New Bluetooth 3.0 devices to hit market later this year ‘09

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has recently announced the new Bluetooth 3.0 standard to boost wireless data transfer between devices to 24Mbps from the recent data transfer rate of just 3Mbps for Bluetooth 2.1 standards. In fact, the Bluetooth 3.0 specification is an update from the Bluetooth 2.1 protocol, which was adopted by the group in 2007.

A standards group has approved specifications for a new Bluetooth standard that speeds up wireless data transfers between devices like smart phones and laptops. Bluetooth is commonly used to pair mobile phones with wireless headsets for hands-free talking. It is also used to connect a mobile phone to a laptop to synchronize data or transfer multimedia files without using wires. Over 2 billion devices have shipped with Bluetooth built in, according to Bluetooth SIG report.

The adoption of the standard, and devices based on the Bluetooth 3.0 specification could ship later this year ‘09 or by early next year ‘10 near the holiday season. However, post specification adoption might delay the products on the market. The faster data transfers could lead to its adoption in a number consumer electronics devices beyond just mobile phones.

The Bluetooth SIG has expected Bluetooth 3.0 to make its way into PCs, mobile phones, camcorders, cameras, TVs, digital presenters - devices that consumers use to transfer large data files like those of video, photographs and even entire music libraries.

The standard enables faster data transfers while using less power, giving consumers improved responsiveness and better battery life in mobile devices. It also stabilizes connections between devices, ironing out kinks from earlier standards when connections broke after a device like a cell phone was placed in the pocket. The Bluetooth 3.0 radio is based on Wi-Fi standards, which enables better data throughput while delivers power-saving benefits for mobile devices. It uses short bursts of Wi-Fi to send data, after which the radio is shut off until it is needed again.

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