Bluetooth 4.0 Becomes 'Bluetooth Smart' as iPhone 4S Creates New Opportunities

[MacRumors]

Following the debut of the iPhone 4S as the first phone to support the Bluetooth 4.0 standard, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has begun promoting the technology under the new "Bluetooth Smart" marketing term. In a press release issued today, the Bluetooth SIG outlined the types of devices that will fall into the Bluetooth Smart categories.

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) announced two new brand extensions to its globally recognized logo today in an effort to create consumer awareness around compatibility for new devices implementing Bluetooth v4.0 - the Bluetooth Smart Ready trademark and the Bluetooth Smart trademark. Bluetooth Smart Ready devices are phones, tablets, PCs and TVs that sit at the center of a consumer's connected world and implement a Bluetooth v4.0 dual mode radio. Bluetooth Smart devices are sensor-type devices like heart-rate monitors or pedometers that run on button-cell batteries and were built to collect a specific piece of information. Bluetooth Smart devices include only a single-mode low energy Bluetooth v4.0 radio.

Bluetooth Smart has been promised as a way to allow devices to interact wirelessly using low-power standards, enabling countless new potential uses.

Bluetooth Smart devices are designed to gather a specific type of information--are all the windows on my house locked, what is my insulin level, how much do I weigh today?--and send it to a Bluetooth Smart Ready device.

Examples include heart-rate monitors, blood-glucose meters, smart watches, window and door security sensors, key fobs for your car, and blood-pressure cuffs--the opportunities are endless.

While the iPhone 4S is not yet able to make extensive use of the features specific to Bluetooth Smart due to a lack of peripheral single-mode Smart devices capable of transmitting data to the iPhone, it is clear the Bluetooth standards bearers and manufacturers will be quickly pushing forward to promote the adoption of Smart technology in a host of new product categories.

Beyond the iPhone 4S, Apple has also been building Bluetooth 4.0 support into several of its latest Mac lines, including the Mac mini and MacBook Air introduced back in July. Notably, today's MacBook Pro update did not bring Bluetooth 4.0 support to that line, although the update was an extremely minor one that Apple is not even acknowledging as a refresh on its promotional product pages. Consequently, the update appears to have been limited to core "plug-and-play" features such as CPU, GPU, and hard drives that could be easily upgraded rather than features like new Bluetooth 4.0 capabilities that could require more significant engineering work.

Article Link: Bluetooth 4.0 Becomes 'Bluetooth Smart' as iPhone 4S Creates New Opportunities

[adcx64]

Can't wait to see this implemented.

[AlphaDogg]

I think I like where Bluetooth is going.

[8CoreWhore]

Wow, good news.

[commander.data]

They really aught to have chosen more distinct terms between dual mode and single mode devices. For one thing, Smart Ready sounds like the lower standard even though it's actually the full spec.

Originally Posted by MacRumors

While the iPhone 4S is not yet able to make extensive use of the features specific to Bluetooth Smart due to a lack of peripheral Smart Ready devices capable of transmitting data to the iPhone, it is clear the Bluetooth standards bearers and manufacturers will be quickly pushing forward to promote the adoption of Smart technology in a host of new product categories.

Shouldn't that read that the iPhone 4S isn't able to make extensive use of Bluetooth Smart Ready since peripheral Bluetooth Smart devices are available yet rather than the other way around?

[gramirez2012]

Very cool. Good thing I bought the 4S.

[daxomni]

Originally Posted by MacRumors

The update was an extremely minor one that Apple is not even acknowledging as a refresh on its promotional product pages.

And yet it was far more major than the iPod "refresh" that basically changed nothing on the device itself.

Originally Posted by AlphaDogg

I think I like where Bluetooth is going.

The dentist's biowaste bin?

[Mr. Gates]

I'm guessing the Bluetooth is still crippled and file transfer is blocked.
If not, really cool.
But Apple seems have a reason for preventing this feature.
I hope that changes.
Even my old RAZR phone from the 90s was able to do this.

[MultiMediaWill]

I would trade Bluetooth 4.0 for NFC any day.

[BornAgainMac]

It may be time to pull it.

[WildCowboy]

Originally Posted by commander.data

Shouldn't that read that the iPhone 4S isn't able to make extensive use of Bluetooth Smart Ready since peripheral Bluetooth Smart devices are available yet rather than the other way around?

Ya, thanks. Meant to use "Smart" in both instances to refer to the technology and the dumb peripheral devices, but an extra "Ready" snuck in there somehow.

[monkeylui]

Cool. I use a bluetooth headset to listen to podcasts via AD2P when I only want one ear piece and no wires. It will be interesting to see where else this 4.0 gig takes us.

[Mad-B-One]

How about hand guns telling you how much ammunition is loaded?

"Siri, how many bullets do I have left?"

"You have 8 more cal.22 rounds left." (outside of California, of course)

Then the Bluetooth target:

"Siri, how many points did I hit?"

"You had a 10-point bulls-eye and two 5 point hits."

Oh, I would have to increase my gun allowance..."

[PeterQVenkman]

Let the hacking of everything begin.

[Nomadski]

Originally Posted by Mr. Gates

I'm guessing the Bluetooth is still crippled and file transfer is blocked.
If not, really cool.
But Apple seems have a reason for preventing this feature.
I hope that changes.
Even my old RAZR phone from the 90s was able to do this.

Its not Flash my friends rib me about having an iPhone, its this^^.

Its an embarrassing missing feature of the iPhone, STILL.

[sionharris]

Or potentially dangerous information, like: "Are all the windows on the house across the road locked?"

[WestonHarvey1]

Maybe they can make it less of a voodoo technology first.

Oh, my mouse / headset stopped working. Why? No idea. Turn off device. Turn on device. No. Reboot computer. Turn off device, turn on device. No. Unpair device. Pair device. No. Do again. Oh, worked that time.

[dwman]

Interesting possibilities on the health front. The iPhone might have to pass FDA's rules on being considered a medical device.

[W1MRK]

Excellent news

[Laird Knox]

Originally Posted by commander.data

They really aught to have chosen more distinct terms between dual mode and single mode devices. For one thing, Smart Ready sounds like the lower standard even though it's actually the full spec.

I agree, having three non-descriptive terms isn't too smart.

[a.gomez]

right, how about just catching up with regular BT and let me file transfer... My GT lets me do it - no point in reading the features if Apple going to cripple it in the end

[dashiel]

Originally Posted by MultiMediaWill

I would trade Bluetooth 4.0 for NFC any day.

Out of curiosity why? NFC wouldn’t allow for the class of devices BT4 will because its broadcast range is too small, somewhere around a foot so you couldn’t have a heart rate monitor, or a nike+ like device.

It seems NFC has a ton of buzz due to Google’s (no pun intended) use of the technology for Google Wallet. To be fair NFC for contact-less payments has a few of advantages – connections are made faster (though in real world experience the difference is imperceptible you’re talking milliseconds of difference). NFC also has about double the data rate of BT4, but again I’m not sure in a real world example the difference between 200kpbs and 400kbps and the type of data being transmitted is going to be perceived. One area where BT4 is better for things like contact-less payment is its native support for encrypting the data.

Then there’s the logistics. NFC is an additional chip or an additional routine of a the main CPU one that has to be taken in to account at the OS level so now iOS is supporting 5 protocols: GSM, CDMA, Bluetooth, WiFi and NFC.

Seems kind of like a non-starter to me added complexity & cost for what amounts to an imperceptible benefit to the user.

[darkslide29]

For those with a Mac Mini or Air and an iPhone 4S, I wonder if we will be seeing a Mac program to pair the two. Perhaps an auto lock or auto sleep when stepping away from our computers.
I know that there are some ways to do this already with bluetooth, but with bluetooth 4.0 it would be a lot more tempting to use if it offers better battery life.

[Thanatoast]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X; en_US) AppleWebKit (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile [FBAN/FBForIPhone;FBAV/4.0.2;FBBV/4020.0;FBDV/iPhone2,1;FBMD/iPhone;FBSN/iPhone OS;FBSV/5.0;FBSS/1; FBCR/AT&T;FBID/phone;FBLC/en_US;FBSF/1.0])

Did I hear that this will become an alternative to NFC?

[summitRun]

Originally Posted by commander.data

They really aught to have chosen more distinct terms between dual mode and single mode devices. For one thing, Smart Ready sounds like the lower standard even though it's actually the full spec.

Agreed! Smart and Smart Ready?? Very dumb...