Using a Bluetooth phone with Linux

My old mobile phone, which was held together with duct tape for the last few months of its sad existence, has finally been replaced with something more modern. I wanted to pick up a programmable, Linux-based phone like the RAZR2V8 or the FIC Neo1973, but I’m unfortunately a Verizon customer, which means that my options are currently very, very limitedâ€â€at least until Verizon follows through with its open network plans. I ended up grabbing a vx8550, which is Verizon’s rebranded (and, of course, crippled) LG Chocolate. This is the first phone I have ever owned that actually has Bluetooth support, so I spent some time yesterday learning how to use Bluetooth on Linux. This is a short overview of what I discovered.