Readers' Comments

Reader Comments on Aardvark Daily 10 June 2003
Note: the comments below are the unabridged submissions of readers and do
not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publisher.
From: Edwin Hermann
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Bluetooth - what for?

"We've all seen the Bluetooth Star Trek-like ear ornaments
that allow you to use a cellphone in hands-free mode, but
who really wants to wander around looking that geeky?"

..LOL!  That really tickled my sense of humour for some
reason.

You make such a good point Bruce.  Is Bluetooth actually
useful??  What are people using it for??

I think you sum it up quite nicely suggesting it might
be "a solution waiting for a problem".




From: Chris O'Connell
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Bluetooth - Watch Sony and Apple

Hi,
Like you I've been sceptical about Bluetooth (I've been using WiFi for
about 4 years and couldn't function easily without it now, either at work
at home or now thanks to CityLinks CafeNET here in Wellington at the Cafe)
Late last year I saw someone who you could describe as an extreme early
adopter raving about his blue tooth Sony Ericsonn cellphone and his Sony
Clie PDA (the sexiest PDA I've ever seen!) his take was that he could keep
his phone small (dealing with the 3G issues you described) and keep his
advanced functionality on the Clie (including full motion video playback
on the beautiful 240x320 screen!) he predicted that as soon as the
cellular bandwidth was there this would be his personal videoconferencing
solution! The other company that now gets bluetooth is Apple checkout how
they are using bluetooth in their new synching program iSync. And there is
the Swedish guy (Salling?) who turned his Sony cell phone into a remote
control for his mac! (one less device to lose! Apple have a history of
making new standards make sense - USB, WiFi, FireWire (IEEE 1394) and now
bluetooth I think Bluetooth will eliminate many close range cables
(keyboards mice etc) but WiFi is now one of IT's building blocks! More
Toys!




From: Jeremy
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Blue teeth

I agree - Bluetooth is too expensive. I ended up with it
when I bought my Ipaq handheld as the bluetooth-free model
I ordered was out of production. Its a great improvement
on using the IR port - much faster, and doesn't require
line-of-sight to work. But its not enough of an
improvement to cough up an extra $200 or so for it.
Like IR or USB, or any other new connectivity system, its
not much good til it becomes ubiquitous.




From: John A Ferguson
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Bluetooth - Not so toothless

Bluetooth is better than IR because it has no line of sight
requirement, you don't have to physically align the
transceivers.

I have an old Palm III that I use to send SMS and email via
my cellphone's IR port. This works well but requires
carefull alignment of the devices. If I had the money to
upgrade to a Palm Tungsten T I could accomplish this same
communication using Bluetooth and no fiddly aiming. I would
not even need to take the cellphone out of my pocket/briefcase.

When I get round to getting a USB Bluetooth adaptor I will
then be able to surf the net via GPRS as well as
synchronising my phone and PC's contacts and calendar data
at the touch of a button, without having to aim or align my
IR ports. I just need the PC/laptop to be in the same room
as the cellphone.

So a big thumbs up for Bluetooth from me.




From: Matt
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Bluetooth

A discussion on Bluetooth just occured on Slashdot a day or
so ago, and the article cited reached the same conclusions
as you, Bruce.

However, I use Bluetooth on a daily basis to great success.
My Ericsson T68 has Bluetooth capabilities, and together
with a cheap Bluetooth USB dongle that I purchased, I am
able to get online quickly, easily, and most importantly,
anywhere, with my laptop over GPRS. Whilst a cable would do
the trick, it is just one more item to get left behind,
tangled or destroyed all together.

Other friends of mine use a PDA equipped with Bluetooth to
get online and check emails, etc, with their phone still in
their pocket or briefcase.

Bluetooth was meant to solve problems not suitable for
WiFi. The low power requirements benefit portable devices,
and the low range is a security feature in and of itself!




From: Dave
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Bluetooth on Nokia

I recently acquired a flash new Nokia 3650.
Seeing as I'm given to playing with every aspect of
technology once I acquire it I was very keen to establish
the link from the new phone to my PC and try all the file
copying and calendar syncronising features.

Seeing as we had USB bluetooth devices floating around at
work, I plugged one in, installed all the software and
expected it to work.

Lets just say I was mighty frustrated 4 hours later when
it still refused to work.

Eventually I swallowed my pride and rang the Nokia support
line, and was told that I needed a Bluetooth device which
supported the digiAnswer authentication protocol.

5 minutes later armed with the right search words I
stumbled across this article
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/05/27/1053801373562.html

Suffice to say the information revealved here has me
seriously doubting the usefulness of Bluetooth.

I'm off to buy an Infrared USB adapter today, which at
only $80NZ seems to be a far better option.




From: Glenn
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Sigh

I've been seeing a few articles like today's column
recently, stating that Bluetooth is a waste of time. This
usually seems to stem from a misunderstanding of what it is for.

This, I think, hasn't been helped by some of the wording
that has been coined around BT, like "Personal Area Network"
which seems to imply that it's for "real" networking and
that it wants to play in Wi-Fi's sandpit.

Going forward (and to some extent right now) we'll be
carrying a lot of small devices with us. PDAs, laptops, cell
phones, cameras, MP3 players may all become devices we have
with us most of the time. Bluetooth is simply about giving
these small devices with limited battery life a way to
communicate with each other. Wi-Fi is overkill for these
devices as they don't need the range, and it draws too much
power. And, let's face it, IR is not a nice solution to the
problem.




From: M Freitas
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Bluetooth works for what it's designed for...

Well, Bluetooth is not the solution for all problems.
People confuses different link technologies like IR, BT and
wi-fi. They're different!

Both IR and Bluetooth are wire replacement technologies. IR
requires line of sight and short distance. Bluetooth works
up to 10m or 100m (Class I device).

Wi-fi is a network technology, and it only replace LAN
wires, nothing else.

Because of the short distance implemented by Bluetooth, the
battery drain on devices is very low, compared to other
radio technologies. That's why it can be implemented in
mobile phones, headsets, handsfree car kits and more.

If you want to have a glimpse of things you can do with
Bluetooth, visit our Bluetooth Guides
(http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?contentid=449). Or
look in our reviews for products with Bluetooth.

I've just received today a couple of Belkin adapters (10m
and 100m) for review. I also have a couple of printer
adapters which allows my printers to be somewhere else in
the office, without cables or anything in the room.

The technology is very well evolved in Europe, and it works
well. It's just American thing saying "what is Bluetooth",
but they'll catch up (like they will with CDMA and GSM
soon).




From: Tony Wicks
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Bluetooth

We actually make extensive use of Bluetooth to connect
PDA's/notebooks and gprs enabled phones. This allows
highly mobile users ( like the ship pilots ) to access
important information by simply having a cellphone in
their pocket and a PDA in their hand.




From: Darren
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: bluetooth

I use my Sony Ericsson T68i with bluetooth to communicate to my Apple Mac.
I can sync my phone book, appointment calendar, upload and download PXT
images and send and receive SMS from my computer, without taking my phone
from my pocket.

With some nifty freeware 3rd party software I can also control my mac
using my phone - handy when watching movies, listening to music or even
giving a presentation and the ability to change slides (all functions are
scriptable)

I've also managed to surf the web using dialup via my phone / bluetooth
without having to worry about if an IR beam is lined up and if it will get
interupted.

Although I'm limited pretty much in range to the room I'm in (thanks to
walls), it's far greater range than a cable (and cheaper - a cable would
have cost $199!)

As in security, I feel better knowing my personal wireless cant be
accessed by Joe Bloggs 5 houses down the street. :-)

For me now, using a cellphone without bluetooth is unthinkable. :-)




From: Brandon
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Note for Dave re Bluetooth and his Nokia Phone

I had the same problem Dave, however have downloaded the
latest Nokia PC Suite from their website, and received a
free firmware upgrade to my phone (under warranty) to make
Bluetooth work with a USB bluetooth dongle. More
information is available in the Nokia forums here:
http://www.forum.nokia.com/main/1,6566,1_43,00.html




From: David Annett
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: For Bluetooth think wireless USB

Like the early days of USB Bluetooth has been over-hyped and
over-priced.  That is changing now the chipset cost are
actually falling (way cheaper than the $200 Telecom charges
for CDMA data cables).  I have used Bluetooth with my phone,
PDA and laptop for over a year and they are great.  Using
IRDA in public by blancing it on your knee while pointing
your PDA at it is great way to look stupid (but not as silly
as the guy in the ad by the pool with a brick phone and big
cable).  Surfing the web on your PDA with you phone in your
pocket is a great way to kill time waiting in queues etc.
My next Bluetooth project is to build a headset into my
helmet so I stop missing phone calls when riding my
motorcycle (cables and safety gear don't mix).
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