Three additional advantages of Bluetooth wireless technology are its ease of use, security, and immense versatility, all of which make it fit for a variety of different applications.

• Easy and efficient to use
  Setting up and configuring Bluetooth enabled devices is fairly straightforward, with little more to do than get the two devices near each other and turn them on. There is no need to install drivers or other software to set up an ad-hoc, personal wireless network. It has a uniform structure, meaning that any two wireless products featuring Bluetooth technology, regardless of brand or country of origin, have the capability to communicate seamlessly with one another.

• Safe, secure connections: Hopping and pairing
  Identity and information theft is pervasive these days, and wireless security continues to be a primary concern for consumers. Bluetooth has built-in security, unlike Wi-Fi where security is the responsibility of the network administrator. Bluetooth uses adaptive frequency hopping (AFH), "hopping" between the allotted 79 frequencies 1,600 times per second, making it extremely difficult to intercept transmissions.

  Before devices can communicate, they must be "paired" with one another, establishing a unique, synchronized frequency-hopping pattern for their network (called a piconet). You can think of piconets as invisible cables; when devices are paired, they are "plugged into" one another, and when they're unpaired, they're not. Typically, users have to enter a numerical passkey to pair devices, though some devices come synchronized right out of the box.

• Versatility leads to interoperability
  Using Bluetooth, users can synchronize contacts between a cell phone, PDA, and laptop, talk on the phone while it remains in their pocket, print documents wirelessly, share photographs with friends in separate rooms, and do a host of other convenient things. Bluetooth is the most widely supported wireless standard in the world today, and best of all, there are no membership fees or services to sign up for — all you need are Bluetooth enabled devices.

Some other advantages of Bluetooth are the fact that up to eight devices are able to connect simultaneously to the same piconet, and that it has very low power consumption. The ability to exchange information across devices gives Bluetooth technology great potential, but it has some limitations that must be addressed as well.

Limitations of Bluetooth wireless technology

There are two main limitations of the current Bluetooth wireless standard: its slow transfer rate and susceptibility to interference. Each of these issues is being addressed, however, and should be mitigated upon the release of Bluetooth 3.0. For now though, these are the potential drawbacks facing the technology.

• Slow transfer rate
  Currently, products featuring Bluetooth transfer data at about 3 megabits (375 kilobytes) per second. To put that speed in perspective, a standard-quality, 8-megapixel photograph (4.1 megabytes) would take about 11 seconds to transfer via Bluetooth — much slower than Wi-Fi, USB or FireWire. This slow rate is only apparent when very large files are being sent; everyday tasks, such as synchronizing contacts or talking on a wireless headset, tend to work fine.

• Susceptibility to interference
  All Bluetooth enabled devices operate within the 2.4 GHz band, which is the same unlicensed frequency used by many other electronic devices such as microwaves, cordless phones, and the majority of Wi-Fi devices. This frequency sharing could lead to slower overall network performance because some of the signals collide, don't reach their destination, and have to be re-sent. However, since Bluetooth wireless transmissions "hop" all over the bandwidth, this greatly decreases the likelihood of impacting other 2.4 GHz broadcasts. Though the impact is usually negligible, there are situations that can arise where Bluetooth devices can dilute Wi-Fi signals, especially if there are a great number of devices operating in different pairs.

The Bluetooth SIG is making every effort to ensure that both of these issues will be soon be negated by the new standard.

Experience Icons

The Experience Icon Program is an effort to highlight the many uses of Bluetooth. Each Bluetooth device has an Experience Icon (or multiple icons) on its package, representing the various ways in which the device utilizes Bluetooth technology. There are currently five different icons (Print, Input, Headset, Transfer, and Music), with more icons planned as the technology continues to develop.

Bluetooth Experience Icons help to educate consumers on the functionality of Bluetooth enabled devices.