Mobile Phones Should Boost Bluetooth

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,107807,tk,dn121002X,00.asp' target='_blank'>http://www.pcworld.com/news/article...n121002X,00.asp</a><br /><br /></div>"Bluetooth short-range wireless technology, in the spotlight this week at the Bluetooth Developers Conference, in San Jose, California, hasn't yet met some earlier expectations but finally is gaining a foothold that could help it fulfill its original promise. Standardized in 1998 and envisioned as a communications cloud that would link a variety of computing and communications devices in a "personal area network" around a desk or a person, Bluetooth just this year became available in a large number of shipping products. Most of those products revolve around one type of device: mobile phones. However, vendors and analysts said those phone-related products already are helping to foster wider Bluetooth adoption by pushing up volumes and driving down component prices."

[dbrahms]

who cares...bluetooth sux. i spent the extra $50 for the BT enables Ipaq. even with a pico access poiunt and bt dongles for my PC...it's no fun being bound by a 30 foot digital leash

[disconnected]

I wonder if anyone at Sprint or Verizon is paying attention.

[dbrahms]

I wonder if anyone at Sprint or Verizon is paying attention.

do you honestly think anyone at Sprint or Verizon would care anyway?

[Janak Parekh]

who cares...bluetooth sux. i spent the extra $50 for the BT enables Ipaq. even with a pico access poiunt and bt dongles for my PC...it's no fun being bound by a 30 foot digital leash
That's not really what BT is for. 802.11b is a LAN protocol. While BT supports the LAN profile, most BT devices don't have the range.

BT iPaq &lt;-> cell phone works, and is very useful.

--bdj

[JvanEkris]

Loox in combo with a BT-dongle: 100 meter (300ft) range.

Jaap

[ricksfiona]

I think Bluetooth is great! You just don't use Bluetooth for networking... That's not what it was designed for...

Bluetooth has some rough edges, but I'll take it over infared anyday. Having a bluetooth headset coupled with my phone is great. I would like to see the 'pairing' of devices be a little easier to do.

My only concern is about radio signals having an effect on our environment and more importantly, on us. I am a healthy person (so far) and don't feel radio signals have affected me, but who knows 20 years down the road....

[TheNewSteve]

There is a SonyEricsson CDMA phone for Sprint service that I found on the net, but it's not in production yet. The phone I remember had a 4096 color screen and bluetooth, but might not see the light of day, given the problems people have been having with Sprint slowing down and blocking ports on busy users of phone -> PDA/laptop users with the Vision phone service. They seem to want to avoid a lot of this setup and instead want you to buy a PC card (or Yiso CF card) for data usage, with the more expen$ive plan that is not unlimited. I think it's just unlimited on the phones because it's really slow and unreliable and you really can't find or do anything useful on the SprintPCS Vision network. I had it for a while, but it was crap. Couldn't find ONE site with movie times, no IM, only could check my SprintPCS email (umm...) and had to reload/reconnect/login to server for every action (4-10 seconds). I say 1-2 minutes to send a one sentence SMS message is garbage.

My T-Mobile T68i with Bluetooth should be here on Monday... Go GPRS!

-Steve

[Janak Parekh]

There is a SonyEricsson CDMA phone for Sprint service that I found on the net, but it's not in production yet.
Yes, and if it comes out for Verizon too, I'm all over it. :) Their network is pretty stable here in the Northeast.

--janak

[tjohnson]

I would like to see the 'pairing' of devices be a little easier to do.

I see that comment all the time, even in the latest PocketPC Mag. But it's only tedious if you initiate bonding from the iPAQ, since you have to make the phone discoverable anyway. If you initiate bonding from the phone it's just:

1. Go to Bluetooth/Phone initiates pairing option on the phone to start search
2. Select your iPAQ when it shows up
3. Type in a PIN code on the phone (I just use "1")
4. PINcode prompt pops up on the iPAQ, where you type in "1" again.

What's so hard about that?

Tim