Bluetooth 4.2 to Bring Direct Internet Connectivity and Increased Speed

[MacRumors]

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) today announced the new Bluetooth 4.2 specification, which promises enhanced privacy measures, increased speed of data transfers, and an update that will allow Bluetooth Smart sensors to directly access the Internet.

The group emphasizes connected home scenarios as being able to take the most advantage of Bluetooth 4.2's new direct Internet access feature, promising low-power connectivity using the standard and with IPv6 support available by year's end.

"Bluetooth 4.2 is all about continuing to make Bluetooth Smart the best solution to connect all the technology in your life - from personal sensors to your connected home. In addition to the improvements to the specification itself, a new profile known as IPSP enables IPv6 for Bluetooth, opening entirely new doors for device connectivity," said Mark Powell, executive director of the Bluetooth SIG. "Bluetooth Smart is the only technology that can scale with the market, provide developers the flexibility to innovate, and be the foundation for the IoT."

The new 4.2 spec also promises speedier data transfers between devices, up to 2.5 times faster than previous versions. Bluetooth SIG promises that "increased data transfer speeds and packet capacity reduces the opportunity for transmission errors to occur and reduces battery consumption, resulting in a more efficient connection."

The new privacy features also take aim at lowering power consumption, while protecting consumers from being tracked through their Bluetooth devices. As more retail stores and public places accept Bluetooth beacons and similar applications, Bluetooth SIG hopes to be at the forefront for protecting every user's personal and private information.

The new privacy features put control back into the hands of the consumer by making it difficult for eavesdroppers to track a device through its Bluetooth connection without permission. For example, when shopping in a retail store with beacons, unless you've enabled permission for the beacon to engage with your device, you can't be tracked.

The standard Bluetooth 4.2 specification is available now, with the new direct Internet access feature due within a month.

Article Link: Bluetooth 4.2 to Bring Direct Internet Connectivity and Increased Speed

 

[Menneisyys2]

Too bad iOS users won't ever get a full Bluetooth implementation, unlike those of competing mobile operating systems.

 

[furi0usbee]

The end of ethernet?

 

[mattopotamus]

I guess this is somewhat related. Do a lot of people use airdrop? I do not think I have ever transferred a single file over bluetooth.

 

[Zxxv]

The new privacy features put control back into the hands of the consumer by making it difficult for eavesdroppers to track a device through its Bluetooth connection without permission. For example, when shopping in a retail store with beacons, unless you’ve enabled permission for the beacon to engage with your device, you can’t be tracked.

It works like this does it?

my device says go away your not tracking me.

beacon says ok

my device tells the next beacon to bugger off

beacon says ok

my device tells the next beacon to bugger off

beacon says ok

my device tells the next beacon to bugger off

beacon says ok

some controller watching the beacons looks at the logs and sees my device spoke to a-z beacons

or is there some encryption that makes me look like 20 other people?

 

[Rocketman]

The end of ethernet?

Ethernet has been an astoundingly durable and long lived standard. As such it will be very slow to kill. If 802.11ac didn't do it, Bluetooth 4.2 certainly will not.

Ethernet on your smartwatch and thermostat?

 

[coder12]

Was anybody able to find any solid benchmarks backing up their 2.5x speed-increase claim (or any specific numbers regarding data rates)? I've been searching their website, but can't seem to find anything on it aside from their original claim (Which should be ~62.5 Mbps if I understand BT 4.0 correctly?)

 

[redheeler]

I guess this is somewhat related. Do a lot of people use airdrop? I do not think I have ever transferred a single file over bluetooth.

All the time, in combination with file sharing. House full of Macs

 

[Menneisyys2]

I guess this is somewhat related. Do a lot of people use airdrop? I do not think I have ever transferred a single file over bluetooth.

Yup, AirDrop is useful and I've occasionally used it. Nevertheless, I seriously miss standard OBEX file transfer from iOS so that it can talk to other phones / tablets using standardized protocols to talk to mobile phones with significantly better cameras than on any iPhone (Nokia 808, Samsung Note 4 etc.).

Regrettably, the only way of having it on (JB'n only, of course) iOS, the absolutely excellent AirBlue Sharing, is currently incompatible with iOS8 and the new iOS may never get a working implementation any more.

 

[Verita]

Bluetooth 4.2: Coming to an Apple Watch near you on Valentine's Day 2015.

Great timing, and drastically reduces the hassle of having indirect access to the cloud for the Watch.


Bluetooth 4.2: Coming to Apple Watch-compatible Bluetooth earbuds/headphones near you on Valentine's Day 2015.

Once we get this tech, we finally have a true high-quality, wire-free sound option.

 

[bacaramac]

I could see this being pretty cool. Features/benefits of Bluetooth, but still allow internet connectivity. Companies like August should jump all over this. Would love it if I didn't have to be within bluetooth range of my August lock to unlock it.

 

[Nunyabinez]

Was anybody able to find any solid benchmarks backing up their 2.5x speed-increase claim (or any specific numbers regarding data rates)? I've been searching their website, but can't seem to find anything on it aside from their original claim (Which should be ~62.5 Mbps if I understand BT 4.0 correctly?)

It's a specification, not an implementation. Since they just announced the spec, it's unlikely there are devices implementing it already.

 

[taptic]

Who uses bluetooth anymore?... oh, wait, never mind.

 

[Menneisyys2]

Yup, AirDrop is useful and I've occasionally used it. Nevertheless, I seriously miss standard OBEX file transfer from iOS so that it can talk to other phones / tablets using standardized protocols to talk to mobile phones with significantly better cameras than on any iPhone (Nokia 808, Samsung Note 4 etc.).

Regrettably, the only way of having it on (JB'n only, of course) iOS, the absolutely excellent AirBlue Sharing, is currently incompatible with iOS8 and the new iOS may never get a working implementation any more.

BTW, AirDrop is also available on iDevice models intentionally crippled by Apple. That is, it runs just fine on, say, the iPad3, while Apple, to force iPad3 users to upgrade to a newer model, doesn't enable it. Of course, you need to jailbreak the iPad3 to enable AirDrop...

----------

Who uses bluetooth anymore?... oh, wait, never mind.

Anyone that would like to quickly and effortlessly transfer files over standardized protocols implemented by all other manufacturers? Given that iDevices also lack NFC (lol, it has been implemented in mainstream Nokia / Google / Samsung smartphones for 2+ years), BT would be the only standard file transfer protocol.

Too bad iOS also lacks proper OBEX support. So much for being standards-compliant.

 

[NMBob]

I guess this is somewhat related. Do a lot of people use airdrop? I do not think I have ever transferred a single file over bluetooth.

A couple of times just for "stuff" (pictures, and pdf, etc.) between iPad-iPhone, iPad-MacBook, iPad-iPad. It works OK if you can get it going. That's the tricky part. It's sometimes taken a while, but I've never failed to fiddle with enough things and get it going. It's not a slick as in the Apple brochure.

 

[Xenomorph]

Who uses bluetooth anymore?... oh, wait, never mind.

Uh... Everyone?

It's been getting better and better and more and more common each day for years, now.


This new 4.2 spec being IPv6-only is also a great thing. It will hopefully get a lot of lazy network people off their asses and get IPv6 working in more places. So many places (especially in the US) have been putting it off and putting it off for years.

 

[NMBob]

I was just thinking...

The day the Internet of Things prevents my coffee pot from making coffee in the morning, because the network is down is the day heads will roll.

 

[joshuakhania]

So is this a new protocol or does this require new hardware?

 

[Iconoclysm]

Too bad iOS users won't ever get a full Bluetooth implementation, unlike those of competing mobile operating systems.

Hilarious, iOS users had Bluetooth 4.0 LONG before the competing mobile OS's and it went completely unnoticed. Yet a profile or two not being supported because the OS offers other methods to do such things is just completely horrible, right?

 

[Steve.P.JobsFan]

Does anybody remember the good ol' days of iSync?

 

[coder12]

It's a specification, not an implementation. Since they just announced the spec, it's unlikely there are devices implementing it already.

Thank you for the clarification!

 

[Menneisyys2]

Hilarious, iOS users had Bluetooth 4.0 LONG before the competing mobile OS's and it went completely unnoticed. Yet a profile or two not being supported because the OS offers other methods to do such things is just completely horrible, right?

Have you ever tried exchanging files (photos etc.), contacts etc. with non-Apple devices wirelessly? Obviously not.

 

[Keane16]

BTW, AirDrop is also available on iDevice models intentionally crippled by Apple. That is, it runs just fine on, say, the iPad3, while Apple, to force iPad3 users to upgrade to a newer model, doesn't enable it. Of course, you need to jailbreak the iPad3 to enable AirDrop...

I thought full Airdrop just doesn't not work on iPad 3 due to the lack of Wi-Fi Direct support in the hardware. And the jailbreak methods open up transfers over Bluetooth only?

Airdrop uses a combination of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi Direct.

----------

Anyone that would like to quickly and effortlessly transfer files over standardized protocols implemented by all other manufacturers?

Me and my friends just use Dropbox and our NAS drives amongst other things to transfer cross platform.

To be honest, echoing other posters I can't remember when I've needed to transfer between 2 devices in close vicinity. But that obviously doesn't mean others like you don't have this use case. I imagine Apple users on the whole either aren't bothered or have found other very simple methods for quickly and effortlessly transfer files.

 

[dannyyankou]

I wonder if audio quality will improve as well. Bluetooth headphones are going to be a big deal with all these wearable devices coming out.

 

[Menneisyys2]

I thought full Airdrop just doesn't not work on iPad 3 due to the lack of Wi-Fi Direct support in the hardware. And the jailbreak methods open up transfers over Bluetooth only?

Dunno - have to test the speed. It might indeed be BT only - however, even if it's only BT, it's still far better than any transfer method using the Internet. (Works anywhere, doesn't require Internet connection etc.)