Model Bluetooth Car Coming To Pocket PCs

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.ppcw.net/index.php?itemid=1815' target='_blank'>http://www.ppcw.net/index.php?itemid=1815</a><br /><br /></div>Last year, I talked about Sony Ericsson <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=17616">developing a Bluetooth model car</a>, and most posters wondered if this would be available for Pocket PCs. Well, I'm not sure if the Sony Ericsson one will, but i-Mate will be selling an exclusive Bluetooth car that works with both Pocket PCs and Smartphones!<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/parekh-20040225-BluetoothCar.jpg" /><br /><br />I think he's even using <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=22961">ECERTech's TiltCONTROL</a> with it in this picture. :)

[Jonathon Watkins]

LOL, now *that's* cute. Come on guys, get one & review it already! :razzing:

[Jacob]

We'll now have to start the geek's nascar ;)

[David Prahl]

&lt;turns on BT car>
"Sweet!"
&lt;car starts driving away>
"Look at that thing go!"
&lt;after ten feet>
"Hey - It lost the signal!"

Translation:
Doesn't a regular RF toy car have better range than BT?

[Jonathon Watkins]

&lt;after ten feet>
"Hey - It lost the signal!"

Translation:
Doesn't a regular RF toy car have better range than BT?

:bangin: Repeat after me, Bluetooth Class 3 = 1 meter range, Class 2 = 10 meters, Class 3 = 100 meters range, or even up to 250 meters range with a more powerfully adaptor.

So, not knowing what the normal range of such a tiny RF car would be, up to 250 meters sounds pretty good to me. :wink:

[David Prahl]

Repeat after me, Bluetooth Class 3 = 1 meter range, Class 2 = 10 meters, Class 3 = 100 meters range, or even up to 250 meters range with a more powerfully adaptor.

So, not knowing what the normal range of such a tiny RF car would be, up to 250 meters sounds pretty good to me. :wink:

802.11b has "a range of 300 feet", but most people (like myself) run out of 2.4 Ghz gas inside of 100 feet.

There's only one way to resolve this...somebody FedEx me one and I'll write a review! :lol:

[T-Will]

Who cares about the range? ;) When people are wondering "Why a Bluetooth controlled car???" Just politely reply with "W?BIC" :D

[mhskateboarder]

i would only play with this if i got it for free...hint hint.... :wink:

[GoldKey]

So, not knowing what the normal range of such a tiny RF car would be, up to 250 meters sounds pretty good to me. :wink:

I have two of the normal Mini RC type cars and they are only good for about 15 feet TOPS on a fully charged battery.

[Duncan]

In practice Class 1 achieves a useable range of c. 40 metres. Class 2, while rated at 10 metres, actually usually stretches further. I've got as much as 20 metres from some devices and only once have I had less than 10 metres (from a Nokia phone) from any BT device.

One problem is that people seem to have some difficulty realising how far 10 metres actually is (I reckon some people think of 'feet' even when the measurement is metres). If this is a Class 2 product, and only achieves the minimum distance, we are talking about 33 feet! I don't know about anyone else but that is more than far enough for a toy designed for indoor use (if you have a room in your house where you can be more than 33 feet away from something then you earn too much...!).

[William]

...but Arne over at PPCW will be selling an exclusive Bluetooth car that works with both Pocket PCs and Smartphones!
Where does it say he's going to sell it? I need this thing! :)

[Jeff Rutledge]

Great, now I'm going to have to soft-reset my little car before I use it. :mrgreen:

[David Prahl]

This give a whole new meaning to the word "carjacking"! :)
(Get it? Bluejacking, BT car, Carjacking?)

[Pat Logsdon]

This give a whole new meaning to the word "carjacking"! :)
(Get it? Bluejacking, BT car, Carjacking?)
:twak:

:mrgreen:

[David Prahl]

:silly:

[JustinGTP]

So is this only available for the I-Mate? That's what I understand from that article. It would be nice to have one for Pocket PC. (Universal)

-Justin.

[ctmagnus]

(if you have a room in your house where you can be more than 33 feet away from something then you earn too much...!).

Or you have a totally unfinished basement. ;)

[Janak Parekh]

...but Arne over at PPCW will be selling an exclusive Bluetooth car that works with both Pocket PCs and Smartphones!
Where does it say he's going to sell it? I need this thing! :)
:oops: I misread it. It sounds like i-Mate will sell it, so I corrected my post. I hope that Arne gets a batch to resell. :mrgreen:

So is this only available for the I-Mate? That's what I understand from that article. It would be nice to have one for Pocket PC. (Universal)
That's a good question! It depends on how they set up the software. I hope it'll be compatible with any BT-enabled Pocket PC.

--janak

[JustinGTP]

That's a good question! It depends on how they set up the software. I hope it'll be compatible with any BT-enabled Pocket PC.

--janak

Could they program it to only recognize the manufacturer as I-Mate or is that even possible? I hope they can do it for all BT PPC's!!

-Justin.

[dean_shan]

802.11b has "a range of 300 feet", but most people (like myself) run out of 2.4 Ghz gas inside of 100 feet.

Range as in, from one side of the network (physicaly) to the other. You can only get 150ft one way.

[gohtor]

talk about a really expensive toy.

Well I'm sure someone will be crazy enough to do a mod to control a real car with this and pretend they're in that 007 movie many years back.

[dean_shan]

talk about a really expensive toy.

Well I'm sure someone will be crazy enough to do a mod to control a real car with this and pretend they're in that 007 movie many years back.

Tomorrow Never Dies. That movie was awsome.

[x999x]

Maybe if the RC Car wasn't bigger than the PDA, it's limited range wouldn't seem all that debilitating. For instance, if it were as small as the RC Car for the Ericssons, it's small bluetooth operational radius is large in comparison to the car.

[dMores]

uhm ... why does the picture show the imate with a thingie attached to the bottom? doesn't it have bluetooth built-in ?

edit ... that would be the tilt control, i should have read the first post properly :oops:

[mickjos]

That is a TiltCONTROL attached to the bottom. It allows you to have more of an analog control of the car. So you can progressively control the steering and acceleration.

I can tell you that it is great fun to use, and the TiltCONTROL compliments the controls very well.

Mind you I may be a bit biased as it is our TiltCONTROL connected to the bottom of the i-Mate ;-).

I can't wait to see them go into production.

[DrtyBlvd]

*sigh* Something else to contribute to my RSI problems... :rotfl:

[possmann]

Who cares about range - with a matchbox sized car anyway - are you going to run this thing across a parking lot or more likely around the server room late a night - :lol:

Cool concept - I betcha this is going to be more expensive then the little RF cars they have now at places like KB Toys and Radio Shak (USA) - sigh

[Pony99CA]

I recall Circuit City selling a wireless PlayStation 2 controller that also came with a mini RC car. The controller would control the car, of course. That seemed cool, but a Bluetooth car for my iPAQ would be even cooler. 8)

Steve

[yslee]

Heck, I read about the Japanese hooking up a video feed to one of the 1/24 cars and controlling them with a steering wheel from their computers via 802.11a. Pretty neat, hehe

How much is this thing? And does it come with real servos? Or is it a cheap motor doing the steering?

[Janak Parekh]

Could they program it to only recognize the manufacturer as I-Mate or is that even possible?
Sure -- you can programmatically access the device ID. I guess time will tell.

--janak