Bluetooth Not Working

Bluetooth is a straight forward interface of transferring data or service from a device to another. Pairing is easy and as long as they are in range, within 10 meters or depending on the type of the device, file transfer is just a push away.

Last night, the should be easy task of transferring a Christmas carol from my phone to a better sounding mobile phone was failing. I tried many times and the result was still the same, it could not recognise the other bluetooth recipient, although both were paired properly.

What went wrong? I was already giving up of what could be the culprit was. Investigating further, the music file was loaded with the music player, and the bluetooth button there is not for transferring files but for play output service to another external bluetooth speaker! No matter how much I would try would not detect any bluetooth device with bluetooth multimedia playback as  my other phone  doesn't have this kind service.

I just realised that not all bluetooth buttons are the same, I got out from the music player and navigated manually to the music files (My Files), checked the file to be shared then tapped the share button(1),  the correct bluetooth file transfer button appeared(2), and the bluetooth recipient (3) with the right protocol service (file transfer) was detected.

Transfer Files From Phone To Laptop Using Wi-Fi

I use my phone to snap things on the go. In fact I use it more often that my camera. That's because it is easier to carry around than the dedicated device and it is easier to use as well. And the most reason why I use it more is it is always ready as I do not know when I might need to take a photo!

The next thing to do when I have taken a photo is to see it in a bigger screen. This means I need to transfer it to my laptop with a data cable. Thanks that the USB charger cable acts as a data cable as well. Transferring is a straight forward no fuzz procedure. The only problem is when I misplace the cable!

To solve this is by using wireless with the existing Wi-Fi router. Android phones already has this feature(Wi-Fi direct) specially with samsung brands, but only limited to phone to phone transfer and not phone to laptop. But here's a free app that makes this task possible.

The Filedrop

This app exploits the Wi-Fi hardware in a laptop to accept file transfers from a mobile phone. As this requires W-Fi, both devices, mobile and laptop, should be connected to the same Wi-Fi to initiate exchange. There's a free version for Windows, Mac OS, Android and iOS.

Visit Download Page

• DOWNLOAD.
  
  The first step is to download the relevant application for your machines. You can visit above page to download the application to your laptop and you can use play store or itunes to download it to your mobile device.
  

• CONNECT TO THE SAME WI-FI.
  
  Once installed, open the application on both devices. Provided that they are connected in the same Wi-Fi, you will see the connected mobile phone(1) in your laptop and the paired laptop(2) in your mobile phone.

• FILE TRANSFER (INITIATE)
  
  To initiate transfer from your mobile phone, tap anywhere the laptop's image(3) on your mobile phone and a two buttons will appear(4). The left button is exclusively for photos and the right button for all files. The icon (?) at the buttom of the screen is just to browse your files and will not initiate file transfer. 

• FILE TRANSFER(SOURCE)
  
  On your mobile phone tap the all file right button(4) to choose file to transfer. I use this more than the left photo button because this loads faster and more versatile.  This will let you navigate to the location of the file you want to transfer using the back arrow(6). Tap to check(7) the file(s) then press send(8).

• FILE TRANSFER(TARGET)
  
   On your laptop, the details of how many files being transferred is shown and you need to press accept(9) to commence transfer.  You will know that it is successful when it reads100% (10) complete. You can check quickly by clicking the file button(11) or can go to this path if you want to access it using windows explorer, user>download>filedrop. Though this path can be changed by specifying it.

Last Words.

Although this program allows the transfer of files from my note3 to my laptop, it doesn't allow a file from my laptop to be transferred to my note3 contrary to published videos of this  by just a simple drag and drop action. It can be a minor bug or note 3 is not supported for reverse transfer. If this is the case then there's nothing I can do but to wait for a better update.

Video below.

Click here to view