BeerFiles is a sometimes irreverent blog concerning all things to do with IT, technology, people and the media from the point of view of a hard boiled technology journalist and commentator. Stan has been in the IT game for about a quarter of a century. He has seen and written about the rise and fall of more than a few IT players and made many friends, some of whom he has even crossed swords with on occasions. Everything in this blog is purely Stan’s opinion so if you agree, wish to expand upon, correct a post or tell Stan he’s a clueless know nothing, please feel free.

Wibree uses less power than Bluetooth so what?

Written by Stan Beer

Wednesday, 04 October 2006

! As I sit here typing this article about Nokia's new Wibree specification on my wireless keyboard and using my wireless mouse, I'm increasingly getting a feeling of so what's the big deal? It's always good to hear of something that can do the same thing as something else for much less energy expended. Wibree uses one tenth the power of Bluetooth to perform essentially the same chore - connecting devices within 10 meters wirelessly. However, I have changed the batteries in my wireless keyboard just once in the past year. My wireless mouse is a bit more power hungry but mainly because of the LED not the Bluetooth connection. I don't use a Bluetooth headset or Bluetooth mobile phone car kit so I'm not sure about any issues concerning battery consumption there, but friends who have these things tell me that they don't have any major problems with batteries running out. As for the phones themselves, the Lithium Ion batteries are so powerful now that you can leave them on for days without a recharge. So far, the only application that has been suggested for the low power Wibree has been to connect low power devices like digital wrist watches to the network - and do what? There's no doubt that in time someone will come up with a way to leverage the capabilities of the new Wibree specification. However, right now it appears that a lot of people are scratching their heads and thinking that is a new technology without any serious applications. {moscomment} Tags See All Tags mobility  Get stories like this delivered daily - FREE - subscribe now When you subscribe get a 12 months license for LiveProject Valued at $99 USD Download the FREE iTWire desktop alert widget

 

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