Nexus One and LM961 Bluetooth Bracelet

I recently got an LM961 Bluetooth bracelet to use with my Nexus One phone.

Pretty cool, here are some observations:

  • The diameter of the metal bracelet is big.  I couldn’t figure out how to take out extra links, so I brought it to a local watch repair shop just before closing and asked them to make it smaller.  $10 later, and, um, they were having problems, too, and asked me if I could come back tomorrow.  Okay, I came back, they figured it out, it was still a little big, they took out one more link while I waited (now they had learned the trick), and now it fits.
  • It likes to lose connection to my phone…and then reconnect happily.  I moved it to the other wrist, to make it closer to the hip where I keep the phone, and maybe that helps, but it still loses connection.  I think it doesn’t like being close to a wifi access point.  (They are in the same band.)
  • The US model I got from Thinkgeek at the end of 2010 has a little wall-wart power supply, with a permanently connected cable.  Unlike a British model I have seen pictured: it had a cable that has a tiny coax power connector one end and a USB connection on the other–plus a wall-wart to plug that into.  I wish my model were like that, then I could charge it from any USB jack.
  • Biggest gripe seems to be that it is a Bluetooth “headset”, that is, when a call comes it, I grab the phone to answer, I say “Hello?”, the person on the other end starts to talk, then s/he goes away…and if I look at the phone I see that the “Bluetooth” button is activated in the Phone application.  I tap the button and the audio comes back.  This is a problem.  Possibly this is why the instructions say a short(er) button press answers the phone.  I wondered why I wouldn’t want to just answer the phone on the phone.  Maybe this is why.  I’ll have to get another phone call and update…

I am hoping that Openwatch support for the LM960/LM961 would fix this.

-kb, the Kent who doesn’t like a loud phone, but whose wife doesn’t like when he doesn’t get her call.

UPDATE: I never got it to do anything useful. Dang.

©2011 Kent Borg

Leave a Reply