[Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 Edition) Q&A, Help & Troubl] Original_Cubelodyte:
Hardware? Really?!

I spent 6 hours last night reading this thread and failing to post a response. The failure was mostly due to the fact that I was attempting to do all of this using a Bluetooth keyboard with my 1 year old Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, 2014 Edition tablet.

During those desperate hours leading to dawn, I experienced every single issue reported on this thread. It was a magical time, I must say. As I read each solution proposal, tried it, failed, wept and repeated, this one name kept coming up with a steadfast devotion to the incontrovertible conclusion that this problem, for those hapless individuals who experience it, is a hardware issue.

Today, with fresh eyes and 3 hours of late morning sleep, I am once again plunging headlong into the fray. Strangely, however, this time I am able to use my tablet just like a laptop computer as I gleefully type away this response post on the very same Bluetooth keyboard/tablet combination that only hours before gave the such grief.

The difference?

I'm following the advice of several posters. I'm streaming music to a Bluetooth wireless speaker.

So please, sir. Explain to me your hypothesis that this is a hardware issue.

It is of the utmost importance that I discover the truth in this matter because, as I mentioned, my tablet is now 1 year old and the option to return it for an exchange has long since drifted beyond my reach. If the problem were related to software, firmware or some combination of the 3, I could continue my quest for a solution with a glimmer of hope. If, however, this is entirely a hardware problem, then I can give up and finally find peace; resting in the knowledge that I have done everything I could rather than simply relying on the opinion of someone who has no direct experience with the actual problem about which they write so prolifically.

If, perhaps, you're thinking "Maintaining a Bluetooth stream to the speaker is simply the result of buffering and the hardware is still periodically dropping the connect, you're just not aware of it." or some such thing, consider this:

When I connect the Bluetooth speaker but do not stream to it, the Bluetooth icon in my status bar perpetually indicates a connection. This is in direct contrast to times when only the keyboard is connected and I can always see the moment the connection is lost. Now, under these conditions (remember the speaker is connected but not streaming) I continue to experience all the connection issues with my keyboard that I had before. Every time there's a drop, I will see the "Bluetooth Keyboard Connected" message appear when I continue to type because the act of typing reestablishes the connection.

The moment I begin streaming music to the speaker, the keyboard begins to function properly and I never see the "Bluetooth Keyboard Connected" message; no matter how long I wait between typing. If this were simply a symptom of input buffering, then why does the keyboard disconnect in the middle of rapid typing under normal circumstances?​

So now, one might suspect it's the keyboard that goes to sleep.

Nope.

I have experimented with 4 different Bluetooth keyboards. Each one exhibits the same connection issues with this tablet and each one works flawlessly with several other mobile devices.

Parting Note

During the process of writing this post, the album to which I was listening ended, the music stopped, and I began to experience keyboard lag within 20 seconds. I started another music selection and the keyboard works again.