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Want Costco hearing aid that will work well with Android

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I have had Costco KS-9s for three+ years and am thinking of getting new and keeping the 9s as a backup. I am concerned about getting a brand with Bluetooth that works reliably with an Android cell phone, namely my Pixel 6a. I have read that some brands do not dependably establish and maintain a connection. Of the three - Rexton, Philips, Jabra - which do you find most dependable with BT on Android? My Costco HA guy said that with my moderate loss, he would recommend that I wait until Costco gets the new Philips. Does anyone know anything about the new Philips? I would also prefer a brand that has a dependable Android app.

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Edited

I’m not a big Bluetooth user. The few times I’ve used it, it was very stable inside my house. Outdoors, it’s going to drop from time to time, however it seemed to reconnect most of the time on it’s own. I’m using a Pixel 6a with the 9040.

I would try the new Philips to see if it meets your needs. You have 180 days to get a refund at Costco.

To get the most benefit from the 9050, you may need to upgrade your phone to a new Pixel that has HAP (hearing access profile). According to Google’s web site the Pixel 6a doesn’t have HAP.

As to when the 9050 becomes available, I believe the latest scuttle butt is this September. But no one knows for sure.

Like you, I have the ks9 and wanted to upgrade. I use a galaxy s23 and Costco highly recommended the Jabra pro 20 so I decided to try them. My experience with the android s23 was, to say the least, exasperating. Sometimes worked well but I never knew. Sometimes had to repeatedly turn bt on and off and sometimes it was ok. I finally gave up and returned them and Costco couldn’t understand why I didn’t love them but great bt with ks9 spoiled me. Hopefully, the Philips 9050 will be better when they come out!

Oticon INTENT1 and Real1 do great. Costco has Phillip aids made by the parent company of Oticon so they should work well with android. I have the INTENT aids as my primary set of aids and the Real1 aids as my backup aids, both work very good with my Samsung S23 phone. My hearing loss is such i heavily dependent on streaming to my aids for calls, audiobooks and now with my INTENT1 aids even music.

There are issues with the new bluetooth standard which is still new and your Google Pixel is from 2022, it may not work best with the new hearing aids that use the new bluetooth standard. If you are buying the new hearing aids you mentioned, it is recommended to buy the latest android that supports bluetooth and has support within Android. No one can guarantee that your Pixel will work properly.

I heard that the new Oticon Intent hearing aid has the most stable bluetooth connection when it comes to android with the new bluetooth standard. Oticon belongs to the Demant group, and the same group produces Philips hearing aids, so I would also recommend waiting for the new Philips.

The KS9 you have uses bluetooth classic, if you want to keep an older smartphone, then I would recommend to buy Phonak Lumity or Unitron Vivante which still use bluetooth classic. Phonak and Unitron still haven’t switched to the new bluetooth standard. If you decide on Phonak or Unitron, then you have to buy it elsewhere, i.e. at a retailer that offers them. By the way, Phonak and Unitron belong to the Sonova group, which also produced the KS9 you have.

Thanks to all who replied.

It’s apparent that to meet the newer bluetooth standard I need to update my Pixel 6a. I will be looking at the Pixel 8 when Amazon has their big sale and perhaps later, when Google comes out with the Pixel 9. The Pixel 8 does in fact meet the new bluetooth standard, according to what I’ve been reading.

As for new aids, I believe I’ll await the Philips 8050 which one of you thought might be coming to Costco in September. I’m hoping that it will provide stable bluetooth connections and a dependable Android app. Thanks again, everyone!

In reply to @markoo355

I have the INTENT1 aids with my Samsung S23 with the new Bluetooth and it is much better than anything before. I gave up on iPhone because of Bluetooth issues. I am extremely happy with my Samsung S23 phone, connectivity isn’t perfect and never will be. But ad a retired IT professional I have learned to accept the facts of life. Nothing is perfect, we humans don’t and can’t do perfect.

In reply to @bobwal

My android phone works well with the Philips 9040s, although with a limitation. When making phone calls, I can hear directly through my aids, but need to use the phone for my voice.

My phone is far from the latest. It’s a LG V60 with android version 13.

But, if I was in your situation, I’d wait for the 9050s to come out and upgrade the phone. The latest Pixel would seem to be a good choice.

I think my Pixel 6a works that way too. I can hear through my aids but I need to have the phone in front of me to respond.

To get the advanced bitstream capability I think I’ll move up to the Pixel 8 when there’s another good sale or after they come out with Pixel 9 and lower the price.

I am definitely going to wait for the 9050s to appear at Costco. I know that I’m also going to have to buy a new Philips TV adapter as I’ve been told the one I use with the 6a’s will not work with the newer .

There’s always something new. And it always ends up costing me more money! :unamused:

I actually prefer it that way, I may change my mind once they figure out how to get hands free working correctly and dependably

In reply to @bobwal

Just some generic commentary. I don’t think one can generalize about Android. I think it comes down to the specific phone. Check compatibility lists from the hearing aid manufacturer. If one’s phone isn’t on the list, don’t assume it will work. Ideally try out phone and hearing aid before you are committed to keeping the devices. This is an area where being an early adapter is often rewarded with headaches rather than joy.

In reply to @bobwal

Yes, with a Pixel 6a you can listen to your phone call through your hearing aids with a 9040. What you don’t get is hands free calling. You still have to use the phone to speak and answer the phone.

I believe the 9050 will give you hands free calling if you up grade the phone to a Pixel 8 series. But we will have to wait and see what exactly the 9050 can do.

@bobwal said:

namely my Pixel 6a.

I believe the Pixel 7 / 7a and later Pixels are Bluetooth .

The Phillips 9050 aids are sounding promising, worth the wait. The Jabra aids might work well with the Pixels as well. Just have to give them a try. It seems the android phones have little differences that can affect Bluetooth performance.

In reply to @user990

What is ? Ah, you’re talking about the Hearing Access Protocol. Isn’t that HAP? BluetoothSIG search function is now useless to me. Anybody tried using it recently? Although holds promise, right now things seem to be a hot mess.

My INTENT1 aids connect well with LE audio, but you are right the full hands free isn’t working yet with my Samsung S23, but that isn’t a show stopper for me.

Certain combos seem to work fine but it doesn’t seem predictable. I’ve heard of S23 working but not S24. Anything other than Samsung, Google or Apple seems very risky and even so it may take awhile to sort out.

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