bluetooth

This will prove to be good news for those who were slightly disappointed to see Nokia’s new Lumia devices were only going to support Bluetooth 3.1. According to a listing on Bluetooth.org, both the Lumia 820 and 920 support Bluetooth 4.0.

Bluetooth 4.0 allows for the transfer of information from super low power devices. The reason it’s a big deal is that it will allow for things like workout monitors, everything from a pedometer to a heart rate monitor.

Nokia announced new Bluetooth headphones at the press conference today as well as a new JBL PowerUp Wireless Charging speaker. This sturdy looking device sports Bluetooth, NFC and wireless charging functionality, which works seamlessly with the Lumia 820 and 920.

Wireless charging enables Lumia 820 / 920 owners to make use of easy top-ups without cluttering a desk or area with more cabling. The speaker -of course- plays music and all that's required is the slightest tap from the Nokia Windows Phones through the use of NFC.

Pretty app but needs work

Over at XDA, the lads are focused again on adding new homebrew features to our current Windows Phone devices. One of the big complaints from a handful of users is the inability to share photos or documents via Bluetooth. Windows Phone 8 will fix this by adding that function (and of course its newest brother, NFC) but what about current phones?

Navisluni has released a beta of an app he calls BluePhoto that should give you the ability to share photos via your phone’s precious Bluetooth. We say ‘should’ because it is a hack and it doesn’t work as universally as one would like.

One area that Windows Phone has been lacking so far is the ability to do anything with Bluetooth besides connect to hands-free headsets or speakers. Windows Phone 8 looks to finally expand Bluetooth functionality with the leaked SDK detailing some new features available to developers.

For instance, peer-to-peer file sharing is now allowed for apps that want to “talk” to each other. As an example, we could add an ability for the WPCentral app to share links or photos to another phone. Presumably this feature could be used for all sorts of features like in games by unlocking a feature when you pair up with another phone i.e. a social aspect...

Never ones to back down from a challenge the Dark Forces Team (DFT) have created a neat little utility to allow one to transfer files between phones or devices using just Bluetooth. You can even send over XAP files for installation of Windows Phone apps giving users yet another option for file distribution.

The bad news is you'll need a fully-unlocked phone meaning dev and interop devices need not apply. That also limits this currently to Gen 1 devices (as you can see initialization fails on the Titan for obvious reasons).

Still, it's an impressive piece of work and hopefully it will lay the ground work for future hacks, assuming Microsoft doesn't give us the function first.

Source: XDA; via Facebook (Bazaar)

The Nokia Lumia line of Windows Phone definitely turns heads but did you know that Nokia is offering a matching Bluetooth headset? A headset that is sure to turn heads as well?  The Nokia Luna is a button sized Bluetooth headset that is paired with a base that doubles as a storage case and charger. And it's not only the looks that makes the Luna an impressive headset.

Nokia is rating the standby time of the Luna to be 60 days in the storage case (we're guessing the case holds a maintenance charge) with standby time out of the charger at 35 hours. The Luna is also NFC in that you can pair it by laying it flat against the back of a Lumia Windows Phone.

The Luna is available in five colors to match your Lumia handset and just looks cool. We've been told that the Luna is "coming soon" to the U.S. Market. No words on pricing but Euro versions are being imported for around $90 (when you can find them). Once we get our hands on the Luna, we'll get a more detailed review up. In the meantime, hit the break for another Luna video that also highlights the Lumia 800 color choices.

source: Nokia; Thanks, Ellis, for the tip!

With the release date coming ever closer and RTM stage being well underway, it's time for us to see more devices in the news.

It seems HTC are preparing two new handsets for the Mango update. We can now see two new devices that have received Bluetooth certification, although we only have model numbers; PI06XXX and PI39XXX. Could one of these be the HTC Mazaa, Eternity, Ignite or Prime? Are you looking forward to more handsets from the manufacturer?

Source: PI06XXX, PI39XXX; via: PocketNow

XBox Live's Major Nelson, aka Larry Hyrb, helped announce the arrival of a new bluetooth-enabled headset for XBox 360.  The headset is equipped with a switch that will toggle it between XBox and Bluetooth modes, allowing users to connect to mobile phones, computers and more.  In addition, the power/mute button will now double as the "action" button for answering calls, etc. while connected to Bluetooth.

The new addition to the XBox accessories arsenal will go on to replace the current Xbox standard when it is released in November.  It will retail for $59.99.  The ability to switch from talking on the phone to communicating on a PC or over XBox Live is one more move in the Microsoft's direction of tying all of its platforms together with its "3 screens" approach.  The size and aesthetic lends itself a little better to playing Gears of War in the living room than to wearing around the office or into your local Starbucks, but the versatility is great.

Major Nelson posted a short video describing the features in greater detail on the XBox YouTube page .  You can also see a gallery of the new headgear, along with a new XBox media remote, here.

Source: Major Nelson