Bluetooth Information

[x ray]

hey, i'm not sure if this exactly the right section, but i just signed up here and you guys have a lot of sub forums, so please bear with me.

i have a mac g5, and a motorola phone from verizon (i'm not sure of the actualy product model because it's just a bunch of letters and numbers). i'm usually pretty smart when it comes to technology, but i can't figure out how to use bluetooth.

first of all, do i sync my computer and phone via bluetooth with a usb cable or does it work wirelessly? also, does my computer come with it pre-installed, or do i need to download it. if i do need to download something could you please provide me with a download link?

 

[Guiyon]

First of all, Bluetooth is a wireless protocol; if you're using a USB cable it's not Bluetooth. You can check for Bluetooth by running the Apple System Profiler (in the Utilities folder) and checking the information in the "Bluetooth" entry. As for syncing, it depends on the model. Some phones have support for iSync natively, some require third-party plugins. Verizon also has a tendency to cripple their phones by disabling OBEX support which prevents simple file transfers (images, mp3s, etc).

In order to attempt a sync you must first pair your phone with your computer; on the Mac side you can do this by heading to the Bluetooth System Preference pane and adding a new device via the wizard. Your phone may need some additional setup in order for the pairing to work but since you don't know the model number I can't help you with this; your best bet would be to consult the manual.

 

[x ray]

thanks for the response. could you give me a little more help finding the bluetooth program? i don't see it in my system preferences, and i tried searching in searchlight which didn't turn up any results.

 

[Guiyon]

thanks for the response. could you give me a little more help finding the bluetooth program? i don't see it in my system preferences, and i tried searching in searchlight which didn't turn up any results.

That means your system does not current have a Bluetooth module installed. Your only options are to either purchase a third-party dongle (the D-Link DBT-120 comes to mind) or use the USB data cable for your phone model. Depending on your iMac model you MAY be able to purchase an internal module but the install for those is non-trivial.

 

[sickmacdoc]

EDIT: Too slow- but here are a couple more options too!

Ok first off we need to determine if your Mac is Bluetooth enabled in the first place (in other words that it has a Bluetooth card installed as not all do).

As Guiyon mentioned above, the easiest way to do this is to run the System Profiler program which should be located in your Utilities folder within your Applications folder.

If you don't find the System Profiler program in there, then click the Apple logo at the top left of your screen, select "About this Mac" then click the "More Info" button when the "About this Mac" window appears.

When the System Profiler window appears look in the left hand column. Under the "Hardware" category you will see a "Bluetooth" entry. Click it- if your G5 has Bluetooth installed you will see the details in the pane on the right. If it is not installed, something along the lines of "No device found" will appear in the right pane ( I can't remember for sure as I have had Bluetooth on all my machines for quite a while now, sorry).

If you do not have Bluetooth hardware support indicated there, all is not lost. You will at that point have several options:

1. Install (or have installed depending on model of Mac) a Bluetooth card if possible.
2. Use an external 3rd party USB based Bluetooth "stick"
3. Skip Bluetooth altogether and use an appropriate USB data/sync cable and free software like BitPim to transfer files to and from the phone
4. Skip Bluetooth and use a MicroSD flash card in your phone (assuming your phone supports MicroSD cards as most do- and no I am not talking about a SIM card which Verizon doesn't use) and pull it out and insert into a flash card reader attached to your Mac to transfer files, then reinsert into your phone when done.

That being said, I hope your Mac has Bluetooth. I recently got a LG env2 and moving files to and from it via Bluetooth is definitely smooth and couldn't be much easier courtesy of the Bluetooth File Exchange program on the Mac!

 

[x ray]

thanks for the detailed response, sickmacdoc. i found system profiler and it told me that my computer doesn't have bluetooth. so, i downloaded bitpim from the link you provided, but they don't support my phone and can't recognize it. looks like all that's left is a bluetooth stick or microSD card, as you suggested. where could i get one? also, how do they connect to my computer? like i said i have a g5 where the whole computer is the monitor and i don't see any ports for them.