Nokia vs. Bluetooth (and Sitecom in particular)

My Nokia 6230i

For some time now I’m the proud owner of a Nokia 6230i. Connecting nokia phones to computers by wire is strangely expensive, so I bought a bluetooth dongle for my laptop instead. Unfortunately, this seemingly simple solution turned out to be quite time consuming and frustrating. *sigh*

What follows is my little troubleshooting odyssey. I hope I can save someone from going through the same trouble by posting this.

The bluetooth adapter which I bought was a Sitecom CN 512. I intentionally spent a few bucks more than necessary, so I would not have the cheapest crap and avoid problems. Unfortunately, that plan did not work.

The installation was quite tricky. The first attempt let my computer crash – which is extremely unusual for my laptop. The second attempt seemed to work smoothly, though.

Once connected, I could then only access the root directory of my cell phone. I could not access the data on the memory card or in any other directory. Even the root directory was only accessible using the software of the bluetooth dongle – the Nokia software refused even to connect, stating something like:

Verwendung des Verbindungstyps nicht möglich. Überprüfen Sie, ob sämtliche benötigte Hardware, Software und Treiber verfügbar sind. (Code: Open Media)

Translated:

Cannot use this connection type. Verify if all necessary hardware, software and drivers are available. (Code: Open Media)

After hours of trial-and-error, I finally gave up and decided to try a different bluetooth adapter. Luckily, my dealer let me return the old one and I bought a new one. This time, I did went for the cheapest one: Neo-One Bluetooth v2.0 (which is only capable of Bluetooth v1.1 and 1.2… great name)

I could install all drivers without problems. Using the software of the bluetooth dongle, I could now access all directories on the cell phone. Hooray! The Nokia software was still uncooperative, though. Frustration. Hoping a reinstall would help, I removed the bluetooth drivers again. Then, much to my surprise, I found out: Without (!) drivers the Nokia Software was finally able to communicate with my Nokia 6230i.

What the hell ?!? 🙂

Well, since then everything is working smoothly. *shrug*

Conclusion: Beware of Nokia and Bluetooth. The clerk at the electronics story told me, that there are often problems with Nokia phones and bluetooth. Especially beware of the Stitecom CN 521, because it didn’t seem to cooperate with my Nokia 6230i at all, and did give me an overall suspicious impression.

Translation

This article is also available in German: Nokia vs. Bluetooth (und Sitecom im Speziellen)