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| Less blue over Bluetooth For years, we've heard that Bluetooth would be the next big thing. Well, we're not there yet. But the good news is that we finally have some products and applications that demonstrate what all the fuss is about. |
By John Morris
Executive editor, CNET Hardware and Software
(6/3/02)
Last August, at a Pocket PC workshop, Socket Communications handed me one of its brand-new CompactFlash-based Bluetooth cards for PDAs. It seemed pretty cool, but given that there were virtually no other Bluetooth devices to use with it, the card sat in a drawer. Since then, Bluetooth products have been trickling onto the market. For example, HP shipped the first Bluetooth printer, the DeskJet 995c. A couple of mobile phones that use Bluetooth are now available in the United States, including the very cool Sony Ericsson T68. Most recently, 3Com released a Wireless Bluetooth Printing Kit. All of these new products convinced me to take a closer look at Bluetooth.
Testing out Bluetooth
I started with the 3Com printing kit, which includes a USB adapter for your desktop or notebook PC and a dongle that attaches to the parallel port on your printer. After a few false starts, I installed the hardware and software and was able to send print jobs wirelessly to a personal laser printer. The USB adapter also instantly recognized the DeskJet 995c and let me send print jobs its way, indicating that Bluetooth has overcome its early compatibility problems.
The only catch was that the parallel port on my test printer, a Lexmark E210, didn't have enough juice, so I had to use the included power adapter. In other words, this $250 "cable-free" printing solution reduced the number of cables hanging off the back of my printer from two to, uh, two. An 802.11b wireless gateway with a print server will net you the same features for less, plus you'll end up with a faster wireless network, a three-port hub, and a firewall in the bargain.
| The real advantage of this, as with any Bluetooth solution, is mobility. |  |
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Better Bluetooth applications
The most compelling application I found was using a Bluetooth phone as a modem for accessing the Web, e-mail, and corporate networks wirelessly. Socket's latest Bluetooth Connection Kit, the software for the CF card, includes an excellent wizard that walked me through the steps required to connect my Compaq iPaq H3835 to a Sony Ericsson T68 and create a connection using my existing ISP. It worked flawlessly, and since Bluetooth doesn't require a direct line of sight, I put the 2.9-ounce phone in my pocket and walked to Starbucks while checking baseball scores on ESPN.com.
| But Bluetooth still needs a lot of work before it becomes a viable technology. | |
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By the time I was finished, I had so many different Bluetooth devices buzzing around my office that I half-expected to hear the FCC knock on my door, but I learned a lot in the process. Bluetooth has several features that set it apart from 802.11. It uses less power and is designed for mobile devices, making it ideal for creating temporary mininetworks wherever you happen to be; 802.11 is faster and has a longer range but is really just an extension of an existing home or office network. But Bluetooth still needs a lot of work before it becomes a viable technology.
What will make Bluetooth blossom
After three years, we have just enough working Bluetooth devices to demonstrate concretely the potential of this technology. It's been a long wait, but for the first time, I can actually imagine using Bluetooth, along with 802.11, both at home and at work.
First, we need more devices, such as the DeskJet 995c, the T68 phone, or the Compaq iPaq H3870, with integrated Bluetooth. Second, the software has to be much easier to use and less error-prone, especially for the sort of on-the-fly networks that its backers envision. (It's too bad that Microsoft opted to leave Bluetooth support out of the upcoming Windows XP Service Pack.) Finally, these things need to come way down in price.
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