 With the advent of the new cell phone law in California, many people in the state have turned their attention to going hands-free with their wireless phone. By far, the most preferred method is using a Bluetooth device. This brings one to wonder – what exactly is Bluetooth, and is it of any use for more then just cell phones?
This Isn’t Your Grandfathers’ Bluetooth.
 Many persons would be shocked to learn that Bluetooth has actually been around quite awhile. The early implementations, like many emerging technologies, had a lot of kinks to work out. First started by Ericsson in 1994, in 1997 Intel joined up with Ericsson, and in 1998 IBM, Toshiba, and Nokia joined Ericsson and Intel to found the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (aka: Bluetooth SIG). Today, the Bluetooth SIG has a membership of over 7000 companies worldwide. The desire that spurred the development of Bluetooth was to easily allow different devices to communicate wirelessly with one another. From its early issues (such as problems with interoperability and very slow transmission speeds) to its new modern widespread use, Bluetooth has, to quote a popular old advertising slogan, “come a long way baby.”
 The Basics
When you are talking about Bluetooth, you are, in the most basic sense, talking about two electronic devices with Bluetooth technology, “talking” or communicating with each other wirelessly. The electronic device may have the Bluetooth built in (such as a modern cheap cell phone) or may need to be added (such as a desktop computer – which can have a “Bluetooth dongle” added – usually through the USB port). Many new business laptop computers are now including integrated Bluetooth from the factory. Bluetooth implements what is known as a short range wireless Personal Area Network (PAN). It is this personal area Bluetooth network that will allow Bluetooth enabled devices as diverse as a PDAs, PCs, printers, headsets, headphones, cell phones, GPS receivers, game controllers, keyboards, mice and digital cameras (just to scratch the surface) to communicate and work with one another.
What Makes Bluetooth Tick?
How far the Bluetooth devices communicate is controlled by the CLASS of the Bluetooth devices. Class 1 will have a range of approximately 300 feet (100 meters), Class 2 approximately 30 feet (10 meters), and Class 3 approximately 3 feet (1 meter). How fast, and what PROFILES (see below) are used is controlled, in many ways, by the VERSIONS of the Bluetooth devices (most newer versions are backwards compatible). The original version was (surprisingly) version 1.0. This was followed by versions 1.0B, 1.1,  the much improved 1.2, 2.0 and finally 2.1. Version 2.0 introduced what is called Enhanced Data Rate (EDR) to Bluetooth. With the help of EDR, Bluetooth 2.0 and newer devices currently communicate at approximately 3.0 megabits/second (in real life situations, they have an effective rate of around 2.1 megabits/second). Be advised that some Bluetooth implementers remove the EDR feature from version 2.0.
PROFILES basically are what a particular Bluetooth device can do. This is controlled by the type of Bluetooth STACK used. The basic stack can also have more profiles added via drivers used when installing the Bluetooth device. A stack is very simply the communication protocol used for Bluetooth communication. An example of a stack is the Microsoft Windows stack implemented with service pack 2 of Windows XP. Some examples of Profiles are Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) which allows high quality stereo audio to be streamed; Basic Imaging Profile (BIP) for sending images; Basic Printing Profile (BPP) for simple print jobs; Hands-Free Profile (HFP) for using hands free cell phone kits in cars and of course the very popular Headset Profile (HSP) for using headsets with mobile phones. There are of course many more profiles, but this gives you the idea behind them.
The Wireless Future – Color it Blue!
 Faster, better and more – these three words basically encapsulate the future of Bluetooth. Look for the speeds to dramatically improve with the newer versions of Bluetooth – numbers up to 480 megabits/second have been bantered around. Also, look for even better power management (imagine a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse combo getting up to 10 times the life in a set of batteries than current combos get). Finally, more - look for Bluetooth to be placed in more and different items; from medical devices to wristwatches. Certainly, for Bluetooth, the wireless future looks very, very bright!
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