I've had my XZ Premium for nearly a year. It shipped with Android 8.1 and was upgraded to 9.0 at the beginning of December. I've been experiencing the same issue since I first got the phone. I think it is a bug, but I was wondering if anyone else has noticed this issue.
I initially renamed the device in the Bluetooth settings to "Todd's Xperia." Several times per month, I have trouble reconnecting with a paired device, and every time I enter the Bluetooth settings to try and re-pair the device, I notice that my device name has been renamed to something completely random. It is always a string of over 100 characters combining capital letters, lower case letters, and numbers. I don't think it is ever the same string of characters, though I think it always begins with a capital "I."
I first considered that I might have accidentally left the phone unlocked in my pockets, but for as often as this has occurred with this specific setting, and how many steps it takes to change the device name, I have ruled out that possibility. The quickest way I've been able to rename the device myself is to follow these steps:
- Swipe down from the top to reveal the quick actions
- Long press the Bluetooth setting icon
- Tap "Pair new device"
- Tap "Device name"
- Long press one of the words in the name
- Tap Select all
- Type the new name over the old name
- Tap "Rename" to save
I've followed these steps every time I notice that the device name has been changed. The corrected name is always saved successfully. I just rebooted and the device name was still correct, but I know it won't be long before the device name has been changed to another random string of text.
I tried chatting with Xperia support about this issue, but it was obvious that they were reading from a script. Their proposed solution was to go into Settings > Apps & Notifications > See all apps, and force the affected app to close.
I explained that there was no Bluetooth app and that the only related item in the list is "Settings" because Bluetooth is a device setting. The rep argued that Bluetooth should be listed under "All apps." I forced "Settings" to close anyway, but since this issue occurs at random intervals, there would be no way to even know it that made a difference, which I'm fairly certain it did not.
