[Samsung Gear 2] mpogr:
When I bought Gear 2 Neo a week and a half ago, I immediately faced the following issue: how the hell I keep using my Bluetooth earpiece for conducting phone calls? As cool as it looks talking to the Gear, it's not as convenient as wearing an earpiece, and I've been using those for the last 12 years. This new annoyance combined with an old one: when I'm in the car, I want my phone to automatically switch to the car in-built Bluetooth audio, both for phone calls and for media. I don't want to do this manually! And now, with the Gear, just think of the possibility of talking to the watch while driving the car!

Now, the Samsung phone owners have the luxury of being able to switch to the earpiece after picking up the call on the Gear. Not ideal, but workable. Still puzzles me though if you're able to choose a specific Bluetooth phone audio device if you have more than one (e.g. as with the earpiece and the car example). But we, the non-Samsung owners, don't even have this option. So finding a solution was due!

So, here are my use cases:

When I'm not in the car, I'd like the phone to be connected to the Gear all the time while not in the call. This makes sure I get all the notifications etc.

When not in the car and I'm engaged in a call, I'd like Bluetooth phone audio to switch to my earpiece as soon as possible. This automatically disconnects the Gear, meaning I'm no longer able to receive notifications on it. But this is not an issue, as, when I'm on the phone, I prefer not to be distracted anyway. At the end of the call I want Bluetooth audio to reconnect back to the Gear.

When I'm in the car, I'd like my phone to connect to the built-in Bluetooth phone and audio. I would like to stay it like this for as long as my car audio system is on. This means I won't receive any notifications on the Gear, but I reckon this is rather good while driving. When my car audio is off, I'd like the phone to automatically reconnect back to the Gear.

There are two pieces of software that helped me with achieving this:

Tasker. It's not free, but is worth every cent you spend on it. What's more, you can download a 7-day free trial to play with this guide before you commit to buying it.

Secure settings. All the functionality you need for this guide is included in the free version.

My triggers are:

Phone ringing or off hook and not in the car: connect to the earpiece

Phone idle and not in the car: connect to the Gear

Car application is launched (happens automatically when I plug my HTC One M8 into its car holder): toggle car mode on, which, in turn, connects to the car Bluetooth

Power disconnected (which is what happens when I turn car engine off or pull the phone from the car holder) and the car mode was on: toggle car mode off

Car mode switched off: connect to the Gear

Device boot: connect to the Gear

Now, you can import the attached file into Tasker on your phone and give it a go. You will need to go and replace the device MAC addresses and names with YOUR devices first (in Secure Settings configuration for each and every relevant task).

If you don't have in-car Bluetooth, just disable the corresponding profiles.

Now, there are some things that need improvement:

Right now I can't answer the calls on the Gear even if I want (e.g. if I forgot my earpiece at home or if it's out of battery). The reason for this is the way Secure Settings plugin performs BT Connect action: it disconnects the currently connected device first and only then tries connecting the other device. Also, there is no way to figure out if this connection was successful or not. I'm thinking of implementing a special toggle that will disable automatic earpiece connection on user request.

One scenario that is not properly implemented yet is switching from in-car BT to the earpiece while in the call (e.g. when you arrive at your destination while talking on the phone and want to live the car without disconnecting the call). Right now this requires manual intervention.

Unfortunately, Bluetooth connectivity of many devices is still quite buggy. I often find that, despite the fact the phone shows it's connected to the device, the audio is not going through. Or the device doesn't think it's connected (both happen quite often with my in-car BT). Usually, what helps in this situations is resetting Bluetooth on the phone or on the device or on both. I'm thinking of adding BT off/on action before any device switch just to improve reliability. However, sometimes the device needs to be reset, which may be easy (e.g. turning the earpiece off and on) or not (you can't turn the in-car BT off without stopping the engine).

That's all for now. Feedback is appreciated!