Do You Leave Your Bluetooth Radio On?

[Ed Hansberry]

Now that my laptop has a bluetooth radio in it I have more incentive to leave the bluetooth radio on my Pocket PC on so I can ActiveSync. I tried turning it on and off as needed but my iMATE PDA2K seems to have a bluetooth driver about as sophisticated as that of an iPAQ 3800, which is to say horrible and almost always requires a soft reset to enable it. :( That is the only gripe I have about the device, as it is a truly wonderful Pocket PC and I don't regret for a minute giving up my iPAQ 2215, though I never recall ever having to soft reset the 2215 to get the bluetooth radio on.<br /><br />I have found leaving the bluetooth radio on all of the time on the PDA2K works for me though, despite the annoying blue light. :roll: Unlike other Pocket PCs I've owned, the PDA2K blinks whatever LED it feels the need to blink whether the device is "on" or not.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/hansberry/2002/20020830-blueled.gif" /><br /><br />It isn't as annoying as it was on any previous iPAQ. They must be using a lower powered LED or diffusing it more, and it provides a yin-yang effect with the always blinking green LED on the right side of the device indicating that the GSM radio is on. It is <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=27037">still bothersome</a> and why manufacturers are so giddy with LEDs is beyond me. The PDA2K has an impressive array of them. Upper left is blue, orange (charging) or green (charged or the WiFi radio is on). Upper right is green or red (message of some sort). The lower half has the red "End" light and green "Send" light. But I digress...<br /><br />So for those of you with Pocket PCs equipped with bluetooth, to you leave it on all of the time, sometimes or have you never bothered turning it on?

[mr_Ray]

How about an option for "I have an app that turns BT on and off for me when I need it", e.g. OzBT? :)

[Vincent M Ferrari]

Most noteworthy quote in this article:

I tried turning it on and off as needed

Which would mean Ed actually turned on Bluetooth. Make note of it folks; he's becoming one of us.

Ed, you will be assimilated...

:robot:

[adamz]

You should see the LED light on the imate JAM, it is very unobtrusive. It's only one light that indicates bluetooth, GSM reception, announcments, charging... just changes colors. And it's tiny, so it doesn't light up the whole car if your driving at night.

But you should get a Bluetooth headset (http://www.pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&amp;t=reviews&amp;id=532) and then leave it on all the time.

[WyattEarp]

How about an option for "I have an app that turns BT on and off for me when I need it", e.g. OzBT? :)


I think that falls under "turning it on only when you need it". I also use OzBT as it makes using BT even more usefull by not having to do it manually. That's a function I wish was built-in for all forms of communication.

[vwgm]

Yeah I would have hoped there was an option to turn the bluetooth led off, I have a Ipaq 1945 and the blue led is very annoying, if at least it didn't blink. Any suggestions on what I could do to resolve this.

bye

[Ketsugi]

That blue LED is VERY annoying, especially since I sleep in the same room as my PDA. It's kinda hard to sleep when there's this light illuminating the entire room every few seconds.

Also, another reason why I don't keep BT on all the time even though I want to is the "insufficient memory" error with the bluetooth stack that I keep getting.

[Kevin Remhof]

I leave mine off until I need it. But eve then, it's flakey...

I tried out a Bluetooth GPS and it took some trial and error to figure out the order in which to start Bluetooth, start the app, and connect to the GPS. I don't think I ever really got it figured out.

I still think that Bluetooth is a great technology. But why is it so complex? Each stack has their own terminology, each device hooks up a little different, etc. And that crazy, evil, annoying blinking light. Stop the pain, it burns! My wife is always confused when she picks up my iPaq and the blue light is flashing.

All I really use Bluetooth for now is synching my iPaq to my PC at home.

[Phillip Dyson]

You want to know about lights?

How about the blue light halo-ing the bottom of the Toshiba e830. I would like to have the cradle on my bed-side table but think that I may need to create some kind of skirt. for it. 8O I'm sure my e830 would never forgive me for the humiliation.

Maybe black duct tape...

[Underwater Mike]

I have a Belkin BT card, and it's awfully finicky about being recognized when I insert it. So, I've tried leaving it on all the time, but I can just watch the batter meter drop when I do that. Maybe when I get a new unit with built-in BT, it'll be more power efficient?

[Menneisyys]

I have found leaving the bluetooth radio on all of the time on the PDA2K works for me though, despite the annoying blue light. :roll:


Exactly the same thing I HATE in my 2210. When browsing the Net in darkness via BT GPRS, I had to put some paper in front of the LED, it's so annoying. And, the BT LED switch-off registry hacks for the hx4700 won't work with the 2210. Fortunately, the Pocket Loox 720 doesn't suffer from this problem - its blue LED isn't that strong.

[R K]

Wow wait a minute.
Does the whole PPCT team have PDA2Ks now?
I remember that Jason said he had one, and now Ed comes in with one as well.
I guess it's the PDA Phone to have at this point.

[Vincent M Ferrari]

After playing with one at CES, I can see why. Sweet doesn't even begin to cover how amazing this thing is.

Add it to the many things I want :-)

[Don't Panic!]

I only turn it on when I need it. I want as much battery savings as I can get. I even keep Infrared off until I need it. OF course I'm not using a PPCPE so that's part of the reason.

[155]

Don't you use PocketZenPhone?

It turns my PDA2k's bluetooth on and off efforlessly from the today screen. I don't have any messy resets... :)

http://www.pocketzenphone.net

(It was on the PocketPCThoughts front page last month)

[Jason Lee]

I only turn on my bluetooth when i need it. I do leave it of for long periods of time when using my bt headset. I might consider leaving bt on all the time if i used my headset more but as it is now i mainly use it while driving.
I was kinda leary about getting my siemens sx66 and not a pda2k like everyone else but the more i hear the happier i am with my decision. I don't have a built-in camera (got veo sd 1.3 mp, great for videoconference with portrait) and no rom updates from club imate. I haven't needed a rom update yet. I have never had any of the bluetooth problems the pda2k owners have had. I didn't realize siemens and cingular did so much work to it. but i'm glad!

*crosses finger and hopes this post doesn't jinx ppc* :D

[Kowalski]

am i the only person in this forum who likes the blue led on the device :)

blue is good, calm and beautifull color. if it would have been red, i am sure it would be much more annoying.

BTW do you know that a blue led costs 10~ times more money than an ordinary red, yellow and green led?

[Paragon]

Don't you use PocketZenPhone?

It turns my PDA2k's bluetooth on and off efforlessly from the today screen. I don't have any messy resets... :)

http://www.pocketzenphone.net

(It was on the PocketPCThoughts front page last month)

Oh yeah, that was a great review. :lol:

I turn my Bluetooth off when I don't need it. It saves on battery. It saves on the eyes......

Dave

[silver99]

I have a question regarding security. I know that you can transfer files with bluetooth. If I leave my bluetooth on always, is it possible for someone else with bluetooth to access my files with their PDA using bluetooth?

That's probably my only concern with leaving it on always.

[Ed Hansberry]

Don't you use PocketZenPhone?

It turns my PDA2k's bluetooth on and off efforlessly from the today screen. I don't have any messy resets... :)

http://www.pocketzenphone.net

(It was on the PocketPCThoughts front page last month)

Heh. I paid no attention to it because at the time, I didn't have a PPCPE. Looks cool, but no trial version? I've been burned by that before. :cry: It seems their only download is a beta (no desire to beta this software) or pay up front and hope you like it. :idontthinkso:

And on the soft resets, how does a third party app magically make room for the bluetooth driver not requiring a soft reset if the built in BT software can't? :confused totally:

[sfjlittel]

I've still got a 3970 and anyone who has worked with it would probably agree that it is not advisable to have bluetooth on all the time unless you want to become visually impaired, so I turn it on when I need it.

[Don't Panic!]

That ozbt thing looks cool.I wonder if it works with headsets or just apps?

[JimPAQ]

I have a question regarding security. I know that you can transfer files with Bluetooth. If I leave my Bluetooth on always, is it possible for someone else with Bluetooth to access my files with their PDA using Bluetooth?

That's probably my only concern with leaving it on always.

I can't speak to all the other Bluetooth’s out there, but on my 2750, I can't just transfer files to or from it. Now, I don't remember if I turned this on, or if it was on by default. But in the settings for my Bluetooth, I was able to set my device so that only paired devices could see it. In effect this means my PDA can pair with other devices, but other devices cannot pair with it. Also, Bluetooth services, I set all my services so that Authorization, Authentication, and Encryption are required. So even if someone could discover the device, they have to enter a pass code which I then have to duplicate on my PDA. And of course, the encryption so that Joe Shmoe walking down the street can’t just suck my Super Secret Government Documents (aka shopping list) out to the air while I'm transferring them.

I'm sure these settings are common to all Bluetooth enabled devices.

-Jim

[disconnected]

I only turn it on when I need it (phone and GPS).

I use Mapopolis and a bluetooth GPS receiver. It was fine with my iPAQ 3970, but when I changed to a 5500 there were lockups if I didn't do things in the correct order. Fortunately, the 4700 seems to have cured those problems. If I shut off the PPC with Mapopolis and GPS running and then turn it back on, it all starts up again and picks up where it left off.

[jeffmd]

my bluetooth CF card has no light thank god, and of course its only on when its plugged in. My phone how ever, the T68i, I only turn the bluetooth on when I use it for 2 reasons. one, the blue light flickers like a strobe and is very bright. not a big issue in the day, but you can not sleep with it in the same room! Also it does put a noticeable drain on my phones battery life.

[Darius Wey]

I only turn mine on when needed, since my battery capacity isn't all that great. However, if I had an extended battery, I probably would leave it on for convenience sake.

Dang Ed, I like blue as a colour, but that's one annoying GIF you managed to pick out for your post. ;)

[asdrew]

Top ten things to do if the LED's bother you:

- black duct tape as suggested by sojourner753
- electrical tape if you don't want permanent glue marks from duct tape
- clear scotch tape if you're not too bright
- a dab of silver paint so it blends in well with the case
- a small sticker of your choosing
- keep the unit in a closed container at all times
- open the case and de-solder the LED if you want to "void the warranty"
- open the case and put in a different color LED that you like better
- leave the battery removed until you need the device for something
- get a pair of real dark glasses

[stronggeek]

Top ten things to do if the LED's bother you:



Johnny Carson is still with us... in a way! :)

Actually I'd probably leave mine on if it wasn't for the BT errors as the battery on my 4705 lasts an extremely long time.

I use BT for or with:

1 GPS Belkin reciever)
2 Notesyncs (BT is bulit in)
3 BT headphones HP's)
4 Internet connection when wifi's unavailable

[Jonathon Watkins]

Wow wait a minute.
Does the whole PPCT team have PDA2Ks now?

Nope. Some of us are 'stuck' with Dell X50vs. 8)

The Blue LED is still too bright thought. I would prefer it permanently on and dim. That flashing is a pain. :?

I tend to leave BT off until I specifically need it, e.g. to set up a PAN, transfer files etc.

[tah]

I don't regret for a minute giving up my iPAQ 2215, though I never recall ever having to soft reset the 2215 to get the bluetooth radio on.

At least the driver in your 2215 worked. Mine gives me the memory error message even after a reset. HP won't help me beause I bought off FleaBay and it's sell original sell date makes it out of warranty. All the advice I can find is "do a soft reset" to free up the memory.

[Ed Hansberry]

I don't regret for a minute giving up my iPAQ 2215, though I never recall ever having to soft reset the 2215 to get the bluetooth radio on.

At least the driver in your 2215 worked. Mine gives me the memory error message even after a reset. HP won't help me beause I bought off FleaBay and it's sell original sell date makes it out of warranty. All the advice I can find is "do a soft reset" to free up the memory.
Sounds like it is time to do a hard reset. Something in memory is probably conflicting.

[XYXOXY]

I gave up trying to get the Bluetooth to work consistently on my IPAQ 3870... and I've never yet bothered looking into an upgrade. Any suggestions ? Think anyone would pay anything for a 3870 in extremely good condition to help offset the cost of an upgrade ?

Honestly... I was constantly soft resetting, and the power drain made "going wireless" kinda pointless. If I left the radio on I had to pop it back in the cradle anyway after just a few hours to recharge.

[tah]

quote]Sounds like it is time to do a hard reset. Something in memory is probably conflicting.[/quote]

How's a hard reset accomplished? Probably a dumb question but I didn't get a manual with my eBay purchase. (hey, for $255 you can't expect everything), no soft case either. That's okay though, got the Covertec same week.

[tah]

Well I figured out how to do the "hard" reset and did that. Then I restored from iPaq Backup. My sync file did not restore for some reason and now my partnership is gone.

Any advice on a "quick" way to get ActiveSync back on my device so it will sync?

[tah]

Well I jumped the gun on this one. Looks like the order is, Hard Reset, Restore Backup then Soft reset.

Got everything back, AND Bluetooth.........yay!!!!!!!!

Thanks!!

[Cybrid]

I have a question regarding security. I know that you can transfer files with bluetooth. If I leave my bluetooth on always, is it possible for someone else with bluetooth to access my files with their PDA using bluetooth?

That's probably my only concern with leaving it on always.

Once paired....file transfer and other quite invasive procedures were really easy.....without even a notification dialog to the "explored" device.
R could get P's files without even needind any permissions past the pairing.

At our last meeting....two of our members were able to explore each others devices with disconcerting ease. As with the symbian BT virii... I can't see PPC being to far off. We'd all be safer if it was turned on as needed only.

[marcm]

I usually leave my BT off on my X30 when I don't need it, and turn it on when I need it. The blue light isn't too annoying, as it is constant, so after a while you get used to it, but the WiFi light gets annoying sometimes.