Bluetooth is becoming more and more common in laptops, PDAs, and cell phones. It provides
wireless users a
way to transmit small amounts of data over short distances.
Now, Bluetooth is facing stiff competition from new wireless technology. Referred to as UWB or Ultra Wideband, it
promises data transfer of up to 480 MB a second - while most current Bluetooth devices transfer data up to 721 KB a
second.
For the time being, Bluetooth devices are surely cropping up. Below, we will look at some of the accessories offered with
Bluetooth technology.
Talking to the dashboard
When pairing it with a cell phone, the CCM Blue Warrior car kit becomes a great speaker phone that plugs into the power
adapter of your vehicle. The noise cancelling microphone will reduce background noise efficiently, with the large buttons making
adjusting the speaker volume a snap. Although the Blue Warrior is far from sexy or sleek, it's very practical.
Tiny tuning box
Part MP3 player and part hands free phone, the compact and lightweight Sony HBM-30 is an attractive gadget that lets you
accept calls with minimal interruption of your tunes. When you get an incoming call it will automatically pause your music, then you
speak into the built in microphone that you can wear around your neck or clip to your clothes.
The pen
With Nokia's SU-1B digital pen, you can doodle and make hand written notes in ink on a special pad then transmit them from the
pad to your Bluetooth phone. Being an alternative to typing on a cell phone keypad, the pen is very handy, although a pricey tool from
MMS fans.
Snapshots
If you want to make slide shows with your camera photos, the Nokia SU-2 image viewer will let you disply your pictures on a TV
or projector. Simply hook this square gray device to your TV's input with the built in cable, then beam the pictures
to the SU-2 from your Bluetooth enabled phone and the photo fest will begin.
This device is a snap to set up and use, although it displays resolutions of up to 640 by 480. If you have a newer phone that
takes high resolution photos, you won't be able to use the Nokia SU-2 image viewer.
640 by 480 pixel photos seem squary on TV screens. phones that are able to send batches of photos, can create slide shows -
eventhough Nokia sais that their phones use sequentially beamed shots as well.
