Bluetooth, whats that all about.

[BRL]

I am about to pick up my new NOKIA7650 (http://www.orange.co.uk/owner/howto/yourphone/phones/nokia/nk7650/) and I see its bluetooth enabled or something like that.!!! Whats this 'bluetooth' all about and how does it work? Why is it on my new phone? :confused:

[CAT1]

It means your phone can talk to other bluetooth enabled devices without wires, eg a pda or your laptop. You can even get a fridge with it. Though you have to be quite near the fridge if you want your phone to communicate with it.

[BRL]

:confused: :eek: FRIDGE :confused: :eek: PHONE :confused: :confused: :confused:

[colossus]

Big Red ‘L’, have got bluetooth on Ericsson phone, but it’s a common spec to Nokia, Ericsson, Sony, 3Com and lots of others

Bottom line it’s a radio data link between various electronics devices.

Two most common uses that I make of it is

1/ Link between phone, and full hands free car kit. No plugging any more, it just "talks" to the hands free kit, understand the latest generation of Saab cars come with built in bluetooth (those clever Swedes!), useful for jumping in and out of the car.

2/ Datalink to Sony notebook (built in bluetooth, but you can buy a PC card for other flavours), so car surf from any ware using mobile phone and notebook, notebook talks to phone on bluetooth, and phone talks to internet. Basically, you end up with two radio hops, notebook to phone, then phone to internet

Haven’t invested in the bluetooth fridge yet, reckon that contents of the fridge are more important!

[Don D Cake]

“Bluetooth” was named after a Viking who was a Danish King-Harald Blatand. Blatand was loosely translated into “Bluetooth” But what could an ancient king name got to do with the wireless transferring technology? They may not have connection between each other, but it comes from an interesting origin: Harald Blatand is reported to have united Demark and Norway, and hence so as the wireless technology uniting people.

[Devils Advocate]

Admitedly not blue tooth enabled, but it's pretty funky all the same : LG Electronics - GRD 267DTU- Digital Multimedia FridgeFreezer (http://www.lge.co.uk/mod_perl/go.pl/site/products/appliances/refrigeration/sidebyside.htm?product_uid=2454&category_uid=622)

[allthatglitters]

try http://www.bluetooth.com

[GordonBurford]

Think on Bluetooth as a short-range (very short 20m approx) generic radio link that other devices can connect to. This can include (for instance) laptops using your mobile as a modem, without the need to fish it out and point it at the IR port. It can also be used to manage the phone with a Bluetooth-enabled PC and swap data between bluetooth enabled phones.

To be honest, it's a bit of a waste of time. A neat trick, but that's all. It's quite high-bandwidth compared to an IR port and a lot more convenient, but for remote data the bottleneck is in the phone line (such as it is), and not the connection between the phone and the device so there is little speed benefit, and getting the phone out and placing it next to the Laptop isn't exactly chore-of-the-decade, is it?

The best use of bluetooth is in wireless handsfree kits. Basically (for about 50 pounds) you get an wireless earpiece and boom mic that will work with any bluetooth phone. Your phone can be in your pocket, even in the next room, and you can still talk on the phone. Clearly this has health benefits, because you can be farther way from your mobile's Microwave transmitter. And it's far more convenient than a "wire" is most of the time. These are really neat, and once you've used one you'd never go back to a regular hands-free kit!

[ORAC]

It's also designed to support Hi-Fi and AV devices. The idea being that you just buy sme speakers, an amp, a DVD, CD player, VCR, TV etc and bring it home and synch it with your other equipment and it works. No wire connections required at all. And the TV will add it to it's list of devices and the VCR will tune itself etc etc - all automatically.

Philips (http://www.pcstats.com/releaseview.cfm?releaseID=763)

[BRL]

Thanks all, interesting stuff. :)

Gordon, any idea where i can get one of these wireless headset things?? Thanks...

[ORAC]

Take your pick. If you scroll down there are 17 of them.

eXpansys (http://www.expansys.com/d_bluetooth.asp)

[BRL]

Oh dear. I better go and find the scissors quick to cut my CC up.......!!!

Thanks ORAC :)

[GordonBurford]

Any mobile phone retailer should sell bluetooth headsets. They're really nice to use, once you get used to one you won't want to go back to a wire!