Comment 59 for bug 283064

I found a workaround.
http://blueman-project.org/
is a fantastic replacement for the current somewhat broken gnome bluetooth stack. Just add the ppa and install blueman. It provides an applet, servers and will even set up serial port devices (gps etc) automagically. Personally, I'd vote for it to be included as the default in Jaunty if the state of bluetooth hasn't improved in gnome by then, but I realise this isn't going to happen.
Hope this helps!