09-20-2003, 04:54 AM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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$59 Induction Headset to Kick Bluetooth While it's Down
"AURA COMMS said it is ready to introduce a $59 wireless headset that seems set to give Bluetooth a run for its high price tag. The foneGEAR chord free headset "near field" magnetic communications � induction - supports 25 hours of talk time on one AA battery and runs on the low frequency 13.5MHz band. Bluetooth is on the 2.4GHz band which, according to the firm, seems to have the world+dog clogging up its space. The firm told the INQUIRER that you would have to get really close to someone using a similar device before you'd experience interference. Also, claimed Aura, the technology would have widespread application for MP3s and car phones. It also isn't as fiddly to set up as Bluetooth."
Very interesting no? If they can do 25 hours of talk time on a single AA battery, and have the bandwidth for voice, I wonder what else they could do? Keyboard? Mouse? Headphones?
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09-20-2003, 07:43 AM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 50
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I find the description here a bit confusing... isn't RF (radio frequency) technology based on electromagnetic induction? So, wouldn't this just be a low frequency, low power RF tranceiver system? From the information given, it sounds like an efficient AM radio broadcasting at extremely low power. It's late, and I may be confused, but that's what I gather here...
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09-20-2003, 07:55 AM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 495
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I hope its encrypted somehow.
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09-20-2003, 09:05 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 194
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OK, guys, let's be serious.
Take a look at the Product sheet at http://www.auracomm.com/Downloads/DockerDatasheet.pdf .
The real question is not what we can do with 25 hours of talk time, but what we can do with 4-6 feet range ????
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09-20-2003, 10:25 AM
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Pupil
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 10
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This may turn out ti be a great product, I suspect that for me Bluetooth is here today and working fine so I don't see the point. Mind you that is impressive battery life but maybe that's linked to the very short range.
The thing that puzzles me is just how hostile the PPCThoughts team is towards Bluetooth. There's not much point in rehashing all the point/counterpoint that's been seen before, but I guess I'm just totally bemused that the editorial team feels the need to continually gripe about it at every opportunity on the front page. I've never seen another tech site carry such a grudge about a technology, not even arbitrary crusade of the week organs like the Register.
Use it or don't, it certainly has its problems as well as benefits and I'm sure we all hope v2 is better (as with all technologies.)
Maybe this is bait and I've just taken the hook (and line and sinker and rod.) Maybe you guys were all bullied by Bluetooth at school and it took your lunch money. :wink:
Cheers
Crash
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09-20-2003, 12:03 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 93
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In response to Crash Biker, I certainly cannot speak for the staff of this site, but from my experiences with Bluetooth it has been a terrible technology in almost every respect.
I have tried Bluetooth technology several times and all with poor results. All from different manufactures. I have spent a lot of money trying it out in the hopes it would live up to the hype you get from other places and people. For me it has not lived up to the hype! I have to form my opinions from experience and until I get some good experiences from Bluetooth I will not have many positive things to say about it.
I would imagine that is the same with many who respond here. To say this site is hostile towards Bluetooth may just reflect their experiences with the technology.
I am glad your experience is so positive and I hope you continue to enjoy it. But until the technology becomes more stable and useful to more people you are going to hear more criticisms about it from here and else where.
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09-20-2003, 12:27 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 120
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Hi Crash Biker, I think you might have misappropriated the headline to the editors on this site, the wording is from the Inquirer site that first published the article though...
Although I'm with you that there are some editors *cough* Ed :mrgreen: *cough* who aren't all that impressed with Bluetooth (and let it be known...  )
I think I've been lucky (and very patient!) with Bluetooth, but have seen my endeavours pay off on the whole. But I do understand where it has failed to live up to some people's expectations. Initial interoperability, implementations of hardware and software, together with the (less than adequate) support offered was not good, to say the least. And could easily have left people feeling disgruntled towards the technology.
There is an interesting tool called the hype curve, developed by a Gartner analyst (Jackie Fenn), that goes though 5 stages, they usually apply it to any new technology / product to show what happens when cutting-edge technologies are introduced
1] Technology trigger
2] Peak of inflated expectations
3] Trough of disillusionment
4] Slope of enlightenment
5] Plateau of productivity
It's been thought it's initially prohibitive high cost (comparing the price of kit from introduction in '01 to now) , complicated set-up (which still needs more work) and the misrepresentation (like the direct competition against WiFi) - so I�d be more of the opinion that at this stage the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter, maybe getting from stage 3 into stage 4 in some areas and even edging towards 5 in others....
It does try and be a "person of many trades" and this also leaves it open to attack, when a specific one doesn't work as well compared to another technology (e.g. the old Bluetooth Networking vs. WiFi debate). But that is also one of its strong points offering multiple connection types and applications.
For me, it has proved itself to be a robust and reliable technology (after a bit of tweaking). If it could just be a robust and reliable without the tweaking then it would be better...
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09-20-2003, 12:32 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 119
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I'm going to answer in complete contrast to kamware. bluetooth has worked wonderfully for me. sure, it has a few quirks, but in the end it has continually worked. bluetooth laptop (powerbook g4), 2 bluetooth pcs, a bluetooth phone (t68) and socket bluetooth in my pda. Syncing a ppc over bluetooth is a bit of a hassle, but that is Microsofts problem as I've set up half a dozen palm bluetooth syncs with both isync and palm desktop faster than setting up the wired connection. Using a bluetooth enabled gprs phone with my laptop or pda is something to marvel at - no cords, phone in pocket and I'm checking email. I will not buy another phone or pda without bluetooth unless something similar comes around - this is why I haven't bought the sidekick (what are they smoking?).
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09-20-2003, 12:39 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 120
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Hi kamware, in my time I have certainly come across some "show stoppers" for Bluetooth, and been left frustrated. But that's was very much down to the way particular vendors implemented the technology and then offered either support that was inadequate or indeed no support at all :cry:
Things are improving (but of course there is a room for a lot more), so I usually took the course of searching out the latest software drivers (that can be well hidden on some vendors sites!) was sometimes the key to unlocking the problems. Then there were some vendors that offered great support, sometimes sending out specific instructions (get this make/model of device working with this make/model) rather than their default non-specific instructions.
If you want to try again - and give Bluetooth a second (or tenth!) chance - ask in the Wireless Forum on this site and I'm sure myself or others will try and offere assistance to get you up and running or at least identify what is causing the problem to try and go from there...
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09-20-2003, 12:50 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 120
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by acronym
I'm going to answer in complete contrast to kamware. bluetooth has worked wonderfully for me. sure, it has a few quirks, but in the end it has continually worked. bluetooth laptop (powerbook g4...
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Hi acronym, the Mac OS X impelmentation is great (although some issues exist they can usualy be traced to iSync etc...)
I did a Bluetooh presentation for the ClubMac.ie Irish Mac Users group earlier this month and it was amazing to see people's eyes light up when they saw what it was capable of. during the hour long demo part, we had configured from scratch:
- Bluetooth Internet connection over GPRS and HSCSD (High Speed Dial-up)
- Remote control with a Sony Ericsson handset (which I use to drive the presentation also!)
- Synchronisation of Palm and Pocket PC
- SMS send/recieve and Sending Contacts
- File transfers
Having Bluetooth integrated into the Operating System is the key in it's success on the Mac. They have also limited the profiles it supports making it more simple to understand, leaving Networking to Airport (WiFi) and using Bluetooth for Peripherials (e.g. Sync, DUN, File Swap, Keyboard/Mouse, Serial).
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