Registered: Apr 2001
Location: Kuala Lumpur
Posts: 65

Do you want Bluetooth built in with new Visors?

Something I want to see in new Visors is built in Bluetooth. If there is just one thing that makes it useful, is the fact that I can browse the internet with a bluetooth enabled mobile WITHOUT having any wires or problems aligning the IR port or a bulky Visor Phone. I would rather have it built in instead of as a module, even if it means, it will be more expensive (would like to see this in future Edge models).

This becomes more useful because GPRS services are now available in Asia, meaning you are connected constantly to the internet, and only pay for traffic. So you can have instant messaging and check emails more often while on the move.

I know it seems expensive now, but by the end of the year, there should be several bluetooth enable mobiles and more Bluetooth devices means cheaper prices.

So how many of you would want Bluetooth to be built into the newer high-end Visors?

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Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Metro Station, Hollywood and Highland
Posts: 1018

Not yet. Until at least a few Bluetooth-enabled phones hit the US market, I don't want to pay for something I can't use. The Bluetooth on phones should definitely come first.

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Eye of Gameboy

Registered: Apr 2001
Location: Kuala Lumpur
Posts: 65

I wasn't saying now

With Ericson (RS520, T29M) and Nokia (6210) already releasing bluetooth enabled mobiles, by the end of the year there should be at least several bluetooth and GPRS enabled mobiles.

So a new PDA without some sort of wireless capability, would quickly become obsolete unless wireless connectivity wasn't important for you. You could add the Xircom module, but Edge users definitely would rather not have it as module. I would much prefer to use the module for things like MemPlug's SmartMedia or Memorystick adapter.

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Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 239

quote:

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Originally posted by Gameboy70
The Bluetooth on phones should definitely come first.

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Registered: Feb 2000
Location:
Posts: 1571

The more I learn about Bluetooth the more I like it. I would definitely biy a Visor (and pay a Premium) with the feature built in. I would use it a bluetooth phone for wireless internet access as well.

Registered: Apr 2001
Location: Kuala Lumpur
Posts: 65

Bluetooth for me would be most useful to people to connect their PDAs as well as their laptops, to the internet via their mobile without wires or IR. Think of the mobile as your high speed wireless modem, that's always connected, and does not incur charges for time spent online, but only for data that you transfer.

If I had a laptop and my visor, chances are it would be in a situation where IR would be just fine. No need to pay premium for bluetooth. I don't think there is a chicken and egg problem here. The wireless solution to the mobile/PDA/laptop/internet problem would like Yardie says, be worth the premium. Bluetooth is already in some mobiles as stated, and in a "we've got more features than the other phone" market, I can see it being put in a lot of newer models. A lot of people don't even use the IR ports on Nokia 8250's. They just have it because it's expensive and a nice looking phone.

If you were standing in a crowded train, I can't imagine without binding the phoone and Visor together somehow, that it would be possible to be connected to the internet via IR. Ditto if I had to pull out my laptop onto a small crowded table at a cafe. I could just keep my mobile in my pocket if I wanted to use the internet. It makes it easier to sync numbers with your mobile as well, or even dial it without having to worry about aligning IR ports. Then the advantage of swapping numbers with a friend/associate in bus, train, queuing up at the bank etc. wirelessly is something I would love to have.

Here's some:

Mobile internet without wires
SMS on PDA without wires
Synching numbers without wires
Making calls, seeing lists of missed calls on PDA without wires
Handsfree headset that is usable for different mobiles

Judging by the poll, of course not everybody thinks this is needed, but at least 50% us do, and that's a big enough demand for a feature option I think. Hopefully they can just take out the bluetooth support for a cheaper new Edge model, for those that don't need it.

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Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Metro Station, Hollywood and Highland
Posts: 1018

kaeru wrote:
Think of the mobile as your high speed wireless modem, that's always connected, and does not incur charges for time spent online, but only for data that you transfer.

Are you talking about web access or some asynchronous messaging solution, like SMS? I don't know what the situation is in Kuala Limpur, but here in the US, cell phone access is almost always a dial-up connection, and your connect time either comes out of the calling plan's allocated minutes or is surcharged as a data call (Wireless Web, on Sprint PCS and Verizon). Unfortunately, GPRS is vaporware here.

I don't think there is a chicken and egg problem here.

Neither do I. Communication devices have to enable Bluetooth first, otherwise a Bluetooth-enabled PDA useless. Overseas, especially in Europe, things may be different, but to the best of my knowledge, the only Bluetooth-ready phone on the US market is from Ericsson. Since cell phones inherently about communication, it stands to reason that they should support Bluetooth before PDAs. Until the technology is fully standardized and deployed in at least a few popular phones, PDA manufacturers would rather sit on the fence than throw good money after bad. Psion leaked advance info about its new Series 5-based handheld with Bluetooth, and got flamed when it was discovered that the only Bluetooth "standard" it supported was for the Nokia 6210.

Technologically, Bluetooth is wonderful, but the US cell phone industry seems to be committed to ruining any promising technology, insisting that we need WAP phones instead.

Judging by the poll, of course not everybody thinks this is needed, but at least 50% us do, and that's a big enough demand for a feature option I think.

If it's a feature option, then a Springboard would be the best way to go, rather than raising the cost for everyone who won't use it. Even if the myriad members on VC wanted it unanimously, Hawkins would probably still consider it a geek fringe compared with 2 million Visor owners.

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Eye of Gameboy

Registered: Apr 2001
Location: Kuala Lumpur
Posts: 65

There's a few GPRS phones out here already. My service will have GPRS next month, and most major ones will have it by end of this year. Singapore, Europe and Australia would probably be ahead of the Malaysian schedule. Like I said, 3 bluetooth phones are already previewed and announced to be available soon. The Nokia 6210 has been out for a while, and to enable it for bluetooth would simply involve a battery change. The newer Ericssons all come with optional bluetooth add-ons. I wouldn't be surprised that by the end of the year, most high-end European/Asian phones will have GPRS and either Bluetooth built-in or optional. With an upgrade plan, it wouldn't cost me too much to get the latest phone with all the features when they come out.

I wish normal high bandwidth internet connections were more widespread here though But that looks to be improving before the end of the year.

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Registered: Oct 2000
Location:
Posts: 4

Nokia will release the 6310 in Q4 this year and this one has built in bluetooth and gprs.

i prefer i pda with buildin bluetooth but i think this will take some time. the next visor will be some color edge and i don't think that they built in bluetooth. so the next generation after that could have bluetooth. i go for the bluetooth module as soon as it is availible because a new pda with bluetooth will take more than one year i think (hoping the module will be released sooner )

i like to use internet on my pda but alliging the ir port makes it very difficult. you have to place the handheld on the table and look on it on some strange angle. i love it when i just can leave my phone in my jacket and browse the internet with my pda.

other pro's
wireless hotsyncing
wireless remote control the computer (eg winamp)

in a few years nobody is using ir any more and everything will be bluetooth

Registered: May 2000
Location:
Posts: 116

I think the key here is that if Visors start coming with Bluetooth then the accesories will follow pretty quickly. In my opinion the Seiko smart pad and all those keyboard people would love to use bluetooth instead of a different connector for every pda. Sort of like how USB connector made connecting to MAC and PCs so much easier. You didn't see the USB devices coming out first did you?

I would like a Bluetooth modem and GPS that wouldn't be tied to a springboard, then I would not be locked into Handspring forever.

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