I recently got a new phone (Galaxy S3) and while I like it a lot, the alarm is a little too quiet for my taste. Does anyone know if Bluetooth speakers will work with the phone’s alarm function/sound? I assume they would, but I wasn’t sure whether a) all sounds were ‘pushed’ to the speakers; or b) whether there would be issues with the speakers and the Bluetooth pairing after many hours of latency.
Does anyone have experience with this, or have the gear to test it on?
Thanks.
In my experience, the alarm will sound through the Bluetooth speaker. Most Bluetooth speakers will shut themselves off to save the battery if you don’t play anything for a certain time, though. ETA: It’s possible some may not do this when plugged in. I haven’t tested this with mine.
Bluetooth speakers in my experience vary widely as to how smoothly they interface with output devices. Some will sync automatically others have to be resynchronized every time they are used. There’s no commonality. This delay may keep you from hearing the alarm. Also keeping bluetooth active in the background will potentially take a toll on the phone’s battery life.
If a loud wake up speaker sound is what you are aiming for I also have an S3 and the jangling old style phone ringer sound used as an alarm sound on max volume will wake the dead. I guarantee you this. You can get this sound off any number of “free ringtone” apps in the play store. Look for “retro”, “nostalgic”, or “old time” ringtones.
I have an alarm app on my iPhone and a set of Bluetooth speakers. The app plays music from the iPod over the speakers, no problem. I keep my phone and speakers both plugged into the wall, so there are no worries about batteries running down.
I’m sure your right, but I was hoping for something that’s loud, yet not annoying. I want to be awake, but not pissed off about it 
eta: for the record, my current alarm is the Imperial March
Thanks, that’s good enough for me.
eta: what speakers do you have, cochrane?
I have these Aura BluNote speakers, but an older model. They have surprisingly good sound for a small set of speakers, very rich, and not at all tinny. They’re portable and run off four AA batteries, but they also come with an included AC adapter so you can leave them plugged in. And if you run them off the AC and leave them on, they’ll stay synched. Don’t pay attention to the $49.88 list price. They’re available from a few vendors for under $40.00 for a new, unopened set.
I ran a test just now with a Galaxy S3 connected to a Monster iClarity bluetooth speaker, using the standard Clock app. The alarm sounds both on the bluetooth speaker and the phone speaker simultaneously.
Sweet, thanks.
Here’s what I recommend : your brain can ignore audible alarms for quite some time. However, what it can’t ignore is vibration, especially if you put the phone somewhere where it is in contact with your body. If your pajamas have the right kind of pockets, you can stick your phone in there. Or, I wear socks when I sleep, and I use a cheap phone, so I stick the phone in the sock.