When Bluetooth bites

If you're looking for a reason for why Bluetooth has been taking so long to catch on, look no further than the mess that's trying to use a use a Bluetooth headset with a Bluetooth-enabled cellphone has become. Should be easy, right? Except that different phones and different headsets each support different Bluetooth
"profiles" which are supposed to make it easier for different devices to connect together.

First came complaints about Nokia's Series 60 smartphone and Bluetooth, and that users could only only use a select few Bluetooth headsets because Series 60 phones only support the hands-free profile, which was meant for in-dash or other speakerphones. Only a few headsets support the hands-free profile, and when they do, all control is surrendered to the headset whenever it's on. The phone won't even ring if the headset is on nearby.

Sony Ericsson took the opposite approach with the P800 and P900 smartphones (pictured at right,
the P900). They chose to support the Bluetooth headset profile, which is great for using headsets from Sony Ericsson,
Jabra, Bluespoon and others. However, they left out the hands-free profile, which wouldn't be such a big deal except that a number of cars now come with Bluetooth kits, and many of them (like the Acura TL) only support the hands-free profile, leaving P900 users out in the cold.

Line Of Site just published some archives from Sony Ericsson's developer forums revealing it's unlikely that any P
series smartphones will support hands-free any time soon. We're wondering now if Nokia will continue being equally as stubborn about supporting the headset profile. Either way, can you really blame people for not wanting to bother with Bluetooth at all?