Faster Bluetooth 3.0 Chips Coming Early Next Year

The consortium behind Bluetooth said the next version of its wireless standard is expected to transfer data up to 10 times faster than the current versions using onboard Wi-Fi chips. The Bluetooth Special Interest Group said Bluetooth 3.0 borrows a Wi-Fi chip in the same gadget when making large file transfers. If the Wi-Fi chip isn’t needed, Bluetooth turns it off to save power.

While Bluetooth 3.0 is 10 times faster than current Bluetooth, it’s about 20 times slower than a USB cable.A combination of Bluetooth and ultra-wideband was announced in 2006, but delays in getting it to work prompted the group to look at Wi-Fi.The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has given its nod to the Bluetooth 3.0 specification, a short-range wireless technology based on the current 2.1 EDR version with faster transfer speeds.

Bluetooth 3.0: Fast, Power-Sipping, and Coming Next Year to a Gadget Near You

The group in charge of the Bluetooth protocol unveiled the specifications of the next-generation of the technology, originally dubbed Bluetooth High Speed Technology and also labeled Bluetooth 3.0 HS. It’s completely back-compatible with the Bluetooth in your current phone or computer, but it’s much, much faster.

BENEFITS
Bluetooth 3.0′s main benefit over its predecessor is its enhanced transfer speed. Whereas Bluetooth 2.1+EDR offered maximum speeds of around 3Mbps, the new version of the technology takes that up to around 24Mbps, through its use of the 802.11 radio protocol — better known as the basis for Wi-Fi.