Bluetooth needs an overbite

Bluetooth was once a bit of a gimmick and was hard to come by. It was toyed with by some of the gadget freaks but never really found a proper niche as they were very few devices that you could connect with.

The last couple of generations of handsets has seen Bluetooth have a pretty healthy comeback and now you can find the technology embedded into phones, thru headsets, stereo headphones and on to cameras.

However until very recently you were still limited to one channel, this gave you very little flxibility and the profiles are a bit clunky.

Again this is in a state of evolution and my future phone; the Nokia E60, comes with six bluetooth channels.

There is the usual banter about how WiFi enabled handsets will start to undo the handcuffs that the Mobile Operator has put on your wrists, although in reality the MNO will still own the pipe, but many people forget about Bluetooth. It is a complementary connectivity option as it to can be a route into the UMA and out on to the mobile network.

As Martin observed earlier this week many people are using some of the bridging capabilities of Bluetooth radio. This is allowing them to use their mobile handset as a over engineered Bluetooth headset.

So there is some work required to give the Bluetooth the bite it needs to really make it's mark but the market is ready for the new standard.

So there are more options for you to reveal the potential of Bluetooth. Although here's some free advice. If you're picking up a headset accessory for your Nokia stay away from this model, the Nokia HDW-3.

Here in Thailand it retails for just shy of 4,000 Baht (that's 60 of your British Pounds and pushing up and over 100 bucks) so it's not cheap. Unfortunately the quality and the usefulness of the unit is completely over turned by the plastic ear clip that costs around 3 Baht (5 pence) to manufacture. The clip ring frequently fails meaning that the headset can not be used in a hands free mode.


When I get round to changing my phone I'll spring for this guys newest brother, Nokia HS-26W. The clip is more of a rubberised affair that is more flexible and it lends itself to left or right usage much better.