a six week old car - in your time and at your expense?   No?  I wouldn't either.  - And all I wanted was new a phone that worked, I'm not looking for a hobby!

In the meantime I had been looking at every avenue and I came across a free app in the App Store : “Auto Answer Hands Free Car” and it seemed to fit the bill. I grasped the nettle and installed it. Surprise surprise, it does exactly what it says – and my phone does what it did before with added functionality i.e.: specifying which calls to connect (I have currently set it to “ALL”).

This software is published by Kallos Robert – who I believe is in Hungary and I am pleased to acknowledge the software is under test and performing so far exactly as described.

SUMMARY

In conclusion it seems that Sony users need to go other software suppliers to get satisfaction.

- I will report further in due course.

[Uliwooly]

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