Anecdotal evidence suggests that recent beta released of iOS 4.1 resolve an issue in which Bluetooth devices that worked well with previous iPhone models delivered muffled or muddy sound when paired with the iPhone 4. Users experiencing this issue report that people on the other end of phone calls say the iPhone 4 caller sounds as if he is “in a tunnel” or “underwater.” Other users report static, popping or otherwise poor audio quality.
Users have reported this issue with Bluetooth headsets from Jawbone, Motorola, Plantronics and others, as well as several car-based Bluetooth systems.
It appears that, in some cases, the issue is caused by the iPhone 4 inadvertently using its built-in microphone for outgoing audio, but the Bluetooth earpiece for incoming audio.
Reader reports from users who have installed the latest betas of iOS 4.1 (which is currently available only to developers) indicate that this issue is resolved for many of the aforementioned Bluetooth devices.
Until the new release is publicly available, you can try the fixes listed in our previous post.
August 26, 2010 at 9:50 PM
Have tried all these methods… but none work.. Has been using Platronics, Motorula and Nokia headset with 4.0.1 and 4.0.2 But the caller’s party still cant hear me… the “in the tunnel” and “underwater” effect is very annonying
August 30, 2010 at 2:04 PM
There’s a video that actually demonstrates the problem:
http://tap4.us/z3e
Hope this will truly be fixed in 4.1!