Roav Bolt with iOS 10.3.3 on iPhone SE (Review)

#11

Great detailed review and nice pictures. Let’s hope they fix the issues with future betas

#12

Nice review and reference photos @kumar.sachin :ok_hand:

#13

Nice little review thanks for sharing !!!

#14

Awesome review! I was watching a YouTuber review this last week and they had multiple issues with the iOS beta app, but it was fine on the android side of things.

One thing they noted was that when asking any sort of request, instead of getting a reply instantly there was always a delay with processing the request. Have you experienced anything like that?

#15

This is good for my parents car as they need one… I want to test something like that or I might buy one for them

#16

Yes there is a noticeable delay in when you say “hey google” and when it is ready to listen. Also it takes a few seconds to respond back. I’ve seen that if you press the assistant button on top of Bolt, it listens right away.

1 Like
#17

This was the same issue I had experienced… Lot of delay, since it is still in beta on iOS, hope the software / firmware upgrades can fix it and not any major hardware issues.

1 Like
#18

I also experience delays when using verbal “hey google” commands. Usually about 3 seconds. I’m using a Samsung Galaxy S7 android phone so not sure if it would be quicker with a newer model phone or if the lag is just the ROAV Bolt itself.

#19

I don’t think it is a phone issue, had tested this with S9 from my wife as a simple test if it could work faster. There were delays. I am an iPhone user, response has been same for iPhone 8 and X

#20

The video I was watching on YouTube, the guy was using a Samsung Galaxy S10 to test it and was having delays of 5+ seconds at times.

It’s definitely the hardware and not what sort of phone you’re using @Cory_Blane

1 Like
#21

I had recorded a video for Bolt when I was testing the bolt, saw similar delays of more than 4-5 seconds, will check if I have the video still with me. Had planned to write a review, then decided not.

1 Like
#22

After updating the Bolt to version 0.5.16, call routing issue has resolved and it is working as expected :grinning:

4 Likes
#23

The more I use Bolt the more I miss the media buttons on it.
@AnkerTechnical we need media buttons on Bolt. That will make it an unbeatable product.

#24

I picked up the ROAV Bolt on a recent trip to the US as it’s not currently available in the UK. My experience has been slightly tarnished by the fact that iOS support is very limited and buggy; not quite what I thought would constitute ‘beta’.

Pros:

  • No ground loop noise
  • iPhone automatically connects every time I get in the car without the need to do anything (my old Anker car dongle required you to push a button every time)
  • Call quality is a lot better than my old Anker kit, and the volume is correct - before calls would be much quieter than music playing

Cons:

  • It’s very difficult to tell when something fails because there’s no cellular reception, as opposed to Assistant not understanding. By which I mean, if there’s no data connection it fails silently. Coupled with the delay in responding (2-3 seconds) I have to pray it’s doing something every time I talk to it!
  • Google assistant can transcribe a text message, and read it back to me but sending fails every time and I have no clue why
  • Music playback works fine from my iPhone’s internal storage but not from Spotify (which is a known limitation)
  • The Google assistant app on iOS can search Spotify and display the result, which you have to tap on, but ROAV Bolt does nothing
  • Google Assistant cannot play podcasts from internal storage, nor from the web it seems
  • Similarly it refuses to play radio stations “You cannot do this on this device”
  • I can trigger Google Maps directions, but they don’t come up on the screen even if I unlock it - instead I get notifications on the home screen which I can then tap on
  • Despite the more sophisticated mic setup, it is sometimes hit and miss on a motorway whether ROAV Bolt will hear correctly what I’m saying. Mostly anything that requires multiple responses (e.g. a game) is fairly hopeless

In summary, it does a better job than my previous Anker bluetooth kit for my car but fails miserably on many of the things I hoped it would do. Fingers crossed it can improve.

1 Like
#26

Thank you for an honest review!!

#27

Some further thoughts:

  • The text messaging doesn’t work because Google Assistant itself only pastes transcribed text into a message window, it won’t send it (you have to press the button). So if you check the Assistant app after transcribing a message, you can press a button which pushes the text to a message window, but otherwise you won’t see it.
  • The Bolt is less functional than using the Google Assistant app with Siri Shortcuts; e.g. using Siri shortcuts I can request navigation to a place, and Google Maps will appear and the navigation will start.
2 Likes
#28

Nice review and pics

#29

@robertcurtis it would be great if you can create a separate post in Product review for Roav and add your details there, this will add credit and do justice to your well thought written review

1 Like
#30

Yeah, my bolt has a bunch of problems too. Makes me sad :sob:

#31

Great review! I had issues setting up the Roav Bolt with iOS 12.3.1 on a MINI Cooper. It took over 30 minutes. I was finally able to get it set up and it works, but not as seamlessly as I was hoping. I will try it on another vehicle and hope it works better. The MINI can be finicky with Bluetooth’s.