Blue Tooth
Blue ToothBluetooth is an inexpensive but low data rate wireless technology used to connect devices up to 10 metres away, and with max data rate of 1Mbps. You can connect computers, printers, pocket pc, headsets, stereo, mouse, keyboard. All these devices have to implement a Bluetooth "profile", which corresponds to the specific way the cable would be used to connect this device to another... A technology for spontaneous creation of wireless networks and the discovery of services on these networks.
Version 2.0 is supposed to operate up to 100M away with speeds of up to 3Mbps, and product shipments are starting in mid 2005.
How does Bluetooth work?
Bluetooth uses short-range radio communication between electronic devices that are equipped with specialized Bluetooth chips. It lets nearly all devices talk to one another by creating a common language between them. All devices such as cell phones, PDAs, pagers, stereos, and other home appliances can communicate and connect using Bluetooth technology to form a private, personal area network (PAN).
Bluetooth uses spread spectrum technology that hops signals from one frequescy to another at set intervals. These frequencies are unlicensed and therefore not subjected to confusions associated with MobilePhone in different regions.
Compared to WiFi, it is a relatively low powered device, excel in ability in setting up adhoc peer to peer connections, and very slow.
Note the quality of the connection drops exponentially with distance.
See:
Nov2004 received news that the BlueTooth 2.0, with much tripled throughput / lower power consumption and improved multilink capabilities, is to be made available in consumer products in 2005. The announcement is made around the time that the competitive UltraWideBand protocol is being upgraded. See http://www.computerweekly.com/articles/article.asp?liArticleID=135069&liArticleTypeID=1&liCategoryID=6&liChannelID=7&liFlavourID=1&sSearch=&nPage=1
The Bluetooth security model combines encryption and a PIN in a pairing system to ensure that connections can't unwittingly be eavesdropped by other Bluetooth devices in the area.
However, poor implementation of the protocol in products have resulted in compromises. See WikiPedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth
BlueTooth Blues
A BlueTooth device operating real close to a WiFi device will slow down both due to interference, as they operate in the same frequency band. (Problem diminished with v1.2 frequency hopping schemes).
Can the Zaurus 6000W truly do bluetooth? Or do it just say that on the box? -- PhlIp
I heard tell of an engineer who configured the bluetooth on his workstation to unlock his screen saver and start his tunes whenever the bluetooth in his cellphone got near. Eerie.
The problem with current bluetooth headsets is they work reasonably well with phones (at least mine does) but are difficult to get to work with PDAs. Since you have it already for the phone you don't really want to carry wired earplugs for MP3s/Radio. Even though the bluetooth ones would not be stereo it's better than playing it over the speaker (which would also be mono) when sitting on the train etc. See difficulties with people trying to make this work with PocketPcs http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?ForumId=26&TopicId=1344 at least they have that page to refer to. I have a Clie and though it "Pairs" with my Jabra and shows it as an audio device, when I play an MP3 it just goes to the Clie built-in speaker. I can't yet find a page similar to the above for Palm/Clie efforts to play audio through bluetooth headsets.
I had a Microshit Bluetooth mouse. It would lose connection for no apparent reason, then it was a real process to get it to see the mouse again. I finally went back to an rf version
Wearable Stereoscopic accessories could federate with Vehicle BlueTooth wireless such that for instance a small TrackBall? on the SteeringWheel? could control the pointer. This would allow use while driving, complementing any other 3D displays on/above the Dashboard. Allowing the driver to concentrate fully on navigating the vehicle.
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