Bluetooth 4.0 Could Ship In Devices By The Year's End
Bluetooth has become the de facto standard in the short-range
communications field. It's hard to find a new PC these days without
Bluetooth support, with even many netbooks offering Bluetooth 2.0 or
2.1 onboard. Bluetooth 3.0 became official last year, though it's still
a feature that's rarely found. But what if we told you that Bluetooth 4.0 was on the way. Believe it or not, it is.
According to a new report, the Bluetooth 4.0 wireless specification could begin to appear on devices before the end of the year, but we're wondering just how accurate an assumption like this is. Bluetooth 3.0 is still a rarity, and we highly doubt 4.0 will gain traction before 3.0 does. At any rate, we're fine with the next-generation of any kind of technology, but it's still baffling to think of 4.0 now when 3.0 hasn't even had a chance to become popular. The news is flowing from the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, and we're told that BT 4.0 will "be used in lower-power devices than previous versions of the technology, including watches, pedometers, smart meters and other gadgets that run on coin-cell batteries."
It's very possible that 3.0 and 4.0 will live together at the same time, but again, it's strange that the Bluetooth SIG would call on standard 3.0 and the other 4.0 (as opposed to something totally different, like Bluetooth Mobile or sometime similar). BT 4.0 will also integrate with Wi-Fi networks when one is nearby (which is already included on Bluetooth 3.0), though few other major details were disclosed. So much for keeping up with the times, you know?
According to a new report, the Bluetooth 4.0 wireless specification could begin to appear on devices before the end of the year, but we're wondering just how accurate an assumption like this is. Bluetooth 3.0 is still a rarity, and we highly doubt 4.0 will gain traction before 3.0 does. At any rate, we're fine with the next-generation of any kind of technology, but it's still baffling to think of 4.0 now when 3.0 hasn't even had a chance to become popular. The news is flowing from the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, and we're told that BT 4.0 will "be used in lower-power devices than previous versions of the technology, including watches, pedometers, smart meters and other gadgets that run on coin-cell batteries."
It's very possible that 3.0 and 4.0 will live together at the same time, but again, it's strange that the Bluetooth SIG would call on standard 3.0 and the other 4.0 (as opposed to something totally different, like Bluetooth Mobile or sometime similar). BT 4.0 will also integrate with Wi-Fi networks when one is nearby (which is already included on Bluetooth 3.0), though few other major details were disclosed. So much for keeping up with the times, you know?
