What is Bluetooth??

[Geobloke]

As the title says really!

I have heard the term bounced around but have no idea what the heck it is or does!

Anyone care to enlighten me?

Cheers

Geo.

[Pete H]

Wireless,connections,i think :rolleyes:

[Slime101]

Its a short range comms system, mostly used between mobile phones and laptops.

Commonly the phone has it built in (all new mobs do) and you use a "dongle" to add the facility to the laptop. By dongle i mean a USB bluetooth stick that you plug in and off ya go really.

Its limited in its use due to speed, kinda one step up from IR and one down from wireless LAN :)

[si_guru]

Bluetooth is a radio frequency based cable replacement technology. It is designed to be an inexpensive wireless personal networking system for all classes of portable devices such as laptops, PDA`s, mobile phones and headsets. Bluetooth can also replace cabling in a more static environment i.e. between desktop computers and printers. A device has to be Bluetooth enabled (i.e. contain a Bluetooth chip) to be able to use a Bluetooth connection.

Bluetooth was first developed in Sweden, by Ericsson in 1994. The name comes from King Harald "bluetooth" Blatand who ruled part of Scandinavia in 960AD. He helped unite his part of the world, as the developers and promoters of Bluetooth hope Bluetooth technology will unite the mobile world.

Bluetooth devices can be in 3 different power classes:

Class 3 : The lowest power, the max. range of this is 10m (30 feet)
Class 2 : Max range is about 50m (150ft)
Class 1 : Max range is about 100m (300ft)

These ranges can be affected by environmental conditions i.e. furniture, walls, people so ranges can easily be reduced. Bluetooth is not a line of sight connection so it can be used through walls and floors.

Bluetooth is faster than an ISDN connection but slower than a IR (infra red) connection used on a laptop - a normal Bluetooth connection is about the same speed as a home broadband connection.

It is a common misconception that all Bluetooth devices can connect to any other device and browse the information on it. This cannot be done without the user setting the device to do so. Bluetooth security has various levels of authentication including pin code entry and up to 128-bit encryption.

Bluetooth consists of a number of different profiles, which allow different devices to communicate and exchange files, audio etc. Each device needs to have a specific profile to allow communication with another device with that profile e.g. a mobile phone needs the headset profile to be able to use a Bluetooth headset.

[shrek]

I use it regulary for connecting the mobile to the laptop for internet and occasionally transfering photo's. Reliable and better than infra red as they don't have to "see" one another. Only suitable for mobile use though as wireless LAN is much quicker and can cope with broadband speeds.

They also do some bluetooth wireless car handsfree kits.

ED. Wow, Si Guru gave a lot better answer whilst I was typing my bit.:D

[Geobloke]

Well there you go! Cheers for the excellent responces peeps! :D

Cheers

Geo.

[orbspeed1]

I use it mainly for the hands free in the car no wires to muck about with/hang across dash Pama do a nice on called plug n go 4 its great cos i often forget to take phone out of pocket but im still conected to the car kit or I can take it and put it in a diferent moter in seconds.

[manthing]

dosn't the mew rangy have an all singing, all dancing nokia bluetooth hands free phone conection?

from memory(which is never at its best these days) it will conect to any blue tooth pnone "even if its in the bottom of your gun bag" and phone home just by saying "Home"

ofcourse you have to have your home no listed as home and not "that damn place all my money dissapears from" or it will call the wrong person!!