Bluetake Wireless Bluetooth Headphones

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pdacorps.com/default.asp?key=pages/iPhono.htm' target='_blank'>http://www.pdacorps.com/default.asp...ages/iPhono.htm</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Some of you may remember a while back I posted a request for someone to develop wireless stereo headphones that would be compatible with pda’s, mp3 players, portable CD and DVD players, and good old-fashioned (*gasp*) cassette players. I got several nods of agreement and sympathetic ponderings along the lines of, gee, why hasn’t somebody done this yet? I tried to drum up interest with some hardware manufacturers by direct contact. A few were not interested and a few said it could not be done. Then someone told me about this company called Bluetake and a new product they had called the i-Phono BT420. I was thrilled to see that Bluetake had developed a wireless stereo headset that would work with any device that has a standard 3.5 mm headphone jack."</i>

[yanathin]

Kinda odd... That huge box kinda defeats one of the main purposes of Bluetooth. I don't even understand why it needs that box connected - the 4700 pictured there already HAS Bluetooth. I like the idea of the HP ones a lot more since they just work with the Pocket PC without one of those big receivers.

But on the bright side, it's nice to see more Bluetooth headphones surfacing.

[Jason Dunn]

Kinda odd... That huge box kinda defeats one of the main purposes of Bluetooth. I don't even understand why it needs that box connected - the 4700 pictured there already HAS Bluetooth.

The problem is the supported profiles - HP has a very strange policy of not putting all BT profiles in all their devices, and if a device doesn't have the audio gateway profile, the headphones won't work. Yet another reason why BT has trouble getting adopted beyond the geeks.

[peterawest]

Yet another reason why BT has trouble getting adopted beyond the geeks.

Well, here's one more company that has joined the crowd of happy Bluetooth users:

FedEx bites into Bluetooth
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6364894/

[GoldKey]

Kinda odd... That huge box kinda defeats one of the main purposes of Bluetooth. I don't even understand why it needs that box connected - the 4700 pictured there already HAS Bluetooth.

The problem is the supported profiles - HP has a very strange policy of not putting all BT profiles in all their devices, and if a device doesn't have the audio gateway profile, the headphones won't work. Yet another reason why BT has trouble getting adopted beyond the geeks.

But if you have to have the product at both ends, who cares that the transmission is in bluetooth. Any set of wireless headphones could do the same. The box is great for non-bluetooth devices, but you should not always need it. Isn't a profile just like a driver, so can't you just install the profile you need?

[Jason Dunn]

Isn't a profile just like a driver, so can't you just install the profile you need?

As far as I understand it, no. This is one of the dark secrets of Bluetooth: it's all profile based, and if you don't have the right profile, you can't use the device. People who bought the Microsoft Bluetooth keyboard when it first came out were rudely surprised when they found out they couldn't sync their Pocket PC using it because they didn't support the right profile. :roll: I think that's been fixed now, but the root problem is the same: unless your Bluetooth device supports the exact profile you need, you can't use it.

[freitasm]

Kinda odd... That huge box kinda defeats one of the main purposes of Bluetooth. I don't even understand why it needs that box connected - the 4700 pictured there already HAS Bluetooth.

The problem is the supported profiles - HP has a very strange policy of not putting all BT profiles in all their devices, and if a device doesn't have the audio gateway profile, the headphones won't work. Yet another reason why BT has trouble getting adopted beyond the geeks.

The software used by HP had very limited profile available due to development time. The latest versions (used on h6315/h6365 and hx4700) support Headset in native mode, without any tweaks.

You'd be glad to know that Broadcomm announced today that the BTW (Windows side) is now being sent to O&M with support for stereo audio, video distribution, picture distribution. So I'd expect some new products soon in the market with this.

BTW, this product was reviewed around July by Gadgeteer and Geekzone - look here on PPCT for the links, there are a couple of articles on this. Bluetake also make a Bluetooth Audiot distribution box, including connections for speakers and stereo receivers. Unlike some other companies, their products ARE on the market and available.

[gibson042]

But if you have to have the product at both ends, who cares that the transmission is in bluetooth. Any set of wireless headphones could do the same. The box is great for non-bluetooth devices, but you should not always need it. Isn't a profile just like a driver, so can't you just install the profile you need?
If only that were the case. Eventually, the Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (the Bluetooth profile that supports stereo sound used by these headphones) should be included in the Widcomm/Broadcom stack, but it is not right now and no PDA that I know of has support for it. So for the time being, this $200 marvel becomes nothing more than a big, expensive bluetooth headset without its dongle.

[GoldKey]

Wow, I did not see much of a use for bluetooth before, but now it seems downright useless. It seems bluetooth has no room to grow in an existing device.

[Ploobers]

What I'm curious about is him using them on the airplane. Isn't that absolutely illegal? I'd love to be able to do that, but I don't see how it's possible.

[Sven Johannsen]

What I'm curious about is him using them on the airplane. Isn't that absolutely illegal?

Yup. At the present time, you can't have transmitters running anytime. Not just that magic 10 minutes after takeoff and before landing. Reality is that it wouldn't be a problem, but the regulations haven't caught up. We are not far from having cell phone and WiFi use on board. The latter I am for, the former may push me into buying a great set of 'loud cell phone conversation' blocking headphones. Once that happens, it will be kind of tough to ban BT.

[DaleReeck]

Stereo over current bluetooth would be possible if the headphones had some sort of DSP onboard to help with the signal processing. Current BT is limited to about 700kb, great for things like phone headsets and listening to audio books (like I do on my iPaq 4705 and a Jabra BT headset), but poor for music. I think there are one or two headsets out there with DSP's onboard, but as it was already pointed out, a special audio BT profile needs to be installed seperately as no device has it built in already.

[hollis_f]

What I'm curious about is him using them on the airplane. Isn't that absolutely illegal? I'd love to be able to do that, but I don't see how it's possible.

It's not only possible, it's easy. You wait until the seatbelt light goes off, switch on the music device and headphones and listen. Most people won't notice you have no wires connecting the two.

Is it safe? That's an old argument. My thought is - If a BT phone could cause a plane to crash they'd take much, much, much more care to ensure they were switched off.

[hollis_f]

But if you have to have the product at both ends, who cares that the transmission is in bluetooth. Any set of wireless headphones could do the same.
Er, not quite.

The cool thing with these is that they'll pair with the transmitter and a phone. So you can be listening to music when your phone rings in your headphones. Flip down the microphone, press a button on the earphones and you're talking on your phone. At the end of a call press a button to go back to your music.

[denivan]

Wow, I did not see much of a use for bluetooth before, but now it seems downright useless. It seems bluetooth has no room to grow in an existing device.

Actually, BT can grow. For instance when I downloaded an updated version off the Widcomm BT stack for my USB dongle , it added a couple of profiles (don't remember which ones).

Too bad that PDA and Phone manufactures think they need to decide for us which profiles we need and which we don't :( Theoretically though, every firmware update could add profiles to the BT software, as long as the hardware supports it (for instance, enough bandwith).

So when you consider this, I don't think one can regard a BT profile as a driver, but more as an application. You can't add applications when the hardware doesn't support it.

I understand that because of all these shady tactics , BT seems kind off confusing, but if you look before you buy, you mostly won't have any problems pairing up devices. That's for instance why I bought a Dell X30, because of the included audio BT profile.

Kind regards,

Ivan