12 March 2007

Bluetooth SIG Demos Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR Features
on a prototype Nokia phone

Nokia N95 comes with support for Bluetooth v2.0 and as far as I know it including all of the optional EDR features, to give higher speed data transfer and lower power consumption. With EDR, Bluetooth speeds go up more than double, and could be three times as quick.

The theoretical maximum useful data transfer is 2.1 Megabits per second (Mbps) compared to the current 721 Kilobits per second (kbps) for standard rate Bluetooth. This is the "payload" speed, not the basic signaling rate, which moves up from 1 megabit to about 3 megabits.

Now there is something even better on the horizon, the Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR standard and I truly hope that we will got support for Bluetooth 2.1 on the upcoming Symbian phones because technology showed on the demo below looks pretty promising.

Anyway, the Gear Live offers a first look at the improvements in the new Bluetooth 2.1+EDR specification, including the ability to use Near Field Communication (NFC) technology and a dramatic improvement in battery life. See a video of the demonstration on the Gear Live site.

Bluetooth 2.1+EDR demo on a prototype Nokia

*click to watch it

Bluetooth 2.1 is an update to the current standard that will include a number of enhancements to make Bluetooth wireless enabled devices even easier to set up and use. Bluetooth 2.1-compatible wireless devices are expected to be introduced in late 2006. They will be completely backwards-compatible with previous Bluetooth-compatible devices.

Though Bluetooth 2.1 will feature some significant upgrades regarding ease-of-use, there is no news of increased transfer speeds accompanying the upgrade—we'll have to wait for Bluetooth 3.0 for that.

Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR enhancements:

• Secure Simple Pairing -- improves ease of pairing of Bluetooth devices while implementing strong security;
• Encryption Pause and Resume -- increases security in the link by ensuring that no user data is transmitted without encryption and enables periodic update of the keys;
• Extended Inquiry Response -- provides better filtering of devices before connection;
• Sniff Subrating -- reduces power consumption when devices are in the sniff, low-power mode, increasing battery-life.

10X Steafn for the heads up.. .